Question Portable DAC for Dt1770 pro

Forever Young

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Jul 28, 2016
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Hi,

Most of my system is at my girlfriend's place as she has lots of space. I've got myself a little one up one down type of tiny cottage. All my focus has always been on my home setup. I've got a spare Technics power amp with headphone out, and that got me thinking; If I had a DAC here, I could use my headphones, and maybe at some point get some very small speakers and some form of preamp or volume control.

Not wanting to spend mega bucks on a second DAC that only works at home, I saw a possible opportunity to improve my mobile situation if the right gizmo is out there. I've started looking for a DAC/headphone amp that I can use with my 250ohm Dt1770 Pro, as well as small in ear type on the go.

I looked at the Dragonfly Cobalt, but noticed people saying it won't work well as a line out (to my amp), and drains too much phone battery, and so I started looking at things that would line (DAC) out. I've looked at Mojo, but it's a bit too pricey for me. The hip DAC looks just right until I realise it won't line out. The Oppo Ha2 looks good, but not sure if it's quite powerful enough, and it's expensive for a used ebay item.

I'm not too fussy about size. Battery life is more important, as I won't be going jogging with it. I would like to be able to take it with me when I go out, or away.

My question is: Can anyone recommend a good portable DAC/phone amp that will drive various headphones, and has line out? If it's Hip Dac price, I'd be getting new. If it's getting close to Mojo price, I'd be buying used.
 

ThisIsJimmy

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Nov 11, 2020
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For those with Balanced headphones that have 3.5mm jacks on the cans, I would recommend the Beyerdynamic Impacto Universal. Despite the blurb about it being designed for specific use cases, it can drive all my balanced headphones comfortably, and comes with an external battery that magnetically attaches to the unerside of the impacto.

In your case ifi and FiiO would be good places to start, with both offering several products that might work for you:

Ifi:
- XCan
- hipDac

FiiO:
- BTR5
- BTR3
- Q5s
- Q1Mk2
 
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