ON THE GO

SHOPPING LIST

SONY XPERIA 1 III £1199

AUDIOQUEST DRAGONFLY COBALT £269

AUSTRIAN AUDIO HI-X50 £199

SYSTEM COST £1667

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can’t get top quality sound from a smartphone. Get the components right, and there is a decent case to be made for a phone and a pair of headphones standing up very well as a hi-fi system. Give those two a bit of a polish with a thumb-drive sized DAC, though, and you’re in for a real treat.

It’s clear that a decent standalone personal music player from the likes of Astell & Kern or Cowon, say, will perform a bit better – but having one of those means carrying an extra, relatively bulky, handset; and this combination will provide most of a