I get the footnote, really. Her idea of traveling light means that it’ll fit in the trunk.
Conversation to post link to - Back when I had the DFB and was pairing with a Senn HD-6xx. You had a nice discussion about the output not even being that good from any dongle (including the Red or Cobalt) due to limitations of lightning or USB ports. I’m guessing 2019.
I think in this thread, it’s gone off the rails with a confusion of volts and actual power delivery into higher ohm loads. Folks need to understand that any dongle that does not have auxillary power has to deal with running the DAC, any power losses, and limits as to output.
Would you care to speculate on the differences between current cheap dongles, like that Moondrop or whatever it’s called and something like a better one - the more expensive Questiles, or L&P W4. That Woo Tube mini looks nice - and I see they have a base that can be used to supply power to it - so perhaps it can get around some of the limitations.
There’s not much I can say as I’ve not really paid much attention to dongle DAC/amps since I picked up the W4. I pretty much only use it, the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle, or a Lotoo PAW S2 as dongles now. I have an S1 somewhere, and an old Meridian Explorer2.
Very occasionally I use a Qudelix 5K … but 99.9999% of the time I’m wireless I’m using AirPods Pro 2.
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I’ve played with the Moondrop Dawn Pro. For IEMs, I can’t think of anything better for anywhere near its price (<$50), but I didn’t seriously exercise it with full-size cans, so can’t comment there.