Powered hub, but my setup is a bit different than yours. Initially I was running 3.5mm from a tablet out to my amp. Then I got the DAC and ran it from a USB A type connection from the keyboard/dock of the tablet, since it had one. I wanted to be able to use an HDD for storage, since I don't care for streaming. It was then that I picked up an 8 port powered USB 3.0 hub and a OTG cable for the tablet. It's also kind of weird because my tablet has a separate power in, so it stays charged while using the OTG for connections through the hub..