I get your logic. Seems like a lifestyle decision to me also. I move around a lot and work from a laptop. Sometimes I work at an office, sometimes at home, sometimes at a coffee shop or brewery. For me the ability to take a killer source in my pocket wherever I go is something I’m willing to pay for because it means I actually get more use out of it.
Yes, it is in indeed a lifestyle choice. If you arent using it at one place most of the time or at all. Then a portable source is going to be neccessary.
That said, I’m still reluctant to let go of the desktop stack that I have and fully switch to portable because I know it’s going to mean a hit either in performance or price. There is definitely a tradeoff. You are right about that.
Well, if you r buying a DAP, you gotta pay for the features you already have in your phone or PC…
such as: software, battery, screen, portability etc.
In the same way, buying separate desktop DAC and then AMP is less cost efficient than combos since you have to pay for something twice…
Yeah most budget/mid tier desktop source manufactures aren’t bothered about IEM’s as such and rightly so tbh, they’re more about the Watt per 
pissing competition so they can power demanding HP’s etc.
What I do find strange is apart from iFi at lot of even higher end “portable” Dac/Amp, Amp’s still need an iEMatch to provide a black back ground…even the Hugo 2 and Cayin C9.
I mean, you could just get standalone amps and dacs.
I meant it this way
I mean, the same could be said about portable sources. You might be paying for bluetooth that you will never use, 1080p screen that isnt needed and so on.
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I think Chris @hawaiibadboy only uses his ADI 2 for continuity with his reviews 
not sure what his IEM kick back non review choice would be?
Yup, just use it for continuity through all reviews. I use DX300 away from review station
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So that’s two folks with good + desktop sources that still prefer to use a Dap to power their High end IEM sets…HP’s are another thing though.
The FH7’s have gone, Nano BL gone just awaiting payment on my HD660’s (sold) and the DX300 will be ordered…can’t wait to see how it jams with the OG Andros, Vega, P1’s and Z1Rs 
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I’d say that there’s something in being able to have a really nice all in one solution that you can just go to another place and relax with your IEMs/headphones. That’s part of why I’m gonna upgrade from my qp1r after I upgrade my IEMs.
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I’ll be interested to see how you find it, I’m looking at getting something in the range of the dx300 and its currently my 1st choice.
Will do buddy, I’ll see how it compares to my IDSD Micro 
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I will have to disagree with you on that. The Dap gives in most cases a better Dac and amp, you get versatility and portability and for many buyers the idea of seperating the music from the phone is essential.
And here I also have to disagree. Yes a combo can cost less, but it is not compairing the same; you get more options and can easier upgrade if that is your path. So it depends on your needs and wallet how to approach it. So it is not always less cost efficient.
Thats a fair point.
If you go for high tier portable … than ok, but if you are alright with LDAC bluetooth, I still think something like btr5 or even bricks like xduoo 05 would be the better solution…
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One main benefit for a dap is that you are moving the music player/transport away from a pc or phone. You are using a system that was hopefully built from the ground up with music playback in mind which hopefully would give a more direct connection to a dac and lower system electrical noise for better jitter/playback performance vs having to go through a standard usb port or toslink on a motherboard or phone running a generalized system not optimized for audio transport duties. You can improve the performance of using a pc or phone if you use some sort of exclusive mode on them (wasapi or asio on win for example, or something like uapp or hiby app on android) for more direct access to the dac, and then things like separate usb power supplies or other filtering, along with reclocking to improve jitter though. But having that transport on the device itself typically leads to a bit nicer sound quality (if you give a fair comparison to some comparable desktop solution)
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I think most if not all purchasers of £1k + Daps are driven by their over all sound quality and synergy with their IEM’s and not bluetooth options?
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Bluetooth is nice to have in a pinch, but if you are investing in high quality source gear it’s really not something you would want to be using all that often imo
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