[Brahmsian]

Can anyone help me? I’ve had a Red for about a month now and roughly once every hour some kind of distortion comes in. It builds up and then fade out, total lasting about 30 seconds. I’m using a MacBook Pro as source and it happens regardless of playback software, headphone amplification or headphone.

Here are two recordings made with my phone of the problem:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kzgsqydwrc0fegt/iTunes-AQ-DFR-MF-D7200.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p1g9zthd5pykie3/Spotify-AQ-DFR-MF-D7200.m4a?dl=0

I couldn’t find anything about this online though must admit I have not read all 279 pages of this thread. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: I updated to firmware 1.07 today, that made no difference.

Jitterbug helps only a little a this problem.

 

[joostdh]

Jitterbug helps only a little a this problem.

Thank you for your reply. I just got a jitterbug so will find out.

Are you familiar with this problem too?

 

[silmusic]

Thank you for your reply. I just got a jitterbug so will find out.

Are you familiar with this problem too?

Yes, I have the same case with Black. Also MacBook Pro, OS 10.10.5. I think it is operating system problem, because it appears only when I'm playing music via coreaudio. It starts, when some other application (for example, browser) make some noise. Or, if I'm watching Youtube, and the video is changing to another one, or commercial started. In my case the distortion is permanent. I can repair it only by unplugging Black and then plugging back again. Never experienced this problem with software, which uses Ad hock "Integer mode" (Roon, Audirwana).

Update to 1.07 didn't help.

 

[DivaFonda]

My limited experience for what it's worth:

I'm getting louder volume on my DFB after 1.07. This is through my laptop only though. I haven't tried it on any of my phones. No distortion but I'm not listening to hi-def files, just streaming YouTube so far. Headphones used are the Focal Elear and the Audeze Sine. There's a definite increase in volume because the Focals were already loud and they're now even louder. The Sines are more power hungry and needed higher volume around 63-65%, but are now fine at around 50%.

I know people said only the DFR was higher volume but my DFB definitely got an update too.

 

[Brahmsian]

Thank you for your reply. I just got a jitterbug so will find out.

Are you familiar with this problem too?

I listened to the recordings you made. It sounds exactly like that. That's how I know it's the same problem. Let me know if Jitterbug has helped any. It seems to have minimized the problem on my end, but by no means has it been eliminated. I'm thinking about getting another Jitterbug since AudioQuest recommends you use two.

 

[Brahmsian]

Thank you for your reply. I just got a jitterbug so will find out.

Are you familiar with this problem too?

Actually, I'm on the fence as to whether Jitterbug does anything to address the problem. I probably would've returned it except that it seems to have improved the sound in other ways. The music seems smoother, easier to listen to. So I'm happy with Jitterbug even though it didn't solve that specific problem.

If others are experiencing the same thing, it'd be nice if you commented. joostdh made two recordings. So here is what you hear.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kzgsqydwrc0fegt/iTunes-AQ-DFR-MF-D7200.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p1g9zthd5pykie3/Spotify-AQ-DFR-MF-D7200.m4a?dl=0

Take a moment to listen. Tell us if you've ever heard anything like it using DragonFly or any USB DAC/amp. At this point, I don't know if the DFR is defective and I should return it under warranty or whether it's a common USB problem.

 

[andrewski]

I'm thinking about getting another Jitterbug since AudioQuest recommends you use two.

To be clear, Audioquest doesn't recommend using two in the same chain. Rather, on any remaining usb ports

 

[Marc Roberts]

Yes, I have had this, it happened to be a few times for a few seconds straight after plugging it in. Doesn't seam to happen again that session.

With the new firmware when using android I also get some horrible digital background noise that's kind of similar when a song fades out or in really quiet parts.

 

[mjmax]

I just purchased the Dragonfly Red and I must say I am very happy with the sound quality! I hesitated some time before to buy it because I read a few blogs/articles saying that external DACs are scams and don't bring any improvement (did they even try them before writing that??)... At the same time I read this thread and its positive reviews, which convinced me to try it.

I use the Dragonfly with my Sony XBA N3. I compared variety of songs on both my laptop & desktop PC (Dell XPS). The dragonfly was always better. It gives the sound much more depth, presence and clarity. However, I feel the improvement is more noticeable when I listen to pop or Jazz than when I listen to metal. Probably because metal has less isolated sounds and it's more difficult to grasp tiny details when electric guitars, battery and bass are playing in full power and overlapping each other. I am curious if someone else noticed that the Dragonfly does a better job with certain kinds of music.

I only get one concern: The cap is very hard to put and remove. Additionally, if I look closely, the head is not exactly aligned with the body. Does someone has the same issue? I thinking to return it and have it changed because I have to pull strongly the cap to remove it and I am afraid to damage it each time...

 

[joostdh]

The cap is very hard to put and remove. Additionally, if I look closely, the head is not exactly aligned with the body

Not sure if this answers your question but the cap definitely has a right and wrong orientation; the audio quest letters on the cap should be on the same side as Dragonfly on the body. If i reverse the cap it does go on, albeit slightly stiffer and the cap is then misaligned with the body.

And yes, to my ears DACs do make a difference and I would be surprised if someone said otherwise. How much of a difference is obviously dependant on what you start of with and what you are listening on/with determines how much of the difference you can hear. Well, that and your ears.

 

[cathee]

Just switched to Win10 from OSX, so this might be a very stupid question but I use Tidal "Exclusive Mode" and "Passthrough MQA" and after installing the most recent firmware update the volume is extremely loud.

With all but one pair of headphones (650 ohms), I'm struggling to drag my volume in Tidal to be more than 6-8 clicks from the bottom. Can be really frustrating at times and volume jump seems significant between clicks. What keywords should I be searching for? Does anyone else share this problem?

TIA.

 

[cathee]

Not sure if this answers your question but the cap definitely has a right and wrong orientation; the audio quest letters on the cap should be on the same side as Dragonfly on the body. If i reverse the cap it does go on, albeit slightly stiffer and the cap is then misaligned with the body.

Definitely took me a while to notice this too. It wasn't until the first time I put the Dragonfly away did I notice there's a small logo on the cap and it should be facing the same direction as the logo/light on the body.

EDIT: spelling

 

[west0ne]

Just switched to Win10 from OSX, so this might be a very stupid question but I use Tidal "Exclusive Mode" and "Passthrough MQA" and after installing the most recent firmware update the volume is extremely loud.

With all but one pair of headphones (650 ohms), I'm struggling to drag my volume in Tidal to be more than 6-8 clicks from the bottom. Can be really frustrating at times and volume jump seems significant between clicks. What keywords should I be searching for? Does anyone else share this problem?

TIA.

I think that this is a common issue with Windows and the DFB/DFR being too loud. To get around this I use Equalizer APO with Peace GUI and set pre-amp to -30dB, this gives plenty of room in the volume control.

 

[mjmax]

Not sure if this answers your question but the cap definitely has a right and wrong orientation; the audio quest letters on the cap should be on the same side as Dragonfly on the body. If i reverse the cap it does go on, albeit slightly stiffer and the cap is then misaligned with the body.

And yes, to my ears DACs do make a difference and I would be surprised if someone said otherwise. How much of a difference is obviously dependant on what you start of with and what you are listening on/with determines how much of the difference you can hear. Well, that and your ears.

Thank you. Yes I noticed that the cap is not symmetrical. I always it put the logo of the cap facing the light of the body, but even this way, it is hard to put the cap and even harder to remove it... Can you really remove it smoothly on yours?

 

[DivaFonda]

I can't speak for the other poster but I can. I wonder if it's possible you got sold a used but returned one.