Article: AudioQuest DragonFly Red & DragonFly Black Review

[Steve Silberman]

I had the original DragonFly which was nice but died within a few months of usage. Eventually received the first version of the Geek Out which has held up, though is hotter than all get out -- so it lives on the back of my iMac. Since I'm getting tired of waiting for Larry & Co. at LH Labs / Light Harmonic to finally deliver the long promised Geek Wave DAP, I've been thinking of copying my extensive music library of just under 4 TB to a portable drive (LaCie P9927) and hooking up with my Macbook and an appropriate hub to its USB-C connector. Seems that the latest DragonFly Black would do well with my Westone W40 IEMs.

 

Any considerations re: heat or any other factors? I've had some issues with volume control management JRiver/MacBook's El Capitan (a bit cumbersome -- OS X doesn't want to "remember" that the sonic bitstream should be going to the USB device). Any hints/tips? I really like the DragonFly's form factor and overall simplicity.

 

Hi Steve -

 

Sorry to read that your original DragonFly died. Did you send it back to us for a replacement? We would still honor the warranty if you haven't dealt with it yet, provided you still have the unit. Please email us at [email protected]

 

Regards,

 

Steve Silberman

AudioQuest

[Steve Silberman]

Chris,

 

Great review as usual! One question for the present and two about the future (you can probably guess what they are):

 

1) Any compatibility issues regarding DF's with Android or Windows Phone?

2) What are AQ's MQA implementation plans (will these DF's be software upgradeable)?

3) Any future plans for higher data rate support like 192 or DSD? - I hear you groaning already :-)

 

BTW, I saw RATM back in the late 90s at the LA Forum and it was hands down the best concert I've ever attended (PJ and Springsteen included), a sea of undulating bodies. Most unusual concert: a double bill of David Bowie followed by Nine Inch Nails. Both great shows and they shared the stage for an awesome medley, but most of the Bowie audience left after he finished and most of the NIN audience didn't arrive until after Bowie finished. Too bad for them, but it allowed me to move to the front of the stage :-)

 

Hi Pamplona -

 

Thank you for the great questions. All DragonFly's are compatible with Class 1 USB device drivers. So, as long as the OS in question adheres to the Class specification DragonFly will be compatible. Some Android devices comply and some don't. That said, there is a very elegant app for Android called USB Audio Player Pro ... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudioplayerpro . This app has its own embedded USB device driver, bypassing whatever's in the OS. The only shortcoming is this only resolves driver issues for this app. It won't cross over to outside apps.

 

MQA – We are looking closely at MQA. When the time is appropriate we will look at offering MQA as a complimentary update to Black and Red. End-users will be able to perform the update from our forthcoming desktop applications (Windows and OS X). This is one of the beautiful aspects of our new platform – upgradability.

 

192 and DSD – This is not something that we plan on doing for Black or Red.

 

Regards,

 

Steve Silberman

AudioQuest

[email protected]