This thing is ASTOUNDING!
I mean it's tinier than a pack of gum, MUCH smaller, yet it packs an AMAZING PUNCH!
You see I wanted a DAC so I could listen to hi-res music on my Mac. I've got an external DAC/Amplifier, the ALO International, that's about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but it needs power, as in having to plug it in, and when I unplug it from my Mac it goes crazy, as in the screen starts flashing in and out and...
I'd been reading about these DragonFlys for years, but how could something so tiny make that big a difference?
Now I'm not the average guy, I'm not even sure I'm a jealous guy, but John Lennon would have loved the DragonFly Cobalt, anybody with a passion for music would!
So what I'm starting with here is an iMac 5k. And in order to get a DAC that plays a sample rate up to 96kHz you have to have a Mac notebook introduced in 2021 or later, or one of those new Mac Studios that are supposedly on back order. (Meanwhile I was lamenting the inclusion of legacy USB-A ports, Steve Jobs would have excised them, but the DragonFly comes with such, although a cable for the modern standard, USB-C is included.) And needless to say my iMac 5k doesn't qualify, even the new iMac doesn't qualify!
So what is a DAC?
It's a digital to analog converter. Yes, today music is digital. Unless you're playing vinyl, or maybe cassettes or some other antique format. And in order to hear it, it has to be converted to analog. And your device has a DAC built-in, at least my devices have one, but...
This is what I say about cars. If you're willing to spend six figures you can get state of the art. Is a hundred thousand dollar car worth twice what a fifty thousand dollar car costs? Absolutely not. But in order to meet a price point, they have to cut corners on the fifty thousand dollar car. And they're cutting corners on just about all the computer equipment you have, your smartphone too. They'll turn digital into analog, but at a low resolution, and if you try to play "High Resolution Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz)" in Apple Music you'll get the following message:
"To play content in Hi-Res Lossless at full resolution, you will need an external digital-to-analog converter."
Ergo, the DragonFly.
Not that the AudioQuest DragonFly is the only DAC available. (Also, here I must also say there's an amplifier included, which can't be a typical one, the device is so small, but I'll save investigation for later.) Hell, if you want to drop some bread it's easy to spend thousands. It reminds me of the stereo mania of the seventies, we didn't only hang out at record stores. Remember when you searched for the ultimate sound? I do.
Now there are three DragonFlys. They range from the $119.95 Black to the $229.95 Red to the $329.95 Cobalt. I'm listening through the Cobalt.
Now I want to check it out with my iPhone, but it turns out I need a USB 3 Camera Adapter, which I do not have. But I have an iPad Pro with a USB-C port and I'll try that out with headphones later, but right now I'm MESMERIZED listening to the sound coming out of my Genelecs.
Oh, that's another thing, most people use awful computer speakers. Maybe they even use the built-in speakers. And if they have externals, they have stuff that's cheap and sounds like it. I'll use my car analogy above. Sure, it sounds like the song, but to hear it the way it was meant to be listened to, you've got to pony up. Think about the speakers in your car as opposed to what you can purchase in the aftermarket, even though car speakers are better than they used to be, when you went to the BMW dealer and could get a replacement for fifteen bucks.
Now with the subwoofer this three-way Genelec package retails for about $1,500, so I don't expect your system to be in that range, but having said that... If you buy this Genelec system you won't need any other stereo, and for $1,500 that's cheap.
So I was wondering if I'd hear the difference. I figured it would have to be subtle, I'd have to A-B endlessly. But I plugged in the DragonFly Cobalt and...
I went to Amazon Music for hi-res. I decided to listen to Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time," since I know it so well, and if you pooh-pooh it you're a punk. And from the very first note...IT SOUNDED LIKE MUSIC!
You could almost see the fingers roaming the keyboard.
And honestly, "Foreplay" is not my favorite part of the song, but when it segues into "Long Time," that's PRICELESS! The track slows down, as if someone jammed on the brakes, the instruments rise to a fever pitch and then it gets quiet, it's like a summer evening, and then, AND THEN...the bass drum pounds and the guitar starts to WAIL! Darting around the sky, doing loops, you can't take your eyes off it, or in this case ears.
So I was blown away. I'd been planning to spend an hour or two trying to hear the difference, but it was IMMEDIATE! It's like the music was suddenly in focus and with more punch. It's like there was nothing left out. This was the sound we yearned to attain back in that seventies heyday with our big rigs.
So then I removed the DragonFly from the chain. The punch was gone, the sound was tinny.
This thing really shouldn't make that much difference, BUT IT DOES!
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