Audiophile Setup with an Iphone 7

Hi

I'm using my phone two different ways.

1) To Apple TV V.3 - optical out to DAC then to amp.

2) Apple camera adapter - the one with the charging option - USB out to DAC then to amp

The Apple camera adapter will also allow you to plug phone into a portable DAC/Amp for headphones on the go.

Good luck!

P

With no disrespect to the above contributors, Apple TV, AirPlay, the iphone DAC and Chromecast are not audiophile solutions. Many would also agree that a Mac Mini is also far from ideal as a steamer. For top quality you need a dedicated streamer and a DAC/amp. I use an iPhone 7 and stream Tidal via Auralic Aries but you can also look at Auralic Aries mini. With no budget listed it’s very tricky to reccomend a DAC and headphone amp. For mid market prices look at the Chord range (hugo/mojo/hugo desktop). If you are looking for a small portable headphone set up with IPhone then the Dragonfly Black or Red.

The digital outputs of the Apple Airport Express or Apple TV and of the Chromecast Audio are bitperfect, and hence have no sonic signature. That would come from the DAC that one uses. An external DAC may improve the sound, but the inbuilt DAC of these devices is actually pretty good. The question here seems to be how portable the system has to be.

I use an iPhone 6 (or iPad Air) in this configuration with great results:

iPhone 6 ➟ Apple Lightning to USB 3.0 Adapter ➟ UpTone Audio USB REGEN ➟ dB Audio Labs Tranquility DAC ➟ etc.

The DAC in the iPhone is bypassed with the Adapter. The REGEN does its re-clocking thing and, to my ears, contributes quite a bit to the equation. IMO the resulting sound quality would satisfy many audiophiles.

With virtually no budget limitations the OP is in an enviable position. Separates? Tubes? Balanced? Space constraints? 

I like the Chord Mojo DAC/amp.  Reasonably affordable and top notch sound  with headphones or even as DAC input to a high end system using a decent quality y-connector.   I use mine with Iphone and IPAD  (Apple lightening adapter required) as source with various headphones and as DAC into my full size hifi setup.