[DannyBai]

Quote:

After reading online reviews and only hearing good things about the Dragonfly, I decided the bite the bullet and get this instead of the Meridian Explorer As this was on Amazon Prime (Free expedited delivery for me). I like more detail in my music and don't mind if it's at the cost of being "more balanced". Did I make the right choice getting this? (it won't arrive till Monday and I'm excited! )

 
I'm sure the Meridian is a nice product but I skipped it since I have and enjoy the DF already.  

 

[lextek]

I have been exremely happy with my DF.  Used as a DAC or driving my Sennheiser HD600s out of my Macbook.  One of my better purchases.

 

[jherbert]

Quote:

After reading online reviews and only hearing good things about the Dragonfly, I decided the bite the bullet and get this instead of the Meridian Explorer As this was on Amazon Prime (Free expedited delivery for me). I like more detail in my music and don't mind if it's at the cost of being "more balanced". Did I make the right choice getting this? (it won't arrive till Monday and I'm excited! )

 
Haven't had a chance to audition the Meridian, but the design ogf the headphone amp was deeply flawed in the first production run. Output impedance was 40 ohms which means it is not usable for multidriver ba's and low impedance headphones. They changed the design in the meantime to make that five ohms. I fear that such a design flaw in a major aspect tells a lot about the approach a company takes in general. Boutique parts do not help if the basics are done wrong. Just my 2 cents. 

 

[Aerocraft67]

Quote:

After reading online reviews and only hearing good things about the Dragonfly, I decided the bite the bullet and get this instead of the Meridian Explorer As this was on Amazon Prime (Free expedited delivery for me). I like more detail in my music and don't mind if it's at the cost of being "more balanced". Did I make the right choice getting this? (it won't arrive till Monday and I'm excited! )

 
I evaluated them both and went with the Explorer, but from what you say of your priorities here, sounds like you made the right choice. 

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

I'm sure the Meridian is a nice product but I skipped it since I have and enjoy the DF already.  

 
I have the DF, the Meridian, and the HRT Microstreamer.  I've owned the DF since last summer and have in excess of 500 hours on it.
 
The DF does seem to consume less power and the form factor is awesome, but sonically the latter two play in a different ballpark and the DF will be sold.  Even with the impedance issues on the ME I still find it superior to the DF when driving my 334s (3 way crossover BA IEMS doing about 42 ohms at 1k).  

 

[lextek]

Looks like I'll have to try the Meridian when things settle down.  I had there G08 CD player which was awesome.  I think that's the right name/number.

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Looks like I'll have to try the Meridian when things settle down.  I had there G08 CD player which was awesome.  I think that's the right name/number.

 
And let's not forgot the Microstreamer, which I feel is the real unsung hero.  I could possibly end up preferring it even over the corrected ME when I get it in a few weeks.  And it's the cheapest to boot.
 
The DF was great when it came out last summer but seriously folks, the competition has caught up to and passed it.  I made many comments early on in this thread how I still preferred the ODAC/O2 combo to the DF by a good margin and the choice to keep the DF was mostly a convenience thing.  I'm not sure that would be the case with these newer units.

 

[lextek]

It would take a lot for me to give up my little Dragonfly.  The only other DAC I own is Cambridge Audio DACMagic.  Which now seems dated.  Still sounds great and has multiple inputs.  Two different animals.  The DF showed be how far DACs have come.  Asynchronous USB is the way to go, but I most are these days.

 

[DannyBai]

Quote:

 
And let's not forgot the Microstreamer, which I feel is the real unsung hero.  I could possibly end up preferring it even over the corrected ME when I get it in a few weeks.  And it's the cheapest to boot.
 
The DF was great when it came out last summer but seriously folks, the competition has caught up to and passed it.  I made many comments early on in this thread how I still preferred the ODAC/O2 combo to the DF by a good margin and the choice to keep the DF was mostly a convenience thing.  I'm not sure that would be the case with these newer units.

Thanks for sharing bobeau.  I've also been very tempted by the microstreamer as well.  Please let us know after you receive the corrected ME, if that or the microstreamer is more preferable to your needs.  

 

[Leong428]

Thank you for the brilliant replies everyone. Bobeau I'm interested to hear what aspects the ME outperforms the DF in your experience?

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Thank you for the brilliant replies everyone. Bobeau I'm interested to hear what aspects the ME outperforms the DF in your experience?

 
With the higher impedance unit it's probably a tossup based on what you're driving it with.  As it is stands w/ my 334s the bass is somewhat reduced but there is better control and clarity there (which is odd because technically it should be the other way around) and the mids are significantly more transparent - there's a congestion in the mids I find w/ the DF on most phones I've tried that I'm not finding with these.  That said the frequency response is a bit wonky, it's a bit too mid-centric w/ the ME.  The Microstreamer seems to correct that but might give up a slight bit of depth and detail to the ME, yet it has it over the DF in almost every aspect (tightness/impact in the bass, clarity in mids, detail, imaging, etc).  
 
Basically, the ME sounds like a different type of product, moving more toward the analytical realm.  I'm thinking it is going to be quite stunning with the impedance reduction, and probably an ideal match for the warmish 334s (but 5 ohms is going to be still too high for alot of IEMs).  The MS sounds like a better version of the DF, how I imagine the next iteration of the DF would sound, or perhaps how the DF sounds now with an external power supply.

 

[acti0n]

AQ recommends keeping the media player at maximum and using the OS volume controls. What if it's too loud at the minimum volume setting -- is there any way to reduce the gain?

 

[Leong428]

Got my DF today, installed Fidelity (for spotify) and ASIO to get the most out of it. 
 
This really sounds incredible! The sheer difference they make together is just immense it sounds like the music came out of different speakers. 
Bass is tighter, instruments are better separated and music sounds less compressed.
 
Thanks again for the input everyone, I'm very happy with this product, well worth the price

 

[LAmitchell]

Yeah, the MERIDIAN is all the rave right now, but from what I read, it doesn't beat the dragonfly by a whole lot.
 
So, I'm keeping my cute little DRAGONFLY for at least 12 months so that when I switch up to a new/better DAC, it will be something amazing (that hasn't even been invented yet!) 
 
 

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Still loving my (third) replacement DF.  I tried it with my new PS3 and, to my dismay, it doesn't work 

.  When I was reading reviews about the Meridian I think I remember them talking about more detail and the bass was more refined but the differences were small at best.  But I could be wrong.  I read lots of reviews 

 
 

Got my DF today, installed Fidelity (for spotify) and ASIO to get the most out of it. 

 
How do you like it?  The developer stated the next update would be later than his ETA and he would update the ETA on the website.  That was three, almost four, months ago so I don't hold out much hope for updates anymore.  I find it a bit buggy, but once things start to play it really shows off what Spotify can (and can't) do.