'Cause it is not just a phase! They’re in-phase!

There’s still a variety of factors to still buy physical cds if you can find them for cheap at thrift stores or used market places. As for buying digital downloads from stores like HdTracks, ProStudioMasters, 7Digital, or Qobuz, it depends if you to like to eq or not and have a source to which can make music sound really exceptional. I still buy digital downloads from the online stores I mentioned above because I like eqing on my Cowon Plenue music player and having that on the go with my IEMs of choice. I do use the ifi Go Blu bluetooth dongle when I want to carry light on the go but that device, while great, just can’t compete with the software and hardware available on my portable music player to make me really immersed in the music.

If you like bass, then you might want to check out Fir Audio iems. Their black friday discount is 20% off their custom and universal iems. I just ordered their top of line iem (Xe6) since I’ve heard good things about it and I already own and immensely enjoy one of their more balanced but still warm iems (Rn6).

I think it depends on the implementation of the dac and amp. I would say getting better headphones or messing with a good eq implementation makes more of a difference. It’s the reason why I love my Cowon music players despite the initial dumb cost of almost costing the same as a brand new flagship phone. I do not regret it, though, as it allows me for quite the eq customization for different iems and headphones on the go. Definitely enjoy listening to music more on my music players more than the apple dongle, ifi go blu bluetooth device, and some other usb-c dac dongles I have.