AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt Review (Portable Headphone Adapter)

[Jut1972]

Soooo.. Long time lurker first time poster. I don't pretend to understand half the stuff Amirm measures but enjoy reading about it anyhow.

So, I bought one of these as I wanted a DAC / Headphone amp with MQA.

I don't hear the distortion Amirm is measuring / hearing possibly because I'm not cranking the volume up.
I thought it sounded ok, and makes my HD650s and Meze99s sound better than the stock DAC in my phone. Sounds like I've been ripped off but hey ho. With nothing else to listen to I'll stick with it.

Maybe next purchase I'll choose something better

 

[richard12511]

I've just posted a question as to how audible this is. I suspect most at moderate volumes wouldn't tell the difference from a well measuring one.

I'd bet money it sounds exactly the same as SOTA DACs/Dongles to basically anyone under normal conditions(IE comparing it to your previous dongle by plugging it in and going by memory). -78dB is audible to well trained listeners with access to instant switching, but that's a very rare scenario. For my personal use, I'm looking for the cheapest DAC that can get to -75ish. That's the best DAC dongle for me.

 

[Tks]

Due to support of MQA, they are using the same filter for all content, MQA or not.

Yeah thats evident. The problem is why are they doing that when this isnt a necessitation. Since its using ESS, they can use other filters if MQA isnt detected.

Also if this were true, supporting MQA means you're locked out of brickwall filters in totality. And that's simply not the case. They either specifically chose this for MQA and decided not to tap thr chip for other filters in any other circumstance which is stupid.

 

[richard12511]

Devil's advocate question - how old is this thing? It seems as though cheap dacs have improved massively in just two or three years, so... Was this thing sort-of competitive when it came along a few years back? Maybe it wasn't, so just asking...

The $9 apple lightning adapter has been out for 9 years and is 20dB better(-99dB).

 

[Count Arthur]

Soooo.. Long time lurker first time poster. I don't pretend to understand half the stuff Amirm measures but enjoy reading about it anyhow.

So, I bought one of these as I wanted a DAC / Headphone amp with MQA.

I don't hear the distortion Amirm is measuring / hearing possibly because I'm not cranking the volume up.
I thought it sounded ok, and makes my HD650s and Meze99s sound better than the stock DAC in my phone. Sounds like I've been ripped off but hey ho. With nothing else to listen to I'll stick with it.

Maybe next purchase I'll choose something better

Welcome aboard.

I had a an Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which Amir has also measured and also didn't compare very well to the competition: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dea-and-audioquest-dragonfly-black-dacs.2397/

However, it did sound significantly better than the output direct from my, admitedly cheap, mobile phone. To some extent, I think this is due to the fact that the audio output on some phones is really poor and little more than an afterthought, so it it doesn't take state of the art performace to comfortably improve upon it.

 

[richard12511]

Soooo.. Long time lurker first time poster. I don't pretend to understand half the stuff Amirm measures but enjoy reading about it anyhow.

So, I bought one of these as I wanted a DAC / Headphone amp with MQA.

I don't hear the distortion Amirm is measuring / hearing possibly because I'm not cranking the volume up.
I thought it sounded ok, and makes my HD650s and Meze99s sound better than the stock DAC in my phone. Sounds like I've been ripped off but hey ho. With nothing else to listen to I'll stick with it.

Maybe next purchase I'll choose something better

The distortion measured here is inaudible unless you specifically train yourself to hear it and have access to instant switching with another (better) device. For most users, the SINAD really doesn't matter, so you can mostly ignore it. For most users, I think they should judge DAC dongles more on how cool they look vs how much they cost.

 

[Jut1972]

Welcome aboard.

I had a an Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which Amir has also measured and also didn't compare very well to the competition: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dea-and-audioquest-dragonfly-black-dacs.2397/

However, it did sound significantly better than the output direct from my, admitedly cheap, mobile phone. To some extent, I think this is due to the fact that the audio output on some phones is really poor and little more than an afterthought, so it it doesn't take state of the art performace to comfortably improve upon it.

Thank you

Indeed, I had an old FIIO DAC which was really bass heavy and I didn't like the sound at all, but it did the headphone amp / phone charging duties I needed at the time. I wanted something better that could drive my 650s, I knew the stock phone would struggle so it was a DAC / amp I needed - at the time the main hifi press didn't offer much competition to the Cobalt and without the ability to try options in advance I took advantage of a bundle deal on this and the Meze 99 classics.

Do I regret it? No, but I'd consider cheaper alternatives now.

 

[Jut1972]

The distortion measured here is inaudible unless you specifically train yourself to hear it and have access to instant switching with another (better) device. For most users, the SINAD really doesn't matter, so you can mostly ignore it. For most users, I think they should judge DAC dongles more on how cool they look vs how much they cost.

Reassuring

 

[Labjr]

There is no evidence of him having had anything to do with the development of that spec. A lot of other people are named, though.

I believe Gordon Rankin was the first to use Asynchronous USB for a DAC but he didn't invent the spec.

 

[Beershaun]

Well crumbs, somehow it's even less good than the dragonfly red I rather embarrassingly own. Don't be an AudioQuisling folks!

+1 to this exact phrase.

 

[AudioSceptic]

It looks great with regards to euphoric harmonic distortion and low noise. Better than any toob preamp?

Could this be why the subjective reviewers like it so much?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Where is the disagreement?
We now already know AudioQuest is a total Scam.
(Everyone should know since they sell 1000$ SPDIF cables)
So just avoid everything from AudioQuest even if they would suddenly make decent product i would still recommend to stay away from it since its a Scamy company with a Scamy business model and you would support this legal "fraud".

"fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me".

I'm not sure. Don't scam products need to be exposed, over and over?

 

[AdamG]

Soooo.. Long time lurker first time poster. I don't pretend to understand half the stuff Amirm measures but enjoy reading about it anyhow.

So, I bought one of these as I wanted a DAC / Headphone amp with MQA.

I don't hear the distortion Amirm is measuring / hearing possibly because I'm not cranking the volume up.
I thought it sounded ok, and makes my HD650s and Meze99s sound better than the stock DAC in my phone. Sounds like I've been ripped off but hey ho. With nothing else to listen to I'll stick with it.

Maybe next purchase I'll choose something better

Welcome Aboard @Jut1972.

 

[Matias]

I believe Gordon Rankin was the first to use Asynchronous USB for a DAC but he didn't invent the spec.

As far as I know, Gordon Rankin actually did invent asynchronous USB for audio, and indeed his code was licensed to other manufacturers (like Ayre for example). We own him lots of respect for that imo.

 

[mansr]

As far as I know, Gordon Rankin actually did invent asynchronous USB for audio

It's a myth he likes to perpetuate, but as I said, there is nothing to support it.

 

[Nathan Raymond]

Zeos is good for entertainment value. However, his female superhero anime stuff is creepy.

He's said it's a schtick because he wants a certain audience to watch his videos:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/zeo...-8c-m1060-l700-l300-m40x.869905/post-14241726

I put the anime girls up and make the dirty jokes and use a vomit inducing headcam for 30 minutes unedited to try and chase off professionals or people who take this hobby way too seriously. If I have offended you for any of the above reasons.. That is by design.

Whatever his reasons, I have a hard time watching his videos because they don't respect my time. His reviews aren't consistent enough to be of much value, and being intentionally off-putting for the lulz and so he can think of himself as some indie rebel internet reviewer just doesn't carry much value for me.

 

[Sonny1]

Gordon Rankin wrote code for asynchronous USB audio transport. I believe it was called “Streamlength” and was licensed to a lot of different audio manufacturers. Not sure if I’d call him a “guru” or “pioneer,” but his implementation was popular and I am sure he made a lot of money from the licensing fees. He makes very beautiful looking DACs and sells them from a pretty ugly website:

https://www.usbdacs.com/products/

It would be interesting to see one of those under the Amir scope!

Thajsj for looking it up. I was going off memory and the details were a little sketchy. Was fishing and killing time between catches. Okay, I didn’t catch anything but it was still a good afternoon.

 

[bobbooo]

Welcome aboard.

I had a an Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which Amir has also measured and also didn't compare very well to the competition: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dea-and-audioquest-dragonfly-black-dacs.2397/

However, it did sound significantly better than the output direct from my, admitedly cheap, mobile phone. To some extent, I think this is due to the fact that the audio output on some phones is really poor and little more than an afterthought, so it it doesn't take state of the art performace to comfortably improve upon it.

What mobile phone was it?

 

[AndreaT]

Gordon Rankin wrote code for asynchronous USB audio transport. I believe it was called “Streamlength” and was licensed to a lot of different audio manufacturers. Not sure if I’d call him a “guru” or “pioneer,” but his implementation was popular and I am sure he made a lot of money from the licensing fees. He makes very beautiful looking DACs and sells them from a pretty ugly website:

https://www.usbdacs.com/products/

Along with a suspicious Ethernet Spacelator…

 

[GWolfman]

I won't touch their products with a 10 foot pole.

Thanks for the education!