Purchased Fiio Q1 Mark 2 IOS / Apple DAC .
Hello,
Background: I travel a lot on business and over all there is an international travel every month .
As a frequent traveler , I have my entertainment kit as every one : Active NC head phones-3 Nos - must have , viz 1) Of course the legendary Bose QC 25 2) PSB M4U NC - Better sounding than the Bose with similar NC 3) Velodyne NC : Don't use much as its not up to the mark , emotional buy and complete waste IMHO .
Music Source :Apple I phone 6 S- 64 Gb : dedicated as a music player .
Head Phone AMP: Use an inexpensive but very capable Head phone amp, the Fiio A3 E11K for travels and for that extra oomph on flights . Lately , when the upgrade bug hit, the natural choice was to check for a Blue tooth NC, like the Bose NC35 or the Sony 1000X (which is very promising with capable performance & the deals going around). However , did I really require an Headphone change? No . Can a Blue tooth HD sound better than a wired ? Decided to give the Bose a makeover with upgraded cables ( Nice braided one) new ear and foam pads . Plenty options available on Ebay .
The missing link : Can a DAC be an answer . The onboard DAC on the iphone is itself very good and very few makers have a DAC for IOS until I read about the Q1 Mk2 IOS DAC. Its affordable but reviews were not to be found as its a relatively new product .
Price :$100 . You get all cables (incl usb/OTG cable) and accessories including a nice pouch . All this in $100 , WoW! Not to forget clamping bands for stacking.
Fit/Finish : Great AL Chassis. Nice rounded corners. The power button has a nice click . Fit and finish up to mark . Nice paint work . Slim and smaller than a pack of cards , may be CC size . However the bass boost and gain switch are miniscule and a little problem to operate .
Performance: And this thing does its job well with 384kHz/32bit decoding as well as native DSD converting up to DSD256. There is no jitter from a iphone any way but when you connect this you hear noticeable difference - viz the background is quieter , Sound seems fuller with added punchiness.
The iOS upgrades now and often and the DAC is able to handle the upgrades and stay connected. So far so good. This is one issue that will keep on bothering .Believe Its predecessor was a victim of this .
Improvization: Now when things were appearing to look pretty , added the E11 HD phone amp after the DAC . This added amplification further improved the sound stage especially when listing at low volumes, the vocals were clear and really enjoyed the guitar plucks etc . Had never so much enjoyed music whilst traveling and at home .
Head phones used - all of above plus Audio technica M50 . Downside : the gear is like a small brick stack. The phone , DAC and the AMP . Have to keep them charged , all of them .
Over all a good buy and recommended .
Thanks,