iFi Audio Hip Dac V3 Portable DAC and Headphone Amp

Very happy with the sound.

This is my first dac. I bought a pair of good wired headphones so I figured why not get a dac so I can use them with my cellphone. One thing I noticed is sometimes when changing tracks. You have to unplug and plug the deck back in in order to get sound back. Besides that, I really can't tell the quality different. But that's probably just because i'm not an audiophile. I had 2 other people listen and neither of them could tell the difference. There is a hissing sound with some songs, but IEmatch eliminates most of it. I would wait for it to go on sale. Buy it. My next purchase will be a bluetooth dac. If I can't tell the difference between that and the hipdac3 then it seems like the BT version would be more useful.

Let's start by saying this DAC is awesome.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has much more control, it's easy to use and the features on it are amazing. I also feel that the volume control that IfI Hip DAC 3 uses is really nice. It's easy to turn and that makes it convenient in my eyes. The sound quality stays the same, regardless of how loud or quiet the audio is.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has a pretty wide soundstage depending on what settings you use with it. Using Power Match and IEMatch both did a great job at keeping my IEMs stable and sounding great. It widened the soundstage of my IEMs and it gave me the feeling of actually being in a live performance and the studio.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has great imaging and separation. You would be able to hear the exact locations of the instruments being played in classical and jazz music, other genres too. The great thing about this DAC is that it works with a wide range of speakers, as I have tested.I upgraded the DAC to the latest firmware and I found that it had much better control and had better sound quality overall. The instrument separation improved and the sound got louder and actually made everything more vibrant and bright. I like vibrant and bright because it really adds to the overall sound quality that this amazing DAC is packed with.MQA decoding is actually amazing, using this with Tidal and tried an MQA track. Compared to MQA renderers, full decoders like this one give you much better sound quality. I think the iFi Hip DAC 3 sounds great with both, MQA and FLAC playback.

I have been looking for a new portable DAC to play HiRes music from my iPhone. After watching loads of videos and reviews on Dacs I decided to get this unit and boy am I happy l did. It sounds amazing and has brought new life to my headphones. Highly recommended 👍

Using my Hip DAC3 with a Samsung phone and planar magnetic headphones. Ditched the short cable for a longer, coiled USB-C cable that gives me more handling/placement flexibility. I am not an audiophile. I do, however, thoroughly enjoy listening to my music using my HIP DAC3. Ample volume and great sound from my HD streaming service. High quality construction and probably the best volume knob of any device that I have used. I tend to listen to my music in focused sessions and have not had any issues with the battery life.