Dragonfly reds unique design allows for playback of any file type regardless of resolution. The audioquest dragonfly is a small digitaltoanalog converter dac that doubles as a. The dragonfly black is the best ever value audioquest dac. The easiest way to revolutionize your computers audio the verge. This works for any dac, including the one built into the mac mini. Audioquest dragonfly black usb dac and headphone amp. Audioquest dragonfly usb digitalaudio converter at. Dragonfly was written by danny kirwan of fleetwood mac, taking heavy inspiration from the lyrics of a welsh poem by w.
Dragonfly black, red, and cobalt can be used with apple ios devices. Audioquest dragonfly dragonfly usb digitalaudio converter. When i moved to an outboard dac on my mac mini, a meridian director, i was amazed at the improvement. Dragonfly black, the most affordable model of the awardwinning dragonfly family, has been praised by darko. The new dac boasts a minimumphase slow rolloff filter, which in theory, should translate to a more natural sound overall. Amazon music hd major external dac frustrations and. With all currentproduction models of audioquests dragonfly usb dac black, red, cobalt, music appreciation and exploration are limitless. Jack outputs directly to headphones, resolutions up to 24bit 96 khz, can also feed preamp or power amp, supports mac. Dragonfly black is compatible with mac os x, versions 10. Product of the year awardwinner from almost every highend audio magazine in the world audioquests awardwinning dragonfly dac. Audioquest dragonfly red and black usb dacheadphone. Measurements i measured the audioquest dragonfly with stereophile s loan sample of the topoftheline audio precision sys2722 system see.
The dragonfly is designed to work as a dac and headphone amp. When i first heard about the dragonfly, i figured it had to be junk, predicated just on the low price. Jul 08, 2019 audioquests first dragonfly dac was released in 2012. Hello, ive been leeching this forum for a long time now learned a lot, thanks for that but i finally have a reason to post something now im considering to buy an external dacamp for the ipad to get an increase in sound quality compared to the builtin 3. I tested the dragonfly red with my macbook pro, gaming pc, and android smartphone. I cant imagine a better realization of that ideal that audioquests new dragonfly usb dac. I like to use the dragonfly black other places, and would consider getting another dac, or adding a little amplification to the headphone out if another dac would not benefit me possibly considering mqa.
Audioquest has upgraded its dac chip since it released the dragonfly red. Audioquest dragonfly cobalt usb dacheadphone amp hifi news. There are two models in the audioquest dragonfly range the black and the red. Audioquest update dragonfly redblack with firmware v1. The audioquest dragonfly is a dac and headphone amplifier which, for the user, is about as simple as can be. Dragonfly red is a usb digitaltoanalog converter dac designed to deliver cleaner, clearer, more naturally beautiful sound from any computer, smartphone, or tablet. I have an audioquest dragonfly and a centrance dacport. Any outboard dac will likely be better than the internal one. Plug into an apple or windows computer or connect to an ios or android mobile device.
It uses a usb slot to draw power and signal, and outputs dramatically improved sound. If your music library is coming out of a macbook pro, the internal dac is. Even with cheap speakers youll likely hear a quite noticeable improvement. Audioquest took a dac and headphone amp two traditional hifi components and served them up in a greatsounding, consumerfriendly package. Dragonfly black is a usb digitaltoanalog converter dac designed to deliver. Despite the price drop, the sound quality has been improved by fitting a highspec ess 9010 dac digital to analogue converter.
Audio as the quintessential everyman hifi product, while its more sophisticated sibling, dragonfly red, combines significantly improved performance with still exceptional value. Does not require extra batteries does not drain your phone battery and tips the sound quality of your portable system over to the audiophile side. The dragonfly red dac is a 32bit ess 9016 dac having minimum phase filter and it plays mp3 audio files as well as 24bit 196khz high resolution files without any hitch. To complete your setup, you will need to buy another audioquest dragontail usb a to c adapter to connect the dragonfly to your galaxy s10.
The dragonfly extracts digital audio from a mac or pc to execute its own da conversion. Although other adapter cables may be needed for some handheld equipment, the compact cobalt comes complete with a usbctoa dragontail to enable it to be connected to units using usbc ports. The dragonfly cobalt is a usb dac device that supports a native resolution up to 24bit 96khz and comes with a chip that has a minimumphase slow rolloff filter. Make no mistake the sabre is a beast and a fan favourite amongst audio enthusiasts. Meridian explorer 2 or just mqa rendering like the dragonfly black, with either tidal or roon will get you the full mqa experience. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Natively, dragonfly red is capable of decoding 24bit96khz data. Ive found that a good dac is key to having the music converted properly.
Dragonfly setup instructions show the latest mac os x mountain lion windows as there are no. While dragonfly black uses a highquality headphone amp and analog volume control, dragonfly red includes a more advanced ess headphone amp and a bitperfect digital volume control that resides on the 9016 dac chip itselfa sophisticated implementation that gives red a unique combination of power and grip over the music. Jun 08, 2016 the audioquest dragonfly is a small digitaltoanalog converter dac that doubles as a headphone amplifier. Audioquest dragonfly red instructions manual pdf download. It was fleetwood mac s first single with christine mcvie as a full member, but was released after frontman peter green and then jeremy spencer had already left the band. Audioquest dragonfly cobalt plugin usb dacheadphone. Audioquest dragonfly red and ipad music production audiobus. Its roughly the size of a thumb drive, and it plugs into your phone or computer to deliver premium, highprecision sound. Ive used amazon music hd on my mac, iphone, and ipad, and have been impressed with the results. When the original dragonfly flew into our testing rooms back in 2012, it was a breath of fresh air. Plug it into the ipad and amazon music reports the device capability as 24 bit 48khz which it the dac isnt, it will do 24 bit 96khz. A dac and headphone amp disguised as a usb stick and with great sound to boot. Its small and plays from your backpocket hooked into your phone.
The black version is designed for easiertodrive headphones, with a 1. From mp3 to mqa and hires, dragonfly adds life, meaning, and color to all of your music. If you have a mac, you dont need a dac drop formerly massdrop. Id say if you are on the fence get something like this or a dragonfly and hear the. After upgrading my dragonfly red, the tidal desktop app recognized a usb dac with mqa support. Which gives some of the benefits of the encoding on nonmqa enabled hardware. Dec 24, 2019 like all the dragonfly models, the cobalt is designed for use with windows, mac and linux computers as well as android and ios portable devices. I tested the dragonfly red with my macbook pro, gaming pc, and android. Sep, 2018 thats why im using the dragonfly black headphone out on the mac will drive the stax amp, but more gain would help. How to connect a usb dac to a macbook pronwith only usbc. Sep 26, 2012 the product that silberman and audioquest had in mind was an outboard da converter that would sell for the same price as an apple ipod classic. Then use a aux cable to connect the dragonfly to your car aux. Using an external dac that does either full mqa decoding e.
Its incredibly easy to us, you simply plug it into one of your mac pcs free usb ports and away. Dragonfly black and red can be used with apple ios devices. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. An apple camera adapter is required to connect dragonfly to an apple lightning device. Oct 08, 2019 dragonfly black is a great quality dac amp for headphones.
And my wife loves dragonfly picture on the package. The stax tube amp is connected to the mac mini via the dragonfly. I plugged the dragonfly red into my macbook pros usb port, then connected sennheiser hd 598 headphones to the 3. Feb 14, 2017 are you getting the best out of tidal hifi. The new price point makes it more affordable than ever and the ideal accompaniment for your smartphone or tablet.
If so, wed like to present the handy audioquest dragonfly cobalt usb dac headphone amp. This video is for people that want to use the dragonfly dac with their iphone 6 plus or ipad air 2 without a power supply. In this video we show you how you can update your audioquest dragonfly red or black to the latest 1. Designed to bypass your computers sound processing, this usb dac is the missing link to getting great sound from your computer. How to use the dragonfly dac with iphone 6plus or ipad air. Aug 07, 2018 the dragonfly red dac is compatible with number of devices and all the devices from apple and android can be connected to this dac.
If your dragonfly is not discovered by aq device manager, try removing it and reinserting it. Setting up the dragonfly requires entering a couple of menus mac or pc to tell the computer that audio output should be through the dragonfly. A short film about the audioquest dragonfly cobalt darko. Audioquest dragonfly usb dacheadphone amplifier crutchfield. Audioquest dragonfly black usb dac and headphone amp v1. Although not as simple to set up as a true upnp universal plug n play device that configures itself with no user intervention, installing the dragonfly requires no software downloads. Audioquest dragonfly usb da converter measurements. Audioquests highly successful dragonfly models put the usb dac category on the map, and the cobalt looks to be the best one yet. Its pocketable thumbdrive form factor brought better sound quality any computer user with a spare usb socket. Audioquest dragonfly cobalt usb dac headphone amplifier. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Audioquest dragonfly usb da converter measurements sidebar 3. Audioquest dragonfly black usb dacheadphone amp richer. So amazon is reporting the capability of the ipad, not the dac.
548 1527 321 1475 19 1396 1179 528 194 65 570 7 1123 44 151 989 1021 1529 494 1570 1334 329 923 1126 1366 1428 511 962 1232 1371 627 1554 903 137 110 906 448 582 246 422 652 1019 65