THE SNOBBY AUDIOPHILE
Audiophiles aren’t snobs! They are just discerning individuals who happen to have a deep passion for music. They know that anything worth doing is worth doing well and so having music alone isn’t enough, it needs to be reproduced faithfully and with deft and fidelity. Respect the artiste and the craft! So give the gift of sound this Christmas with these carefully curated gift suggestions for the demanding audiophile.
IN HIS POCKET APPLE IPHONE 11 PRO MAX
Why is an iPhone the perfect phone for an audiophile? It has no headphone jack, it doesn’t have a built-in audiophilegrade DAC, it doesn’t even support LDAC. Purists know that nothing beats a wired connection, and if you are going wired, you might as well pair it with an external DAC. If you are going to pair it with an external DAC, AudioQuest’s Dragonfly USB DACs are a no-brainer. Android support for these USB DACs are patchy, but iPhones work flawlessly.
ON THE GO AUDIOQUEST DRAGONFLY COBALT
Get a Lightning to USB adapter, plug the Dragonfly Cobalt into your iPhone, plug in your favourite headphones, and thank us later. This little USB DAC — the size of a typical USB flash drive — gives a massive audio upgrade to your iPhone. It just makes everything sound richer, fuller, and more incisive. Best of all, when you are back home, it’s slots perfectly into your desktop or living setup too. This has got to be the audiophile bargain of the year.
APPLE AIRPODS PRO
We can see the fires and pitchforks outside our windows now, but hear us out first. If you want convenience, it really doesn’t get better than the AirPods Pro. These works seamlessly or should we say, magically, with the iPhone. Open them next to each other and the pair instantaneously. What’s more, the AirPods Pro feature active noisecancellation, and it’s surprisingly effective too, capable of turning a noisy train carriage into a bearable listening room. It’s not the best-sounding wireless headphone but its feature set and incredible ease of use make it hands down the best wireless headphone you can get for the iPhone.
BACK AT HOME SCHIIT MAGNI 3
This may be Schiit’s entry-level amplifier, but there’s nothing entry-level about its performance. The gain-stage is fully discrete, DC-coupled, and uses a currentfeedback design for better measured performance. The Magni 3 is powerful too. Its single quarterinch jack delivers up to 5W of power per channel at 16 ohms and up to 3.5W per channel at 32 ohms. Even at 600 ohms, the Magni 3 is delivering a maximum of 300mW per channel. It even has pre-amp outputs so you can hook up powered speakers.
DCS BARTóK
If you are gunning for the high-end, you could do a lot worse than the Bartók. It features the same custom-designed Ring DAC that is used in the company’s flagship Vivaldi DAC. You get single and balanced output for headphones and the amplifier runs in pure Class A. What’s more, the Bartók is Roon Ready and can stream directly from TIDAL, Spotify, or a NAS.