The world of hi-fi audio is awash in scams and snake oil, and—beyond the convenience—it’s partially why I like writing about Bluetooth products. Their features and quality are easily assessable and testable, and you don’t need equipment and a chart to know your expensive device is actually doing something. However, there are good products in this world too, and if you want portable hi-fi music, the Hip DAC 3 from iFi is one of the best products I’ve tried.

The world of DACs broadly divides between large powered units that sit on your desk—like the Atom DAC 2—and smaller, phone dongle DACs, like the AudioQuest Dragonfly, which plug into your charging port and provide an upgrade over the standard audio out of your phone.

The iFi is an interesting product as it falls between the two: powered by your phone but bulky in its own right—about the size and feel of a small aluminum flask—and able to decently power a variety of headphones. Basically, just plug your headphones into either the 3.5mm or 4.4mm ports on the end, turn it on, adjust volume with the dial, and connect it to your phone—and voilà, it works like a dongle. However, it’s still able to power decently strong headphones and noticeably improve their sound quality over a standard USB dongle.

Worth noting: you can also run the DAC through a second USB port, letting you listen to music through a dedicated audio port for the “purest” path, but this is silly. Regardless of which you choose, the music is transmitted digitally, so it doesn’t—and can’t—sound better.

However, this is really the only gimmick feature, and overall, listening to music on the DAC is just a delight. Even relatively undemanding headphones have so much more power, dynamic range, and clarity when connected to this—and that’s before you hit the Power Match button, which reduces background hiss and increases volume, or the XBass button, which adds just the right amount of low-end punch. Whether I was listening to The Quireboys on my Grado SR125X or the new RZA classical album “A Ballet Through the Mud” on a pair of IEMs, this was the best on-the-go music experience I’ve had in years, and it’s a whole other galaxy compared to even the best Bluetooth headphones. Plus, being able to adjust your volume with a satisfying volume knob is so lovely.