Say you were drawing up a list of possible contenders for hi-fi ubiquity only a few years ago. Only the very prescient put ‘portable DAC’ anywhere near the top.

And yet here we are. The prevalence of digital music, and the enormous storage capacity of some portable music players and smartphones (not to mention desktop computers), means we can access all our favourite music no matter where we are.

But what’s the point if it sounds unsatisfactory?

The majority of DACs and headphone amplifiers fitted to smartphones or laptops are the cheapest and most plentiful the manufacturer could find. And we all know what the results of that kind of policy are – just listen to the way your laptop neuters your favourite tunes when you plug your headphones straight into its socket.
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https://www.whathifi.com/cyrus/soundkey/review