[musickid]

can someone confirm the apple cck 3 adaptor usb out is the normal 5v out on usb? thanks mk

 

[Slaphead]

can someone confirm the apple cck 3 adaptor usb out is the normal 5v out on usb? thanks mk

Well it has to be, otherwise it isn't standard, at which point you cannot call it USB. Current delivery will be limited to 500mA as per the USB spec however.

 

[musickid]

thanks for the reply. how exactly does the cck3 connected to an ios device transform what it takes from the lightning connection into 5v out on the usb port?

 

[Slaphead]

thanks for the reply. how exactly does the cck3 connected to an ios device transform what it takes from the lightning connection into 5v out on the usb port?

It doesn't need to transform anything - the lightning port is to all intents and purposes a USB connection, it just doesn't use a standard USB connector. The iOS device will supply the 5 volts needed through the lightning port, as per the USB specification.

 

[FlavioWolff]

Guys, my DF black 1.5 is too loud for my current phones. is it ok to use it at very low volumes (5-15 range on windows 10)? Is there any issues like raised noise floor, channel imbalance or anything else that I should worry about by using a volume that low? I heard that the Black employs an analog volume control scheme.

Plan B would be turning everything down digitally via Equalizer APO.

thanks!

 

[zuber]

^ because of similar issues I ended up with ieMatch.

 

[xandermaus]

I listen to spotify on both an Android phone and a Macbook Air, but the DFR lights up blue with the phone and violet with the Macbook. Does that mean the DFR's audio quality is better on the Macbook?

 

[Tigrowski]

I just bought myself a Dragonfly Red DAC for my Audioquest Nighthawk headphones and am struggling a bit to config this setup properly. I disabled all system enhancements in the sound config as per Audioquest's instructions and set the sample rate to 96kHz as I most often listen to Master tracks on Tidal. Yet, despite doing all this, I feel like I must be missing something cause the sound is only marginally better than it was when plugged straight into the motherboard and comparable (or even worse to my ear) than when plugged straight into my Macbook Air. I'm really surprised by this cause I expected something great and so far it's.. well.. debatable. I've tried both the USB 2.0 and 3.0 port but with little difference. So I have a few questions to make sure I'm not missing something:

1. The purple (MQA) colour only appears when Tidal is in exclusive mode. Is there really no way to have it work with MQA without this? I use my headphones for like 8 hours a day and it is just unacceptable to me to have to close the Tidal app before listening to a 1-minute clip on YouTube or something, only to then fire up Tidal again...
2. I saw the instructions recommend to turn the force volume option but this just results in the headphones blasting something like 50 on the system scale (+100 on the Tidal knob because this maxes it by default) at me on every song which is way too loud. If I crank it down, it'll blast something around 50 at me on the next song anyway. Am I losing quality by disabling the volume force?
3. Should I enable passthrough MQA in Tidal's settings for the DFR? I saw online posts claiming you should do that as DFR handles it through its hardware but in my case, this just resulted in the light going from purple (MQA) to magenta (96kHz) immediately.
4. Should I install/configure something more in Windows settings or is the quality I'm getting now how it's going to stay?

I guess it's just that there are so many ridiculously positive reviews of the DFR (and they're so hard to get now that I had to have been listed in a special queue in one of the few stores that still sell them where I live for almost three weeks to even be entitled to buy one, lol) that I expected to have my head blown away, especially since I heard what a difference it made to even plug the headphones into my Macbook vs PC. Expected a similar leap in quality, this time from Macbook direct in to PC + DFR but at best I'd say they're comparable... :/

Thanks a lot in advance for help and clarification!

 

[Slaphead]

I just bought myself a Dragonfly Red DAC for my Audioquest Nighthawk headphones and am struggling a bit to config this setup properly. I disabled all system enhancements in the sound config as per Audioquest's instructions and set the sample rate to 96kHz as I most often listen to Master tracks on Tidal. Yet, despite doing all this, I feel like I must be missing something cause the sound is only marginally better than it was when plugged straight into the motherboard and comparable (or even worse to my ear) than when plugged straight into my Macbook Air. I'm really surprised by this cause I expected something great and so far it's.. well.. debatable. I've tried both the USB 2.0 and 3.0 port but with little difference. So I have a few questions to make sure I'm not missing something:

1. The purple (MQA) colour only appears when Tidal is in exclusive mode. Is there really no way to have it work with MQA without this? I use my headphones for like 8 hours a day and it is just unacceptable to me to have to close the Tidal app before listening to a 1-minute clip on YouTube or something, only to then fire up Tidal again...
2. I saw the instructions recommend to turn the force volume option but this just results in the headphones blasting something like 50 on the system scale (+100 on the Tidal knob because this maxes it by default) at me on every song which is way too loud. If I crank it down, it'll blast something around 50 at me on the next song anyway. Am I losing quality by disabling the volume force?
3. Should I enable passthrough MQA in Tidal's settings for the DFR? I saw online posts claiming you should do that as DFR handles it through its hardware but in my case, this just resulted in the light going from purple (MQA) to magenta (96kHz) immediately.
4. Should I install/configure something more in Windows settings or is the quality I'm getting now how it's going to stay?

I guess it's just that there are so many ridiculously positive reviews of the DFR (and they're so hard to get now that I had to have been listed in a special queue in one of the few stores that still sell them where I live for almost three weeks to even be entitled to buy one, lol) that I expected to have my head blown away, especially since I heard what a difference it made to even plug the headphones into my Macbook vs PC. Expected a similar leap in quality, this time from Macbook direct in to PC + DFR but at best I'd say they're comparable... :/

Thanks a lot in advance for help and clarification!

First off what headphones are you using. If they're in ears or otherwise relatively low impedance then you'll probably not really hear much of a difference between the DFR and whatever inbuilt audio there is on your computers/phones - inbuilt audio is not bad these days. Where the DFR really shines is driving relatively high impedance full size headphones out of a phone or computer that would have difficulty being driven from a standard built in headphone port.

Secondly why are you bothering with MQA? It was a solution to a problem that had all but disappeared when it was released, and most certainly doesn't exist now.

 

[jhoefen]

Just ordered the red...excited to try it with my new legacy 3 iems!

 

[d-a07]

Just ordered the Red and UE 11 CSX. I can't wait.

 

[Celamojo]

Is dragon fly black/red still good bargin give all the new releases like Ifi Hip Dac?

 

[megabigeye]

Is dragon fly black/red still good bargin give all the new releases like Ifi Hip Dac?

Maybe not such a good value anymore, unless you can find it at a discount. My nephew recently bought the DFR on Amazon for 50% off, so keep your eyes peeled.

Some things that make the DFR still interesting to me are: tiny size (fits inside an IEM case with IEMs), single-ended only (great if you don't want to bother with extra cables), dead simple to use (no fiddly Bluetooth, no extraneous settings to fuss with), no battery to charge (only minor draw on a phone's battery, too), sounds good. I just wish it cost less.

 

[Pablovi]

No, blue colour is not for MQA, see below:

DragonFly Red’s LED lights up in different colors to indicate status or sample rate:

• Red: Standby
• Green: 44.1 kHz
• Blue: 48.0 kHz
• Amber: 88.2 kHz
• Magenta: 96.0 kHz
• Purple: MQA

When an MQA file is played back with a player that supports the DragonFly MQA the LED will go to Purple. The problem of course is that this color is very close to Magenta. It is a little easier to tell on DragonFly BLACK, but on RED it is much harder to tell. We did not have a choice in the color, that was MQA decision.

Magenta is lighter color, when it turns to purple it gets more saturate, you can actually see the change when you click play.

 

[Random Lunatic]

Has anyone found an alternative to apple's dongle to connect the dragonfly on the go? Because it keeps breaking because of their crappy strain-relief and wire, and its getting rather expensive to replace!