[fjrabon]

FYI I just received a Magni 2 Uber in the mail. I bought the Uber primarily for vinyl and my HE-400i cans. However out of curiosity I tried running the DF Red as a DAC from my iPhone into the uber. It sounds amazing and the Uber definately can drive the 400i cans louder. The DF works well at 100% volume as a DAC into the Magni.

It is a very good combo, but I gotta say Vinyl is on a whole other level.

Love it.

Wait, you max out the DFR with your HE400i?!?! I'm almost never above 60%. 100% on that setup is "can't even touch my ears to them" loud.

 

[SpiderNhan]

Wait, you max out the DFR with your HE400i?!?! I'm almost never above 60%. 100% on that setup is "can't even touch my ears to them" loud.

You max out the DFR to run it as a line-out into an amp. The volume into headphones is controlled by the Magni.

 

[fjrabon]

You max out the DFR to run it as a line-out into an amp. The volume into headphones is controlled by the Magni.

I was going off your comment "the Magni drives the He400i louder"

 

[ChrisSC]

I'm a broken record on this, but I urge anyone who is unhappy with their initial DF experience (whatever model you have) to try it from a USB hub, preferably powered but even taking the power straight from the USB port on your laptop I'm confident that you'll be surprised by the difference a hub makes. This isnt exactly a discovery - hubs have been touted as an improvement with countless USB DACs prior to the DFB/DFR - but it kills two birds with one stone for very little outlay and that spells 'win' for mine. Not sure about the Red, but the Black definitely improves less-than-perfect music from sources like YouTube out of all proportion to the purchase price. 

Is there a greater improvement throwing the usb into the equation when you use low impedance iems or high impedance or will either type yield similar sonic benefits with a powered hub? (sorry- I don't have the engineering background that a lot of head-fi'ers around these parts possess )

 

[Mund1]

New guy here, haven't been to the site in a while. 
 
Well, through the course of the past few days... I have read much of this thread!
 
I just bought a DFR with an Audioquest Golden Gate 1/8 to 1/8 for my MBP to Marshall (guitar amp maker) Woburn (speaker system). I got this set up on my MBP as stated in the DFR Manual. The sound initially was, OK. Not overly thrilled.  I tried the headphones I have, ATH-M50x, I know, nothing fancy anyway, but same thing; not too thrilled.
 
This stuff was delivered on Saturday.  As I prepped my Samsung S5 using the Audioquest Android cable, grabbing the DFR, and heading out for a 3 hour road trip with my son, 15 min in, he put his headphones on, 20 min in, I pulled the plug on the DFR with Android cable out of my S5 and plugged directly into the 1/8 jack of my vehicle from the 1/8 headphone jack of the S5 as we have been doing.  The DFR sounded bad, intermittent pops, and low volume using Tidal HiFi.  Huge disappointment. But I covered the why, here....  I need to decide what to do.
 
I will say this, having the DFR on my MBP, connected to my Marshall Woburn desktop speaker.. the more I listen, the more sweeter it sounds... if I keep the DFR, it's for this purpose alone.  I probably have 12-14 hours of listening time in thus far, it's set up on my desk.  It seems to get better sounding as time progresses... they are all new, the Marshall Woburn, the DFR, the Golden Gate cable....

 

[canali]

hi Mundi1
 
(referring to emboldened)
 
yes...slight burn in is needed for DF...see a link from AQ that i posted a few pages back.
approx only 24 hrs to tame things.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/805832/new-dragonfly-black-and-red-discussion/585
 post # 600
 
Quote:

  New guy here, haven't been to the site in a while. 
 
Well, through the course of the past few days... I have read much of this thread!
 
I just bought a DFR with an Audioquest Golden Gate 1/8 to 1/8 for my MBP to Marshall (guitar amp maker) Woburn (speaker system). I got this set up on my MBP as stated in the DFR Manual. The sound initially was, OK. Not overly thrilled.  I tried the headphones I have, ATH-M50x, I know, nothing fancy anyway, but same thing; not too thrilled.
 
This stuff was delivered on Saturday.  As I prepped my Samsung S5 using the Audioquest Android cable, grabbing the DFR, and heading out for a 3 hour road trip with my son, 15 min in, he put his headphones on, 20 min in, I pulled the plug on the DFR with Android cable out of my S5 and plugged directly into the 1/8 jack of my vehicle from the 1/8 headphone jack of the S5 as we have been doing.  The DFR sounded bad, intermittent pops, and low volume using Tidal HiFi.  Huge disappointment. But I covered the why, here....  I need to decide what to do.
 
I will say this, having the DFR on my MBP, connected to my Marshall Woburn desktop speaker.. the more I listen, the more sweeter it sounds... if I keep the DFR, it's for this purpose alone.  I probably have 12-14 hours of listening time in thus far, it's set up on my desk.  It seems to get better sounding as time progresses... they are all new, the Marshall Woburn, the DFR, the Golden Gate cable....

 

[Devodonaldson]

New guy here, haven't been to the site in a while. 

Well, through the course of the past few days... I have read much of this thread!

I just bought a DFR with an Audioquest Golden Gate 1/8 to 1/8 for my MBP to Marshall (guitar amp maker) Woburn (speaker system). I got this set up on my MBP as stated in the DFR Manual. The sound initially was, OK. Not overly thrilled.  I tried the headphones I have, ATH-M50x, I know, nothing fancy anyway, but same thing; not too thrilled.

This stuff was delivered on Saturday.  As I prepped my Samsung S5 using the Audioquest Android cable, grabbing the DFR, and heading out for a 3 hour road trip with my son, 15 min in, he put his headphones on, 20 min in, I pulled the plug on the DFR with Android cable out of my S5 and plugged directly into the 1/8 jack of my vehicle from the 1/8 headphone jack of the S5 as we have been doing.  The DFR sounded bad, intermittent pops, and low volume using Tidal HiFi.  Huge disappointment. But I covered the why, here....  I need to decide what to do.

I will say this, having the DFR on my MBP, connected to my Marshall Woburn desktop speaker.. the more I listen, the more sweeter it sounds... if I keep the DFR, it's for this purpose alone.  I probably have 12-14 hours of listening time in thus far, it's set up on my desk.  It seems to get better sounding as time progresses... they are all new, the Marshall Woburn, the DFR, the Golden Gate cable....

Hey man, welcome to the thread. Ok, I'm going to speak solely for your galaxy s5. Download the trial of usb audio player pro. Through that app connect to Tidal, set the hardware volume at about 70% and turn down the player volume. Start your FLAC music and gradually turn up the volume. Volume is completely different, and sound quality is majorly different. The reds digital volume control is not playing nice with Android drivers at the moment. In addition, the android drivers are negatively affecting the output to any DAC connected to an Android device. UAPP app, as well as Onkyo Hf player use their own drivers to bring the best out of your dac. For Tidal streaming, UAPP is the only way to go. Try that and report back with thoughts or any questions. It's worth the price once you get passed the trial. Happy listening

 

[zolom]

The paint job on my DFB had started to chip, although I keep it protected.  
Other than that its a GREAT gadget

 

[Mund1]

 

I read this, I concur; I have witnessed the same thus far. Just last night I ran it all night with a some varying ranges of RUSH 2112 album on repeat.  Thank You for bringing to my attention.

 

[Mund1]

Hey man, welcome to the thread. Ok, I'm going to speak solely for your galaxy s5. Download the trial of usb audio player pro. Through that app connect to Tidal, set the hardware volume at about 70% and turn down the player volume. Start your FLAC music and gradually turn up the volume. Volume is completely different, and sound quality is majorly different. The reds digital volume control is not playing nice with Android drivers at the moment. In addition, the android drivers are negatively affecting the output to any DAC connected to an Android device. UAPP app, as well as Onkyo Hf player use their own drivers to bring the best out of your dac. For Tidal streaming, UAPP is the only way to go. Try that and report back with thoughts or any questions. It's worth the price once you get passed the trial. Happy listening

I have seen this info repeated, haven't downloaded the app yet, but did not see a trial version.  I believe the cost was $7.99 from the Play Store. I may do this eve., not fully understanding how they tie in to one another. But certain I will figure it out.  Thank You.

 

[calpiyuki]

Anyone here finds their se846 sound thin using dfr? I am using the blue filter setup for 846s

 

[SpiderNhan]

 
I have seen this info repeated, haven't downloaded the app yet, but did not see a trial version.  I believe the cost was $7.99 from the Play Store. I may do this eve., not fully understanding how they tie in to one another. But certain I will figure it out.  Thank You.

The trial isn't available through the Play Store. You can find the link here.

http://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/uapp-trial

 

[Rubber Soul]

I just Went for the DF Black to go with my AKG K550. Out of the box, first thing that stroke me was the high output volume. The computer main volume was set to 5 of 100, heck, I even Heard sound at zero! Next I found the bass a bit boomy. I tried it on my Sennheiser HD650 just for fun. To my surprise they worked very well to these Power hungry cans. They were dynamic and had a good soundstage wich I didn´t expected. I will let them burn in now to see how it (or if it is my brain...) will improve. I used to have the HRT MicroStreamer wich was a very good match for the 550s. So far I prefer HRT to the 550s, but I Think the DF will improve. 
/Chris

 

[TheEldestBoy]

  I just Went for the DF Black to go with my AKG K550. Out of the box, first thing that stroke me was the high output volume. The computer main volume was set to 5 of 100, heck, I even Heard sound at zero! Next I found the bass a bit boomy. I tried it on my Sennheiser HD650 just for fun. To my surprise they worked very well to these Power hungry cans. They were dynamic and had a good soundstage wich I didn´t expected. I will let them burn in now to see how it (or if it is my brain...) will improve. I used to have the HRT MicroStreamer wich was a very good match for the 550s. So far I prefer HRT to the 550s, but I Think the DF will improve. 
/Chris

 
 
I'm VERY curious to hear what your impressions are with the DFB driving the Sennheiser HD650, after the DFB burns-in a bit more.
 
PLEASE post your findings!

 

[Rubber Soul]

   
 
I'm VERY curious to hear what your impressions are with the DFB driving the Sennheiser HD650, after the DFB burns-in a bit more.
 
PLEASE post your findings!

I will! So far it sounds very promising with the HD650! I guess the red should be even more suitable to HD650.