[brent75]

  Using Tidal and Spotify. No in-app volume control. Volume is completely controlled through Android. Tried it with my T50RP MK3 and they are unusable out of my phone with the Dragonfly Red.

How weird. Must be an issue of compatibility w/ your phone rather than the Red itself. Going back to Darko's review referenced on page 1 of this thread:
 
----
"The 21st Century Sony Walkman is a heavily disguised Android phone that trades in call and SMS functionality for D/A conversion and headphone drive designed with audiophile sensitivities. Like the Astell&Kern players, the Sony’s headphone output is on the weak side. Fine for IEMs, less so for thirstier cans. The DragonFly Black supplies more of the necessary go juice as called on by the Fostex T50RP MK3 than the Sony portable. Wow."
----
 
And that's just for the Black, which is less powerful than the Red. Hopefully you can get it figured out.

 

[brent75]

  Without the Red Dragonfly , I have no problems with distortion at all.
I experience crackling noises on some songs and in the same places, not all the time. Just like some of the tones are too "hot" and begins to crack . An example is the beginning on this : https://open.spotify.com/track/1ty1s48EKTjZNdKweHkXpY with acoustic setting on the EQ . It would be interesting if someone could test streaming from Spotify on an iPhone / iPad with these settings. I use Shure srh1840 as headphones.

What song/artist is this? I don't have Spotify so can't stream it, but if it's a track I can stream through Apple music or on Youtube or even purchase, I may try just to see if I can detect the crackle as well with Red engaged.

 

[tommo21]

Using Tidal and Spotify. No in-app volume control. Volume is completely controlled through Android. Tried it with my T50RP MK3 and they are unusable out of my phone with the Dragonfly Red.

Have you gone into developer settings and set the usb priority to audio device? Maybe that will work?

 

[jerry1130]

Definitely much higher volume of out the computer. I guess the line level for the Nexus 6p is much lower. No idea how to increase it though.

 

[dudde]

  What song/artist is this? I don't have Spotify so can't stream it, but if it's a track I can stream through Apple music or on Youtube or even purchase, I may try just to see if I can detect the crackle as well with Red engaged.

[color=rgb(33, 33, 33)]  [/color]

I have a feeling that this is a problem with Spotify and its equlaizer . When I , for example, have the acoustic setting turned on its crackle on several songs but not all. The song I referred to was just a clear example . The album is called " Beyond the Missouri Sky " and the song is called "Our Spanish Love Song " by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheney. 
I have not tried the Dragonfly in other devices than the iPhone 6 and iPad
Thank you

 

[SpiderNhan]

  Definitely much higher volume of out the computer. I guess the line level for the Nexus 6p is much lower. No idea how to increase it though.

This is a copy/paste of my reply in this thread.
 
"Concerning volume issues with Android, I'll give a quick run down of my experiences so far.

Android system through USB OTG is limited to 15 volume steps regardless of app used. This applies to Google Play Music, YouTube, MX Player, etc. I find that the volume output is quite low, even with the 8 ohm Dunus, and I must use volume step 13 out of 15 to get listenable levels. Strangely, the volume difference between steps 14 and 15 is significant! It's like going up 4 or 5 volume steps at once. Perhaps max Android volume = Line Out?

USB Audio Player Pro offers the most amount of volume control although the software volume is limited to 20 steps. However, the amount of volume allotted to the 20 steps is adjustable to varying degrees when combined with the Hardware Volume and EQ gain sliders. I haven't calculated how many levels are available in Hardware Volume, but the slider moves in small increments and I have yet to go past 60% to attain optimal listening levels with my gear. I don't have any 300 ohm headphones to test, but with how loud it drives my Q701s I imagine it won't be a problem.

Poweramp alpha build 703 allows the user to adjust the amount of volume steps in software. The levels are 30, 50, 76 and 100. It works incredibly well but, on my phone at least, only works when Poweramp is open in the foreground. When the screen is off the volume steps will default to Android's 15. A neat feature with the alpha 703 build is variable output options including a hi-res option for phones that support it. I don't want to delve too deeply into the options here as they are a bit complicated, but sound quality on the alpha build is better than the official release and even its DAC output sounds better. Volume is still a problem though. Using the Poweramp EQ I have to drag the preamp up to full and put volume up to 75%+ for listenable levels with the 32 ohm V-MODA M-100. Sound is just as good as UAPP, but the volume control isn't there.

So, for the time being, UAPP is still the best option for Dragonfly."
 

 

[jmsaxon69]

Anyone tried the red and the black version and if so is how big is the difference ? I can buy both in Denmark for an ok price, don't need to import.

I use Xperia Z5 and Tidal HiFI download from my phone or streaming. I only use iems so i dont need a lot of power just better clarity/sound .

I have both, the Red kills the Black, hands down no brainier...

 

[kle89]

Dang I just ordered the Encore mDSD before I saw this pop up. Wondering if anyone has both of them for comparison?

 

[SpiderNhan]

  Dang I just ordered the Encore mDSD before I saw this pop up. Wondering if anyone has both of them for comparison?

mDSD isn't on this list, but the divisions might give you some perspective.

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/the-darko-dac-index/

 

[0rangutan]

I have both, the Red kills the Black, hands down no brainier...

Can you elaborate further?
I have the Black and am very pleased with it so far - would be great to hear which aspects of the Red differ from Black, thanks.

 

[stuck limo]

I have both, the Red kills the Black, hands down no brainier...

 

 
Can you elaborate further?
I have the Black and am very pleased with it so far - would be great to hear which aspects of the Red differ from Black, thanks.

 
More details, please.

 

[defguy]

Just got my Dragonfly Red. First impression, it's barely loud enough to drive my SE846 from a Nexus 6p. It only gets loud when android volume control is at 95%. Is there another gain control that I am missing?

Volume level seems to be app specific, with HF player it was totally fine. When I used the Red with my pc I had do a little digging in settings, went from not really loud enough to more volume than anyone could use. Try the Onkyo HF app or USB Audio Player

 

[0rangutan]

Try disabling volume normalisation in Spotify (as well as EQ) and see whether that helps.

 

[jonstatt]

My Dragonfly Red is misbehaving so going back. I hear little clicks and pops and sometimes the music is distorted. The clicks and pops change where they happen if I replay the track and gets worse when the device is warm. This is with it connected via an iPhone using a camera connection kit (lightning to USB) connection. Playing the same music directly with the headphone out on the iPhone reveals no distortion or pops and clicks at all. There is no EQ set and this is with direct from CD rips. An example that distorts is Jean Michel-Jarre's Oxygene 7-13 which really surprised me. But the clicks and pops are totally random and playing the same track again they will happen at totally different/random times.
 
Despite these issues I was still able to evaluate it with my Sennheiser IE800s and to be honest wasn't all that impressed. While it had greater separation, resolution and improved soundstage vs the iPhone output, with the IE800 it sounded overly harsh, which in turn made the mid bass sound repressed. It did offer greater treble and sub-bass extension than the iPhone, particularly with the texture/detail in bass which could be a bit smoothed off with the 6S plus headphone output. However this doesn't get away from the fact that I actually preferred the sound with some tracks from the iPhone rather than the Dragonfly.
 
Comparing this to the Mojo is a no brainer, the Mojo is in a different league and I wouldn't ever prefer to listen on the direct iPhone headphone output over it. However I was intrigued and hopeful for the Red because it avoids battery charging and can "dangle" off the iPhone while on the train or walking around which isn't practical with the Mojo (which requires you to have a fat pocket or spread the equipment over different pockets).
 
Disappointed......

 

[SpiderNhan]

My Dragonfly Red is misbehaving so going back. I hear little clicks and pops and sometimes the music is distorted. The clicks and pops change where they happen if I replay the track and gets worse when the device is warm. This is with it connected via an iPhone using a camera connection kit (lightning to USB) connection. Playing the same music directly with the headphone out on the iPhone reveals no distortion or pops and clicks at all. There is no EQ set and this is with direct from CD rips. An example that distorts is Jean Michel-Jarre's Oxygene 7-13 which really surprised me. But the clicks and pops are totally random and playing the same track again they will happen at totally different/random times.

Despite these issues I was still able to evaluate it with my Sennheiser IE800s and to be honest wasn't all that impressed. While it had greater separation, resolution and improved soundstage vs the iPhone output, with the IE800 it sounded overly harsh, which in turn made the mid bass sound repressed. It did offer greater treble and sub-bass extension than the iPhone, particularly with the texture/detail in bass which could be a bit smoothed off with the 6S plus headphone output. However this doesn't get away from the fact that I actually preferred the sound with some tracks from the iPhone rather than the Dragonfly.

Comparing this to the Mojo is a no brainer, the Mojo is in a different league and I wouldn't ever prefer to listen on the direct iPhone headphone output over it. However I was intrigued and hopeful for the Red because it avoids battery charging and can "dangle" off the iPhone while on the train or walking around which isn't practical with the Mojo (which requires you to have a fat pocket or spread the equipment over different pockets).

Disappointed......

Have you tried different music players like Onkyo HF Player?