Move on up

The best portable headphone amps/digital-toanalogue converters to lift your mobile music

Quite possibly without even realising it, most of us make use of at least one digital-toanalogue converter (or DAC for short) each and every day. Built into computers, tablets and smartphones, the DAC is the fundamental key to unlocking the convenience of digital music. It converts the countless reams of digital information into an analogue signal that is intelligible to speakers, headphones and the human ear.

Any device that acts as a source of digital sound – whether a CD or Blu-ray player, digital TV box, games console or portable music player – will need a DAC to convert its audio to an analogue signal before it is output.

Traditional amplifiers do not handle digital information, speakers don’t play digital information and our ears cannot interpret digital information – they all need an analogue waveform. Without a DAC, your digital music is nothing but a collection of ‘0’s and ‘1’s that makes sense only to a computer. In short, DACS play a major part in making digital music actually work.

But, if they are already in your devices, why do you need a separate DAC? The simple answer is, not all DACS are created equal. The DAC circuits used in many devices are just not talented enough to do justice to the original recording, so a DAC upgrade can be the simplest way to improve your digital music and get the most from your system.

A dedicated headphone amplifier, meanwhile, will make your choice of headphones sing much more than if you were to simply plug them into a computer or smartphone. Which is why the portable devices we feature here incorporate both for the best on-the-go audio.

These Dac/headphone amps, like the pioneering Chord Mojo (short for ‘Mobile Joy’), are designed to bring you just that, with both a DAC and headphone amplifier combined in a conveniently small package that will sit easily within your mobile set up while working well with your phone, tablet or laptop as well as your choice of headphones.

Here we have three of our favourite on-the-go DACS, from Audioquest’s Usb-stick Dragonfly Black, via the cutely designed ifi hip-dac 2 to the latest iteration of the classic Chord Mojo.

Our choices cover a range of price points, and which one you choose will come down to both taste and budget. Rest assured though, all three of our recommendations here will provide you with plenty of that mobile joy you need.