I tested it, and Astell & Kern’s new pocketable smartphone DAC is a clear winner for detail, marred just slightly by bantamweight bass
THE SO WHAT
High‑end audio features are leaking into phone‑adjacent accessories rather than the phones themselves—niche hardware is where enthusiasts are being monetized. If you build mobile experiences where sound quality matters, assume your best users are on external DACs and test for that chain, not just stock devices.
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