DANGERDAN Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 I 've used the Audioquest DragonFly for a few days now, and think it has an excellent, musical sound quality. It's an amazingly compact thumb drive size, with a USB jack for input and a mini stereo jack for output. Perhaps some will find that limiting. Although it seemed simple to install, I did have to call Audioquest to be sure the settings were all correct (they had to be adjusted, however, so it's not necessarily easy to install). The AQ tech support is very helpful and forthcoming. One caution: it didn't sound that great at first, required several hours break-in before it was on the way to shaping up. $250. Thanks for your findings, I can think of a couple places i could possible gain from using USB DAC's that small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 “The digital volume control is often seen as “bad” because as the volume is decreased, the bits are lost. In general, for every 6 dB attenuation, 1 bit is lost. ... I have been worried about having to use really low attenuation due to my speakers being really effecient, so i done some thinking on how much this should affect me and this is what i come up with. This is another advantage of the DragonFly -- it has an internal 64-step analog volume control. I hear quite a difference between the quality loss in digitally reduced volume on my Mac laptop, vs nicely maintained sound quality when reducing volume with the DragonFly's analog control by using specified keys on the laptop keyboard. Another DragonFly advantage is jitter reduction, by decoupling from the computer's clock and using its own internal clock. This is an important feature that I think (not sure) was originally found only in Wadia and other costly DACs. These features strike me as really remarkable in such an inexpensive miniature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 ITS HERE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Great! Now some pic's . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 With it a bit more tidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 gratz! let the fun begin! I want to hear how the different settings affect the sound. give it a good work out and let us know your thoughts. warm regards, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 You have no idea how much i have done haha, i don't think there will be anything left i will not have done. Still going to give it a few more days before i place my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Congrats Dan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 After much listening and studying i have come to my final conclusion about my purchase of the M-DAC. I wont go into what i did or didn't do as i have done so much that it hurts my head thinking about it, literal testing actually induced movement of my entire system to a proper home theater room with other equipment at my disposal. With that said i have to say my purchase of the M-DAC was well worth the money, which in my mind was quite a good price but i did get mine at a wholesale price. The best way i am going to have to put it when explaining how it sounds in comparison to other DAC units is... separation, put it simply the overall timbre is actually very identical to most sub standard and entry level equipment. I am not saying however that there is a small change as its not, its just a different effect of sound change like of that of a speaker upgrade or amp upgrade where the sound actually changes with tonal quality. This change as previously said is best put as separation, the music instruments are more complimented with each having now their own individual identification, meaning that i can now hear ever more clearly each instrument with more ease but also more detail and character excitement. It really is something magical which had me almost into tears in the first couple of hours (not to mention me telling my mate at the time how awesome they were). With testing on other speakers i found that its not one sided in regards to favoritism which was good to see and also understandable from a researchers point of view, also this M-dac is very customizable compared to other dacs which are usually just plug and play type of material. The unit becomes a fully functional preamp and more with internal software features via menu screen giving the user complete control on most aspects of the device. I really like my dac and hope people become aware about source quality and how dac units make a difference . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 Heres a couply pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 what setting did you finally settle on as the best sound for you? T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 Filter wise ?, optimal transient by far. Was one of the first things I was able to easily come to a conclusion with, the other filters beside optimal spectrum modified the signals in a negative way for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 thanks. are you using upsampling or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 You can't upsample on this dac, you feed the dac with bit perfect data which you can test with a file which has its own form of information stored on the dac directly so you can confirm that the information transferred is bit for bit perfect. In order to get bit perfect playback on a PC you have to use WASAPI or ASIO with also keeping volume unmodified at full otherwise you get quantization distortion, everything digitally volume controlled within windows basically is bad. You have a d3e filter which the boys over at audiolab keep very secret about what it actually does, something about bits less than 24 are decorrelated reducing 2nd and 3rd order effects, this can be on or off to your liking. Other features related to audio are USB LSB restoration which is just for USB, havn't gone into it much as i am not a fan of USB. So yea basically this thing feeds pure unaltered information which is what i prefer and it sounds really good, there are many other features it has within the menu but more for just ease of use and interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomzilla Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I've experience with multiple DACs: Internal DACs of Yamaha, Onkyo, & Kenwood AV receivers Emotiva XDA-1 DAC Audioquest Dragonfly USB DAC The only one that really lit my fire was the Audioquest. If (and only if) you're running computer audio via USB, my I suggest the Dragonfly in the highest terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted November 4, 2012 Moderators Share Posted November 4, 2012 I really like my dac and hope people become aware about source quality and how dac units make a difference . Threads like this remind people to try them when they get a chance, like me. I have been keeping up with this thread and since it started have picked up a XDA-1 for cheap since it's discontinued now. Very happy with the differences and for $160 shipped I had to try it, and glad i did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERDAN Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Yea someone else got a dragonfly and was happy with it as well, some will surprise. What i have found with DACS is that they dont have a major difference in regards to tonal or timbre quality. They all have very similar frequency response sound to it but they differ in more subtle ways and with the M-dac is was mostly separation and clarity, even on crappy speakers it makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhetor Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Anybody familiar with the Schiit Bifrost Dac? Been thinking about getting one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I see all the hoopla over at Audioasylum and headfi over the Shiit stuff, been to their website and they are intriguing, passionate guys over there. I dont think enough are out there to find reviews easily yet, but they do seem like good units. regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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