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Audioquest Dragonfly Red


YK Thom

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I have been kicking around the idea of taking my headphone listening a bit more seriously. Something I primarily used to do outside while BBQing, or listening to tunes later at night when my wife had fallen asleep. My den (adjacent to the living room), has been functional for a while now and I have the computer on a new desk. Had briefly thought about near-field speakers but am too close to my wife watching TV. Headphones got a second look. There seems to be a thousand different headphone amp/DAC combos out there but I decided on a Dragonfly Red for my first foray into this sort of thing. Pulled the pin and ordered one last night. Looking forward to hearing what sort of difference it will make. Anyone used/own one?

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  • 2 weeks later...

My Dragonfly arrived yesterday and I was using it last night. I'm pretty impressed so far. I have been using Monster Inspiration headphones which I like for the most part, however they seemed to require the noise cancelling feature engaged for a little boost of clarity. With the DF they now sound much clearer and detailed even in unpowered mode. Going to use it over the weekend and play through a variety of music.

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Reviews of the DF red seem pretty positive, I’ve never heard one. I use(d) a FiiO Alpen E17 for 8 years when I was constantly travelling for work. It works well but I don’t travel as much now. Amazon listing for the FiiO is $129 and I couldn’t sell it combined with B&W P3, and small planar desktop speakers for $100... go figure! Hope your setup works well for you.

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On 2/15/2020 at 2:38 PM, MC39693 said:

Reviews of the DF red seem pretty positive, I’ve never heard one. I use(d) a FiiO Alpen E17 for 8 years when I was constantly travelling for work. It works well but I don’t travel as much now. Amazon listing for the FiiO is $129 and I couldn’t sell it combined with B&W P3, and small planar desktop speakers for $100... go figure! Hope your setup works well for you.

It most definitively has. I'm really pleased with it. For now I'm tethered to the desktop but will pick up some adapter cables in order to use it with the IPad and or my Samsung phone. Would there be any benefit in purchasing their versions which they call Dragon Tails or do you think regular connections would be pretty much the same thing?

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  • 1 month later...

I started out with a DragonFly Black, and later bought a DragonFly Red, plus a JitterBug, which reduces jitter and noise slightly but noticeably.  The Black sounds good, and the Red sounds better.  I haven't heard the Cobalt yet, but the price is a bit rich at the moment.

 

For the connection from Micro USB on my phone to full-size USB on the DragonFly, I first bought an adapter cable at The Source/Radio Shack.  That cost me $30CAD.  However, while attending a 'meet the manufacturers day' at the local audio-video store, the AudioQuest rep showed me one of their DragonTail adapter cables, which I tried.  I was surprised to notice that it sounded somewhat more clear than the Source adapter, plus it was cheaper and better-looking, at only $25CAD.  Naturally, I bought the AQ DragonTail (and a second one later for my other headphones) and returned The Source item.

 

For the iPad, of course, the Apple adapter cost more.  If you're buying an Apple adapter, it's worth spending a bit extra to get the Camera Kit, which is just an adapter with a Lightning port beside the full-size USB port.  This means that you can charge your iPad and listen to your headphones through the Dragonfly at the same, while the DragonTail is connected.  This is helpful during long listening sessions, especially if you're watching video at the same time.

 

The Dragonfly makes a huge difference for headphone listening!  It's an amplifier, so the sound is both louder and more full.  You can also hear more detail, since it contains a high-end ESS DAC.  The only downside is that you have a trail of pieces hanging off your phone, tablet, or laptop. so sometimes I don't use it, if it's an occasion for casual listening.

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Thanks, funny enough I am using right now as I type. I will order a tail for the summer use with the phone on the baloney. I can pick up one of the Apple ones right here in town. Nice to see the Canadian prices, I should get one quick considering how fast the dollar is falling.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Maybe it is the times. I have been spending a lot more time on the computer listening with headphones through the red. Found a deal on the Meze 99 Classics and just pulled the trigger. This should be interesting.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My Meze 99 Classics arrived in the post yesterday. I unboxed them this morning. Much lighter than they look, and considerably lighter than my Monster Inspiration cans. I am listening through them as I type. I am very impressed. Nice well balanced and detailed sound. The bass is not as aggressive as the Inspirations but is very tight and clean. Going to be doing some A/B listening later in the day. Bottom line: right out of the box I am thoroughly impressed and very pleased. These are keepers.

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2 hours ago, MC39693 said:

Did you get anywhere with the BlueTooth adapter or going another way?

I have had it on the back burner for the past little while. We cleaned up the balcony and had our first BBQ of the year yesterday.  We are finally in + temperatures and the snow is melting like crazy. Still unsure what to do. I am now seriously considering a One or Three table top. It would only be used in the condo or the balcony, a full on portable wouldn't be required.

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Glad that spring has arrived for you. Calgary is getting some better weather finally, our deck has been nice for a few weeks and the BBQ has been in use. I’ve been thinking of taking my Martin Logan bookshelf speakers out and play some tunes for the neighbours. 

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Nice! Our roads are now clear except for the crazy amount of gravel they laid down during the winter. The street sweeping trucks started yesterday. Takes a couple weeks but once the gavel is collected I'll get my motorbike on the road. That was a long bloody winter this year.

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