I was going to pick up a Red this weekend to pair with my S7 but it looks like my plans have changed for now. One of the selling points of the new Black & Red is that the firmware is upgradeable so hopefully AQ will be able to do something to improve general Android audio compatibility. There are plenty of DACs that do work properly with all audio on Android so we know it's possible; let's just hope it can be done with the hardware in the Black/Red through an update.
I bought the Dragonfly Red just to use with my iPhone6+ Been 'testing' for the last 2 hours with different music and sample rates. There isn't much for iOS beyond Onkyo/Teac player. I bought the full version of Onkyo player a while ago. It works well with the Red. I have a bunch of 16/44 Flac files. When set to 48kHz mode it upsamples everything to 96. You can upsample to 88.2 but 96 gives a bigger soundstage with more detail. It's loud and works with the apps volume control. Lots of fine tuning. I also have some 16/48kHz Flacs with 16/44 on the same playlist. There was some minor sound, I did not quite catch, when changing sample rates. Played mixed sample rate playlists fine. The light works. Green when in iPhones Music. Magenta at 96. This is Exactly what I hoped for. So if you are like me and feel the need to have a DAC on your keychain this is it. My ie800's love it!
This is why hi-fi is such a fickle thing. As I posted a few pages up, I didn't like the sound of the IE800 on the Red at all. The IE800 is already a bright sounding headphone. Although it has ample bass, it is very revealing in the treble. The Red made it sound even brighter and harsher than the iPhone 6S plus output did. Contrasting this with the Mojo, the Mojo does not have this accentuated treble or harshness and the Mojo's frequency response, if anything, sounds similar to the iPhone's headphone output. For some tracks I simply found it better to use the built-in headphone output on the iPhone, which does a really good job in general with the IE800.than the Red, which kind of defeats the whole point!
I also have the ZX2 and PHA-3 and none of them produce a harshness with the IE800 like the Red does. The red did show its colours by providing better separation, resolution/detail, and the bass was more textured and defined albeit at the expense of sounding a little further back and less impactful than the iPhone output.
The SE846 does better with the Red as the SE846 isn't a bright headphone like the IE800. Nevertheless while the Dragonfly is in a format that is bound to attract many due to its portability and easy of use, the quality wasn't there yet for me. And it is always worth emphasising that the headphone output of the iPhone is pretty darn good to start with. Even some audiophiles take the easy route when travelling around and just plug their favourite IEMs straight into the iPhone.
Further testing on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Android 5.1.1:
Doesn't work at all: Spotify, Google Play, VLC media player
Partially works (with crackles and interruptions): Onkyo HF player
Works: UAPP (using hardware volume slider) on free trial
I know that this is going to sound controversial but I think some people might be justifiably unhappy if they had to then buy a third-party app to make their 199 USD Dac work. This needs to be made much more explicit to potential purchasers who are Android users.
I have the Red paired with Galaxy S6 running Android 6.0.1 and sounds great with UAPP. But as others have stated only works correctly with this App. I have contacted AQ to find out what they are doing to resolve. If I had known of these major limitations I would of been unlikely to purchase.
I'm using Black paired with my HTC M9 (running android 6.0) along with my Vmoda M-100 using Poweramp Alpha (recent build 703). Everything works well, the only issue I have is that I have to disconnect Bluetooth connection to my car for it work, no biggie. Night a day difference compared to M9's DAC, the black is a bit louder as well.
I've also been using the my gaming PC that's connected to a AV RCVR to power my HD598SE, there is a ton of hissing, even when using Toslink from PC to RCVR. Using the Black instead of the RCVR, all the hissing is gone, amazing!
Looking for a thinner otg cable. Don't like these fat ones possibly yanking the phone USB around. Suggestions? BTW s7, black, ie800, tidal hi-fi, no problems sounds great.
i'm surprised AQ doesn't have a rep on here as does Chord or Ifi for their products...so i sent them this email.
here's hoping someone will come on board.
think given the varied responses to the red dragonfly, for example,
maybe they can help resolve things here and thus keep the sales' bin and good pr growing.
friendly suggestion: why don't you join the headfi.org forum as does chord and ifi (etc) on headfi.org for their own product threads? imo that way you build better customer rapport and also resolve people's queries...i'm surprised no one is doing this from AQ, given the popularity of its products. esp with the newly released dragonflys. If however someone is, then i apologize for missing that.
i'll post this to headfi.org too
http://www.head-fi.org/t/617241/audioquest-dragonfly-review-affordable-outstanding-tiny-dac-amp/2355#post_12563854
That makes at least 3 requests to AQ for a Tech Expert to join in;. including the 2 that I made..One to INFO@, and One to the AQ USA Sales VP......
(Sent 2 and 3 days ago, so far crickets... ie no reply)
That makes at least 3 requests to AQ for a Tech Expert to join in;. including the 2 that I made..One to INFO@, and One to the AQ USA Sales VP......
(Sent 2 and 3 days ago, so far crickets... ie no reply)
Looking for a thinner otg cable. Don't like these fat ones possibly yanking the phone USB around. Suggestions? BTW s7, black, ie800, tidal hi-fi, no problems sounds great.
Above I reported my good success with an iPhone 6+ and Dragonfly Red. Time for bad news. I have a Samsung 12.2 Android Tablet. It is still on Kit Kat and I will not upgrade this tablet's OS. It works natively with my Emotiva and Bifrost Dacs. So I can use it for movies, google music, VLC, anything. With my Master 11, Mojo and Ifi idsd micro, I need to use UAPP. This Kitkat Tablet will talk to the Dragonfly and play music but not at usable volume. Others have reported the same problem. I'm surprised. This tablet with UAPP plays on every DAC I have used it on except Dragonfly Red.
Above I reported my good success with an iPhone 6+ and Dragonfly Red. Time for bad news. I have a Samsung 12.2 Android Tablet. It is still on Kit Kat and I will not upgrade this tablet's OS. It works natively with my Emotiva and Bifrost Dacs. So I can use it for movies, google music, VLC, anything. With my Master 11, Mojo and Ifi idsd micro, I need to use UAPP. This Kitkat Tablet will talk to the Dragonfly and play music but not at usable volume. Others have reported the same problem. I'm surprised. This tablet with UAPP plays on every DAC I have used it on except Dragonfly Red.
On my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (Lollipop), I had to use the Menu on the top right corner of UAPP to make it show and allow me to slide the dedicated volume control within the app. This managed to solve the problem of the low volume. The volume keys on the Tablet were already set to deliver at Maximum volume, but this didn't work with the Red.
In my humble opinion, the UAPP method is not a work-around that I would be very happy to live with on a daily basis.
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