I have been listening music for a long time. As far as listening equipments go I have only gotten what you would describe as entry level audiophile stuff. Like $20 IEMs, and I had an Audio Technica M50 at one point.
For the last few years I have been listening to music on my Shanling Q1, a Chinese portable hifi music player. It died last month. So I got a new phone with a 3.5 mm audio out. But I have noticed that music doesn't sound as good when using the IEMs with it. The Q1 can also double as a wired or bluetooth DAC so I am wondering if I need something like that to make the music sound good from my phone.