AudioQuest DragonFly DAC USB Digital Audio Converter - Black

Product Information

In our tests, Apple's Lightning-to-USB 3 Camera Adapter (with charging port) sounds better and is more reliable than Apple’s less expensive Lightning-to-USB Camera Adapter, while also providing the ability to charge during playback. The sound actually reminds me of a rougher version of the ODAC + O2 combo: overall it’s a neutral sound with no particular bias towards any frequency range. Which is, unfortunately, part of the reason I chose to stay away from the Dragonfly: How can something be that good? And not just in terms of available power, which is about 3x that of typical built-in headphone outputs - but in reference to overall quality.

Early versions of Windows 8 had compatibility issues with their device drivers and many USB DACs (including DragonFly). The slight grain of the Dragonfly’s upper registers tends to exacerbate the less-than-perfectly-smooth treble region on the HD660S themselves, however - and those particularly sensitive to treble issues may find that “grain” becomes “grit” with this pairing. While we do suggest that you try using JitterBug in series with DragonFly Cobalt, because Cobalt employs some of JitterBug’s filtering, results may vary depending on the associated devices. Hooked directly to any of my headphones (AKG K92, Takstar Pro 82, Samson SR850, Sennheiser CX300II, KZ ZSX.This was especially important to my Notes Audio AT10 (also known as Simphonio Xcited 2), as in quiet environment the IEMs almost always suffered from bloated bass notes until the Dragonfly came to the rescue. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. It requires the Apple Camera Connection Kit to work, but its small size keeps it within a reasonable range of portability.

Transient response and dynamics, particularly micro-dynamics, are clearly limited more by the built-in amplification than by the capabilities of the DAC. As MQA Renderers, DragonFlys Black, Red, and Cobalt complete the unfolding process, allowing music lovers to enjoy a wider selection of high-res music. One interesting aspect to DACs that only support MQA rendering, is that you can do back-to-back comparisons feeding them MQA content that has, or has not, been through the decoding phase - simply by turning that option off in your player.The bass remains as articulate and as impactful, though at times (on both units), some notes roll off faster than I’d like. The Black version, which we’re testing here, features an ESS Sabre DAC chip that is capable of handling 24-bit/96khz resolution files and, with a recent update, the ability to process MQA files.

Once the aggressiveness is tamed, it is much easier to focus on other parts of the frequency ranges and enjoy them. For the best sound quality, the computer should be configured so that it sends music and audio data to DragonFly that matches the native rate of the music. The ESS 9010 DAC chip in Black and the higher-performance 9016 chip in Red employ minimum-phase filtering for naturally detailed sound.DragonFly Black, Red, and Cobalt will work with most Android devices running on Lollipop OS (and some Android devices running on KitKat), provided that the device manufacturer has adhered to the USB specification and implementation, and supports audio over USB.

Personally I still prefer X6 for it's more neutral approach but I can imagine someone liking DF's punchiness more. These digital devices include (but are not limited to) CD players, laptops, computers, tablets, smartphones, and televisions. The most recent one lasted for 3 months, and for those 90 days of being away from home, the “laptop onboard + great earphones” just became more and more unbearable. No matter the choice of musical pleasure, DragonFly delivers beautiful sound, unraveling the emotional expression and nuance that makes music and movies so enjoyable.Previously, DragonFly’s power consumption limited its compatibility to Mac and Windows laptops and PCs. The most affordable model of the award-winning DragonFly family, DragonFly Black is a portable, plug-and-play USB DAC (digital-to-analog converter), preamp, and headphone amp that connects to laptops, tablets, and smartphones to deliver clean, clear, naturally beautiful sound to headphones, powered speakers, or complete audio systems. From the get go, all of us were instant fans of the AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC, and the way it improved the sound of our computer music. This manifests itself as a little too much bite with brass instruments, and a somewhat steely edge to cymbals, and contributes to the occasionally “tense” or “strained” feeling to the unit’s top-end. Drawing 77% less current than the previous microcontroller, the new Microchip PIC32MX microcontroller enables true compatibility with Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.