A good pair of speakers will need a good amplifier to bring out the best in them… and it’s the same with headphones.
Using a headphone amplifier with your headphones will give you a much better level of audio performance. A headphone amplifier gives you a power boost, which relieves your smartphone’s onboard amplifier from the job of providing power – which in theory should give you a longer battery life for your phone!
The more substantial and capable your headphones are, the more likely they are to need a dedicated amplifier to drive them.
Most smartphones are equipped with a manufacturer standard 3.5mm jack which runs from a basic on board amplifier. By moving to a dedicated headphone amplifier, you’re investing in an amplifier that’s purely been designed for giving you the optimum audio experience from your device.
Many headphone amplifiers now also act as a power bank for your smart phone, so if you’re out and about and running out of juice, you can charge your phone by plugging it into your headphone amplifier.
It’s important for a headphone amplifier to be small, discreet and lightweight, whilst still being good quality, powerful and easy to use. Here’s our round up of the best portable audio solutions currently available at Audio Affair…
Our top 5 Portable Headphone Amplifiers: (In price order)
FiiO E11k Kilimanjaro 2 Portable Headphone Amplifier / DAC £59
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/fiio-e11k-kilimanjaro-2-portable-headphone-amplifier-dac
>FiiO E12a Mont Blanc Portable Headphone Amplifier / DAC £129
HRT Head Streamer Mobile USB DAC Headphone Amplifier £149
Oppo HA-2 Headphone Amplifier / USB DAC £259
Fostex HP-P1 Portable Headphone Amplifier / DAC £465
The Oppo HA2
The Fiio E12a
2 thoughts on “Our Top 5 Portable Headphone Amplifiers”
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I recently bought the HA-2 and cannot recommend it heartily enough. It is easy to use, the battery outlasts the player by some considerable margin and the sound is superb. I match it to my iBasso DX-90 and Oppo PM-3 and the world just disappears in front of me!
Recently picked up a Fostex HP-P1 for 100 Euro second hand 🙂 quite a bargain I guess ! The sound is very very cool !