[delancyst]

I'm interested in the DFC, tried the DFR a few weeks ago for about half an hour with my iPhone X and was not that impressed, maybe there were several factors:
- My music library consists of either iTunes purchases, which account for 97-98% of my storage, or 320 kbps mp3/Spotify premium => Maybe testing on lossless files or Tidal would be easier to notice details?
- I used a custom-made adapter (not Apple's product). As far as I know, the DFR has problems with the thin Apple cable and the DFR manual even tells you to use the big one for the best audio experience.

Overall I feel like there was little to no difference between the Lightning to 3.5 cable from Apple and the DFR, but keep in mind I am nowhere an audiophile or whatsoever. I just want to have the best portable listening experience on my phone and other devices. My IEMs are Astell&Kern Billie Jean, which I find good enough for my usage. So the question is, technically, if you look at my IEMs specifications + current setup, is the DFC worth it? Or do I have to replace my library with better music files and app? (heard Onkyo is a good one for lossless listening). Thanks!

I've been AB-ing the Apple Lightning USB Camera (aka CCK2) and the USB 3 version with the charging port (aka CCK3) over the past hour with the Cobalt.
Contrary to Audioquest's claims, I found no discernable difference in sound quality - both adapters work well with my iPhone Xs + Kaisertone app.
Since my iPhone supports wireless charging, it makes sense to use the smaller adapter.

 

[ElectricL]

Been lurking on this site for a while trying to learn a thing or two. I'm not an audiophile but I do appreciate good audio, I know it's very subjective what good really is. I have been using the DFR for about two years. I got it used for about 80$ and used it with shure 215, 535 and lately with the 846. With the 535 it was too bright and sometimes the highs would sound very harsh. I listen on my oneplus 7 pro these days and I use viper4android to tweak the sound to my liking. With the 846 the DFR wasn't as harsh and I enjoyed the sound I got out of them.
The 846 I felt didn't as much eq as the 535 to sound the way I wanted and with viper it was easier to make them sound better with less fiddling.

With all that said there is a rather big difference between just using a 3.5mm dongle with the open plus 7 pro and the DFR. To me the red sounds fuller, detailed and so on. So to my untrained ears the DFR sounds better on the op7 pro. I have no idea what onboard audio the oneplus uses.
Yesterday I got the DFC, I ordered it last week after reading all the nice reviews, all of them couldn't be wrong right? After I had already ordered it I read this thread and that review with the in depth testing and I was dissaponted. I wanted something better than my red and it looked like the cobalt wasn't it. Reading this thread has cleared up a few things and for my usage the problems with the cobalt will most likely never cause me trouble. I value portability, only listen on my phone these days.
So, comparing the cobalt with the red, to my ears, the cobalt sounds more relaxed and smooth, the highs are more defined and not as harsh. It does sound a little more spaceous but it might all just be placebo. Here in Sweden it's 2900 Swedish krona, I could get a DAC with more features but it would be many times the size of the DFC.
Considering the earphones i use, senn ie80, shure 215, 535 and 846 would it make more sense getting a DAP?

Edit

I use Tidal hifi for most of my listening.

 

[delancyst]

Been lurking on this site for a while trying to learn a thing or two. I'm not an audiophile but I do appreciate good audio, I know it's very subjective what good really is. I have been using the DFR for about two years. I got it used for about 80$ and used it with shure 215, 535 and lately with the 846. With the 535 it was too bright and sometimes the highs would sound very harsh. I listen on my oneplus 7 pro these days and I use viper4android to tweak the sound to my liking. With the 846 the DFR wasn't as harsh and I enjoyed the sound I got out of them.
The 846 I felt didn't as much eq as the 535 to sound the way I wanted and with viper it was easier to make them sound better with less fiddling.

With all that said there is a rather big difference between just using a 3.5mm dongle with the open plus 7 pro and the DFR. To me the red sounds fuller, detailed and so on. So to my untrained ears the DFR sounds better on the op7 pro. I have no idea what onboard audio the oneplus uses.
Yesterday I got the DFC, I ordered it last week after reading all the nice reviews, all of them couldn't be wrong right? After I had already ordered it I read this thread and that review with the in depth testing and I was dissaponted. I wanted something better than my red and it looked like the cobalt wasn't it. Reading this thread has cleared up a few things and for my usage the problems with the cobalt will most likely never cause me trouble. I value portability, only listen on my phone these days.
So, comparing the cobalt with the red, to my ears, the cobalt sounds more relaxed and smooth, the highs are more defined and not as harsh. It does sound a little more spaceous but it might all just be placebo. Here in Sweden it's 2900 Swedish krona, I could get a DAC with more features but it would be many times the size of the DFC.
Considering the earphones i use, senn ie80, shure 215, 535 and 846 would it make more sense getting a DAP?

Edit

I use Tidal hifi for most of my listening.

I have been comparing the Mojo and the Cobalt for the past few days.
If you care about the user interface of your phone, I think you can consider the Mojo.
For the cost of the Cobalt, the Mojo has better sound quality for a little bit more.

 

[ElectricL]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

The Mojo is too big. I will listen to the cobalt a little more today before I decide to keep it.

 

[a-LeXx]

The 846 I felt didn't as much eq as the 535 to sound the way I wanted and with viper it was easier to make them sound better with less fiddling.

Finally someone with a DFR,DFC and an SE846

I have a question to ask For me, I like everything about a DFR/SE846 combo, but one thing: it doesn't have a black background, there is always some audible hissing, although it's not really very annoying.

What's your experience with DFC? Less/no hissing? The same? If it is much better, maybe I will also upgrade... However I really do love the sound of DFR and for me it's definitively not too bright, so I might be disappointed...

 

[ElectricL]

Finally someone with a DFR,DFC and an SE846

I have a question to ask For me, I like everything about a DFR/SE846 combo, but one thing: it doesn't have a black background, there is always some audible hissing, although it's not really very annoying.

What's your experience with DFC? Less/no hissing? The same? If it is much better, maybe I will also upgrade... However I really do love the sound of DFR and for me it's definitively not too bright, so I might be disappointed...

I also like my DFR but at times it would be too bright but that was happening with the Shure 535, so I guess it's the headphones fault. There is some background hiss/noise with the cobalt. I'll listen more tonight and I'll get back to you. With both the cobalt and the red there is a noticeable improvement over just using the 846 through a usbc to 3.5mm alone. Is it worth 300$? I'm not sure and what if a firmware update could improve the cobalt? To be honest, I was pretty happy with the red, especially after getting viper set up the way I like it.

 

[joshnor713]

I returned the DFR the day after trying it with my SE846. The SE846 is too sensitive for it, not a good pairing. Hiss and not enough volume steps before it's too loud. I really wonder how/if the DFC improves on this front.

 

[ElectricL]

I returned the DFR the day after trying it with my SE846. The SE846 is too sensitive for it, not a good pairing. Hiss and not enough volume steps before it's too loud. I really wonder how/if the DFC improves on this front.

I use it with the ifi iematch and at first everything worked like advertised, but after a while the sound came out distorted. Have no idea what causes it. Both the 535 and 846 are too sensitive but it's most noticeable in the really quiet parts of the music.

Om the go or when I finally have some time to listen it doesn't bother me, well not that much anyway.

Note

I'm not an audiophile so my "normal" ears might not be as sensitive as somebody with more experience that knows what to listen for.

 

[Condocondor]

I returned the DFR the day after trying it with my SE846. The SE846 is too sensitive for it, not a good pairing. Hiss and not enough volume steps before it's too loud. I really wonder how/if the DFC improves on this front.

Here's a link for more info on IE Match from iFi Audio. It works well I'm told.

https://ifi-audio.com/products/iematch/

 

[ElectricL]

Here's a link for more info on IE Match from iFi Audio. It works well I'm told.

https://ifi-audio.com/products/iematch/

Do you have any idea why the sound gets distorted with the ifi ie match? It's really annoying.

 

[joshnor713]

I use it with the ifi iematch and at first everything worked like advertised, but after a while the sound came out distorted. Have no idea what causes it. Both the 535 and 846 are too sensitive but it's most noticeable in the really quiet parts of the music.

Om the go or when I finally have some time to listen it doesn't bother me, well not that much anyway.

Note

I'm not an audiophile so my "normal" ears might not be as sensitive as somebody with more experience that knows what to listen for.

Here's a link for more info on IE Match from iFi Audio. It works well I'm told.

https://ifi-audio.com/products/iematch/

I also have an iFi iemmatch. I've played with it plenty and can tell it messes with the FR (despite what iFi says), especially in the case of the SE846. I'm guessing that the DFR doesn't have a good impedance match with the SE846 (this IEM is a bit of a princess), so throwing in the iemmatch further messes with the signal. Just not a good combo. Good if the sound is decent for you, but you can do a lot better.

 

[Condocondor]

What's your experience with DFC? Less/no hissing? The same? If it is much better, maybe I will also upgrade... However I really do love the sound of DFR and for me it's definitively not too bright, so I might be disappointed...

What's your experience with DFC? Less/no hissing? The same? If it is much better, maybe I will also upgrade... However I really do love the sound of DFR and for me it's definitively not too bright, so I might be disappointed...

Do you have any idea why the sound gets distorted with the ifi ie match? It's really annoying.

IE Match should work well. If you have an IE MATCH that is distorting then open up a ticket with iFi Audio Support..... As far as impedance mismatch, the DFR and DFC have output impedance at less than a single ohm if I remember right..

 

[a-LeXx]

No, IE Match is bad for an SE846. I actually have it. The problem with SE846 - it needs as low impedance as possible, less than 1ohm. With higher impedance, it doesn‘t sound right. And IE Match has too high impedance at mid setting, and still a bit higher impedance than DFR and too high dampening factor at the high setting.

So, it‘s a bad choice.

I don‘t have a problem with volume steps, because I‘m using an ipod touch with a DFR. With ios, you have a 256-steps volume slider, gives you a very fine volume granularity... Shold not be a problem under Android neither if you use UAPP for everything

 

[ElectricL]

No, IE Match is bad for an SE846. I actually have it. The problem with SE846 - it needs as low impedance as possible, less than 1ohm. With higher impedance, it doesn‘t sound right. And IE Match has too high impedance at mid setting, and still a bit higher impedance than DFR and too high dampening factor at the high setting.

So, it‘s a bad choice.

I don‘t have a problem with volume steps, because I‘m using an ipod touch with a DFR. With ios, you have a 256-steps volume slider, gives you a very fine volume granularity... Shold not be a problem under Android neither if you use UAPP for everything

So this is why it sounds distorted and frankly really crappy with the iematch. Any other options to get rid of the hiss?

 

[a-LeXx]

Do you have any idea why the sound gets distorted with the ifi ie match? It's really annoying.

Simple explanation - too much dampening.
The problem is, IE Match present your DFR an 8ohm load. And then you need to get higher with volume, because of the dampening. DFR has a not very powerfull output stage, and can only maintain the output swing at low current. But with IE match it needs to supply both high current (low impedance load) and comparably high voltage (high dampening). With this it‘s going beyond the power budget and starts clipping the voltage -> you get the distortion...

In other words, DFR sees your IE Match as a very low impedance and very power hungry headphone, and it just doesn‘t have enough juice for that kind of loads...