From MP3 to MQA and Hi-Res, DragonFly adds life, meaning, and color to all of your music. With all current-production models of AudioQuest's DragonFly USB DAC (Black, Red, Cobalt), music appreciation and exploration are limitless: Plug into an Apple or Windows® computer or connect to an iOS® or Android mobile device. Play YouTube or Vimeo.
DragonFly Cobalt, the latest and most sophisticated member of the award-winning DragonFly franchise, is a USB DAC (digital-to-analog converter), preamplifier, and headphone amplifier. It bypasses the audio circuitry in laptops, computers, and smartphones to deliver cleaner, clearer, more naturally beautiful music to headphones, powered speakers, or complete audio systems. Or does that mean I have to manually reset the Dragonfly to 16 bit if I'm only playing 16/44 FLACs? Thanks.
Windows Audio will always output at the configured setting. If you want to transfer data to DAC at the native resolution, then you have to bypass the Windows Audio. What you need is the WASAPI plugin for foobar.
DragonFly Red sports the ESS9016 DAC chipset with an ES9601 headphone amp - circuits found in top-tier disc players and AudioQuest's flagship DAC. The combination delivers perfect synergy and outstanding audio quality from an incredibly portable platform. View and Download AudioQuest DragonFly Red instructions manual online.
USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC). DragonFly Red media converter pdf manual download. The revamped DragonFlys also feature new DACs-the 9010 32-bit ESS Sabre chip in the Black and the higher-performance 9016 in the Red.
Both chips feature minimum-phase digital filtering. The Black includes the same headphone amplifier as in the original DragonFly, while the Red gets an ESS headphone amplifier with a digital volume control that is integral to the DAC chip. The Black's.
Other than the color, the only external difference between the Cobalt and the Red is that the contoured enclosure is 10% smaller and doesn't have the earlier DAC's distinctive ridge above and behind the 3.5mm jack. As on the Red and Black, the DragonFly logo lights up in different colors to indicate status or sample rate: red for Standby mode; green for 44.1kHz data; blue for 48kHz; yellow for. The illuminated dragonfly LED changes color based on sampling rate although the color scheme varies depending on the model.
The 3.5mm audio jack has a plastic rim and small amount of "wiggle". As others have complained about, there is unfortunately a little bit of a rattle when I shake it. AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt Review: Give Your Wired Headphones a Boost This portable amp makes the most of high-end wired headphones, but it comes at a price.
The logo of the DAC embodies a dragonfly, a feature of which I've found to be quite nifty as it lights up different colors depending on the sample rate of music the DAC is feeding off. For example the dragonfly will light up to: green for 44.1 kHz, blue for 48 kHz, amber for 88.2 kHz, and magenta for 96 kHz.