Audiophile Setup with an Iphone 7

All good suggestions here. The Ayre Codex with balanced output is also an excellent option. I use the Ayre Codex in my own personal headphone setup as a DAC/AMP. The Chord Mojo or Hugo are also both good options as well. I’m also using a raspberry pi 3 via WIFI to stream Tidal to the Ayre Codex DAC with pretty good results. I use the Lumin app on my iPhone to control Tidal. The Raspberry Pi is surprisingly good for $35 dollars. I used to use the Apple lightening camera adaptor but I stopped because I didn’t like my phone being tied up in the source chain. I rather use the iPhone or ipad as a music streamer controller. I recently purchase the Sparky USBridge (allo.com) for about $180, which as a built in jitter reclock, so the performance should be pretty good. If you have the money to spent...you won't go wrong with the Ayre QX5/20 streamer/DAC.  Good luck!

If budget is open, the aforementioned Ayre should be a good option.

 The Ayre comments were good but I don't think the OP wants to build a Rasberry PI device.

So the questions the OP should ask himself are:

1: How good do I want it to be which will affect budget?
2: Headphones only or a system with an amplifier for future speakers?
3: Is the size and complexity of the setup an issue? 
4: Do I want the convience of having an app?
5: Do I require of possibly like the ability to stream other sources than Tidal to the system?
6: Is Roon or MQA something I know about or care to maybe play with?
7: Is portability something that matters?
8: Which Audize headphones are going to be used?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Hi Wiilemj.

I understand that toslink offers noise isolation and, if bit-perfect, it should be comparable with other streamers.

Check out this article on Chromecast as a streamer.

https://darko.audio/2016/07/not-as-the-artist-intended-google-chromecast-audio-w-tidal/

DAR is an experinced audio journalist and reviewer and I believe one of the best sources for independent information on digital audio.

For two years I used a Chromecast Audio (digital out via toslink) and was very happy to use it for Spotify Connect but the Aries is my go to source for better SQ.

FyI The Aries recently had a software upgrade and has Spotify Connect and so my Chromecast is no longer in use. 

Thanks for the link. I read the Darko piece, but note (not for the first time) that he presents no hard evidence for what on theoretical grounds is a pretty implausible argument. I honestly do not think he is someone to take very seriously. Anyway, that is my take. See here for what I think is a far more solid review: http://archimago.blogspot.nl/2016/02/measurements-google-chromecast-audio_27.html