Most of the smartphones on the market are not designed
specifically for playing music. For some people, it doesn't really matter
because they can still enjoy the music through smartphones. But for others,
they feel that the mix between smartphones and headphones alone is not enough
to present a high quality sound.
Simply put, when you plug upper class headphones which are
usually have large impedance (80 ohms or more), the majority of smartphones
can't supply enough power so that the voice emitted will sound very low.
Perhaps you might answer that the headphone amplifier can solve this problem.
It is true that the headphone amplifier can solve the low sound;
however, this product will broke the portable aspect that's offered by a
smartphone, where the size of the headphone amplifier is generally bigger than
the smartphone itself. So what is the best solution? You still need the
headphone amplifier, but with compact size and portability.
Aqua Headphone Amplifier is a very compact headphone amplifier;
its size is almost the same as remote control that's usually attached on the
headphones or earphones cable. Inside this device, there are 60mW amplifier,
and a DAC (digital to analogue converter) chip that will bypass the default DAC
of smartphone in order to present a better sound quality.
Because it has its own DAC, Aqua is able to process
high-resolution audio files, which are normally presented in FLAC 24-bit /
192kHz format. But if you're not interested in playing the lossless files, Aqua
is claimed can still bring better sound quality for MP3 files and standard AAC.
Simply put, you can listen to more details even in the low volume.
Aqua Headphone Amplifier is not equipped with a battery pack
just like the majority of headphone amplifiers on the market. It will borrow
the power from the smartphone battery by connecting this device to a Lightning
port or Micro USB. Don't worry because Aqua won't take excessive battery
consumption, when it's used together with the iPhone 6 to play music for an
hour, the Aqua will only use about 6 percent of battery power.
Aqua doesn't require a dedicated music player application to
be used - unless you want to play FLAC files, considering the default music
player application of Android or iOS doesn't support it. You just need to plug
Aqua to Lightning port or Micro USB port, and then connect your headphone or
earphone to 3.5mm standard jack on Aqua. On the other side, there is a button
to play / pause.
Aqua Headphone Amplifier is still undergoing a fundraising campaign
on Kickstarter. If you're interested, you can become a backer by selecting the pledge
starts from $ 59. Its retail price is estimated will be offered at $ 79.