What would be a good portable Dac/Amp to use with my HD6xx and Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone?
I am new to this hobby. I purchased a HD6XX and plan to use it with my Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone, that has a 3.5mm jack. I was wondering if I needed a portable dac/amp or just a portable amp and if so what would one recommend? Any assistance one could provide, would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Haz
Mar 7, 2024
The space taken up by amp boards is pretty small, and could easily be accounted for by making the cabinet slightly taller or deeper, so the above doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, putting amps inside the speakers lets you go fully active, with an active crossover pre-amplification. This is a MUCH bigger increase in sound quality than a slight increase in available cabinet volume. And, the active crossovers are physically smaller than passive ones, so even with amps added the space difference isn't as much as implied, assuming the heat sinks are external on the back.
The only real downside is increased cost to add four baby amps, but on the bright side, with the tiny power handling of these you could even go proper class AB instead of D; It'd probably only need one output device per amp.
Also, consider magnetic grilles instead of friction plugs next model or model revision. Most users will run nearfield monitors naked, and they look nicer without the four plastic-lined holes in the face.