Quote:
Originally Posted by OneSweetMonkey
Does anyone know if you'll be getting lossless quality if you're playing through USB? I imagine yes. But does anyone know for sure?
|
First of all, I think that most of your questions are answered in this article:
https://www.whathifi.com/amp/advice/...-your-iphone-0
I’ll add a couple of things, don’t want to be a teacher but just outline the basic concepts.
When you plug in any device to play music to your iPhone, you need to convert the a digital audio signal into an analog signal, allowing you to play the sound over headphones or speakers.
In few words, you need a DAC.
DAC is an abbreviated term that stands for
digital to analog converter. Basically, a DAC converts bits of data from digital files into an analog electronic signal at thousands of set times per second.
A long time ago, when the IPhone had a 3,5 mm jack output, this conversion was done inside the iPhone itself: there was a built in DAC, but it wasn’t too good.
Since the IPhones now have lightning adapter (starting with the IPhone 7), the conversion occurs now
outside the device (in a much better way).
Important:
this conversion is where you loose quality: therefore
the quality of the DAC goes a long way in determining sound quality.
Once the DAC converts the signal, an amplifier takes over. This amplifier's job is to take the signal and boost it so that it can sound clear and loud over any connected cable. Again,
the quality of the amplifier affects overall sound quality.
So, where is the DAC now? If you buy special headphones with a lightning cable that goes directly in your IPhone, then the DAC is in the headphones (this is the example of the EarPods with the lightning connector).
Otherwise, the DAC is an external device by itself. The original Apple audio adapter (lightning to to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter) is actually doing that, and it does it in a pretty good way too: see this article:
https://www.audioreviews.org/apple-a...dapter-review/
As someone said before, therefore, for most headphones, when you use the Apple adapter you get a very good result. Technically, it supports 24-bit/48kHz, which is still Lossless sound (and is the Lossless ALAC format I have selected in the Audio Lossless setting of the iPhone).
But you might see a good reason to spend more money in a different DAC like the Audioquest Dragonfly when you need to power high impedance headphones.
My final advice: whatever you decide to do/plug into your iPhone, don’t look to much the numbers, just listen to your ears. That’s the best way to decide what is good for you.