New Dragonfly Black and Red Discussion

[west0ne]

What's the battery sacrifice like with the 'black'?
 
I like the idea of having something really portable to go with my daily use mobile but if it drains the battery to the point where I need to carry a spare battery pack it detracts from the portability somewhat and I may as well stick with my battery powered DAC/Amp.

 

[0rangutan]

  What's the battery sacrifice like with the 'black'?
 
I like the idea of having something really portable to go with my daily use mobile but if it drains the battery to the point where I need to carry a spare battery pack it detracts from the portability somewhat and I may as well stick with my battery powered DAC/Amp.

​As I mentioned in my review, there was no obvious pronounced battery drain.  I used it for a few hours and my battery appeared to drop at the same level I would expect using the IE800's directly.
 
I will see if I can do something more scientific to measure this evening.

 

[west0ne]

 
​As I mentioned in my review, there was no obvious pronounced battery drain.  I used it for a few hours and my battery appeared to drop at the same level I would expect using the IE800's directly.
 
I will see if I can do something more scientific to measure this evening.

When I read it initially I found the comment odd as I couldn't see how an external USB device would draw less power but I suppose in hindsight it's bypassing the internal DAC/Amp so there is probably some offset and with that I guess it will vary from phone to phone depending on how much power their own internals use.
 
I would definitely like to see some more real world battery consumption thoughts when you have used it more as it sounds like a good bit of kit.

 

[FlyingFungus]

  Just picked up a RED Dragonfly from a Trutone store in Mississauga. Quick question for friends using android device: Is there a solution that I can use any player instead of just one "USB Audio Player PRO"? No sound from all my other music players. While my OPPO HA-2 plays perfectly in all of them. I tried it on a Samsung Galaxy S4 (5.1) and Note 2 (4.4), same result.
 
On my laptop, the sound quality from above  two to is very similar, much clear/cleaner than the original sound on PC. My headphone is OPPO PM-3 (I won't use them on my QC25 anyway)

 
Trutone is where I got my DragonDly v1.2. I might end up with another one at some point in time lol.

 

[0rangutan]

After slightly more scientific battery drain tests I can confirm that the Dragonfly does drain the iPhone’s battery faster than playing directly, but not particularly badly - around 4% extra per hour.
 
I tested the drain using an iPhone 6 in airplane mode, screen off and roughly volume matched between Dragonfly Black and built-in amp.
 
1 hour of play with directly connected IE800's = drop of 2%
1 hour of play via Dragonfly Black to IE800's = drop of 6%
 
This means that iPhone + Dragonfly Black should be good for ca. 16 hours playback used in airplane mode.

 

[SpiderNhan]

The Red is pretty powerful and I had to drop the gain on USB Audio Player PRO to 1/5 to get some headroom otherwise 2 clicks on the volume slider was uncomfortably loud with the Dunu DN-2000J. So far it seems to add much more "bite" and "energy" to the sound almost like it's trying to player louder that I want it to. Also, sibilance has been eliminated. Deeper impressions after I get some more head time with this thing. AQ recommends 24 hours of burn-in.

 

[tui2004]

   
For my Sony Z3 Tablet (5.1) the Dragonfly worked without without me having to make any changes.
 
My Nexus 5 (6.0) wouldn't work initially but is working now.  I had to go into Developer options (Google "Android enable developer mode" if you haven't already) and change the "Select USB Configuration" option to be "Audio Source".

 
Hi @0rangutan , could you please use Ampere app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gombosdev.ampere) with Nexus 5 and Z3.
 
I would like to know how many powers that Dragonfly Black consume from mobile devices.
 
To compare the result with this usb dac -> http://www.head-fi.org/t/797668/review-encore-mdsd-dac-amp-a-new-pocket-rocket-to-make-you-hum/45#post_12538714
 
Thank you very much and have a nice day... 

 

[0rangutan]

The Dragonfly Black measures at around 50mA drain:
 
Without Dragonfly / With Dragonfly
 
Nexus 5:  220mA / 270mA
OnePlus X:  130mA / 180mA

 

[tui2004]

Thank you very much @0rangutan , sure that my Moto E will can supply power to Dragonfly Black 

 

 

[mofu]

I have a Dragonfly Red. Even though it should be a little more effcient than the Black, Ampere also reports a difference of around 50mAh. This is measured between playing music from the headphone out and from the Dragonfly Red. However the Ampere app does not to seem very exact.
 
Luckily my phone (Redmi 3) has a 4100 mAh battery. Therefore the additional drain is no problem and I prefer the small footprint of the Dragonfly comapred to DACs that have their own battery and only last 20h. I only wish the sleeve they include would have a clip, so I could attach the device to my clothes or bag.
 
I can't really compare it to any other equipment as my only other DAC is a Gungnir, which I use in my speaker system. The speaker system unfortunately has no means of using headphones.
Sound impressions will have to wait. For now I can only state that it has much lower noise than my notebook headphone out.

 

[defguy]

Picked up the red today, preliminary opinion, pretty amazing,there is definitely some extra battery draw on my note 3 though

 

[Ymer]

Dying to see how the new ones stack up against the 1.2!

 

[gavinfabl]

First listen with the Red. Testing it with my LG G5 and Oppo PM-3 and Sennheiser HD598se.

Incredible amounts of power with USB Audio Player Pro app.

 

[canali]

First listen with the Red. Testing it with my LG G5 and Oppo PM-3 and Sennheiser HD598se.

Incredible amounts of power with USB Audio Player Pro app.

thanks....but what of the details, clarity, separation, slam etc...big diff with vs without?

 

[brent75]

My Red just showed up today. I'll try to get some good thoughts up later on.