DJ The Rocket
500+ Head-Fier
This has been mentioned in the huge Red/Black discussion forum, but I couldn't find a solution anywhere in there. As I'm not alone in experiencing this issue, and its major enough that without a solution it's a dealbreaker, so it deserves a thread of its own.
The issue is as follows:
(All playback is from Android devices)
I first bought a Dragonfly Black, and with it's output leading to either amplifier I own (Fiio e11 and Fostex HP-V1), I could just drive the 250-ohm Beyer DT880 at adequate levels (amps at 100% power), which meant plenty of power to blow out something like my Grado sr225e, and probably my AMG K240 also, at 100%.
I heard the Red produced better sound quality overall (an indeed it does), so I upgraded. In theory I should be able to drive more headphones directly from the Red without an additional amp, but in practice, the Red is putting out a tiny fraction of what the Black was pushing! And its not close, the Black is FAR more powerful. Obviously this doesn't make any sense, but there is no denying that this is what's happening. With the Red leading to either amp, I can BARELY reach a sufficient volume with the Grados. None of my other headphones can reach even moderate volumes with the Red. What is going on here? All settings are exactly the same, yet the results show that something is very wrong here.
What should I do? I'm reluctant to return the Red, since the sound quality is better than anything I've heard, handily better than even the Black. It seems like there SHOULD be a simple solution. But what good is better audio quality, if there isn't enough quantity to tell?
What other similar quality DACs can I get for $200 that are also Android compatible?
The issue is as follows:
(All playback is from Android devices)
I first bought a Dragonfly Black, and with it's output leading to either amplifier I own (Fiio e11 and Fostex HP-V1), I could just drive the 250-ohm Beyer DT880 at adequate levels (amps at 100% power), which meant plenty of power to blow out something like my Grado sr225e, and probably my AMG K240 also, at 100%.
I heard the Red produced better sound quality overall (an indeed it does), so I upgraded. In theory I should be able to drive more headphones directly from the Red without an additional amp, but in practice, the Red is putting out a tiny fraction of what the Black was pushing! And its not close, the Black is FAR more powerful. Obviously this doesn't make any sense, but there is no denying that this is what's happening. With the Red leading to either amp, I can BARELY reach a sufficient volume with the Grados. None of my other headphones can reach even moderate volumes with the Red. What is going on here? All settings are exactly the same, yet the results show that something is very wrong here.
What should I do? I'm reluctant to return the Red, since the sound quality is better than anything I've heard, handily better than even the Black. It seems like there SHOULD be a simple solution. But what good is better audio quality, if there isn't enough quantity to tell?
What other similar quality DACs can I get for $200 that are also Android compatible?