The DAC in Apple's $10 adapter is higher quality than most "audiophile" DACs because Apple has a larger R&D budget and is better at manufacturing than the entire audiophile industry combined.
Same for Google's, though it's slightly less good iirc.
They aren't perfect - the maximum volume and impedance are pretty low so you do need an amp to electrically drive insensitive headphones.
nah, they are on par with other $10 chinese DAC, which is quite achievement for Apple tbh. I guess Apple decided to not apply "Apple tax" to those dongle.
DACs are very cheap. The BOM gap between "This DAC barely works" and "It won't sound any better if we spend more" for a headphone DAC is probably a dollar or so. This isn't some 1980s analogue technology where we need to spring for the best materials to get good results, and the components needed are all readily available from many suppliers today.
But the $9 Apple one is very high quality: https://www.audioreviews.org/apple-audio-adapter-review/
The DAC in Apple's $10 adapter is higher quality than most "audiophile" DACs because Apple has a larger R&D budget and is better at manufacturing than the entire audiophile industry combined.
Same for Google's, though it's slightly less good iirc.
They aren't perfect - the maximum volume and impedance are pretty low so you do need an amp to electrically drive insensitive headphones.
nah, they are on par with other $10 chinese DAC, which is quite achievement for Apple tbh. I guess Apple decided to not apply "Apple tax" to those dongle.
There’s a difference between the European version of the Apple dongle and other regions. The European version maxes out at 0.5 Vrms instead of 1 Vrms.
DACs are very cheap. The BOM gap between "This DAC barely works" and "It won't sound any better if we spend more" for a headphone DAC is probably a dollar or so. This isn't some 1980s analogue technology where we need to spring for the best materials to get good results, and the components needed are all readily available from many suppliers today.