Why it is worth having a portable DAC in addition to your smartphone?

Smartphones have been one of the great revolutions of the last decade; They are used for more and more things and there are more applications that help their users carry out different tasks, such as communicating, getting informed, connecting through social networks and definitely listening to music. However, are phones really the best way to listen to music?

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Many phones boast of having the best audio quality, such as the iPhone, which has based this fact on its close relationship with the now almost extinct iPods; Likewise, the new generations of Android phones such as the S23 and S24 from Samsung, the Motorola, several models from Huawei and LG, among many others, although the reality is that all of these phones are very far from being a good option to play your music. favorite.

Given all these functions and utilities that smartphones provide today, it is easy to wonder if it is really necessary to buy an additional portable DAC to the phone that we all already carry in our pockets today.

Well, if you are passionate about good audio or are interested in making the most of your accessories such as good headphones or a portable speaker, the answer is YES, it's that simple.

Portable DACs are purpose-built gadgets with the main task of playing music with the best possible audio quality. The music signal transmitted from a good DAC to headphones will always be of infinitely higher quality than that coming out of a smartphone, and even ears with little or no training are able to notice the big difference between the audio quality that comes out of a phone and the one that comes out of a DAC. 

These devices have better technical specifications in all areas of musical reproduction, whether they provide less distortion, a better balance between channels, a greater depth of sound, especially the bass, also a cleaner sound and much greater power; all this to offer us the highest quality for our headphones or speakers.

In addition to this, DACs, such as the xDSD Gryphon can play different compression-free audio formats that normal phones cannot, such as PCM or DSD, and in many cases have more of an audio output, either normal or balanced, for headphones or speakers, and which can be complemented with special amplifiers.

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Apart from this, there are different features that make listening to music from a dedicated player an experience far above that of a simple smartphone:

• Autonomy: Smartphones consume their battery quickly depending on the use you give them, and if you use them to listen to music, it will drain even faster. Some DACs have their own battery, which usually has an extended performance that in most cases will provide you with at least 10 hours of continuous playback and in some cases will go beyond 18, even using equalizer.
• Portability: Apparently using only the smartphone to take up less space in our pocket would be the best option, however, current DACs are really compact and are very easy to carry due to their small size. A good example is the GO bar, which has amazing performance and is half the size of the average palm. Believe us, for the size they usually have, DACs like this one sound monstrously powerful.
• Power: In the world of headphones and high-resolution devices, there are very high impedance headphones, which require more power to achieve optimal volume. This is something well known by DAC manufacturers, which is why these players are produced with higher quality components that give them more power, making them capable of driving really demanding headphones, some of which not even a premium range phone could handle. make it sound at an appropriate volume. A Hi-Fi music player will allow you to enjoy your headphones, no matter what they are.

From our point of view, if you like to enjoy music, it is really important to invest in a good DAC to give great use to your favorite headphones. Nothing better than a dedicated player to make exceptional use of your hearing aids.

What do you think? Are you an average user who listens to music with your cell phone or do you prefer to enjoy music with higher quality on a dedicated player?

If you have more questions about it, visit us; Our experts are always ready to advise you: www.ifi-audio.com.mx