[bobeau]

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Yeah, the MERIDIAN is all the rave right now, but from what I read, it doesn't beat the dragonfly by a whole lot.

 
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  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. 

 
References?  I can't recall anyone saying that it was like splitting hairs, either in pro reviews or on Head-fi.  The differences are substantial - even if it comes down to preferences, to my ears they go for a different type of sound.  Clearly the headphone out impedance issue is (was) a problem.

 

[rbf1138]

Just decided to return my new Dragonfly, and I'm waiting for the HRT Microstreamer, which I'll then choose between that and a DACport LX I also just got.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Quote:

References?  I can't recall anyone saying that it was like splitting hairs, either in pro reviews or on Head-fi.  The differences are substantial - even if it comes down to preferences, to my ears they go for a different type of sound.  Clearly the headphone out impedance issue is (was) a problem.

 
If you would have read my post I made it clear I was going off memory and a bad one at that.

 

[Leong428]

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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 

 
 
 
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.

 
Personally, I love it. The main problem I had with my current pair of speakers (Logitech Z553) was the bass being too boomy. The DF cleaned it up GOOD! It really tightened up the bass and the timbre of instruments are a lot more distinct. I really like the form factor as well which makes it so easy to bring along when I travel.
Fidelify + ASIO just brings it to the next level. Everything sounds a lot more detailed compared to playing music off the Spotify app. There are drawback though: I can't seemed to find my "Starred" list, it crashes on large long subscribed playlists, and it seems to be "hogging" my DF. When I play music on Fidelity, other applications seem to output sound from my laptop speakers instead.
Because of this, I still use Spotify for discovering music, but switch over to Fidelity when I want to enjoy specific playlists. Hope the developer picks up the project again

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Quote:

 
1. There are drawback though: it seems to be "hogging" my DF. When I play music on Fidelity, other applications seem to output sound from my laptop speakers instead.
 
2. Because of this, I still use Spotify for discovering music, but switch over to Fidelity when I want to enjoy specific playlists. Hope the developer picks up the project again

 
1. That is because ASIO bypasses the Windows Mixer.  By doing this it mutes all other stuff coming into that device.  ASIO must send the signal to the other active device. I use WASAPI which ends up just muting everything which is what I like best. Plus you don't have to download extra stuff and set it all up.
 
2. Exactly what I do.

 

[x838nwy]

Guys,
 
I'm enjoying the Dragonfly and have been for a couple of weeks now. However, I've just looked at it today and I'm a bit worried about the colours of the LED...
 
I know it changes colour according to the file being played etc. However, when I plug it, the LED is green. Now when I play my iTunes-purchased file (AAC. 44.1kHz) and the light went sort of purple. Then when I play a clip for youtube - which can't be the same sampling freq. seriously?) it stays the same colour. Going back to a sample from HDTracks through iTunes (24/96kHz) and it's still the same colour.
 
So, I put a CD into my MacBookPro. Played it through iTunes. SURELY this has to be 16/44.1kHz. Nope, still purple.
 
I can't remember the color vs. freq. exactly, but I thought 44.1 = green and 96kHz = purple, or something.
 
Am I understanding this the wrong way? Please help.
 
Thanks,
 
C

 

[Battlescarze]

What does it mean when the DragonFly lights up in different colors?
As mentioned above, DragonFly performs best when audio data is sent to it at its native sample rate. To simplify this, DragonFly lights up different colors when it receives audio data at different sample rates: green for 44.1kHz, blue for 48kHz, amber for 88.2kHz, and magenta for 96kHz.

http://www.audioquest.com/usb_digital_analog_converter/faqs
 
Hi x838nwy,
 
Straight from the website...

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Guys,
 
I'm enjoying the Dragonfly and have been for a couple of weeks now. However, I've just looked at it today and I'm a bit worried about the colours of the LED...

 
You've got it right.  But check out Audio MIDI Setup, which can lock it in at a particular sample rate (ie. forcing upsampling).

 

[JakeJack_2008]

Quote:

What does it mean when the DragonFly lights up in different colors?
As mentioned above, DragonFly performs best when audio data is sent to it at its native sample rate. To simplify this, DragonFly lights up different colors when it receives audio data at different sample rates: green for 44.1kHz, blue for 48kHz, amber for 88.2kHz, and magenta for 96kHz.

http://www.audioquest.com/usb_digital_analog_converter/faqs
 
Hi x838nwy,
 
Straight from the website...

What is DragonFly's native sample rate?
Perhaps, it means that anything over the (24-bit) 96kHz must be downsampled.
The 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz must be cleanly downsampled to the 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz respectively,
and the 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz in turn  are processed  by the Dragonfly (shall I use the word -->) natively?

 

[JakeJack_2008]

Quote:

Guys,
 
I'm enjoying the Dragonfly and have been for a couple of weeks now. However, I've just looked at it today and I'm a bit worried about the colours of the LED...
 
I know it changes colour according to the file being played etc. However, when I plug it, the LED is green. Now when I play my iTunes-purchased file (AAC. 44.1kHz) and the light went sort of purple. Then when I play a clip for youtube - which can't be the same sampling freq. seriously?) it stays the same colour. Going back to a sample from HDTracks through iTunes (24/96kHz) and it's still the same colour.
 
So, I put a CD into my MacBookPro. Played it through iTunes. SURELY this has to be 16/44.1kHz. Nope, still purple.
 
I can't remember the color vs. freq. exactly, but I thought 44.1 = green and 96kHz = purple, or something.
 
Am I understanding this the wrong way? Please help.
 
Thanks,
 
C

I was also puzzled when reading about this. Someone said on this site, and perhaps in this interesting  thread,
that the Dragonfly does NOT automatically detect/sense sampling rates.
For instance, if you set  your audio on Windows 7 to 24-bit/96 kHz and you are feeding your precious Dragonlfy
with a regular 16-bit/44.1 kHz the Dragonlfy LED will be purple and not green (as should be in the case of the Red Book CD  audio).
So, what it means the Dragonfly only confirms that you set your audio to 24-bit/96 kHz on Windows since  the Dragonfly is not able to  check whether the actual audio stream fed into it is, say, 24-bit/96 kHz or 16-bit/44.1 kHz.
By the same token, perhaps  much worse is happening in this case, namely the Dragonfly is processing your 24-bit/96 kHz high res  audio as the 16-bit/44.1 kHz audio.
 
So, perhaps the safest way, is to set the audio at 24-bit/96 kHz.
In such a case, you don't need to remember  or worry about it any more.
Can someone comment on this?
 
 
I think that the same is happening with my ODAC. On Windows 7 I set the audio to the 24-bit/96 kHz as suggested by JDS Labs. Period.
(The ODAC does not have any glowing LEDs.)
 
 
P.S.
This is not a big problem, because we don't quite hear the 24-bit/96 kHz, not to mention the 24-bit/192 kHz.
Nevertheles, we would all feel psychologically better seeing the purple (indicating the 24-bit/96 kHz) LED on 
even if playing an MP3 file.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

The only way in Windows that I have found for the light to change to the right color is to use WASAPI which bypasses the Windows mixer.  That means Windows has nothing to do with it and can't try to up or downsample the data and the Dragonfly can read the correct sample rate.  This is due to the setting that the instruction booklet talks about.  When you set it you are setting the sample rate Windows will force audio to.  That means even if you play a 192 file and have it set to 48, it will play 48 and the Dragonfly will light up blue for all non-WASAPI/ASIO routed content because it's the sample rate its being fed.

 

[x838nwy]

Thank you guys for the replies. I'm sadly on a MacBook which (as far as I know) does not allow me to set the sampling rate. Does my mac just pumps every thing out at 96kHz or something?
 
Thank you
 
C

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Thank you guys for the replies. I'm sadly on a MacBook which (as far as I know) does not allow me to set the sampling rate. Does my mac just pumps every thing out at 96kHz or something?
 
Thank you
 
C

 
No, you absolutely can.  As I said above "But check out Audio MIDI Setup, which can lock it in at a particular sample rate (ie. forcing upsampling)."

 

[x838nwy]

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No, you absolutely can.  As I said above "But check out Audio MIDI Setup, which can lock it in at a particular sample rate (ie. forcing upsampling)."

 
 
Okay, I just looked into the matter and found the Midi thing. Thanks!
 
Is there any downsides to setting it permanently to a higher value?

 

[Krutsch]

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Okay, I just looked into the matter and found the Midi thing. Thanks!
 
Is there any downsides to setting it permanently to a higher value?

 
Maybe.  If you set it to a higher value, CoreAudio (software provided by Apple for driving audio) will upsample everything to whatever you set the values to (bit depth and sample rate).  Whether you can hear the difference is something that others will debate endlessly.
 
If you have AAC, MP3 and/or lossless audio ripped from CDs, set it to 44.1 kHz, 24-bit and leave it.  If you have high resolution audio (i.e. 88.2 or 96kHz, 24-bit), then look into something that automatically switches things for you, based on the music file's resolution.  Bitperfect (look for it on the Apple App store) is the cheapest solution for this and it really works well.