AudioQuest Dragonfly Review : Affordable, Outstanding, Tiny DAC / Amp - Page 54

Agreed. When I had my HE400, the DF could drive them OK.  I say OK because the Lyr provided more authority and control on the bottom end. With the DF, it seemed to be missing some life.

Give that, I think the DF will be underpowered for the HE500. Looking to get the HE500 myself and it will be driven by the Lyr.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldSkool 

IMO, the HE-500 needs more juice than the DF can provide to be driven well. I haven't heard the HE-400, so I can't comment.

 

However, the DF drives the HD650s very well. Surprisingly well.
 

I'm trying to use my Dragonfly with Linux (Ubuntu 12.04 and Debian Sid both) and I'm seeing a strange problem.  I can select the DAC via pulseaudio, but when the volume is <100% and I plug my quite sensitive IE8 IEMs in the volume is very very low.  When I set the volume == 100%, the sound is so loud that you can literally hear it one room away.  I thought I was going to go deaf for a second there.  I had no idea IEMs could get that loud.  Has anyone seen this problem with the DF and Linux?  Right now the device is completely unusable for me.  I have tested it in Windows 7 x64 and it works fine, but I bought this for my Linux laptop which has atrocious noise on the headphone port.

Are there any special drivers or anything I should be looking into?  If I emailed AudioQuest do you think they would help me out?

EDIT- Well I actually got off my butt and tried to Google hard for the solution, and I found it.  The fix is outlined here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/15069/how-do-i-change-the-way-ubuntu-adjusts-my-volume-mixer-levels

Pulseaudio is such garbage... anyways, if you are using the Dragonfly on Linux MAKE SURE you read about this fix before you blow your ears out.

This tiny device makes my laptop sound amazing.  A+ work here AudioQuest.

In case anyone is interested in possible weak points in case of a drop. My MacBook Air with the DragonFly plugged in dropped from my desk. 

As you can see the USB connector is not aligned anymore to the rest of the board, and if you look closely at the 3.5 mm jack the connector on top is not in the right place anymore. 

There is no sound in the right channel anymore. There's not much I can do with it now, I will try to send it back to AudioQuest for repair, if that's possible. 

Also, from the pictures you can see that the black nice finish on the housing is wearing off.

Anyway, just felt like showing you guys the damage :)

How does the MacBook look like now?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jherbert 

How does the MacBook look like now?

Didn't happen anything to the Air, just a tiny scratch next to the USB port. I've seen Airs fall from the desk several times actually (not mine, this is the first time), and probably because of their lightweight, they don't really suffer much. Of course, it depends on the angle and height they fall from.

Hi,

Being super dumb here but can some who has the DF and a pair of MM-1's on a Mac tell me how they have the two setup please.   I want to see how the DF compares when I run it through my MM-1's.  My MM-1's are connected via their normal USB cable. If I connect the Dragonfly and use a mini jack lead to connect to the Aux at the back of the MM-1's I can see both on the Mac's System Preferences Sound but I am stumped on being able to compare the sounds via the Dragonfly's DAC vs MM-1's DAC?  Do I have to actually remove the MM-1's USB cable and simply have the DF mini jack to AUX input on the MM-1's.  If I do this then I get a big reduction  max sound out from the MM-1's?

Thanks for any help.

Ian

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanF23 

Hi,

Being super dumb here but can some who has the DF and a pair of MM-1's on a Mac tell me how they have the two setup please.   I want to see how the DF compares when I run it through my MM-1's.  My MM-1's are connected via their normal USB cable. If I connect the Dragonfly and use a mini jack lead to connect to the Aux at the back of the MM-1's I can see both on the Mac's System Preferences Sound but I am stumped on being able to compare the sounds via the Dragonfly's DAC vs MM-1's DAC?  Do I have to actually remove the MM-1's USB cable and simply have the DF mini jack to AUX input on the MM-1's.  If I do this then I get a big reduction  max sound out from the MM-1's?

 

Thanks for any help.

Ian

You have it right. You would disconnect the MM1 USB and run from the DF to the MM-1 Aux in. Keep the MM-1 Vol at max and use the DF to manage the volume.

Thanks for clarifying.  JUst figureed out how to change the volume of the combined systems.  Thanks once again. Now I can see what the difference is. 

I'm so glad to find out that it sounds good to the long-time headphiers, 

because as a newbie, I am so impressed with THE WAY IT LOOKS!

Aesthetics are important to me (as well as good sound), and I love the

color of the little dragonfly (as well as the little velvet bag it comes with).

And yes, after 3 weeks of listening, I definitely cannot go back

to listening to just the headphone out on my MBA without it.

(sorry if it seems like I'm just adding to the hype machine,

but it really feels/sounds/looks like QUALITY gear)

Hey, when its good, its good!

Just so you guys know, I've contacted AudioQuest, asking if a repair is possible to my unit, and the answer is no. So, don't break your DragonFly because they will not even try to repair it. I'm sure mine has only a problem with the jack socket, but they did not ask, so it's obvious they don't provide any repairing services.