dang it dom!! now i gotta ask what would be a good rec for desktop gear. I was going to jump straight into your rec of the fosi ds2 or the Onix everyone talked about not long ago. Now i am just curious about something to hook up to my laptop.
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An original Chord Mojo will power 99 % of IEMs and sounds dope; holographic, a hair warm, dynamic. Theyâre cheap as hell used. I donât consider them particularly portable, but if youâre thinking of DAPs then, a Mojo is smaller than that.
I can rec the Onix XM5, too. Pretty powerful, fairly holographic, may be too warm for some, depends on your IEMs.
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Thanks for the recs brother. Much appreciated!! As far as iems go. I donât have many and itâs honestly just looking for information. As you just even said, Some dacs work for certain iems others donât.
With so many iems coming out: CKLVX D62, 5+2, pula anvil, kiwi HBB collab and more makes you think how many dacs does a man need 
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This is it; finding DACs to match your IEMs is hard. It becomes a pointless exercise if you have an ever changing collection of IEMs! Although, thatâs where Iâd say the Mojo is at itâs strongest; it will pair well with most IEMs because of itâs more than adequate power and fairly neutral FR.
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iâm also still debating on getting the fosi ds2 2024 or the onyx alpha or akliam pd6. Heard only good things about fosi for the price but also contemplating is i should just go drop 50⏠more on the onyx and be done with it XD
All solid picks. the fosi ds2 2024 is a great budget option, but if you can swing the extra âŹ50 for the onyx alpha, it might be worth it for the upgrade. It really depends on what youâre after, but you canât go wrong with either.
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whats superior about it? 
Be aware, that Onix does have some issues with bloated bass and peaky upper-mids according to more than a few people Iâve seen. I canât comment on it as I havenât heard it myself, but Iâm just going by all the accounts.
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First off, DACs donât provide power. They just convert a digital signal to audio, hence the abbreviation DAC (Digital Audio Converter).
Amps provide power. Totally understandable to confuse that since portable dongles almost always combine the amp and the DAC into one unit.
I use a desktop setup to drive headphones and IEMs about 97 percent of the time. I HIGHLY recommend the JDS Labs Atom+ or Atom 2 DAC/amp stack as a desktop solution. DAC and amp sold separately, for around $225 total.
All the CLEAN, uncolored power youâll need, with excellent design, engineering, build quality and sales and service from an American company, built in America.
Iâm not going political and waving the flag here (far from it â I HATE politics and mindless nationalism), but American factories tend to have higher quality control, and dealing with customer service with some Chi-fi companies can be a nightmare due to language and business cultural differences. I have emailed JDS Labs president and founder John Seaber on a SUNDAY NIGHT and received a response within 90 minutes. Thatâs service.
Good luck!
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Not always! Thatâs why I disagree here, Mr. American 
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Thats the thing, they dont.
(it would be the amp specifically when you are talking about power though.)
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In this case, they do though. JDS Labs is legendary for their customer support, as well as solid QC to begin with. +1 on the Atom series for DAC/Amp needs if you just want something that is cost and performance effective. I have had at least four of their products, and none of them have failed me OR the people that got them from me down the line (Iâve been upgrading too much in the last couple years lol).
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My JDS Atom (OG and their first gen model afaik) was bought pretty much 5 years ago and still works with no issues.
Not really a fan of that one though due to terrible volume control (slight adjustment makes volume change a LOT on iems), cheap feeling build (plastic bends when u press it and meh knob).
Fortunately I think they fixed these issues with the newer models.
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They can be a bit juicy for the most sensitive of IEMs, but other than Campfire all-BA stuff Iâve never had a issue (and you can also just reduce volume a tad on your source to help compensate for the gain). The most recent unit, the Atom2, has an aluminum case now so no pushy plastic haha (which, I will admit had a flimsy initial feel but never once failed me).
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hmm, if the volume issue is still there, perhaps I would lean more over to the Schiit products if you want a US brand, at least my Asgard 3 has excellent volume control and knob.
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Speaking of John Seaber who apart from CEO is I believe their lead engineer. Here is the link to excerpts from a good, but very long interview with him. Long story short he is not a huge âsource do matter afâ supporter. As long as they are clean they should sound the same he says. Even though it is kind of in conflict with his interest as it blocks his lineupsâ vertical growth to higher end market 
Some may say he is just not capable of doing shit that sounds better 
Sorry, just had to send it, it was a long time I didnât talk about sources
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I believe itâs a specific engineering choice, as they are very specific about their choice in potentiometers. I honestly never had an issue with anything other than the OG Andromeda or Nova, but caveat empor I suppose. My solution at the time was just to use the HPA on my DX3 pro (which was my DAC at the time) for a little more finite control on mad-sensitive sets. I also didnât use anything that sensitive with the Atom 2, so that may not even be a thing anymore (owners would have to speak on that).
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Note I used the word tend, which infers most of the time, not all of the time.
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Thanks for posting that link. Yes, John also is the lead engineer at JDS. The company name represents his initials, and while I donât think heâs a one-man band, his engineering smarts and design skill touch every product JDS makes.
John always has been a BIG skeptic of the âpower and THD warsâ of Chi-fi companies that crank out variations of existing models on a seemingly semiannual basis with breathless claims of â4 watts of powerâ and a âreduction of .0007 THD.â I agree with him â big whoop.
Johnâs position, which I agree with wholeheartedly, is that 1 to 1.5 watts at 32 ohms is more than enough power to drive most headphones on the market to peak fidelity. The rest is just wasted power that can lead to THD and noisy, colored output. The spec wars are more of a marketing exercise than true innovation.
JDS instead focuses on enough CLEAN, UNCOLORED power with excellent engineering and QC. Iâll take that every time over the next Topping, SMSL or Fiio amp that claims to have more power than a nuclear substation with a reduction of THD inaudible to all but search-and-rescue dogs.
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Even this is vastly more than you really need tbhâŚ
Better to focus on efficiency, that should drive power consumption and thus cost even lower.
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