Old phones as streaming sources

So, did you compare running the iPhone direct into the DAC8 versus going through your Aries?  If you don’t hear a significant improvement through the Aries, well, let’s  just say we greatly differ in our experiences.  And yes, I bought an upgraded LavriCable silver Lightning/USB cable to upgrade from the Apple Camera Adapter to run directly into my Musician Pegasus R2R DAC and it was a big improvement, bit it still in no way approached the performance going through the iFi Zen streamer.  So I stand by my own listening experience that compared to a decent streamer the iPhone sucks relatively as a streaming source, but I also mentioned it’s fine in less critical situations and is indeed very listenable in that situation.  But IME it in no way compares to running a dedicated streamer — not even close.  Hey, you asked “What’s your experience” and I gave it to you.  If your experience is different or you disagree that’s fine, but I stand by what I heard/said. 

I repurposed an older iPad that had a short battery life into a dedicated streamer next to my desk. Since it had to be connected to the DAC anyway, the charging cord wasn't an issue. For my ears, the sound is terrific in this near field desk setup and the display is awesome with the iPad propped up in a stand. 

I vote a yes to extending the usefulness of this kind of electronics. With the money I save, someday I will able to afford the kinds of electronics that will help me discern higher quality music reproduction. 

iPhone into chord mojo is a good streaming setup with headphones on the go. That is essentially the purpose of Mojo. If you’re using it as your primary dac that’s fine as well. But let’s just not build any illusions about that setup’s capabilities. 

@bruce19 

I still have a 6s as well and while it’s a Swiss Army knife as far as phones go, it’s like a Swiss Army knife, it does everything, it just doesn’t do it well. I have a Sony boombox that has the big Apple plug on it and that’s what my garage system is.  But for anything more, the 6s wasn’t designed for it.  Neither is the 13 that I  currently have.

My central point is that by stripping away as many of the non-essential functions of the phone as possible I perceive it to improve as a digital source and I wonder if others have similar experiences. The persuasive explanation for this would be the reduction of electrical noise improves clarity and coherence of the digital signal. After all, it  is generally accepted that one of the best and quietest power supplies possible is a battery. I believe that Audirvana claimed to do something similar for users of computers as digital sources. This is just doing the same but manually.

If anyone has measurement capabilities for this sort of thing it would be fascinating to know what you find.