Whats cheaper and better then the Dragonfly red?

[IVX]

I'm a big fan of the E1DA 9038D (or whatever the 3.5mm version is called) but I can no longer seem to find them on Amazon here in the US which has become problematic because I recommend this thing to everyone I meet who likes music. I'm assuming it's still being made? @IVX is it? I needed a very specific OTG cable for my iPhone 12.

I'm busy as WALL-E with Cosmos line, so I got the time gap for the 9038D when it is out of stock. I prepared some proto as a slightly modified 9038D under the D6000 code-name(more details in our discord). I'll order production 1K of that soon.

 

[staticV3]

The killer feature of the dragonfly dongles is their extraordinarily low power consumption, both at idle and when working. Of course this doesn't make for sexy marketing so they make up spurious claims about sound quality and technical prowess and promote them that way instead. I think if you are used to a dragonfly dongle paired with a smartphone then you will get a truly horrible surprise when you try many competing products and notice the impact on your battery life. This is really worth looking into! If manufacturers decline to specify power consumption then avoid. And if it's in 100s of mA, as is often the case, then, again, avoid. A year ago I bought a Musiland MU1 dongle on the strength of Amir's review, its ~1ohm output impedance, and also on its very modest power consumption. I used it trouble free for the year, it's very good. Recently I upgraded to a Musiland MU2 Mk III which has tiny power consumption, in line volume control, in line voltage control (up to 1.7v so does a reasonable job of powering everything from the most sensitive IEM up to full size headphones) and supports DSD. It's really worth a look.

edit: I corrected "100s of mW" to "100s of Ma".

Apple A2155 has 9mW idle, 90mW @44.1kHz.
Meizu HiFi has 9mW idle, 230mW @44.1kHz.
Meizu HiFi Pro has 12mW idle, 300mW @44.1kHz.

Do you have power consumption numbers for the Dragonfly range that you could share with us?

 

[julian_hughes]

Apple A2155 has 9mW idle, 90mW @44.1kHz.
Meizu HiFi has 9mW idle, 230mW @44.1kHz.
Meizu HiFi Pro has 12mW idle, 300mW @44.1kHz.

Do you have power consumption numbers for the Dragonfly range that you could share with us?

Try https://lmgtfy.app

btw they use less power than all the above, as do both my Musiland dongles.

 

[staticV3]

Try https://lmgtfy.app

Nice. Wild claims without anything to to back those up. Sassy response when being asked for data.
That's what we like to see here on ASR.

 

[julian_hughes]

Nice. Claims without anything to to back those up. Sassy response when being asked for data.
That's what we like to see here on ASR.

They've been measured by numerous testers including archimago. You can find actual measurements rather than manufacturer claims. It's all out there. I don't care if you think it's just claims, that's your problem. I am not your servant and your attitude came across clearly so you got the answer it deserved. I am now blocking you so reply if you like but I won't be reading it. Bye.

 

[Koeitje]

They've been measured by numerous testers including archimago. You can find actual measurements rather than manufacturer claims. It's all out there. I don't care if you think it's just claims, that's your problem. I am not your servant and your attitude came across clearly so you got the answer it deserved. I am now blocking you so reply if you like but I won't be reading it. Bye.

Considering its so easy to lookup you probably don't mind sharing a link to those measurements and posting the results here?

 

[Jimbob54]

Nice. Wild claims without anything to to back those up. Sassy response when being asked for data.
That's what we like to see here on ASR.

Archimago had the Black @90ma @5v into 16ohm iem at full vol. http://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/06/measurements-audioquest-dragonfly-black.html

I think the Black only outputs 1.2V though- is the red full 2v, so higher?

 

[Jimbob54]

Considering its so easy to lookup you probably don't mind sharing a link to those measurements and posting the results here?

Which is how people should use LMGTFY

 

[staticV3]

Archimago had the Black @90mw @5v into 16ohm iem at full vol. http://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/06/measurements-audioquest-dragonfly-black.html

*90mA, not mW. So 450mW

 

[julian_hughes]

I mentioned something about a product. It happens to be true. It's not some outlandish claim, but a rather prosaic, well known and easily confirmed feature, usually mentioned when the things are tested, which they are surprisingly often. I offered a truthful and accurate comment to help out the original poster who actually liked my response. I'm not responsible for your product research. If a forum member offers a pointer or an opinion this is not invitation or entitlement for others to insist or demand they do anything for them. I'm not your Mom but I am putting you on my ignore list. Bye.

In fact in my original reply, after offering this mind blowing and controversial and shocking opinion, I also said "This is really worth looking into!!" i.e. look into it, find out for yourself. My comment was helpful and unremarkable and the suggestion to do your own research is plain. It really doesn't merit two entitled twits spouting piss and wind and demanding they are now served. No good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes.

edit: OK, I'm a bit bleeding slow off the mark but it does occur to me that if someone wants technical and test data of a product range *which has been tested numerous times on this very site!!!* then they might try the review index instead of demanding other members jump when they say jump!

Sorry little princelings

 

[Jimbob54]

*90mA, not mW. So 450mW

Dammit. Meant to type that too!

 

[Jimbob54]

I mentioned something about a product. It happens to be true. It's not some outlandish claim, but a rather prosaic, well known and easily confirmed feature, usually mentioned when the things are tested, which they are surprisingly often. I offered a truthful and accurate comment to help out the original poster who actually liked my response. I'm not responsible for your product research. If a forum member offers a pointer or an opinion this is not invitation or entitlement for others to insist or demand they do anything for them. I'm not your Mom but I am putting you on my ignore list. Bye.

In fact in my original reply, after offering this mind blowing and controversial and shocking opinion, I also said "This is really worth looking into!!" i.e. look into it, find out for yourself. My comment was helpful and unremarkable and the suggestion to do your own research is plain. It really doesn't merit two entitled twits spouting piss and wind and demanding they are now served. No good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes.

edit: OK, I'm a bit bleeding slow off the mark but it does occur to me that if someone wants technical and test data of a product range *which has been tested numerous times on this very site!!!* then they might try the review index instead of demanding other members jump when they say jump!

Sorry little princelings

OK Captain Condescension, kindly point us to the power consumption figures on amir's review of the Dragonfly Red please.

 

[ZolaIII]

It might be more efficient to the extent that amp stage (SABRE9601)
is fundamentaly broken (on both Red and Purple) but it sure ain't more efficient.

 

[staticV3]

OK Captain Condescension, kindly point us to the power consumption figures on amir's review of the Dragonfly Red please.

Here it is: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dacport-hd-and-dragonfly-red.5977/post-134170

 

[mansr]

Archimago had the Black @90ma @5v into 16ohm iem at full vol. http://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/06/measurements-audioquest-dragonfly-black.html

I think the Black only outputs 1.2V though- is the red full 2v, so higher?

A rarely mentioned fact is that the Black actually drives loads under about 30 Ω better than the Red and Blue.

 

[julian_hughes]

Earlier I've mentioned the Musiland products I've bought. One is the MU1 which has received a positive review from Amir. My latest, current daily driver, the MU2 MkIII has not been reviewed here but is worth another mention. It's available in a couple of stores on aliexpress but there is very little documentation in English. I found that I could import the Chinese language docs into Google Docs and then have them translated into English and so save a copy locally. The translation actually seems rather good, and it does at least let you see the specs and a little about Musiland's own development of an audio controller. In daily use the dongle is excellent. Zero 4G/LTE interference. Easy voltage adjustment and, subjectively, really fine sound quality. So I'm posting the translated doc and suggesting people have a look at this device as a really high quality USB audio dongle with very modest power consumption, good engineering, useful features:

I bought mine at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....store_pc_allProduct.8148356.7.1f9e78031MAuyM
It's a store I've bought from more than once and which has been very easy to deal with and which has despatched items to UK very quickly. I'm not affiliated in any way, am only reporting my experience. I have used the dongle with everything from the Massdrop Plus Universal IEM with 10 ohm impedance and massive sensitivity to output impedance through to full size open back planars. The main appeal for me is actually for use with IEMs whose FR changes with load unless the output impedance is low, as the dongle has OI of about 1 ohm. It's very convenient to have all my different IEMs actually perform as intended! Headphones too.

 

[Jimbob54]

Here it is: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dacport-hd-and-dragonfly-red.5977/post-134170

Gahhh- a page 2 addition.

 

[Head_Unit]

I have https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=29512 which seems pretty nice (hey @amirm I'll send it if you want to measure). BUT my 600 ohm AKG K240DFs need more voltage. All these USB dongles seem 2V maximum. Is that all you can get out of a 5V USB supply? I'd expect like 3.5 volts ought to be possible.

 

[staticV3]

I have https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=29512 which seems pretty nice (hey @amirm I'll send it if you want to measure). BUT my 600 ohm AKG K240DFs need more voltage. All these USB dongles seem 2V maximum. Is that all you can get out of a 5V USB supply? I'd expect like 3.5 volts ought to be possible.

Plenty of 2.5mm/4.4mm dongles have 4Vrms max.
If you need a single-ended dongle with >2Vrms, then there's the 9038D at 2.82 (currently out of stock due to silicon shortage). There may be others as well.

 

[Head_Unit]

Plenty of 2.5mm/4.4mm dongles have 4Vrms max.

I see the Linsoul, their 200mW @ 40 ohms would be 2.8V, that would be an improvement. By "dongles" do you mean USB stick sized? Which is what I should have specified...though I don't use portable any more, so somewhat bigger could be OK.