Article: AudioQuest DragonFly Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

You can view the page at http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content.php?r=487-AudioQuest-DragonFly-Review

[wgscott]

Excellent review. I've been really pleased with mine (paired with my Audioengine A2s).

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks Bill - What volume control do you use with the A2s & DF?

[wgscott]

I have the speakers positioned on the desk in such a way that it is a major PITA to use the rear volume control, so after a bit of experimentation, I found a reasonable position (somewhere around 2/3 max gain) for the A2's volume, and now I keep it there, and control playback volume adjustments exclusively via the DF (using the appropriate volume control setting in Audirvana). This lets me control playback exclusively from the keyboard.

 

The other advantage of doing it this way is I now also have a small (Velodyne microvee) sub in that office system, and the connection goes from DF to sub and pass-through to the A2s. If I were to control the volume of the A2s with the rear volume control knob, it would change the balance of mains to subwoofer. Using the DF analogue volume control solves that problem easily (i.e., it doesn't even arise).

[Boy Howdy]

Chris:

Thanks, nice review - well written and cogent.

Mike

[Paul R]

What a great review! I love my little Dragonfly, and think it easily outclasses the price competitive DACs. It is outclassed by the more expensive DACs, but when comparing to other $300 DACs, there just isn't a comparison.

 

One question- in the Mac -> iTunes -> Amarra chain, I think you want to set the Amarra volume to zero rather than the maximum volume. I am going on memory here, so I could easily be wrong with that.

 

Yours,

-Paul

[The Computer Audiophile]

What a great review! I love my little Dragonfly, and think it easily outclasses the price competitive DACs. It is outclassed by the more expensive DACs, but when comparing to other $300 DACs, there just isn't a comparison.

 

One question- in the Mac -> iTunes -> Amarra chain, I think you want to set the Amarra volume to zero rather than the maximum volume. I am going on memory here, so I could easily be wrong with that.

 

Yours,

-Paul

 

Hi Paul - The Amarra volume is tied to the iTunes volume so setting both at 100% does the trick. Is your experience different?

[Paul R]

Nope, you are 100% right. I was thinking of the volume slider in Pure Music. Sorry for the confusion. (I had to log on to a system and home and check.

-Paul

 

 

Hi Paul - The Amarra volume is tied to the iTunes volume so setting both at 100% does the trick. Is your experience different?

[wgscott]

I'm curious about a potential Scenario 8: Any computer, operating system, and playback application > DF (with analogue vol) > Amplifier > Loudspeakers

 

In my case, I use a Halide Bridge to a Peachtree Nova as a DAC and pre-Amp, and have an external amp (which I built from a kit, fwiw). I have no other inputs to the pre-amp.

 

The limitations of the Nova DAC compelled me to use a Halide Bridge, and the limits of the Nova amp compelled me to use an external amp. In addition, the Nova DAC doesn't do 88.2kHz and obligatorily up-samples everything to 96kHz.

 

So if I removed the Halide Bridge and Nova from the signal path, and went directly from mac mini to DF to amp, controlling volume with the analogue vol control, I wonder if it would sound better?

 

One thing I worry about is impedance-matching going directly from this to my amp, and the other is electrical isolation.

 

Another worry is that, despite my personality, I occupy a home shared with other family members. I would like to use Audirvana+ to control the volume, with the system volume set to max, etc, but if some other person just turns on iTunes with the volume all the way up, it would probably be a disaster. Having a pre-amp or buffer offers a layer of protection in this respect.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I'd love to hear how this works in your system. The DF is 2 Vrms output and "should" work well.

 

Although I'd be scared about software volume control only even if it's analog :~)

[wgscott]

I'll give it a shot when I have a chance and am feeling brave.

 

Meanwhile, how to you think the Dragonfly compares to the Halide DAC HD? Apart from the analogue volume control, they seem like rather similar products.

[Christopher]

Hi Chris,

 

Great review. Really appreciate your layout of scenarios. What a terrific guide!

 

I use scenarios 1 & 3 with my HD580 headphones at my desk (they are older, but reliably enjoyable). Love the versatility, value and performance of this product.

 

Sending my best from NYC and thank you as always,

Chris

[ecwl]

What a wonderful review. I particularly appreciate the versatility and flexibility of the Dragonfly. I'm sure it'll be all things to all people, which is why I'm grateful Chris reviewed various setups. I really like having the Dragonfly with my laptop when I travel. It's a good portable sound upgrade compared to using an iOS device.

[agentsmith]

Chris, I saw a picture of what looks like a Dragontail, is it available now?

 

If you have tried it out, do you have any comments on it?

[HiFiInsider]

I like to know about DragonTail too.

[Simon M.]

Great review Chris,

 

Curious if you could touch on how the DF compares to the Wavelength Proton. I currently use a Proton in my main rig and was considering an upgrade and then moving the Proton to the office for some headphone use - but if the DF offers most (or all?) of the performance of the Proton in a smaller/cheaper package I may need to more seriously look into it.

 

Any thoughts or preference between using a DF or Proton with headphones? Does the preference change when used in your main rig?

 

Thanks,

Simon

[MikeJazz]

Hello Cris,

 

Thanks for your review, another great.

In fact I already had in mind purchasing the DragonFly in the near feature.

 

I spend most of my life using a windows laptop and this will be a terrific mate for my trips, if I can find an appropriate headphone for them.

Which leads to my question: your headphone configuration did not match the results with the system.

 

Does it mean you think there can be a better solution for the headphones than what you are using, or just that the main rig is so great that you believe no headphone can match it?

 

Maybe a top-of-the-line Senheiser or Bayerdinamic would be much closer to the precise, effortless dynamics that I believe/imagine you can get with your system, or maybe the DF does not have enough juice to power the big ones...interested to discover that...

 

(I have listened the TAD's before, are one of my favourite "tradicional" speakers...ones that I know I would live so well with)

 

Cheers!

Miguel

 

 

PS -

1) I only wish there was a practical way of connecting the DF to my iPod classic.

Maybe Audioquest can make and iDragonFly for I devices, at lest for the classical ones.

[Guidof]

Thanks for an informative review.

 

I'd have liked to see a Scenario 8: Logitech Squeezebox Touch (with Triode's Enhanced Digital Output) > DF > Headphone Amp > Headphones.

 

Perhaps a PS?

 

Guido F.

[junker]

Thanks for the great review.

 

I was just curious if the DragonFly has an EEPROM - can it be flash updated AudioQuest wants to change any settings (i.e. max output gain set to step 60 vs. 64)? I believe my DragonFly is version 1.0c.

[RobbieC]

I have been using mine for several months OS X > Audirvana Plus > DF (using its analog volume control) > Amplifier > Loudspeakers as wgscott suggested.

 

Works very well. I can't really turn it up anywhere near unity though. I mostly operate it at -12 dB (as indicated by Audirvana player) or less. And I'm using a modest harman/kardan HK 3490 with the jumpers removed so that the output from the DF goes directly into the amplifier section only, bypassing the rest of the unit. I guess that a 125 mW output is rather powerful.

 

Incidentally, I count 53 volume steps on Audirvana's player from -∞ dB to 0 dB. I believe the DF has 60 analog steps (I believe I recall a post here delineating the rationale for the change from 64). Anyway, does anyone know how the two reconcile the different number of steps? Rounding to nearest? Losing a few steps at the extremes? Something else?

[Deyorew]

I also would like to hear about sound quality vs Wavelength Proton for headphones but more importantly main rig (hooked to a preamp based stereo)

 

 

 

Great review Chris,

 

Curious if you could touch on how the DF compares to the Wavelength Proton. I currently use a Proton in my main rig and was considering an upgrade and then moving the Proton to the office for some headphone use - but if the DF offers most (or all?) of the performance of the Proton in a smaller/cheaper package I may need to more seriously look into it.

 

Any thoughts or preference between using a DF or Proton with headphones? Does the preference change when used in your main rig?

 

Thanks,

Simon

[drdanb]

Thanks for the thorough review, Chris;

 

Any chance the DF would sub for the iPod Classic or new iPod Touch's internal DAC?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[wgscott]

No for the classic. I'm not sure if there is some trick that would allow it to work with the new iPod touch out, but my guess is no. With the iPad, you can use the USB camera adaptor, but you would need a powered USB hub.

[wgscott]

I'd love to hear how this works in your system. The DF is 2 Vrms output and "should" work well.

 

Although I'd be scared about software volume control only even if it's analog :~)

 

Well, I finally got the connector cable (I bought a BlueJeansCable.com connector. Actually $2 more than the lowest-priced Audioquest.)

 

Briefly, it certainly sounds no worse, and the noise floor is lower. Volume control was not problematic. I could potentially swap out my Peachtree Nova for this thing, which is a bit embarrassing.

 

The connector cable, however, was defective. No left channel. (I swapped them around to be sure it was the cable, and then tested the cable with my ohm-meter). I think there is a cold solder, but I'll let them deal with it.

[Bones13]

Well first, size wise, this unit is as small as the $15 "USB Audio Adapters" that have been out awhile, and still sound terrible. Nothing compares to the size.

 

Sound wise it plays well above class. I have used it via "option 1" for a couple of months now powering first some AudioTechnica ESW10JPN, and more recently the new Sennheiser Momentum headphones. Bulletproof, and the sound is well above my previous DACPort, and Ray Samuels Predator.

 

Hard to beat for a portable system (mine is MBP, small USB extender {still waiting for a DragonTail}, Dragonfly, and headphone. The DAC/AMP and cord fit well inside the headphone case.