Will that be the case forever? We hope not. Of course, we’ll be the first to admit that connecting external kit to your iPhone 13 isn’t the most elegant solution, but if you want to hear the full original resolution of your hi-res files through your iPhone above and beyond 24-bit/48kHz, using an external DAC with your iPhone really is the only way to go. Remember, a number of these DACs usually have ways of indicating what sample rate is being played, so you can make sure your headphones are being fed the best sound quality possible from your files. That might be a touch overkill and punishingly transparent for an iPhone, but these are hi-res files, after all. You could combine the Chord Hugo 2 DAC with a pair of Beyerdynamic T1 (3rd Generation) headphones for a more premium set-up. Don’t be afraid to build up to a more revealing system.

This is just a starting point, of course.

Next, you need a decent DAC such as the Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt, Cyrus soundKey or Chord Mojo 2 and a good pair of headphones, such as the Grado SR325x, Shure Aonic 3 or Austrian Audio Hi-X55. First, you’ll need to invest in Apple’s Lightning-to-USB camera adapter (£29) which forms a link between your iPhone and a third-party DAC.

Iphone music converter app