Audioquest DragonFly 1.5 Now with MQA

[PHC1]

I've been using the DragonFly Black DAC for about 8 months now with my Sennheiser HD600 cans. I've used it with my MacBook Pro and My windows 10 PC.

I got the cheaper Black version because I seriously was not expecting to hear much of an improvement from a $95 DAC... Saw them on Amazon and said to myself, what the heck, this will be a good experiment for $95

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least.

It drives my HD600 with no issues. Sonically, the first difference you hear is just how much smoother the sound is coming out of the DragonFly compared to driving them from the MacBook or the PC headphone output jacks. The sound is relaxed but not dynamically challenged, there is no harshness, etch or glare, at least not with my HD600 since it is the only pair I own at the moment. The dynamic contrast is there in spades. The bass is well articulated and the highs come across with sparkle but no artificial brittleness.

What can I say, for $95 and $195 if you choose to go for the Red version, it is a great DAC to bring along as a travel companion or even a budget DAC for home for the headphones which is what I use at the moment.

The DragonFly does MQA to 768Hz now with the latest update.


For those not familiar, from Audioquest website.

32-bit ESS Sabre DAC chips—the 9010 in Black and the higher-performance 9016 in Red—both of which employ minimum-phase filtering for naturally detailed, more authentic sound. While DragonFly Black uses the same high-quality headphone amp and analog volume control found in DragonFly v1.2, DragonFly Red includes the latest ESS headphone amp and a bit-perfect digital volume control that resides on the 9016 DAC chip itself—a sophisticated implementation that ensures maximum fidelity, dynamic contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio. DragonFly Black will output 1.2 volts—enough power to successfully drive all preamplifier input circuits and a wide range of today’s efficient headphones. Meanwhile, with its higher 2.1-volt output, DragonFly Red will be compatible with a wider range of headphones, including power-hungry, low-efficiency models. While the DAC chips we’ve selected are remarkably powerful and sophisticated, we’ve intentionally limited DragonFly Black and DragonFly Red’s processing capabilities to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. This makes using the DragonFlys as simple as it’s always been: they’re fully compatible with PCs without having to download and install new drivers. Most importantly, DragonFly is designed to honor the music you already own and love. Whether you’re listening to Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, ripped CDs, or state-of-the-art high-resolution files, DragonFly will deliver a more emotionally compelling and enjoyable experience.