How great that I’ve stumbled upon this thread! I’m looking for a portable dac/amp that would be fine with being used between desktop and out on the go, between IEM’s and my Planars. I’ve been doing a whole lot of research and here I came down to some options:
Hidizs dh80s - good reviews, balanced, quite portable, good amount of power too. 140 bucks.
Fiio Q5S - has been mentioned, but I can’t find it anywhere online for EU, so that sucks.
Xduuo 5+ - Actually more of a desktop amp from the looks of it, like I would maybe carry it in a backpack, not a pocket so take it fo what it is. 290.
Xduuo Xd10 Poke - fun size, seems pretty good, and looks fun. 250.
Now I’ve been scouting on Linsoul, and two products that were brought to my attention that I couldn’t find anything about on the internet were the Aune BU2, and YinLvMei B2. AUNE BU2 is an upgrade from its younger BU1. Going quickly through BU1 review, Zeos liked it so maybe it’d be a good buy?
Then there is the Hip dac v2 as well, for 200 ish?
But from all these choices, I’m personally leaning into the DH80s, for the price performance aspect, though I do want to hear what people know about Aune, and generally other opinions about the aforementioned products.
For dongles, check this link 
i am very interested in the W2, because i need something that can clean up my phone’s audio. i have noticed that I get static/white noise when I have audio playing from any app, and this gets exaggerated with bluetooth dac/amps. most notable of all, there is a POP i can hear that will indicate the phone’s audio driver? DAC? is operating. I have my hopes up because the apple dongle-dac cleans the static up a bit, but I can still hear the POP when audio is recognized to be playing or not.
I’ve got the unit Z reviewed. If you plan on using Bluetooth and don’t want to reconnect every time you pause, do not buy. That’s the biggest annoyance for me, beyond that it’s incredibly prone to interference. I’ve had it to where I can walk towards the back of a 53’ trailer, leaving my phone on the toolbox of my truck, so straight line of sight, with the unit in my back pocket. If I turn around, signal will suddenly have problems. If I reach a point where it’ll have problems being in my back pocket and my back is turned to my phone, and I take the unit out of my pocket, the issues clear up.
If you’re going Wired it’s fine. A bit lacking in power, but fine.
What do you all think about the ifi Gryphon? Its kindof expensive, but seems totally stacked with features
Great! I have one now. I love everything about but buy the price 
Wondering if the features justify the price difference over a ifi go blu… I guess with the added power it will drive more headphones
Definitely better sounding than Go Blu and has improved bluetooth range too. Could have been priced lower though as adding just a bit more would get you the iDSD Signature which is a step or two better in sound quality. If those extra features are useful, it’s definitely a great portable unit.
If you are going to use hard to drive headphones then it may not be a good option though. Sundara with Gryphon vs Signature, Signature is much better. Not a big difference with IEMs.
Not too sure when it comes to Sundara but a secondhand og iDSD Micro or iDSD Micro BL are both very versatile (will drive Tin P1’s, Z1R and ThieAudio Phantoms) with ease 
beasts and very affordable compared to the Signature and Gryphon 
I am not shopping in that price range.
I keep think about the Topping NX7 ( $179 ), and pairing it with an Apple Dongle DAC, or maybe spending a whopping $50 to upgrade to a Periodic Audio Rhodium. That would be a plenty of power for my current collection, plus any headphone I intend to buy, and most I have ever fantasized about owning. It really is a lot of amp for the money, with tons of power and battery life.
The only thing that might stop me is that I like being able to put my BTR5 in my pocket and walk around. I suppose, I could use it as the DAC, and put both the the BTR5 and NX7 in my pocket. I need bigger pockets, or a fanny pack. 
Topping NX7 + Dongle or XD-05 Bal are the best bang for buck in the game, imo.
I gotta say that for NX7, I would try to get no coloration dongles or ones with lineout, but those are expensive. If a dongle has an amp module, it will color the sound, etc etc etc.
Apple dongle, especially US version, is great.
Do you find it odd that we spend all this time trying to find neutral headphones, only to mess with the sound on Amps and DACs?
This is even more odd since I can barely hear the difference on most DACs, unless the rest of the chain is god tier level gear, so it is really the Amp. DAC differences are mostly sampling rates and stuff that unless they are really low, you are barely designed to detect it.
i only use iem, so i don’t really need power. i have a normal hearing*, will i hear any difference upgrading from a $10 apple dongle dac to a sub $150 dac ? if so what recommendation do you have for me ? thanks - { * by normal hearing i mean that i am not trained and could not a difference using the shuoer s12 (a resolving planar iem) between apple dongle 31mw SE output and btr5 240mw balanced output }
If you don’t catch a difference, I’d say to save the money.
For a 100usd, my rec is Q5k (has peq built in as well) or ES100 (I have yet to order this one, but a lot of people around me love it).
If you cannot differentiate between an
Apple dongle & BTR5 (Wired, not Bluetooth), Why bother getting a new DAC? Try different IEM’s instead.
If you still want to try a DAC/Amp then Lotoo PAW S1 or Qudelix 5K are good options.