I have written about a an excellent low cost headphone setup that I drove directly from the iPad with that Apple adapter and a USB cable to the DAC.
But after a while I got annoyed by having the iPad tethered to the audio gear. (Didn’t happen when I used the Dragonfly, probably because it is just a slightly heavier headphone cable which I need anyway.)
I had a MicroRendu that I no longer used, with an LPS-1 power supply, and I had a spare Eero WiFi mesh point. So I hooked up the whole stack: Eero with power brick, MR + LPS-1 with power brick, SDAC, AAA 789 with its power brick. 8 boxes. And the WiFi network streamer would have added over $1,000 to the $350 headphone amp and $80 DAC (if I didn’t have the gear lying around). Not cost appropriate. Excellent sound and convenience, but…
I mention this just to illustrate the slippery slope of incremental improvements. Makes the Dragonfly seem an outstanding bargain.
EDIT The third word in the first sentence should be “written”, not “rotten”. Freudian slip, anyone?