How do we get more young people into hi-fi? It’s a question numerous audio engineers and What Hi-Fi?'s team of experts have pondered for many moons.

The answer is tricky to nail down because, as Bob Dylan famously sang, the times are changing, so what worked for one person, even a few years ago, may not be the silver bullet we need to help spread the gospel of good sound right now.

Which is why, when AudioQuest unveiled a new version of its DragonFly portable DAC at High End Vienna 2026 – a device that was the gateway to better sound and start of a lifelong hi-fi journey for many people when it launched in 2012 – I couldn’t resist the urge to chat with its director of marketing, Stephen Mejias, to see if the brand has similar aspirations for the device with Gen Z.

To my surprise, for the DragonFly specifically, the answer is no. But AudioQuest does have some thoughts on how brands should approach the challenge.

A happy accident in the early 2010s

Talking to What Hi-Fi?, Mejias openly told us the original DragonFly’s success with younger listeners was more of a happy accident than an intentional effort.

“[We] are thrilled that DragonFly has reached as many people as it has, but we’re also realistic. We are not actively trying to attract younger music fans with any of the products we develop, but we’re certainly not trying to turn them away either. We want to create products that help as many people as possible enjoy their music, movies, and games to the greatest extent possible,” he said.

“Occasionally, as has been the case with DragonFly, that will mean reaching a relatively younger audience. We love that. But any success in reaching younger listeners was not so much the plan as it was a wonderful by-product of a job well done by everyone involved.”

He added this has not changed with the new DragonFly Copper, which the brand has designed with the same performance-per-pound (or dollar) focus.

“AudioQuest products are designed to represent outstanding value and performance within the context of their prices, and we do endeavour to create products that will appeal to anyone interested in enjoying more immersive, more emotionally compelling listening experiences. [But] it would be disingenuous to say that we have a plan for attracting younger music fans.”

But it does have a hot take…

Despite not overtly focusing on attracting younger audiences, Mejias told us AudioQuest does have some theories about why so many hi-fi brands are struggling to attract Gen Z – and what can be done to change the situation.

The main issue is that traditional hi-fi, which involves large racks and lots of excess space for products, according to Mejias.

“Young people are relatively active, their time is limited and spent doing multiple things at once [...] they are not just stopping all other activities to listen to music,” he told us.

“[They] do not have a lot of space that they control – that is, they don’t yet own their own homes, but rather either share an apartment or flat with roommates, live in dorms at school, or at home with their family – and they haven’t fully established themselves in the workforce. All these very important factors are in direct opposition to a pastime such as audiophilia that demands dedicated time, a controlled environment, and often lots of money.”

Which is why he thinks more affordable, portable, or at the very least plug-and-play systems are more likely to appeal to younger fans than traditional separates.

“The answer seemed clear to me then and remains so now: if we, as an industry, truly want to attract a younger audience, then we should make products that young people actually want to own, at prices they can actually afford, and that fit into their lifestyles,” he said.

“The fact that DragonFly is small, portable, works with mobile devices, makes an obvious and meaningful improvement to any music file played through it, is pretty to look at, fun to hold, and is relatively affordable does indeed make it attractive to a more diverse audience than, say, a pair of monoblock amplifiers and full-range loudspeakers.”

Mejias isn’t alone in his belief. US analyst firm Market Reports World, listed DACs, active speakers, and personal audio equipment as growing markets for the 18–34 demographic. Numerous traditional hi-fi firms have also cited systems, both active speakers and all-in-ones, as key growth areas. Cambridge Audio cited attracting younger music fans as a key reason it launched its new L/R Series of active speakers earlier this year.

Do you agree with Mejias? Let us know in the comments section below!

MORE:

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We rank the best hi-fi systems

Our picks of the best wireless headphones

The High End Show is always a fun time for hi-fi enthusiasts. Bringing together the crème de la crème of premium audio under one roof, the expo always delivers a wealth of sonic treats.

And despite changing location to Vienna, from its traditional Munich, this year’s show was no different. Our team on the ground saw everything from swish new premium B&O speakers to chic new CD systems from Ruark.

But for me, there was one shining star that attendees may have missed, due to its pocket-sized nature – the new DragonFly Copper from AudioQuest.

Why am I choosing a tiny mobile DAC / headphone amp over the sea of premium separates and speakers at the show as my highlight? The answer is a simple one; I’ve got history with the DragonFly.

The dalliance started in 2012 with the launch of the original DragonFly DAC. Though I grew up with hi-fi and continued to enjoy it as a young adult, the DragonFly was the first piece of audio hardware I reviewed as a journalist. As the saying goes, you always remember your first.

But that's not the main reason I remember the unit so fondly; it was also a top performer that genuinely revolutionised how I listened to music on the go at the time.

People may not remember it, but 2012 was a pretty dire time for mobile audio. I know that because I also reviewed mobile phones during the period and can personally confirm their audio quality was pretty poor.

I loved my Nexus 4, but, like nearly all of the phones at the time, its audio was sub-par, even with a decent pair of wired cans attached, and it wasn’t alone. Pretty much every laptop, tablet and mobile device you could use as a source didn’t cut the sonic mustard back then.

So having this tiny, affordable USB dongle that, to put it bluntly, just made things better, was a lifesaver – especially for a 20-something who regularly had to take red-eye flights across the pond for work.

We may be used to the idea now, with other players, including iFi, releasing a steady stream of similar products, but the DragonFly was the first properly good mobile DAC I experienced.

Which is why it has a room reserved in my memory palace, and I was genuinely a little sad when the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC went out of production and was removed from our best DACs guide earlier this year.

It’s also why I was elated to see it return at High End Vienna and can’t wait to get a unit in for review and see if the new Copper lives up to the DragonFly’s legacy.

If even a smattering of the firm’s performance claims – which range from improved current efficiency to significantly meatier output power – ring true, then we could be in for quite the treat.

MORE:

These are the best portable music players

We rank the best wired headphones

Our top picks of the best headphone amps

We're big fans of AudioQuest's DragonFly range of DACs / headphone amps, so a new model is cause for celebration. The DragonFly Copper claims to be AudioQuest's most powerful and efficient DAC yet, and builds on the Award-winning Red and Cobalt models.

We're promised "gradual refinements" through better parts and materials. But these refinements should add up to some sizeable gains – the new 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC / headphone amp promises twice the output power of any previous model, while the new Microchip Technology Microprocessor reduces the current draw by 25 per cent and improves supply-chain efficiency.

It also promises lower noise and distortion, and has a high-conductivity copper-plated case for improved RF-noise drainage.

The case is "informed and inspired by" the RF-draining barrels of AudioQuest's Mythical Creatures interconnects. We had a first look at the Copper at High End Vienna 2026, and as before, the USB-shaped DAC has a USB type A connection at one end, with a 3.5mm headphone/audio output at the other. A USB-C adapter is also included.

The tiny DAC offers a lot of what made its predecessors so well regarded, including compatibility with digital files from hi-res to the lowly MP3, the ability to work with iOS and Android devices and Apple and Windows computers, and the capability to drive headphones and feed preamps, amps and powered speakers.

We love the now-retired DragonFly Cobalt, noting in our review that it "does wonders in cleaning up our laptop’s performance, no matter what kind of file we feed it... It is such an incredibly precise rendering that we almost feel duty-bound to play our highest-resolution recordings through it."

The AudioQuest DragonFly Copper goes on sale in September for £230 / $250 (around AU$430). We'll bring you a full review as soon as we can.

MORE:

Read our AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt review

And our AudioQuest DragonFly Red review

The best DACs to improve your sound

iFi’s Zen DAC was launched back in 2019. Since then, it has remained a sensible buy for those looking for a quality digital-to-analogue converter at an affordable price. This distinctively-shaped unit has proved ideal for improving a computer's sound when using headphones or feeding a conventional speaker-based hi-fi system. 

The iFi Zen DAC V2 is a former What Hi-Fi? Award winner; we have the third generation Zen DAC model on test here and it proves reassuringly familiar in most ways.

Design

The design has evolved, of course. The highlights are a shift from the last generation’s USB-Type B input to a USB-C and improved file compatibility that now takes in 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512 hi-res music streams. MQA decoding ability continues too, though given Tidal’s move away from the format, that doesn’t seem so significant for most people.

Take a look inside the iFi Zen DAC 3 and you will find a 16-core XMOS processor running iFi’s in-house software and feeding a four-channel Burr-Brown DAC chip. PCM and DSD datastreams have their dedicated pathways so they remain ‘bit-perfect’ as they get processed. Elsewhere, this new DAC is claimed to have lower DC offset at its output and ‘over-voltage’ protection for its USB input. 

Power output figures remain unchanged from before, with iFi quoting 210mW into a 32-ohm load from the single-ended 6.3mm output, rising to 390mW into 64 ohms for the balanced 4.4mm socket. We certainly didn’t have any loudness issues with any of the headphones we tried with this DAC.

When it comes to connectivity, there is only one signal input, the USB-C port. This also accepts power, so the Zen DAC 3 can be run off your computer and doesn’t necessarily need a mains feed to work. It is possible to add an optional power supply called the Power 2, which costs £69 / $79 / AU$110 in the required 5 volt DC form. 

While our review sample of the Zen DAC 3 wasn’t supplied with one, we have enough experience of iFi’s external power supplies to know that this is something well worth investigating.

As for outputs, there are two for headphones – a 6.3mm and 4.4mm balanced – on the front panel and the combination of line-level stereo RCAs and balanced 4.4mm on the back. Here you will also find a switch to change the DAC 3’s line output from fixed (when it is used with an external amplifier) to variable (for use with active speakers). These options make the Zen DAC 3 a vastly more flexible performer than the similarly-priced Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt USB DAC.

Build & features

General build quality of the Zen DAC 3 is good. The casework is essentially unchanged from the last generation model and is none the worse for that. This is a compact design that takes up less desk space than a typical paperback. There is a fresh look to the front panel and volume dial that makes them look a little smarter than before, but beyond that it feels like business as usual. 

The ‘Power Match’ button, as seen on the previous generation, makes a return, and proves useful; it adjusts the amplifier’s gain to allow the volume control to work with greater subtlety across a range of headphones with differing sensitivities.

Next to that is the XBass+ button that aims to compensate for the relative bass shortfall that open-back headphones suffer from when compared to closed designs. This can also be thought of as a conventional bass boost control. Regardless, it is fairly subtle in use and offers a useful bass bump with thinner-sounding recordings or headphones. 

The Zen DAC 3 takes a leaf out of Chord Electronics’ book and uses the colour of the LED light ring around the volume control to indicate the resolution of the incoming digital data stream. Initially, this forces us to go back to the user manual repeatedly to check what the colour shown means, but soon becomes intuitive.

We partner the iFi DAC with our usual Apple MacBook Pro laptop and try out a number of headphones including the Sennheiser HD 650 and Grado SR325x open-backs, the premium Sony MDR-Z1 and Shure SE535 in-ears. To see how the Zen DAC 3 performs in a conventional hi-fi system, we put together a set-up of a Rega Brio amplifier and KEF LS50 Meta speakers. 

Audioquest’s Award-winning DragonFly Cobalt (now reduced to £179 / $199 / AU$369) is the most obvious competitor, while the pricier Chord Mojo 2 (currently available for £395 / $555 / AU$799) provides a broader context.

Sound

The iFi Zen DAC 3’s first hurdle is to sound better than the headphone output of our MacBook Pro, and it does that. As we work our way through a collection of playlists from Tidal (using Audirvana music software) it doesn’t take long to decide that the iFi delivers far more in the way of resolution, authority and dynamic finesse than the laptop by itself. Consider that box ticked.

Next is the comparison with the previous generation Zen DAC V2 model. This proves interesting and not as one-sided as we would have hoped. There is no doubt that the new DAC 3 delivers cleaner, clearer and slightly more detailed results than its predecessor. 

It sounds bigger too, delivering a greater sense of space and scale. Yet, it isn’t all one-way traffic. The older model sounds punchier, slightly more dynamic and is a little more surefooted when it comes to rhythmic drive.

On its own terms, however, there is no denying that the Zen DAC 3 remains a good performer. We listen to a 24-bit/192kHz recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.4 and like the understated way that it renders the sound. This new generation model has a smooth yet even presentation that is packed with a good amount of detail for the money. Instrumental textures are rendered with care, and it is impressive just how uncluttered and spacious it all sounds. 

There is a pleasing sense of scale, and the iFi delivers it with convincing authority. Stereo imaging is crisp, expansive and nicely layered, making the DragonFly Cobalt sound smaller and a little cluttered. The tables are turned when it comes to dynamics, though. Here, the Audioquest DAC shows more in the way of punch and expression, leaving the iFi sounding a little flat-footed in comparison.

A DSD recording of Aimee Mann’s Lost In Space highlights the DAC 3’s main strengths. It has a lovely midrange performance that brims with texture and subtlety. Mann’s singing comes through with clarity, the DAC ensuring that little of her vocal subtlety and emotion are lost. It is an easy-going sound that suits the music well, and is delivered with impressive refinement and lack of edge. 

If you want an undemanding presentation that can just wash over you after a hard day at work, then this DAC could be exactly what you need. However, it isn’t quite an all-rounder by current class standards.

This is made obvious when we switch to Michael Jackson’s Blood On The Dancefloor set (16-bit/44.1kHz). It seems that the Zen DAC 3 takes its name a little too literally when asked to play hard-charging music such as the title track or Ghosts. For all the iFi’s insight and clarity, music such as this makes it feel soft centered. It lacks the verve, dynamic punch and rhythmic drive of the Audioquest, preferring to offer the listener a more sanitised version of events. 

The sense of polite smoothness that works so well on gentle vocal-based music, such as the Aimee Mann set, doesn't pay dividends here and leaves us feeling just a little short-changed.

The Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt doesn’t offer balanced connectivity though. We compare the Zen DAC 3’s sound through both the 6.3mm output and the balanced 4.4mm alternative using a pair of Sony MDR-Z1 headphones and find that the balanced option produces bolder and punchier results. 

So, if you have headphones with this feature it is well worth trying – though it has to be said that none of our recommended price-appropriate headphones do.

Using the iFi in a stereo speaker system context simply reinforces our view of its sonic character. It is a capable and easy going performer, though not the most entertaining around.

Verdict

The Zen DAC 3 is a pleasing product in many ways. It is undemanding of source material and generally manages to produce likeable results. However, it doesn’t represent a clear step up over the last generation model and now also finds itself in broad price parity with Audioquest’s hugely talented Cobalt. 

This dents the Zen DAC’s appeal a little, though if you value the iFi’s easy integration into a speaker-based hi-fi system, then it is certainly worth checking out.

First reviewed: March 2025

SCORE

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt

Also consider the Chord Mojo 2

Best DACs: USB, desktop and portable digital-to-analogue converters

FiiO has unveiled a new portable DAC, to take on the five-star iFi Go Link and AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt models.

The FiiO BTR13 is a tiny portable USB DAC and headphone amplifier similarly sized to its rivals and set to retail for a very reasonable £64 / $64 / €64 when it goes on sale in September. We don’t have Australian pricing at the moment, but we will update this page when we get it.

At first glance it looks very similar to its iFi Go Link and AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt rivals, having a similar, pocket-sized USB form. Connectivity-wise it features USB type-C input and 3.5mm (unbalanced) and 4.4mm (balanced) headphone outputs. 

FiiO is pitching flexibility as the BTR13's main selling point, with the DAC offering three different modes.

it functions as a DAC and headphone amp when connected to smartphones and laptops, but switching it to PC mode will allow it to draw power from the laptop/computer instead of its internal battery. For gamers looking to upgrade their Switch, PS5 or Steam Deck’s audio there’s also UAC 1.0 mode – something rival DACs don’t usually feature.

Running the show in these modes are dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 fully-balanced DACs that can output up to 220mW, which is enough to drive most of the affordable headphones we recommend in our best wired headphones guide.

In its Bluetooth setting, it switches things up and also works as a Bluetooth decoder. This mode is powered by a Qualcomm QCC5125 Bluetooth chip and supports all the usual codecs and standards you would expect, including aptX HD and LDAC. This means you can stream hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz – which is fine for most streaming services, including Tidal and Apple Music.

One small caveat for iPhone owners is that it doesn’t come with a Lightning cable adapter included. So if you want to use it with an iOS device you’ll need to invest in, or already own, a third-party OTG-compliant lightning adapter.

For tinkerers, the unit works with FiiO’s mobile and web app, which grants access to a 10-band parametric equaliser (PEQ). As a final differentiator, the unit even comes with a nifty 0.96-inch colour screen, which should make navigating its menus and settings easier.

The big question however, is how it works in the real world, which we haven’t had a chance to check yet. Though the portable DAC market doesn’t have as many options as it used to, there are many excellent units still available, so it will have stiff competition.

The dinky iFi Go Link costs a similar amount and not only earned five stars in our review, it also impressed our staff writer, Harry McKerrell, so much so that he penned a feature detailing how much he enjoyed using it. The five-star AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, despite being more expensive, has a similar form factor and remains a class leader for its audio performance, despite having come out many years ago and remaining a current What Hi-Fi? Award winner.

MORE:

These are the best DACs we have reviewed

We rate the best headphones money can buy

Our pick of the best portable music players

Danish audio manufacturer Tangent has announced the release of not one but two brand-new products to add to its range of affordable hi-fi components. 

First up is the Tangent DAC II, which uses a premium Sabre 24-bit Stereo Audio DAC at its core. Tangent refers to it as "a solution for anyone who has a traditional amp but now needs a cost-effective, compact preamp", with the diminutive unit sporting a single coaxial input, two optical digital inputs and a USB port, as well as both RCA and XLR balanced outputs. 

While the DAC also features aptX Bluetooth for streaming music directly from your phone or source player, it can also be used as a quality, dedicated headphone amplifier thanks to the inclusion of both 6.3mm and 3.5mm headphone sockets.

The diminutive DAC comes equipped with an intuitive interface and a small-form design that Tangent claims "won't take up too much space in your home or office". There's a remote supplied too, if you don't fancy using the on-unit controls.

The DAC II isn't the only release coming courtesy of Tangent, though. It has also revealed the Ampster TV II, which Tangent claims is "the ultimate amplifier to enhance your TV audio". Featuring Bluetooth 5.0 and an HDMI input, the TV II aims to boost your telly's audio output via its 100 Watts of amplification.

With support for aptX HD, you can use the TV II's Bluetooth capabilities to play music from your compatible phone or source player. The Ampster even comes with a subwoofer output so you have the option of adding more bass to your audio setup. 

Both models are available now, with the Tangent DAC II priced at £250 and the Ampster TV II costing £200 (further prices pending).

MORE: 

Read our AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt review

And our iFi Go Link review

Our pick of the best DACs: USB, desktop and portable digital-to-analogue converters

The release of the FiiO KA13 couldn't have come at a better time. Promising to be a compact yet powerful portable USB DAC for your headphones, the KA13 comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable so that you can plug it directly into the newly converted iPhone 15 without the need for any further adapters. 

It's pretty titchy, too. Much like the five-star iFi Go Link that we reviewed earlier this year or the ever-excellent AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, the FiiO's latest is designed to be a pocket-sized (just 56.3 x 22 x 10.5mm) powerhouse that gives your music a boost wherever you go. Utilising dual 32-bit DACs, the KA13 provides support for up to 32-bit/384kHz as well as native DSD256 hi-resolution files.

It may be small, but you're still treated to a decent range of connectivity options thanks to the inclusion of both single-ended (3.5 mm) and balanced (4.4 mm) headphone outputs. The included USB-C to USB-C cable hooks you up directly to the new iPhone 15 if you're lucky enough to have nabbed one already, but there are also USB-C to Lightning and USB-C to USB-A adaptor cables included to keep all parties happy. 

The KA13 is compatible with plenty of sources, too, with FiiO boasting that its new model will work with Android, iOS, and PCs. If you're not keen on using it merely as a portable booster for your mobile sources, the KA13 comes with a 'Desktop Mode' to bolster its power output to up to 550mW if the need arises.

The diminutive DAC is available with a black or silver sleek metallic chassis, both of which feature an ambient light window which changes colour to demonstrate the quality of the audio file being played, a similar system used by the even tinier iFi Go Link. The KA13 works with the FiiO Control app for Android and iOS.

It's not the only release coming courtesy of FiiO. The Chinese audio brand also announced the arrival of a desktop DAC/amplifier, the K11, which promises multiple inputs (including USB Type C, Optical and Coaxial) alongside support for 32-bit/384kHz and native DSD 256 hi-res. 

Both models will be available from October 2023. The KA13 portable USB DAC will be priced at £69 / $79, while the K11 desktop DAC/amplifier will set you back £119 / $129 (further prices pending).

MORE: 

Read our AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt review

And our iFi Go Link review, too.

Best DACs: USB, desktop and portable digital-to-analogue converters

Welcome to the house of fun. Hi-fi company McIntosh has opened the doors to the House of Sound, a New York City townhouse showcasing the group's audio-visual brands in a suitably luxurious setting.

It brings together some of the group's best products, including McIntosh amplifiers, Sonus Faber speakers, Pro-Ject turntables and classic Rotel electronics. There's even a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, tricked out with the McIntosh MX1375 entertainment system.

But McIntosh isn't just showcasing its own products. It's also teamed up with other leading brands in their field to show off pieces by Baxter, USM, Alpange, Sony, Kaleidescape, ScreenResearch, RoonLabs, Abyss, HRS, and Audioquest.

The 11,000 square feet townhouse is located in Chelsea, NYC, and is separated into different areas like a home cinema room, an extensive vinyl library, two intimate listening rooms, two open reference listening areas, two terraces, and a rooftop. "Each space is meticulously designed to ignite a symphonic journey of uncompromising and precisely calibrated sound," according to McIntosh.

The townhouse features Italian furniture from luxury firm Baxter throughout, custom cabinetry by USM, an Alpine digital piano, Sony projectors, a movie player from Kaleidescape, and a screen made by ScreenResearch. Abyss Headphones are on-hand for those looking to escape into a world of their own, while the audio stands are made by HRS.

The House of Sound opens today, and is located at 357 West 17th Street, New York, NY10011.

MORE:

Check out our McIntosh MA8950 review

These are the best projectors you can buy

And the best hi-fi systems around

When we received the news for the portable iFi Go Link late last year, we were promised a digital-to-audio converter (DAC) that would deliver “supercharged” sound at a “super-affordable” price. The idea of supreme sound for a minimal financial outlay always sounds like the stuff of dreams, but those dreams can often turn into nightmares if you realise you’ve bought a cheap piece of tat that offers few discernible benefits and then breaks three minutes after you get it out of the box. 

Still, there are some DACs that, rather than being chunky desktop units or even bulkier headphone models, manage to marry slimline designs with value for money and discernible improvements in your source’s audio performance. Just look at the ultra-compact, Award-winning AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt USB DAC, or the equally impressive Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable for proof that size doesn’t always equal sonic supremacy.

Not, of course, that this is a given thing. The equally diminutive THX Onyx was small and well-featured, but its sound felt basic and its rivals did a similar job with ever more élan. Improving sound quality on a shoestring while also keeping the weight down? That’s no easy feat by anyone’s standards. Let’s see if the iFi Go Link is up to the task.

Build & design

The iFi Go Link comprises the main DAC unit, a small corded cable and then a built-in USB-C plug, with interchangeable USB-A or Apple's Lightning connector adapters available as standard. This means you can plug the DAC into a laptop if it still uses the larger USB-A port, or simply use the standard USB-C end to plug into the requisite slot if you’re using a more up-to-date model. The Go Link can also be used with smartphones, too, which is handy.

Just be careful when you pop it into any new device while wearing headphones, as you can get a deafening blast of sound sufficient to knock your eardrums through your brain when the volume arbitrarily goes up to 100.

Nothing here is cheap or flimsy, and we’re impressed by little touches such as the metal casework as opposed to budget plastic. While some DACs, even supposedly portable ones, can add significant weight to your set-up, here the experience is essentially the same as listening to a standard pair of wired headphones, so much so that (sonic improvements aside) you’ll likely forget the Go Link is even plugged in after a time.

Our only major point of concern here was the dinky DAC’s potential for fragility thanks to its corded design, especially the points where the cord meets the main unit and the connector plug. We may be fretting over nothing, but we couldn’t help but worry that the connecting point between plug and wire might fatigue over time, especially after long periods stuffed into your bag or pocket.

Our only other real issue came in the form of connection drops, as sometimes our test sample could drop out or come loose when using the standard USB-C connector. It may have been a problem on our end, but the DAC tends to need stillness from its source, especially when plugging the USB-C into a laptop, in order to maintain a stable marriage.

Features

The range of file types supported here is more than we’d expect for this sort of price. The iFi Link Go backs PCM audio playback up to 32-bit/384kHz, along with DSD up to 11.2MHz (DSD 256) and MQA, the latter of which is handy for anyone subscribed to Tidal’s excellent Hi-Fi Plus tier. 

The titchy unit itself doesn’t have room for much, of course, but it does feature a single LED dot which changes colour depending on the stream you’re listening to. Green denotes PCM 44.1/48/88.2/96kHz, yellow means PCM 176.4/192/352.8/384kHz, DSD64/128 is cyan, blue is DSD256 and magenta is MQA. For a £60 / $60 DAC, this is a welcome little feature.

According to the manufacturer, the Go Link doesn’t depend on the software-based volume controls in connected digital devices as this can negatively affect audio resolution. Rather, changing volume on the device controls the volume level in the DAC itself, not the connected source, helping to deliver what iFi promises is superior sonic performance in the process.

Sound

We mainly use two wired headphone models for testing – the Award-winning Grado SR325x and the five-star Røde NTH-100 over-ears – switching back and forth between audio without and then with the Go Link to see what extra surprises, if any, the diminutive DAC helps to uncover.

We plug the DAC into our Windows Surface laptop to dig out a high-resolution recording of Fleet Foxes’ Wading In Waist-High Water, and the resulting listen through our Grados is an invigorating one. The track’s two main moods, one gentle and melancholic, the other more full-bodied and triumphant, are both given a good account when played through our laptop’s onboard media player, with those more intimate passages of clarity and detail occasionally exploding into robust crashes of well-rounded sound.

What’s really noticeable about the Go Link is how much space it affords high-resolution recordings. Listened through the Røde NTH-100 pair, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Waiting For You initially sounds impressively robust and well-organised. When we connect the DAC, however, the track is afforded perceptible new levels of space and freedom, the clutter and fog that we hadn’t noticed before now seeming intrusive and muddy when we switch back to listening without the Link attached.

There are some seriously noticeable gains in terms of dynamics handling, too. Radiohead’s Pyramid Song is a great test of how audio kit deals with sound, and here it’s evident how the combination of the Link hooked up to the Grados gives the track new levels of depth and intrigue. Those heavy, ominous piano chords feel more rounded with a greater sustain at the tail end, with the Link revealing each strike of the keys’ varying weight and force with greater insight than before.

Does the Go Link make music more fun, though? Wax Fang’s overwrought ballad Majestic pops during its most theatrical moments, whereas DNCE’s Cake By The Ocean has just a little more fizz and spark. Some of this acclaim must inevitably go to the hi-res recordings and the headphones we’re using, but there’s no doubt the iFi Go Link is adding an added layer of spice to proceedings as we listen.

We find a similar performance uplift when plugging in the Go Link to an iPhone 12 Mini using the Lightning adapter and listening to Tidal Master tracks.

Verdict

For such a small price and size, we didn’t have our expectations set particularly high with regard to the sorts of sonic improvements the iFi Go Link could muster. After all, how much firepower could really be housed in such an unassuming little package?

Rather a lot, as it so happens. The iFi Go Link feels like the perfect device for enhancing your headphones on the move and on a budget, living up to its brief of providing discernible sonic enhancements in a portable package without forcing you to fork out a fortune for the pleasure. Choose your apt analogy – Luton Town FC, Bruce Lee, Peter Crouch – the iFi Go Link joins the pantheon of performers punching well above their weight.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable

Also consider the AudioQuest DragonFly Red

Best DACs: USB, desktop and portable digital-to-analogue converters

You might not realise this, but you probably use a DAC as much as you do underwear. Every single day, right? (Right?) Digital-to-analogue converters, to use their unabridged name, are found in most audio sources today, including phones to laptops, and perform the vital role of transforming digital music (a bunch of 1s and 0s) to the analogue form (an audio waveform) that headphones and speakers can understand. (Want to nerd up on DACs? Then right this way to our DAC explainer).

So if you have DACs already in your devices, why should you consider buying another? Well, for better sound quality. DACs – essentially tiny chips that convert the audio before it is output through the device’s, say, 3.5mm audio port – often aren’t high quality in such multi-tasking devices, so getting yourself a good, dedicated external DAC device that can more accurately convert digital to analogue, and thus savour more of a stored music file or stream’s data in the process, will make a huge difference to the music listening experience.

In many cases, external DACs can play ball with phones, laptops and even hi-fi systems, though some have been designed more for one purpose than the other. For the What Hi-Fi? Awards, our team of review experts first-time-tested or revisited 15 DACs from the biggest brands in the business – AudioQuest, iFi, Chord Electronics, Cambridge Audio, FiiO and Helm Audio – and these are the six we’d most heartily recommend for portable phone, desktop and hi-fi system use.

For portable phone use

Just over 10 years ago, AudioQuest more or less founded the portable USB DAC. Its groundbreaking DragonFly Black arrived in 2012 to a sea of raised eyebrows with its unassuming USB memory stick form, which could plug straight into laptops/computers at one end (yes, just like a USB storage key) and accommodate 3.5mm wired headphones at the other. This magic middleman is still available (albeit in a more updated version), though it was soon followed up by the superior DragonFly Red, and now the popular line tops out with the DragonFly Cobalt, a multi and current What Hi-Fi? Award winner. 

It’s a little more than double the price of the Black, but those who can afford it over the Black and Red siblings will be rewarded with a very worthwhile jump in audio quality over their phone or laptop. In our minds, it represents the biggest performance-per-pound value of the lot. The Cobalt still takes the form of a USB stick, but while that may seem a little outdated for laptops and phones that increasingly adopt USB-C connectors, you can just use it with a USB-A-to-USB-C adaptor, which is included in the box. 

The world isn't short of portable DACs nowadays as an increasing number of dongle DACs (like the Helm Audio Bolt) in particular hit the scene, but the AudioQuests remain the strongest propositions we've heard.

Alternatively, a more contemporary and convenient option is the five-star iFi Go Blu DAC. Like the AudioQuests, headphones plug into one end, but the very pocketable Go Blu can connect to your phone/laptop wirelessly over Bluetooth, essentially taking one cable out of the equation if you so wish. Whether connected over Bluetooth or via its USB-C input, the Go Blu will give your source device a real top-to-bottom boost in not only clarity and weight but also openness and detail. You’ll get better performance for your money going wired with the AudioQuests, but, to quote our review, “when portability is paramount and convenience is key, you cannot currently better the iFi Go Blu”.

For desktop laptop use

As mentioned before, the above four examples can be just as easily paired with laptops as they can with phones. That said, if portability isn’t a priority and you’d like something more substantial that can be a mainstay on your desktop, our entry-level pick is undoubtedly the iFi Zen DAC V2, another What Hi-Fi? Award winner. 

With more outputs (6.3mm, RCA and balanced 4.4mm) and an asynchronous USB Type B input, plus customisation sound modes, full MQA audio decoding (beneficial for Tidal Hi-Fi Plus subscribers) and the ability to work in a budget hi-fi system as well as with a computer/laptop, the Zen DAC V2 doesn’t only sound excellent but is also more versatile than its aforementioned peers.

Going up in price doesn’t necessarily mean you get more features and flexibility, though – as the best-sounding DAC so far demonstrates. The Award-winning Chord Mojo 2 is a few rungs up the ladder when it comes to performance – and yes, price – offering a great deal of the performance of the thrice-the-price, also Award-winning Chord Hugo 2. Our pick of the desktop DACs, the Mojo is truly exceptional when it comes to the sound quality that can be offered from something at this level, though be aware that it doesn't have the ease of use of the iFi or the flexibility of something price-comparative like the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M.

The palm-sized device can significantly boost the sound of pretty much any kind of digital source thanks to its USB-C, optical, micro USB and 3.5mm-coaxial inputs – even mid-range hi-fi systems if you are willing to get around its omission of RCA outputs and consequently navigate an alternative cable solution.

For hi-fi system use

While the Chord Hugo 2 is, like the Mojo 2, battery-powered, its price, performance and connectivity make it just as suitable for system environments as desktop ones. This is essentially the Mojo 2 on steroids, offering one of the most transparent and musical performers on the market. “There isn’t another DAC around at anywhere near this sort of price able to communicate so torrentially, so unambiguously or so effortlessly,” we concluded in our review of the multi-award winner. (That said, those with bigger budgets and sonic ambitions can go up a model to the Chord Hugo TT2.)

There are hi-fi system-friendly inputs – namely coaxial, optical and aptX Bluetooth – but while RCA outputs are onboard for hooking it up to an amplifier in a loudspeaker-fronted system, much of the Hugo 2’s design is, like every other DAC mentioned so far, geared towards feeding headphones. If you aren’t a big fan of headphone listening, however, and would be satisfied by a DAC that can purely sit between a digital source and amplifier to make a sonic difference in a hi-fi speaker system, then we would point you to another Chord (yes, Chord Electronics largely dominates this market) – the Qutest.

Essentially a Hugo 2 without the headphones stage, built-in battery and Bluetooth (and the extra cost that goes into those things), this multi-Product-of-the-Year winner sets the benchmark before you get to true high-end territory.

MORE:

Read our longer shortlist of the best DACs you can buy

What is a DAC? And do you need one?

7 reasons why a DAC could be your music purchase of the year

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best cartridges, best speaker cables, best audio cables, best hi-fi and AV racks, best speaker stands

If you've never heard of a 'DAC' before, you might be surprised to hear that you most likely use one everyday. DAC stands for digital-to-analogue converter and any device that delivers digital sound – such as a smartphone, laptop, a music streamer or portable music player – has one built-in.

This tiny chip converts the digital audio files handled by these devices into an analogue signal that can be heard on speakers or headphones. (If you're interested in learning more, check out our comprehensive 'What is a DAC?' explainer.)

Nowadays, digital music is everywhere with the plethora of music streaming services we have available, easily accessible from your smartphone or laptop. But despite their necessity for digital audio playback, the DACs inside these everyday, multi-tasking devices aren't able to carry out their conversion duties as accurately as possible, which has a knock-on effect on sound quality.

That is where an external dedicated DAC comes in. These slot in between your source (such as a laptop, smartphone or streamer) and headphones or speaker, and are solely committed to the conversion job, so the sound you hear is delivered more faithfully and accurately. If you want the best possible sound, upgrading your system (be it a computer-and-headphones setup or even a full separates hi-fi system) to include an external DAC is a great way to get it.

Below are the best DACs we've tested that you can currently buy, spanning portable, desktop and hi-fi options that will make the most of your listening set up and ensure you hear your music in the best quality possible. We at What Hi-Fi? pride ourselves on how we test DACs – our experienced, in-house reviews team has tested every DAC option below in real-word tests and in our dedicated listening rooms, so you can trust our advice and recommendations.

The best hi-fi DAC

Given there's no Bluetooth connectivity or headphone amplifier onboard, the Qutest’s sole purpose is to be the digital-to-analogue bridge between your digital source and amplifier. (It's the only one of this type on this page.) And it does the job brilliantly.

It's the product that lesser rivals look up to at this price point. The multi-award-winning DAC delivers a crisp, clean and concise sound, with Chord's now familiar neutral tonal balance. It takes the performance of its 2Qute predecessor and goes far beyond it, offering greater nuance, texture and space. "Notes have crisper, more distinct leading edges, carry warmth and texture in abundance, and never decay prematurely – even when forthcoming notes tumble over the top," we penned in our five-star Qutest review.

As with all decent hi-fi gear, it'll take a bit of running in time before the Qutest really starts to sing. But when it does you're in for a treat: songs are imbued with a great sense of scope, and there's warmth and texture in abundance.

The Qutest boasts Chord's trademark colour-denoting buttons which tell you which source it's drawing on: they glow white for USB-Type-B (capable of accepting 32-bit/768kHz PCM/DSD512); yellow for the first BNC coaxial and red for the second (24-bit/384kHz); and green for the optical (24-bit/192kHz/DSD64).

Quirky, sure, but undoubtedly talented and the easiest recommendation we can make for anybody who is looking to upgrade their digital hi-fi system and can afford this machine.

Read our full Chord Qutest review

The best budget portable DAC

The Go Link Max is a supercharged version of the first-gen Go Link we awarded five stars to a couple of years ago. The small price difference between the two comes in part thanks to the Max’s inclusion of a 4.4mm balanced headphone output for use with balanced headphones, complementing the standard (unbalanced) 3.5mm one.

There isn’t much difference in how much detail resolution they deliver (which is a lot more than your computer or phone will dig up), but they do sound slightly different in character, and which one you prefer will likely come down to your preference.

In our five-star Go Link Max review, our expert test team said: "The standard Go Link grants the tune more nimbleness and clarity while revealing the older model’s superior ability with vocals. For injecting the right tunes with a good deal of meaty muscle, especially at the lower end, the newer Max does dial things up a notch, but we concede that some listeners may prefer the more affordable [original] Go Link’s purer, cleaner sonic personality."

The Go Link Max is in every way a practical, portable design that is easy to carry around or keep at your desk. It consists of the main (small) DAC unit and a built-in USB-C plug connected by a short woven cable, plus two handy adapters in the box – Lightning and USB-A – so you won’t miss out if you’re using, say, an older iPhone or laptop. It supports hi-res PCM and DSD files, too. And it can deliver up to 100mW of power (single-ended) into a 32-ohm electrical load, rising to 241mW out of the balanced output, which should be enough to drive more power-hungry headphones.

It's another great portable package from iFi, who is on a roll with its affordable DACs. If you want an even more affordable option, try the new and updated iFi Go Link 2.

Read our full iFi Go Link Max review

The best premium portable DAC

The fittingly named Mojo 2 is the long-anticipated, re-engineered replacement to the 2015-released original Mojo, which burst onto the scene as a real benchmark-setting game-changer in the then-fledgling world of portable DACs/headphone amps. And while those familiar with Chord’s most affordable product will see from the accompanying image that the aesthetic hasn’t exactly been overhauled for the sequel, significant progress has been made elsewhere to protect its position as the pinnacle of portable DACs.

To quote our five-star Mojo 2 review, "we aren’t exaggerating in saying that Chord has advanced the Mojo in pretty much every sonic area. The Mojo’s soundstage has been opened up for the sequel and that extra depth and dimension has been filled with greater resolution that is not only unmistakably present thanks to a big boost in clarity but also more precisely placed."

While from a performance point of view, the multi-Award-winning Mojo 2 can just as confidently raise a hi-fi system’s game too, some of those looking for a system boost might reasonably prefer a dedicated system alternative with more suitable connections, such as the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M. iFi also offers a cheaper option with its GO Blu, which has the bonus of a Bluetooth connection between it and the source. But know that the Mojo 2 is undoubtedly the better performer.

For those who are after a primarily portable or desktop DAC solution in this price region, and cannot triple their budget to Chord Hugo 2 (below) territory, we believe the decision to Mojo 2 or not to Mojo 2 is far easier. And what about existing Mojo owners? Honestly, Chord has left us no choice but to recommend the upgrade.

In late 2025, Chord updated the Mojo 2's design, replacing one of the 3.5mm headphone outputs with a 4.4mm output, while a USB-C input is included for charging and data transfer. All other aspects, including sound performance and price, remain the same.

Read our full Chord Mojo 2 review

• We tested three excellent DACs in a head-to-head – and found the ultimate desktop upgrade

The best budget desktop DAC

We were huge fans of Audiolab's now discontinued, legendary Audiolab M-DAC and the D7 DAC echoes its design template and well-judged feature set, despite its smaller size and price tag. Its aluminium casework is neatly made and although the OLED display on its front display is hard to read from afar, it’s nice and crisp.

This hugely versatile desktop unit has a wide range of analogue and digital connectivity to connect to your laptop or hi-fi sources, and a 6.3mm socket for listening via headphones. Even Bluetooth aptX HD is on board, while hi-res file support is exhaustive. A key feature of its analogue outputs is a toggleable fixed/variable mode, with the latter allowing for connecting directly to a power amp, or if you wish to create a clutter-free desktop system, a set of active speakers.

During testing, we played Womack & Womack, Grinderman and Kid Cudi through it, and it soon became clear that the Audiolab is a "capable all-rounder, delivering plenty of punch and power when the music demands, but also doesn’t ignore subtleties in the process." It delivers an even-handed tonal balance, plenty of spaciousness so music never sounds cluttered, and strong stereo imaging.

Our favourite DAC at this price for many years has been the portable Chord Mojo 2, and in outright sound performance, the Mojo 2 still has the edge overall, especially when it comes to rhythmic precision and dynamics. During our review we found “the D7 handles strong dynamic shifts with fluidity, though it doesn’t quite exhibit the verve and drama of its [Chord] rival”.

The D7, however, has a wider array of connectivity options compared with the Chord. Integrating the Audiolab into a conventional hi-fi system is also far more straightforward, thanks to its balanced XLR and stereo RCA analogue outputs as opposed to finding a suitable cable for the Chord’s 3.5mm output sockets. With its logical, easy-to-understand controls, we think some will prefer how straightforward the D7 is to use compared with the Mojo 2’s convoluted buttons, too.

The Audiolab D7 is a great budget desktop DAC option for boosting your laptop-based headphones listening, but it makes just as much sense when used at the heart of a price-appropriate separates hi-fi system. However you choose to use it, you can rest assured that the D7 is a capable performer that’s worth considering.

Read our full Audiolab D7 review

The best premium desktop DAC

The superb Hugo 2 features all the inputs and outputs you could realistically require from a product of this type, including digital optical, coaxial and mini-USB. Music can also be fed to a pair of wireless headphones via aptX Bluetooth. Both 3.5mm and 6.3mm headphone outputs also feature, plus a pair of stereo RCAs to connect an amplifier. So to say it's a versatile piece of kit would be an understatement.

To say it's a decent-sounding one would be too. The Hugo 2 is a smooth, neutral listen – it doesn’t overstate, yet it doesn’t underplay. For some DACs, that could be playing it safe, but the Hugo 2 still manages to keep things interesting, creating a holistic sound: it arranges the pieces into a convincing whole where the bass is balanced against treble in the most unforced and crystal-clear manner. But its biggest talent? Timing. As we noted in our five-star Chord Hugo 2 review, "timing is perhaps Hugo 2’s strongest suit of all – it brings absolutely believable unity to ensemble music". It has the dynamic expression and insight to outmuscle excellent rivals like the SPL Diamond and NuPrime DAC-9X.

The Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M and Chord Mojo 2 (above) are options if your budget is smaller, and you should certainly consider the next-model-up Chord Hugo TT2 if it's bigger, but there isn’t another DAC around at anywhere near this sort of price that's able to communicate so well and so effortlessly. And that's why it's a current What Hi-Fi? Award winner. We like it a lot and reckon this is the most DAC most people will ever need.

Read our full Chord Hugo 2 review

The best high-end DAC

You've reached the most capable digital-to-analogue converter we’ve ever reviewed, which may not be surprising considering the price of this thing – £26,775 / $32,800 / AU$46,995.

There is no denying that the dCS Rossini Apex DAC is hugely expensive, and in these financially turbulent times it is easy to dismiss such products simply because they cost so much. Yet, judge this DAC by performance and it’s hard to imagine how it can be bettered. The Rossini Apex DAC delivers transparency of the highest order and swept us away with the musical experience time and time again during our testing. In our five-star Rossini Apex DAC review, we said: "We’re impressed by the authority and scale of the Rossini’s presentation. It sounds solid and full-bodied in a way that digital products very rarely do. We also admire the stability, focus and layered nature of the dCS’s stereo imaging."

The Rossini’s connectivity is very good too. You have USB in both Type A and B forms along with coax, BNC coax, optical and a pair of AES/EBUs. There are no analogue inputs of course, but there are outputs in both single-ended RCA and Balanced XLR flavours. Of course, any product that sells for as much as the Rossini has to be superbly made – and it is.

Chord's DAVE and dCS's Lina are other high-end options to consider if you can't quite stretch to the Rossini, while Nagra's HD DAC/MPS will also save you a few grand. But if you’re lucky enough to even contemplate buying at this level, we envy you.

Read our full dCS Rossini Apex DAC review

How to choose the best DAC for you

Without a DAC your digital music collection is nothing but a sizeable collection of “0s and 1s” that makes sense only within the digital domain, so they play an instrumental part in making digital music worthwhile for many of us. The right dedicated DAC will give your everyday digital device or more sophisticated digital source the sonic boost it could well need, but there are different types to consider depending on your device and user requirements.

For your phone?
If you're looking to boost your mobile sound on the go, a compact USB-C dongle (with a Lightning-to-USB-C adapter, if you have an iPhone 14 or older) will do the trick nicely and discreetly as the middleman between your phone and wired headphones. Most of these portable DACs (especially from iFi) are wired to both your headphones and source, while some (like the iFi Go Blu) can connect to a source wirelessly over Bluetooth and thus take one wire out of the equation. These typically draw power from your connected source device.

For your laptop/computer?
Then there are desktop and USB-stick DACs, (such as the Chord Mojo 2 and AudioQuest DragonFly) both typically affordable and easy-to-use solutions to maximise your laptop or PC's sound, or again be used with a smartphone's USB-C port (via a dongle adapter, if necessary).

For your speaker-fronted system?
There are also more serious DACs that are designed to slot into your home hi-fi system to improve the quality of a digital source, such as the Audiolab D7. Most are geared towards headphone listening and therefore have headphone amplifiers built in. There are some models, like the Chord Qutest listed above, which are headphone-socket-less and therefore strictly designed to sit between a source and an amplifier/pair of active speakers.

File support
Most DACs nowadays support a wide range of hi-res PCM files – FLACs, for example, often up to 32-bit – but further compatibility should be considered if you wish to play or stream more niche music formats such as DSD.

Connections
In terms of connections, the simpler portable/desktop ones usually have single USB (Type A or C) inputs, although some offer additional digital inputs as well as balanced headphone connections. Whether you would benefit from them depends on your source and headphone type.

Also consider

• AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt: Stocks might be running low for this former Award-winning USB DAC, but if you can find it on sale, you should definitely consider snapping it up – this small device is simple but powerful, sounds clean and precise, while timing is excellent.
• Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M: If you require various connectivity options, excellent file support and a solid, desktop-based DAC that is well made and easy to use, this former Award-winner's smooth, insightful sound is a decent alternative to the Audiolab D7 and portable Mojo 2.
• iFi DAC Zen V3: Successor to the Award-winning Zen V2, the new Zen remains a pleasing product, with a decent combination of performance, features and build quality for the money. The simpler AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt (listed above) sounds a bit better, though.
• NuPrime DAC-9X: While not quite as transparent as the class-leading Chords, this high-end DAC/preamp/headphone amp hardly puts a foot wrong – it still sounds terrific, is generous in the connections department and works well in a wide range of systems.
• iFi Go Link 2: A pocket-sized portable DAC ideal for boosting your smartphone and laptop's sound for a small price, and comes with useful adapters. It's a cheaper option to the Go Link Max, and delivers a clear, expressive performance.
• iFi Go Blu: If you would prefer to cut one of the two wires in your personal setup, specifically the one between your source and DAC, this neat and well-performing iFi DAC can do just that. While you'll still need to plug in your headphones, you can simply Bluetooth music from your phone/laptop to the Go Blu.

How we test DACs

The diversity of DACs, from portable models for phones to component-sized converters for high-end hi-fi systems, means that not all DACs are tested the same way at What Hi-Fi?.

The former kind are lived with and used out and about and at our office desktops, while the latter invariably passes through our state-of-the-art testing facilities in Reading, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers tests every bit of hi-fi kit that pass through our door.

What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, so we listen to every DAC we review against the current leader in its field to gauge how it compares to the best-in-class competition. We keep What Hi-Fi? Award winners and as many five-star products as we can in our stockrooms so we can always put new products against ones we know and love. We do our best to review as many new models in as many markets as possible, too, to ensure our contextual knowledge is the best it can be.

We ensure we hear every DAC at its optimum – whether it's a portable USB DAC for on-the-go use with a phone, a desktop model ideal for pairing with a laptop, or one designed to slot into a hi-fi system. Depending on the type and budget of the DAC under scrutinty, various partnering headphones and source devices are used with it to guage its performance across both real-world and ideal setups. And we play an eclectic mix of music genres and quality audio files through them. Naturally, we give them plenty of listening time (and, before that, time to run in) too.

All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to ensure we're being as thorough as possible. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for five decades.

You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi? here.

Recent updates

• March 2026: We added the new five-star iFi Go Link 2 into our Also Consider list and updated some entries.
• January 2026: We added the five-star Audiolab D7 as our pick for the best budget desktop DAC. The outgoing AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, along with the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M, were added to our Also Consider list.
• March 2025: We have removed the iFi Zen DAC V2 owing to its limited, end-of-life availability, while its just-tested successor – the four-star Zen DAC V3 – gets a spot in our Also Consider list below.
• January 2025: We've added the newly reviewed, five-star iFi Go Link Max to our list as our favourite budget portable DAC due to its excellent performance and value.
• November 2024: Our three newly crowned What Hi-Fi? Award 2024 winners have been labelled as such, though they are repeat winners from last year as no DACs submitted by manufacturers during our Awards judging season dethroned them.
• September 2024: We have added the five-star iFi Go Blu to our Also Consider list to give you the option of a DAC that can accept music over Bluetooth and therefore remove one wire from the setup equation.
• June 2024: No new entries, though watch this space for our upcoming iFi Zen DAC V3 review. The British company's just-announced Zen Blue 3 DAC also looks interesting, promising a 'world's first' for wireless audio quality from a DAC.
• May 2024: We tested the SPL Diamond and iFi hip-dac 3 this month, but while both are very good, they don't dethrone the Chord Hugo 2 and AudioQuest Cobalt respectively.
• January 2024: We added 'also consider' options to the bottom of each entry to give you more context and choice, as well as an FAQ section (below) to answer any queries you may have on digital-to-analogue converters.
• October 2023: We flagged our newly crowned What Hi-Fi? Award 2023 winners, which make up two-thirds of this buying guide list.

F.A.Q.

Today's best deals

We don’t mean to be antagonistic in saying that cables aren’t the most interesting hi-fi products out there, despite their quality being as important to a hi-fi system as they are necessary in the first place. But to its credit, AudioQuest has done its best to create a narrative around its cables. They're named after geographical elements and we certainly think the company’s inspiration behind choosing Chicago as a name and emerald as a colour for this budget interconnect on test here is worth a read.

The psychology of colour would tell you emerald green (and green in general, really) has positive connotations – growth, rebirth, nature, etc – and that shines through the AudioQuest Chicago’s sonic character. It’s likeably punchy, full-bodied and smooth – good traits generally suited to the budget electronics these cables will likely find themselves between.

Sound

In our system, the Chicago conveys the bluesy instrumental in Melody Gardot’s Amalia with decent helpings of solidity and refinement. The cello strings and ‘humming’ have body and substance in what is a nicely focused and present soundstage, while the shakers and delicate strumming that come in beneath her well-focused vocal all manifest with decent clarity.

Something meatier and more upbeat – we go to the extreme with Eminem – plays into the Chicago’s hands. It's a little cruder than the class-leading competition in conveying rhythms and dynamics but it’s controlled with it.

The Chord Company competition on either side of the Chicago’s price point (namely the C-line and Clearway X) are more astute in surfacing subtle textures and dynamic nuances. This places the AudioQuest interconnect a few pegs further down the ladder than it’d probably like to be. But, that shouldn’t detract from its agreeable balance and otherwise capable nature.

That cleanliness is undoubtedly partly down to AudioQuest opting for a solid core long-grain copper conductor over the more typical short-grain, stranded kind – chosen to prevent strand interaction and reduce grain boundary issues that can cause distortion. The ‘Hard-Cell Foam’ insulation is supposedly stiff, helping ensure stable conductance, and is also nitrogen-injected to create air pockets that are not sensitive to absorbing energy or releasing any into the copper.

To further maximise the purity of the signal as it’s being carried down the cable, AudioQuest has implemented its Noise-Dissipation technology here in a bid to shield the cable from any radio-frequency interference.

The good news continues – that tube-covered, braided emerald green and black finish is immediately striking, and further visual scrutiny and usage over our testing confirms the cable’s quality build. The compact, minimalist plug jacket design isn’t as grippy as some, but unless you plan on unplugging them several times a day (like we do over the course of our testing!), practically speaking this won’t present the slightest of issues.

Verdict

The Chicago might not be the most accomplished performer at this price point, but AudioQuest has created a likeable cable here – one that will simply let your (hopefully entertaining) budget electronics do the talking without losing too much.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Compatibility 5

MORE:

Check out our Chord Company C-line review

And our Atlas Element Achromatic review

These are the best audio cables you can buy

It’s a good job for Wireworld that the Victorian attitude towards children – that they should be seen and not heard – doesn’t apply to interconnects today. Going solely on looks, you wouldn’t pick the Luna 8 out of a lineup that also comprises, say, the QED Reference Audio 40 or AudioQuest Chicago competitors at this price level.

But what it doesn’t offer in the aesthetics department it makes up for in its performance – which, considering interconnects are mostly tucked away out of sight, is a skewed balance no other product type could get away with as easily.

Build

The Luna 8 continues Wireworld’s long-standing, near-entry-level interconnect series, following directly on from the Luna 7 that we called “a great option at the money” some years ago. It looks and feels familiar in form to its predecessor, with its thin, grippy, blue rubber cable, which is on the flimsier or more flexible (however you want to look at it) side compared to some. It's terminated with typically on-brand silver-coloured, ribbed RCA plug jackets and silver/gold connectors here, although XLR termination is also available at the usual premium.

Progress has been made where you can’t see it, though. The Luna 8 keeps a copper construction but in a new ‘Tri DNA Helix’ design that comprises more than three times as many parallel strands of flat conductors layered in a bid to carry the audio signal more efficiently and accurately. The insulation Wireworld uses has been upgraded to ‘Composilex 3’, too, supposedly improving tonality and image focus.

Sound

We certainly have no qualms with the Luna 8’s tonal balance or ability to map a precise soundstage. This is a cable that prioritises communicating your system’s sound precisely, in an organised manner and with an appealing finesse. The way it relays Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s The Road soundtrack can only be called “graceful”. It captures the ebb and flow of the pianos and the texture of the keys and accompanying strings in a way that duly cummunicates the mournfulness of the piece.

The Luna 8’s delivery feels nicely deliberate and there’s enough dynamic variation to keep things interesting, making it great for couriering music that demands it – even if the rival Atlas Element Achromatic takes faithfulness that little bit further. There is opportunity amongst this praise for a wishlist, mind, and that would be a tighter grip on bass notes. Listening to Eminem’s The Way I Am, we find the jaunty bass tab a little droney and ill-defined through the Luna 8. It’s not the end of the world, but it is noticeable and that low-end drive (and general musicality, actually) comes up second best to the Chord C-Line.

Verdict

The budget interconnect market is a competitive one, but the sophisticated Wireworld Luna 8 deserves a place in it – if not for being a class-leading all-rounder then for ensuring your music sounds more precise, organised and refined than through most at this price.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our Chord Company C-line review

And our Atlas Element Achromatic review

Our pick of the best audio cables you can buy

10 affordable ways to upgrade your hi-fi system right now

AudioQuest has announced a new and improved version of its JitterBug noise filter. Like the original, the JitterBug FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) can be plugged into a laptop, desktop, smartphone or streaming device. And yes, as the name suggests, the FMJ is wrapped in metal, unlike its predecessor, which was encased in plastic.

"Whether used in series (in-line) or in parallel, JitterBug significantly reduces contamination from RF generated by a computer, car, or other device," notes AudioQuest. "JitterBug FMJ also thoroughly addresses environmental RF Noise taking advantage of this vulnerable interface.”

Not convinced about all this 'RF Noise' stuff? According to AudioQuest there's a lot of noise and interference coursing through the circuitry of your average computer, particularly its USB connections. Much of it is believed to emanate from your computer’s own power supply.

To tackle the problem, the JitterBug FMJ acts as a passive filter and stops this noise/interference from passing into your (highly sensitive) external DAC. How well does it work? We've yet to get our hands on the FMJ, but as you can tell from our glowing JitterBug review, we've certainly got big hopes for the new accessory. 

For the best results, the Californian company recommends that you buddy up the JitterBug FMJ with a second unit, which should be plugged into an unoccupied USB input with its hinged rubber door (also designed to block RF noise) firmly shut. Apparently, using a second unit in parallel "pulls in more RF noise off the USB power bus".

The FMJ is also said to work a treat when used in parallel with the company's DragonFly Black and Red USB DACs (the DragonFly Cobalt already boasts Jitterbug technology, so no need to spend extra here).

We look forward to putting this critter through its paces soon. The JitterBug FMJ is due on sale on 15th May in the States, priced at $59.95. It should hit the UK around June for £49.99 (around AU$90).

MORE:

Read our in-depth AudioQuest JitterBug Review

Our pick of the best USB, portable and desktop DACs you can buy 

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iFi has built a solid reputation for its well-featured, affordable digital-to-analogue converters. Thanks to a combination of features and sound quality that’s hard to better at the price, the Zen DAC is arguably one of its finest products.

This is a USB-only desktop product that takes power from the computer that’s connected to it. If you need optical or coax this product is not for you, though iFi makes a range of other products that will appeal.

Build

You don’t need to be near a mains outlet, so it’s possible to use this in the garden or away from the house. It’s not portable in the sense that the Audioquest DragonFly or Cyrus soundKey are – the Zen is about the size of a small paperback, so it’s too large for a pocket. It’s well built with a nicely finished aluminium case and precise-feeling controls.

There’s upgrade potential too, with iFi making an outboard mains power supply called the iPower X (£99/$99), which definitely improves the sound in all areas, but also moves the DAC into desktop-only scenario and a higher price segment.

While we would certainly recommend the upgrade for the future, we think the Zen DAC is a great performer as it is. It’s easy to set up and we get going in a matter of minutes, using the supplied USB cable.

Features

iFi has always tried to pack as much compatibility as possible into its products and this one is no different.

Despite its budget nature, the Zen can handle PCM files up to 384kHz and up to DSD256. It can also decode MQA, which is impressive at this price.

As for outputs, there are 6.3mm and 4.4mm balanced Pentaconn jacks on the front, a stereo RCA line output on the back with another 4.4mm balanced option next to it.

The inclusion of balanced outputs is unusual at this price, but also points to the fact that the Zen’s analogue output stage has a fully balanced layout. There’s a choice of having a fixed or variable output through the line connections, which means that the Zen can operate as a digital preamp in a system if you want to use it that way.

While it’s commendable that iFi has gone to the trouble of implementing such a design, it’s also true that the bulk of price compatible kit that will be partnered with the DAC won’t be balanced or capable enough to make the most of it. Still, that hardly makes the inclusion of such outputs a negative.

Sound

iFi has tried to optimise the sound for a wide range of headphones. There’s a button on the front that offers a choice of output levels to take into account the large difference in sensitivity between headphone types, and another that adds a degree of bass boost. This works subtly enough to be useful, adding extra weight and authority to thin or lean sounding cans.

Most budget digital-to-analogue converters aren’t particularly inspiring to listen to and don’t tend to offer much of a step-up over the soundcard of a computer. That’s certainly not the case here.

The Zen DAC clearly outperforms our MacBook Pro laptop easily, sounding clearer and more detailed. We listen to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and are impressed by the iFi’s expressive dynamics and its ability to reproduce the piano’s harmonic richness convincingly. The leading edges of notes are precise but not over etched, and there’s a good sense of authority to the sound.

Tonally, this is a well-judged unit, having just the right degree of smoothness at high frequencies to prevent low bit rate or thin-sounding music streams from getting annoying. We like the openness of the presentation and its generally even-handed nature.

We switch to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly and the Zen responds with enough in the way of punch and rhythmic drive to keep us listening. There’s a good amount of insight, so we can follow Lamar’s flow, and a decent dose of composure to keep this dense recording sounding organised. Such things aren’t a given at this level.

Verdict

Compare the iFi with price rivals and it’s clearly up there with the best when it comes to sound quality. But it also offers a degree of versatility that those rivals don’t. If you’re looking for a well-built, budget desktop DAC, this iFi should be top of your list.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 5

MORE:

Best DACs 2020

Read our iFi Zen Blue review

Read our Cyrus soundKey review

Ecosse’s ES2.23+ speaker cable may not be much to look at, but its heritage goes back almost two decades. Any product that survives on the market so long – the original version was called the ES2.3 – deserves some credit.

Build

This cable uses a twisted pair of high purity copper conductors with a polypropylene dielectric. That’s not particularly unusual at this level, though each of those conductors is made up of around 400 copper strands, each of around 0.07mm diameter. The conductors are twisted to reduce the effect of external electrical interference.

The ES2.23+’s outer jacket is made of soft PVC and is tough and decently flexible. This is a cable that’s not too hard to hide or run neatly around the listening room. 

Compatibility

Just like the pricier Audioquest Rocket 22 (£20/m), this is not a cable to judge straight from the box – or indeed the cloth bag in which our sample of the Ecosse arrived.

Used fresh, this speaker cable has a mildly thin and hard presentation when integrated into our reference set-up. That system is made up of our Naim NDS/555PS music streamer, Gamut D3i/D200i amplifier and ATC SCM 50 speakers. 

It was the same story with our more price-compatible system, formed of Naim’s Uniti Star one-box with Dynaudio’s Special Forty speakers.

Sound

Given a couple of days to run-in, the ES2.23+ sounds more balanced, which allows its considerable strengths to come to the fore. Regardless of system, using this cable results in a crisp and punchy sound. It hits hard with the likes of Kendrick Lamar’s King Kunta, punching out that grungy bassline with pleasing drive and venom.

That direct approach extends to the mid and high frequencies with a clear and direct way with voices and real snap to percussion. Detail levels are good and our systems continue to sound composed when things get busy.

The Ecosse’s well-defined strengths mean that it suits upbeat, upfront music the best. It’s ideal if you want to liven up the sound from your current set-up. However, if you want more in the way of subtlety, dynamic expression and rhythmic precision we would point you towards the likes of Chord Company’s RumourX (£18/m) and Audioquest’s Rocket 22 (£20/m). 

While both these rivals cost a little more, the payback is a more mature and sophisticated performance from our systems.

Verdict

The ES2.23+ is a solid performer, and could be a good buy if you want an adrenaline shot for your system. But the competition is tough.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Compatibility 4
• Build 4

MORE:

Best speaker cables

Read our Chord Company RumourX review

Read our Audioquest Rocket 22 review

When the original DragonFly flew into our testing rooms back in 2012, it was a breath of fresh air. A DAC and headphone amp disguised as a USB stick – and with great sound to boot? It was some serious innovation, and became the de facto quick and easy way to give a laptop a sonic upgrade, especially after the refinements and price drop of the v1.2 model.

Here in 2016, however, the landscape is markedly different – and rising above the DACtastic tide is far harder.

AudioQuest’s approach? A two-pronged assault. On the one side there’s the DragonFly Black, an upgrade on the outgoing v1.2 that costs just £90. On the other side is our test subject today, the DragonFly Red.

MORE: Audioquest's new DragonFly USB DACs work with phones and tablets

Features

AudioQuest has set itself quite a challenge by giving the Red a £170 price tag to justify, and on paper the case doesn’t look particularly strong. One criticism that can be levelled at the DragonFly range is that its support for high-resolution music tops out at 24-bit/96kHz.

The Black retains that limitation – but then it is exceptionally affordable. The problem is that the twice-as-pricey Red is similarly restricted.

AudioQuest points to a number of upgrades for the Red over the Black, though: a more advanced DAC and headphone amp for starters, plus a “bit-perfect digital volume control contained on the DAC chip itself” that’s apparently a big improvement on the analogue volume control in the Black.

A higher voltage output (2.1v compared to the Black’s 1.2v) makes it more suitable for driving demanding headphones, too.

MORE: Audioquest JitterBug review

Hi-res performance

None of that sounds particularly Earth-shattering, but it does bring with it some rather good news: the DragonFly Red sounds better than the Black. At the very least £80 better.

The Black is already a big improvement on simply plugging your headphones into your laptop’s headphone socket, with timing, attack and detail getting a really huge boost. But the Red is a far more sophisticated listen.

The first thing you notice when going from one to the other is the Red’s extra sonic weight. This is partly in the form of overall bass extension, but what’s more impressive is the extra body given to each and every note.

There’s a three-dimensionality, solidity and texture to every sound that makes the Black sound a little two-dimensional by comparison (even though it’s undeniably accomplished in its own right and price-point).

As well as being fuller-bodied, each of these notes also contains a good deal more detail, and that, combined with excellent low-level dynamics, means everything has a more natural, subtle and expressive sound.

Then there’s the way the Red organises the presentation. Feed both DACs the 24-bit version of Radiohead’s Burn The Witch, and while the Black allows the fabulous organised chaos to become a bit of a muddle as the track reaches its crescendo, the Red maintains full control, allowing you to pick out and admire every thread of the gloriously complicated arrangement.

The whole track builds and builds, becoming ever more frantic and layered – and, when it suddenly ends, you feel exhausted the way you do when you’ve just experienced something genuinely dramatic.

Listening to the same track through the Black doesn’t leave you with the same feeling.

Low-res performance

If you want to take things back to basics and are wondering whether a DAC such as this will make a difference to your daily dose of Spotify, allow us to confirm that it will. Even these comparatively low-res streams get a hefty improvement in the detail, definition and dynamic departments, and they’re as strong a case for the Red over the Black as 24-bit stuff is.

With that in mind, the fact that both the Black and Red can also work with Android (check your handset can output audio over USB) and Apple smartphones (using Apple's camera adapter) could prove a big selling point for a good number of potential buyers.

MORE: Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 review

Design

The one tiny blot on the DragonFly Red’s otherwise immaculate test report is that we’ve found the glossy red finish (which we’re rather partial to) seems rather easy to chip.

There’s a pouch provided for safer transportation, but one suspects a Red that finds itself roughed up by life on the road will become blemished in no time at all.

Verdict

The qualities that made the previous version of the DragonFly so great remain just as compelling now.

It’s a supremely compact and convenient device that can be taken anywhere for an immediate musical boost, and having the logo light up in different colours to tell you the file format running through it, still seems an elegant and instant method of delivering mind-easing information.

If you’re unconcerned by that slightly flaky finish (and who buys a USB stick-styled DAC for its aesthetic properties?), you can consider the DragonFly Red a pretty perfect computer music upgrade.

MORE: 

Best DACs

See all our Audioquest reviews

What’s the most common way people play music? The answer is, for better or worse, through their smartphones.

But the digital-to-analogue converter built into your smartphone isn’t going to offer you the best sound. In order to keep your device slim and costs down, compromises have been made.

So an external digital-to-analogue converter is the best way to get your smartphone sounding great.

There are a number of companies vying for that place in your pocket. Cyrus, Audioquest and ifi all offer great value-for-money devices – and now FiiO, a company with a long history of portable DACs, is back with its latest contender.

Build and features

The Q1 Mark II is an iPhone-focused portable DAC (though it will work with Android as well) that’s priced to be your entry-level access to better sound.

It’s iPhone-focused because in the box is a MicroUSB-to-Lightning connection, which connects the Q1 Mark II to your smartphone. This is a nice touch, as it means you don’t need to use Apple’s convoluted Camera Connection Kit.

A USB Type-A to MicroUSB will still work, for use with a computer or an Android phone, but FiiO says because the USB output of Android phones is not standard (and could change due to different firmware versions) it can’t guarantee the DAC will work normally with all devices.

MORE: How to build the perfect hi-fi system

Approximately the size of a playing card deck, and weighing just 100g, the Q1 Mark II has improved on the Mark I’s design. Gone is the hip-flask motif, with volume dial in place of lid.

The dial has been moved to the right side, giving space on the left for the conventional 3.5mm and 2.5mm balanced headphone outputs and a line in/out port.

There are also a couple of switches too: one for adjusting gain (for better matching when it comes to headphone sensitivity), one for increasing the bass.

The Q1 Mark II feels great to hold, but the large volume knob means that you can’t use it while the FiiO is lying on a surface - the dial makes contact with the surface. A millimetre or two off the dial would have avoided this, and it’s disappointing that Fiio hasn’t made it so.

MORE: 10 affordable ways to upgrade your hi-fi system

Inside the Q1 Mark II is a AK4452 DAC chip, which is capable of supporting files up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD256. iOS devices don’t natively support DSD (you’ll need to use third-party apps to play those files) but it’s good to know the functionality is there.

Rather than take power from your smartphone, FiiO has given this DAC a 1800mA battery, which it claims lasts an average of ten hours in use.

While other DACs will take power from the smartphone, this Fiio’s approach will ensure that you’re not compromising your phone’s battery – all you have to do is remember to charge it through its MicroUSB connection.

MORE: High-resolution audio - everything you need to know

Sound

We charge it up and let it loose on both iPhones and MacBooks - and we discover the Q1 Mark II’s adequate, but somewhat superficial, character.

To its credit, it presents a relatively well-balanced frequency range – neither earthy booms nor tinkling highs come across with an excess of weight or undue sharpness.

Car Seat Headrest’s Twin Fantasy (Those Boys) is kept organised between the opening organ chords, lax thump of the bass drum and Will Toledo’s solitary, strained vocal.

Flick the ‘bass’ switch on the back though, and it’s a different story. 'Balanced and tight' becomes 'wide and boomy'. This weighs down the band’s low-fi pop sound and, although some people might enjoy the wilder low frequencies, it doesn't bring you any closer to audio fidelity.

We switch it off and play the rest of the track. The distorted guitars and the squeaking of their strings as the chords change come across with plenty of detail and texture.

Swapping to The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and The News, the Q1 Mark II demonstrates an acceptable amount of dynamism when it comes to conveying the striking power chords and the way Lewis’s potent vocals rapidly punch in.

The resolute 80s drumbeats have fair kick to them, never letting the side down when it comes to delivering a bit of low-end power and momentum.

However, compare it to the smaller Cyrus soundKey – our award-winner at £100 – and the Q1 Mark II is decidedly put in its place. The way Lewis delivers his lyrics as the track vaults through your headphones is much more obvious and clear from the soundKey.

MORE: 6 of the best DACs

Finishing with Mad World by Sacre feat. Mike Monroe, it’s clear the FiiO DAC doesn’t have the greatest understanding of space or organisation.

Once the chorus comes in, the soundKey gives you a vast, open space for the vocal (and the rest of the midrange) to fill. By comparison, the Q1 Mark II is foggier and smaller-scale.

FiiO’s DAC is a little like listening to an artist rehearse, while the soundKey reveals a defining performance.

A surer sense of timing, a greater sense of dynamism and a better defined and organised handling of instruments. These are the major areas the Q1 Mark II needs to address before it has a hope of dethroning our current Award-winner.

MORE: Best DACs 2018

Verdict

The FiiO Q1 Mark II is a piece of kit that spreads itself a little too thin. While there is definitely a place for its bigger body, tactile buttons and multiple ports versus sleeker, smaller products like the Cyrus soundKey, there’s no getting away from the fact the latter provides better audio performance.

If the FiiO sounded better, then we’d be more than happy with the extra bulk and could easily see the Q1 Mark II carving out a nice little niche for the discerning iPhone user. Right now, however, we can’t quite see its place.

See all our FiiO reviews

The M2Tech HiFace DAC is a little USB stick, is bright orange, sells for just €220, and yet is capable of handling the highest of hi-res music files you can buy. This I had to try…

The booming DAC market shows no sign of slowing: just as CD player users of two decades ago were being encouraged to add a black box to their machines to improve the sound, so the current move to computer-stored music has brought about a DAC revival.

After all, plug your computer into a DAC, and you can play music not only up to CD quality through your system, but – with the right software – in formats way beyond the limitations of the three-decades-old-and-even-then-it-was-outdated 16-bit/44.1Khz of the silver disc.

Not surprising, then, that, DACs everywhere now seem to have USB inputs for a computer, and neither is it a great shock to see the arrival of DAC-on-a-stick devices such as the Award-winning Audioquest DragonFly and Meridian Explorer, both of which combine the functions of DAC and headphone amplifier.

Italian company M2Tech has been making both high-end digital to analogue converters and USB-shaped digital devices for some time, but to date the USB products have been HiFace interfaces designed to convert USB into a high-quality S/PDIF output suitable for connection to a conventional DAC.

The M2Tech HiFace DAC is, as the name suggests, a USB DAC: fitted inside a bright orange shell, it sells for €220 – but this is no ordinary DAC.

Like the best out there, it uses asynchronous USB, in which the master clock for the digital data is provided by the DAC, not the computer's internal clock, so in effect the DAC tells the computer when it needs data, rather than trying to field everything the computer is hurling at it.

OK, but then other similar devices do that, and just about every 'computer' DAC these days has an asynchronous USB port.

Hi-res, all the way to 32-bit/384kHz

What they don't do is handle resolutions all the way up to 32-bit/384kHz: in fact, very few DACs go all the way up there, that small number including some of the full-size models from M2Tech, and I don't know of any other USB-powered device with such capability.

So, what's that got to do with the price of fish? After all, isn't CD quality more than good enough for anyone, not to mention there being precious little higher-resolution music out there to play?

Well, the range of music available in 24-bit/96kHz, 24-bit/192kHz and greater resolutions is growing, and this little DAC – made and tested in Italy, by the way, with every unit subject to listening tests before packing and shipping – is all set to handle just about everything the current or future download music scene can throw at it.

By the way, what the HiFace DAC isn't really designed as is a headphone amplifier, though M2Tech says it may be possible to drive medium- and high-impedance headphones with it, adjusting the level with the computer's controls: really, this unit is designed to to be used into a conventional line input on an amplifier, connected using a cable from its 3.5mm stereo output to the amp's phono sockets.

The output is an entirely standard CD-player-like 2V, and the claimed frequency response is 5Hz-22kHz when using standard 44.1kHz content. Use 384kHz sampled stuff, and you get 5Hz-150kHz.

For some initial listening, I'm sitting here with the HiFace plugged into a MacBook Air via a short USB extension lead – for some reason I get really nervous about having devices like this plugged straight into the computer, just in case of physical accident – and a run of Audioquest cable from its line out to the line-ins on my Naim SuperNait amplifier, which is driving my usual PMC OB1 speakers.

You'll need to load drivers for the DAC on Windows computers, but on Mac and Linux there's no need to install anything: all you have to do is select the M2Tech as the output device. In fact it can even be used with iOS and Android devices via a USB adapter.

I'm listening at home as I am also building and filling a new QNAP TS-221 NAS device – soon to be hands-onned here – and the music is coming from my existing TS-412, being added to an Amarra playlist on the MacBook Air and then being played out to the system.

A word or two about playing this stuff: your standard iTunes just isn't going to be up the job. Living in Mac-world as I am at the moment, thanks to MacBooks being Haymarket standard issue (though the Air is my own), I've been using both Audirvarna (above) and Amarra software players to handle the music, almost of all of which is stored on my NAS in WAV or FLAC, and usually streamed out via the Naim NDS/555PS.

Both software packages are available in free trial versions, with Audirvarna handling content up to 24-bit/192kHz, and Amarra (above) going all the way to 24-bit/384kHz, and both interface simply with the HiFace DAC.

The day started well with Bob Marley in 24-bit/192kHz, took a turn for the more sombre mid-morning courtesy of the new 24-bit/48kHz B&W Society of Sound offering of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts – one of Sir Colin Davis's last recordings, with the LSO and choirs in the vast St Paul's Cathedral acoustic – and moved, via a spot of Daft Punk retrodisco in 24-bit/88.2kHz, to some ultra high-res classical music from Norwegian label 2L. In 24-bit/352.8Khz.

How does it sound? Well, to these ears, the answer is 'fabulous': the little orange stick delivers a sound with a presence, power and dynamic freedom I've only encountered with some very expensive digital hardware, and has the bass grunt and control needed to make any rhythm-section-driven music truly exciting.

Detail and definition are a given, and just get more striking the higher the resolution you choose to play, but the real revelation here is how well textures and characteristics of voices and instruments are conveyed, and how well that is achieved while retaining a delicious smoothness and sweetness in the treble.

M2Tech has built quite a reputation for engineering-led value-for-money products pushing the limits of digital sound without ridiculous price-tags, and on this brief audition I'd suggest the HiFace DAC could just turn out to be the company's most significant product to date.

And even better, in that embarrassing moment when someone says 'Is that a high-end digital-to-analogue converter in your pocket, or…?', at least now you'll have an answer.

Written by Andrew Everard

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So Naim’s putting all its ‘computer audio’ efforts into streaming products, isn't it? After all, since it launched the original NaimUniti – amazingly, that was just short of four years ago, time flying when having fun and all that – it has introduced eight more streaming players or systems in various guises, along with the n-Serve ripper/storage device.

However, turns out it's not all streaming: along the way it’s also added a DAC to its mainstream systems, but with the recent arrival of the DAC-V1 it now has a dedicated asynchronous USB DAC, designed for direct connection to a computer’s USB output.

Yes, until now it's been somewhat neglecting the ‘desktop audio’ market: those users who like to sit and listen at their computer, or at least with the computer relatively close to the hi-fi. While Naim was busy streaming, a whole industry has sprung up making DACs designed to be connected to computers.

And what's out there ranges from hefty mains-powered full-size hi-fi components sporting one of those square USB Type-B sockets on the rear panel to little devices you can pop in your pocket – the likes of the Audioquest DragonFly and Meridian Explorer.

But the £1250 Naim DAC-V1 is much more than an exercise in playing catch-up: it’s not just a USB DAC, and the first Naim product to have asynchronous connection, but is also a complete preamplifier, with five more digital inputs on offer. There are three electrical – two on phonos, one on a BNC – and two optical Toslink sockets.

Output is via the usual choice of stereo phonos or Naim’s favoured locking DIN socket, and these can either be run at fixed level – for example to run the DAC-V1 into another preamp or an integrated amp – or at variable level, using a precision analogue volume control driven digitally, so the output could be fed straight into the NAP 100 (of which more in a bit) or any other power amplifier.

Oh, and there’s also a front-panel headphone socket, accepting a full-size 6.3mm stereo plug – no messing around with 3.5mm tiddlers here.

Hi-res and beyond

Under the lid, this is no simple exercise in ‘bung in a DAC chip and some switching’: the DAC-V1 draws on the digital experience gained in the original Naim DAC, as well as the development of the ND range of streaming players. And it goes beyond any Naim device to date in the formats it can handle, going all the way up to 24-bit/384kHz.

Naim’s custom-designed 16x oversampling digital filtering, as found in the company’s original DAC, is used here. It’s implemented in DSP on a SHARC ADSP21489 processor which also controls the ‘zero S/PDIF jitter’ system, which takes the incoming data, buffers it, and then reclocks it out at a rate suitable for the DAC and digital filter.

The result is that the filtering and Burr Brown PCM1791A DAC, shared with the NDX and SuperUniti, are completely isolated from incoming jitter, whether the source is an S/PDIF input or the USB connection.

In addition, the DAC-V1 goes to great lengths to isolate interference from the attached computer: it makes no use of the 5V power line the USB connection provides, the USB ground is filtered and the digital and analogue sections of the unit are galvanically isolated, using optical couplings, to isolate noise. Even the S/PDIF inputs are transformer-coupled to the same effect.

And the asynchronous bit? Here’s how Naim explains it, and the explanation sums it up pretty well: Digital audio isn’t just about the data – 0s and 1s – and ensuring that each sample value is accurately converted into a corresponding output voltage.

‘Also vital to achieving the highest fidelity is ensuring that each successive sample is reproduced at a precise time interval from those around it. If that time interval varies – an effect known as jitter – then the output waveform will be distorted.

‘To prevent this, the master clock that controls the process should, ideally, be placed right next to the digital-to-analogue converter circuitry, not remote from it. ‘Asynchronous mode USB provides for this because it allows data to be ‘pulled’ from the source as required, whereas in other modes the data is ‘pushed’ down the interface under control of the far inferior and distant clock in the computer.’

That’s the succinct version: if you want to read deeper there's a Naim white paper on its website for download.

The DAC uses a six-layer board designed for low interference, selected audio components throughout including film capacitors in the signal path and tanatalum caps in critical power supply sections, while the power supply itself uses a transformer with separate windings for the digital processing, DAC and analogue sections and multiple stages of regulation.

Doing things the difficult way

Even the USB transceiver isn’t an off-the-shelf device, but has instead been custmised for Naim for use in the DAC-V1 – hence that 24-bit/384kHz capability. And of course the analogue volume control isn’t the simple way of doing things: that would be to implement volume adjustment in the digital domain, Trouble is, either attenuating or boosting levels digitally involves messing around with the purity of the digital signal, and that’s not at all what the DAC-V1 is about.

I’ve mentioned in previous blog pieces that Naim usually seems to choose to make life hard for itself in the search for the best possible performance: in the case of the DAC-V1, it certainly appears to have done just that throughout the design, while also drawing on the knowledge gained in the development of previous products.

For example, the matching NAP 100 power amplifier, selling for £650, also uses existing Naim knowledge: the company describes it as ‘a ‘classic Naim discrete transistor power amplifier’, using audiophile-grade selected components in a dual-mono configuration (derived from the SuperUniti all-in-one, itself based on the Supernait power section), and a linear power supply with a large toroidal transformer, each channel powered from a separate winding.

Critical components are hand-selected and –mounted, and each unit hand-tested and adjusted, as is usual with Naim components.

While clearly designed to complement the DAC-V1, with which it shares Naim’s half-width shoebox casework, it could also prove popular with other Naim users wanting a hideaway amplifier, or example for use with the NAC-N 172 XS.

It delivers 50W per channel into 8ohms, and 75W into 4ohms, via the usual Naim 4mm sockets, and that should be more than sufficient for the kind of close-up listening for which this combination is designed.

Inputs are on a choice of DIN or phonos, the former designed to ‘float’ thus isolating the amplifier stages from external vibration. To the same end both the DAC and the amp are housed in Naim’s usual die-cast alloy sleeve casework, designed for low resonance and resistance to electromagnetic interference, and the main board is physically separated from the speaker connections, again for vibration-proofing.

Shoebox style

Add to that the ‘shoebox’ styling, and those who go all misty-eyed at the thought of vintage Naim equipment will find it hard not to be reminded of classics from the past.

The styling harks right back to the NAC 22 and NAP 120 of the mid-1970s, not to mention the original Naim Nait integrated amp (left).

Back to the DAC, then and – for all its capability – there are some things the DAC-V1 isn’t: it’s not a network player, though you could stream content from a network using an attached computer, and neither is it capable of receiving Spotify, Last.fm, Rdio or any similar services (again, at least without the assistance of that computer).

To say ‘all it is is a DAC’ is something of an understatement given the features already mentioned above, but it kind of gets over how the new arrival is meant to be used.

Drivers will be needed to use it with Windows computers, as is usually the case, and Naim has these for download, but the DAC was instantly recognized by my MacBook Air laptop running OSX 10.8.3 Mountain Lion, Naim saying that the DAC-V1 will only function correctly with OSX 10.7.x Lion and later.

Naim provides a range of configuration guides for the various software packages with which the DAC-V1 is likely to be used: if you’re going to go much beyond CD quality – and if you want to play FLAC files – you’ll have to look beyond iTunes, and for my time with the DAC-V1 I obtained copies of both Audirvarna and Amarra players for OSX.

Time-limited trial versions of both are available: click here for Audirvarna (above), and here for Amarra (below).

There’s a test routine built into the DAC-V1 using downloadable files to make sure you really are getting bitperfect – ie completely accurate – data from computer to DAC; you could just use this with the BitPerfect add-on for iTunes, but then I’d go out of my way to avoid using iTunes for anything I can. In fact, aside from downloading subscribed podcasts, I’m not sure when I last actually used it.

The bitperfect test routine is slightly laborious, in that the files it uses are at a variety of bit-depths and sampling rates, from 16-bit/44.1kHz all the way up to 24-bit/384kHz, and you have to adjust the settings of your player software for each file, but it’s a routine you only have to do once for each computer/player set-up, so it’s well worth the effort.

Anyway, if you want the read more about the set-up with various software players, download the Windows drivers or grab the bitperfect test files, you’ll find them all on the Naim DAC-V1 support page.

Within the menu system of the DAC, you can change the names of inputs, select that fixed or variable volume, adjust channel balance, decide whether the DAC’s volume control or that in the attached computer controls the level, set a maximum level for the headphone output, adjust display brightness and the time until the display turns off, and even control the illumination of the Naim logo on the front: for example, it can be set to switch off when the DAC is muted.

Oh, and firmware updates are simple, too: they’ll be made available as WAV files, so once you have ensured you have bitperfect working, all you’ll have to do is download the WAV file and play it through the DAC using your player of choice. That looks to be much easier than the upgrade procedures with Naim’s network music players, involving a PC and both serial/USB and network connections.

Admittedly I’ve managed to do such upgrades successfully on the majority of occasions they’ve been needed, but not every time – on one occasion the procedure ‘bricked’ the piece of equipment, requiring a return to Naim for rectification.

As I’ve said in the past, if you own one of these units and are at all nervous about attempting the upgrade, leave it to your supplying retailer. Fortunately the new method here seems rather more foolproof.

But that’s for the future: for now, the DAC-V1, whether used as a standalone DAC/headphone amp or in full preamplifier mode together with the NAP 100, provided an enthralling, entertaining and entirely involving performance.

I’ll leave it to the WHFSV review crew to provide their definitive verdict on the pairing when they get it into the test rooms, but I’ve been using the duo at home for a few weeks and it’s proved a total blast with everything from CD-quality files right through to super-hi-res stuff exploring the upper limits of the DAC’s ability.

Desktop hi-fi, or whole-room hi-res

I’ve been using it in a desktop system with the little Neat Iota speakers; with the B&W P3 headphones; and as a DAC to feed the analogue inputs of my Naim Supernait/HiCap DRM amplifier, running into the usual PMC OB1 speakers. In every case the source was my MacBook Air laptop, connected to the DAC with a run of Chord’s USB Silver Plus cable.

It’s played rips, downloads and even the ‘master tape’ DXD FLAC files available from Norwegian label 2L, which are in 24-bit/352.8kHz. And that means big files: an 18m 31s piano duo piece running to 56MB in CD-quality FLAC, or 187MB in CD WAV, runs to 269MB in 24-bit/96kHz, just under 642MB in 24-bit/192kHz, or a massive 1.42GB in DXD FLAC 24-bit/352.8kHz.

But whatever the ‘320kbps is good enough’ brigade may have you believe, the proof of such monstrous files is in the listening: whether with that piano disc or something larger and more orchestral, complete with serious percussion, the DAC-V1/NAP 100/Neat Iota combination reveals the differences in detail, dynamics and sheer involvement.

Meanwhile stepping up to the DAC into the ‘big system’ provided a real ‘come and hear this’ experience of ever-so-slightly jaw-dropping magnitude.

Similarly listening to David Bowie’s latest album had proved a bit of a ho-hum experience in both the mp3 version I bought and the ‘full-fat’ CD quality files I purchased from French site Quboz, and as a long-time follower of The Dame’s work I was wondering what all the fuss was about – I mean it was OK, but…

Determined to give it a final chance, at the cost of an extra download, I bought the hi-res version, again from Quboz, fully aware that, while some of the content is in native 24/96, some tracks were ‘only’ in 24/48. Listening to the album again, I finally ‘got it’, and the volume levels began to creep up – one benefit of a) the house being detached and b) having a wife who’s out at work all day!

In fact, loading up CD-quality and hi-res versions of the tracks into Amarra and comparing them is like listening to two different systems, so great are the gains in dynamics, openness and sheer rockularity.

Casting a long shadow

As I said, the DAC-V1 will get a more thorough workout at the hands of our eagle-eared test team in due course, purely IMHO I think the amp is a belter, and the DAC-V1 is possibly too good for its own good, its diminutive stature not preventing it from casting a very long shadow over the rather more expensive Naim DAC – which is, after all, almost £1000 more expensive.

Would I switch from streaming to a DAC/computer set-up? Right now, probably not: the convenience of just being able to call up tracks using the iPad Mini I currently have as a remote control, and not having to sit with a laptop open and a cable snaking across the room to the hi-fi, would be hard to give up.

But with, say, a Mac Mini in the equipment rack, run headlessly and controlled by an iPad, or for a system based around desktop listening, things could be very different indeed.

Oh, and if you ever get the chance to hear some of those super-hi-res DXD FLAC tracks through a good system (such as one including the DAC-V1), grab the opportunity. You may never have heard a set-up sounding so good.

MORE: Naim DAC-V1 review

by Andrew Everard

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It's taken a remarkably short time for High Resolution Technologies to build an enviable reputation for producing great-value USB digital-to-analogue converters. The new microStreamer simply adds to that impression.

This tiny, aluminium-cased unit measures just 1x3x6cm, and connects to a laptop by means of a short (supplied) USB-to-mini-USB cable that carries both the audio signal and power.

MORE: Awards 2013

While a built-in USB connector (found on the likes of Audioquest's DragonFly) looks neater, HRT feels such a design has more chance of being broken if a laptop is moved.

The microStreamer has two outputs – one variable for headphones and the other at line-level for connection to an amplifier.

The USB input is of the increasingly common asynchronous variety, which means that the DAC is in charge of the timing of information flow, not the computer – generally a good thing as far as sound quality is concerned.

HRT microStreamer review: Performance

How does the microStreamer sound? Very good indeed. It has a clear and detailed delivery with the kind of natural feel and fluidity that few budget DACs approach.

Its tonality is well judged too, and there's refinement aplenty: it refuses to sound overly harsh or aggressive, even when provoked by below-par recordings. But while the microStreamer is good enough to make low-bitrate recordings sound acceptable, it really shines when fed higher-quality source material.

A 24-bit/96kHz recording of Kate Bush's 50 Words for Snow – 96kHz is the microStreamer's upper limit -– shows just how capable this little unit is. It delivers the texture and warmth in her voice beautifully, while keeping the dense musical backdrop in check.

HRT microStreamer review: Verdict

It doesn't matter what type of music you listen to: the microStreamer's insight, cohesion and surefooted rhythmic ability will ensure it works well. We think Audioquest's all-conquering DragonFly finally has a rival to worry about.

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You’ll be forgiven for your double-take at the star rating. Our most recent 2012 DAC Product of the Year, the AudioQuest DragonFly, down to four stars already? Yep, we were surprised too.

But with plenty more portable USB DACs popping up in what was once a very niche market, the competition is hotting up even more – and that makes us very excited indeed.

MORE: AudioQuest reveals new DragonFly v1.2 USB DAC

When the AudioQuest DragonFly first arrived at our offices, it was the first of its kind: a DAC and headphone amplifier all tucked into the size and shape of a USB memory stick.

All you have to do is plug it into the USB port of your computer, slot a pair of headphones into the DragonFly’s sole 3.5mm output, and voila! – you’ve transformed your computer into a full hi-fi system.

AudioQuest DragonFly: Design

The design of the DragonFly makes a long-lasting impression as well: the matte-black finish is smooth and the DAC itself has good weight, lending it the classy feel of a high-quality product.

Despite the stick’s tiny and delicate-looking exterior (it measures just over 6cm in length), it’s actually quite weighty in the hand, while the classy finish feels smooth to the touch.

The neatest feature is the DragonFly logo embedded in the stick – it lights up with different colours depending on the type of file being played: 44.1kHz (green), 48kHz (blue), 88.2kHz (amber), and 96kHz (magenta). The asynchronous USB DAC can handle files up to the full 24-bit/192kHz, but they are downsampled to 96kHz first.

To produce a more accurate sound from your music files, the USB socket supports asynchronous data transfer. A DAC is likely to contain a clock that’s much more accurate than the one in your computer. It tells the PC when to send data, rather than the computer supplying it whenever it wants (usually inaccurately) – which means the timing of the digital signal is far more accurate, and jitter levels (digital timing errors) are lower.

AudioQuest DragonFly: Sound quality

It’s elegant, yes, but it’s not just a pretty face: the DragonFly charges along with a bold and energetic attitude, full of rich, clear detail in an open soundstage. There’s fast and agile timing, along with a good deal of muscle in the lower frequencies.

There’s also a good sense of depth that allows you to engage with the music, and vocals are delivered with plenty of emotion.

If you’re looking for a DAC that favours attack and aggression, the DragonFly is ideal: it has an endless supply of energy that ensures a fast, punchy sound – albeit with a touch of hardness to the overall presentation. Play Rage Against the Machine’s Killing In The Name and you get the full impact of the anger and intensity behind Zach de la Rocha’s vocals and the heavy guitar riffs.

Despite all that, the DragonFly no longer has the monopoly on its particular brand of portable USB DAC: new rivals in the shape of the HRT microStreamer and Meridian Explorer have emerged, and their impact can be seen in the DragonFly’s new star rating.

Play a WAV recording of Oasis’s Wonderwall, and both the HRT and Meridian DACs manage to uncover another layer of subtle detail that gives more depth and space than the DragonFly (which seems just a bit too hard and insistent in comparison).

AudioQuest DragonFly: Verdict

Don’t get us wrong – the DragonFly’s attacking sound is exciting, but it may not suit long periods of listening as the hardness can start to grate.

New rivals may have ousted the DragonFly from its throne in terms of outright sonic performance, but there’s no escaping the fact that it’s still an extremely attractive piece of kit to own. It’s super-portable, has a great design, and delivers a solid and exciting sound: the DragonFly still has lots of appeal.

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