AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt Review (Portable Headphone Adapter)

[Lambda]

Thanks Amir! i would love to see this graph and filter clipping test with all new DACs


But for AudioQuest, i would say stop wasting your time with there scam products.

 

[frogmeat69]

With all of these poor Audioquest reviews, I wonder how their headphones would measure up. Hey @amirm , is anyone sending you a pair to test?

 

[Loathecliff]

Thanks. If I remember right, all of the Audioquest products tested here were either flawed or mediocre at best, but overpriced.
I appreciate that ASR is demasking the high end market and showing that most of it is just good marketing and nice industrial design.

Indeed. It's a way to survive and prosper.
Add in 'Scandinavian design' and upmarket one-make retail and you have a certain Danish outfit's model that has kept them going for circa six decades despite mediocre internals for much of the time.

 

[Pio]

As with some of their cables, maybe they should put a battery in it... he he he ...

 

[Pio]

With all of these poor Audioquest reviews, I wonder how their headphones would measure up. Hey @amirm , is anyone sending you a pair to test?

I don't think they make the Nighthawk any longer..

 

[Ron Texas]

Another myth busting review. Might as well get a $12 dongle. Thank you @amirm

 

[mansr]

This makes it easy to connect to desktop and laptop computers (assuming yours has such USB connection) but needs a chunky adapter to connect to USB-C on phones and tablets. While I did not have it, a custom one comes with Cobalt which makes a secure connection.

I cut one open to see what it looks like inside: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/inside-an-audioquest-usb-cable.19742/

 

[mansr]

Performance drops much more with a 32 ohm load

Fun fact, from around that level and down, the Dragonfly Black actually reaches a higher output level before clipping compared to the Red and Cobalt.

 

[flipflop]

With all of these poor Audioquest reviews, I wonder how their headphones would measure up.

AudioQuest NightOwl was the worst performing of the 30 headphones in the 'A Statistical Model that Predicts Listeners' Preference Ratings of Around-Ear and On-Ear Headphones' paper, scoring even worse than the low anchor (Meze 99 Classics):

Spoiler: Headphone preference rankings

High Anchor (Target): 67.2
HP13 (Sony MDR-7506): 64.0
HP7 (Oppo PM-3): 63.9
HP19 (Shure SRH1540): 63.8
HP25 (Philips Fidelio X1): 62.7
HP26 (Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro): 62.4
HP14 (Sennheiser HD-800S): 62.0
HP1 (Audeze LCD-4): 55.0
HP8 (Sony MDR-1000X): 55.0
HP15 (JBL Everest Elite 750NC): 54.9
HP20 (Sennheiser HD-650): 54.3
HP2 (AKG N90Q): 54.2
HP27 (Focal Utopia): 54.2
HP21 (Mr. Speaker Ether Flow): 53.0
HP16 (HIFIMAN HE400S): 50.9
HP3 (AKG K712): 49.4
HP28 (Oppo PM-1): 47.5
HP9 (JBL E55BT): 46.9
HP22 (Grado Prestige Series SR325e): 43.9
HP29 (Sennheiser HD-25): 43.6
HP10 (Bose QC-35): 43.4
HP23 (Pioneer SE-Master 1): 42.7
HP4 (AKG K845BT): 38.1
HP24 (Beats Solo2 Wireless): 37.7
HP5 (AKG Y50BT): 36.2
HP6 (AKG K812): 36.1
HP11 (JBL Everest 710BT): 34.8
HP12 (JBL T450BT): 33.5
HP17 (Shure SRH840): 32.1
HP30 (Sony MDR-100ABN): 30.5
Low Anchor (Meze 99 Classics): 19.0
HP18 (AudioQuest Night Owl): 16.4

The Nighthawk also measures extremely poorly, with a predicted preference rating of 33/114.49:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpt8a5x26ydx5ul/Audioquest Nighthawk.pdf

 

[AudioSceptic]

Thanks Amir! i would love to see this graph and filter clipping test with all new DACs


But for AudioQuest, i would say stop wasting your time with there scam products.

I disagree. We need to know which products to avoid, especially expensive ones with glowing reviews, not just the best ones.

 

[Harmonie]

Amazing the power that such well marketing company have and how they use it.
As they enjoy high margins and taking @mansr other elsewhere stated review, a 299$ price tag has to be divided by +/- 2,5~3 to compare to other stuff's brands.

 

[DSJR]

Indeed. It's a way to survive and prosper.
Add in 'Scandinavian design' and upmarket one-make retail and you have a certain Danish outfit's model that has kept them going for circa six decades despite mediocre internals for much of the time.

If that outfit is B&O, I'd agree and strongly disagree, especially on mediocre internals. SOME of their products were excellent in their day, but obviously with a price premium for the casework when 'we' were all rather younger and happy with piles of badly finished unmatched black boxes by and large. Other products were misjudged I grant you. The company today is outrageous I feel, but continues a model they began in the 80's of 'less clients but each one spending more.'

 

[Zensō]

Bested by the $9 Apple dongle.

 

[PatentLawyer]

Read this while enjoying my Hidizs S9.

 

[frogmeat69]

I don't think they make the Nighthawk any longer..

They don't, and I wasn't expecting Audioquest to send in a pair to review, but some folks here own them, like myself, and would like to know if anyone has offered to send them in yet.

 

[Ismapics]

This is one of the darlings of the YouTube Expert. jajaja Where is Darko and Hans when you need them. I would so much to confront them with these results and see what they have to say. Again, ASR taking brand and "so called experts" to the cleaners.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Bested by the $9 Apple dongle.

As are some products in the multi-$k range...

 

[Jimbob54]

AudioQuest NightOwl was the worst performing of the 30 headphones in the 'A Statistical Model that Predicts Listeners' Preference Ratings of Around-Ear and On-Ear Headphones' paper, scoring even worse than the low anchor (Meze 99 Classics):

Spoiler: Headphone preference rankings

High Anchor (Target): 67.2
HP13 (Sony MDR-7506): 64.0
HP7 (Oppo PM-3): 63.9
HP19 (Shure SRH1540): 63.8
HP25 (Philips Fidelio X1): 62.7
HP26 (Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro): 62.4
HP14 (Sennheiser HD-800S): 62.0
HP1 (Audeze LCD-4): 55.0
HP8 (Sony MDR-1000X): 55.0
HP15 (JBL Everest Elite 750NC): 54.9
HP20 (Sennheiser HD-650): 54.3
HP2 (AKG N90Q): 54.2
HP27 (Focal Utopia): 54.2
HP21 (Mr. Speaker Ether Flow): 53.0
HP16 (HIFIMAN HE400S): 50.9
HP3 (AKG K712): 49.4
HP28 (Oppo PM-1): 47.5
HP9 (JBL E55BT): 46.9
HP22 (Grado Prestige Series SR325e): 43.9
HP29 (Sennheiser HD-25): 43.6
HP10 (Bose QC-35): 43.4
HP23 (Pioneer SE-Master 1): 42.7
HP4 (AKG K845BT): 38.1
HP24 (Beats Solo2 Wireless): 37.7
HP5 (AKG Y50BT): 36.2
HP6 (AKG K812): 36.1
HP11 (JBL Everest 710BT): 34.8
HP12 (JBL T450BT): 33.5
HP17 (Shure SRH840): 32.1
HP30 (Sony MDR-100ABN): 30.5
Low Anchor (Meze 99 Classics): 19.0
HP18 (AudioQuest Night Owl): 16.4

View attachment 127635

The Nighthawk also measures extremely poorly, with a predicted preference rating of 33/114.49:
View attachment 127637
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpt8a5x26ydx5ul/Audioquest Nighthawk.pdf

Someone is going to come after you for saying that #shitehawk

 

[Atanasi]

AudioQuest stands for a quest for audio, not that you achieve it.

 

[Lambda]

I disagree. We need to know which products to avoid, especially expensive ones with glowing reviews, not just the best ones.

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".