Here's another dinky headphone DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), this time from accessories retailer Custom Cable. The £299 Herus is manufactured by Resonessence in Canada from a solid block of aluminium.
It measures just 6.3cm long, 3.2cm wide and 1.9cm high and supports asynchronous USB audio 2.0. DXD and DSD. Apparently Herus is the Latin for 'master or lord', which seems rather grand for a headphone DAC, but who are we to argue.
Herus is designed to work with Mac, PC or Linux computers as well as Apple iDevices when connected via the USB camera connection kit, and other smartphones/tablets. There are two connections: a USB type 'B' socket at one end, and a 6.35mm stereo jack at the other.
File compatibility includes PCM audio up to 24-bit and 352.8kbps, in addition to DXD and DSD 64-bit/128kbps.
Built-in 32-bit volume control processing means Herus can control the volume itself rather than having to rely on the usually lower-quality volume controls used in playback software.
By Andy Clough