The silver color reviewed here has a very sleek appeal with four fairly tall feet holding the unit upright giving a floating effect that further accentuates the polish of the metal. Thank you for the comprehensive review! With the features and performance here, is there any reason to be considering the Topping L30+E30 rather than the DX3 Pro+? I started my testing with Sennheiser HD-650 in high gain mode. Here, there was plenty of power and no hint of strain from the amplifier. Tonal response remained constant up to max volume which was quite loud. But not loud enough to make the cups flap in the wind. No, it’s probably not the best measuring unit in the world, but the HiFi-M8 is a neutrally tuned, highly dynamic, and musical DAC/AMP combo. It to me technically performs well and it offers a lot of connectivity and output options. Sound-wise the HiFi-M8 V2 is natural, exciting, balanced, and musical. What’s not to like?

If you need lowest latency, its minimal phase cousin F5 is not a bad choice. Being minimal phase, phase response invariably goes south near fs/2. (I think it's an elliptic filter.) I honestly struggle to think of any circumstances where one of the slow rolloff filters (F4, F6) would be worth it. A no-brainer, outperforming many, if not every, DAC/Amp available at the time of writing. And, if I still have a personal affection for the xDuoo XD-05 Plus, for many, the FiiO Q7 will be the one and only to get.

Whoops!

If you want reference quality sound from a transportable unit, the Angel now is one of the main units to look at. It plays (more than) well with everything I hooked up to it, and it does so without a sweat! You can expect these DAC & Amps to present you with a refined listening experience. The audio quality exhibited by these DAC & Amps is a beautiful mix of musicality, technical brilliance and high precision.

output power. Does the amp have enough juice to drive your particular headphones to loud enough listening levels without distorting?

Packaging & Accessories

If you absolutely need the portability without the cable mess, then it might be the best possible solution from a pure sound quality perspective. For pure sound quality, the SG1 is much better than many other BT DACs I’ve tried. Focus on the features, build quality, aesthetics, warranty, etc. that are important to you. What's "best" is not about finding the perfect match given that there are tons of DACs and amps that you can choose from that measure well and have enough power. It's about your preferences ... so long as the devices measure well enough. Let’s make it short: for the price, the iFi Uno is a very compelling device . Build quality is nice, form-factor is great and the sound is impressive. Top that with a complete I/O thanks to 3.5 + RCA and USB-C, and it can virtually work with everything you own, as a DAC/Amp or a pure DAC As standard with Topping, the DX3 Pro+it comes in a white cardboard box with generous foam inserts to keep the contents secure. The unboxing is a straightforward experience with not that much to complain about. Choose a linear phase filter with a 20kHz passband. That will avoid any potential phase issues. Pre ringing is not a thing for properly bandwidth limited input.

For the design section of our Topping DX3 Pro+ Review we found it is similar to the D10 series with a few design changes, despite the fact that they all have a similar shape and size.

Sound Impressions

The Cayin RU7 has a tuning which is more to the neutral side, but with its full body and powerful, controlled bass impact, it is a very musical and engaging DAC/AMP dongle. At the front of the device is the LED display with vibrant orange lit bottom section used to show most of the information about the unit and a cool-blue lit top portion which shows the active input selected. This is an improvement over the LDAC version’s all orange display but I still would have preferred a less eye-catching color to match the clean look. The Woo WA8 is tube-powered and it was chosen as the best DAC/AMP of 2016 here on Headfonia.com. The WA8 can handle sensitive monitors, high impedance dynamic headphones, and current hungry orthodynamics. The WA8 delivers a whole lot of detail and the sound is clear, clean, and fast. While it often is the case that the amplifier section in AMP/DAC combos is better than the DAC section, the WA8 actually sounds its best as a combo. Oh and it’s so pretty. Probably not the fault of the Ipod or the recordings, but rather you need a headphone with less treble amount aka a darker sounding headphone. Try some sennheisers? The PX100-II perhaps. The iFi Micro iDSD Signature is surely a special unit. It is an excellent performer with a premium build, design, and internal components. It’s also very versatile with outputs and features. If you need something more out of a DAC/Amp then I don’t know what else would fulfill that. When it comes to sound, iFi always delivers and the Signature is no exception.