External (portable) DAC/AMP vs DAP?

[WaveTheory]

Ok, cool. Among dac/amps, the Hip-Dac gives the most robust physical connection in the price range. iFi makes other more expensive models like the iDSD Black Label that will give the same recessed USB port, too. The Hip-Dac does color the sound quite a bit though. This coloration can be good or bad depending on the headphones you use. I gave it a thorough review here:

iFi Hip-DAC

Here is my amateur (and somewhat long, sorry) review of the Hip-Dac… TL; DR -> The Hip-Dac is likely the top dog in this product category at this price point – IF you fall into a somewhat narrow range of use cases. iFi has addressed some ergonomic issues that plague this product category, but not some others. The presence of the balanced output is both a big pro and a somewhat smaller and potentially confusing con. The Hip-Dac sounds quite good with a warm sound signature. It sounds really good…