Long time lurker first time poster. This is a ripper deal for the Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt USB Dac/Amp which is their top of the line DAC. RRP is usually $600 (e.g. JB HiFi). Lowest price I've seen prior was $460.
Got JB to price match with shipping deducted to use JB gift card. Enjoy!
Agreed. I remember seeing these on 'best gear for beginner audiophiles' articles pretty frequently.
One of the many 'noob trap' products in audio
hard pass
great review
“Whoever designed the headphone amplifier in this product needs to go back to engineering school or pay attention to what the competitor is shipping. Actually he needs to do both.”
Haven't read a single thing on this but guessing a niche sort've product? Relatively portable DAC amps (ifi or fiio) can be had cheaper and then you can get more versatile products like a Qudelix 5k for less..
these are classic USB stick dacs
apparently this has the ESS 9038 so its a good chipset inside but there's not $369 worth of 'goods' inside
eg. i have a Xduoo XD05 and that's a usd $155 product and you can clearly see the engineering for the money
https://xduoo.net/product/xd05-basic/
and so with usb portable dacs? they should be sub $50
Ah cool yeah I sort've felt like that was the case! Thanks for the info :)
Haha some grade A snake oil there!
The evolution of DAC chips alongside the competition from Chinese brands seems to have left the likes of Audioquest in the dust with their once cutting edge but now old technology. The best bang for buck seems to be in the AUD$100 - 150 price range, though I've been perfectly happy with my Fiio and Hidisz models at $60-80.
If you can cope with some occasionally odd names (hello, Whizzer), odd design choices (e.g. built-in USB cables) and sometimes amateurish looks or logos, Aliexpress is a rich feast of affordable sub-$100 DACs.
If you're wanting to give it a try, find some in your price range, Google the name, look at a few reviews… and the search again at Aliexpress - you can often find quite a bit of variation in price and delivery times between sellers.
And remember 10% GST will be added at the end.
If you can cope with some occasionally odd names (hello, Whizzer)…
I'd have gone with the apparently well-respected Schiit Audio (home of the "Schiit stack") myself.
MQA is a scam - I had this DAC before I knew better
You're better off going a Hidisz S9 for a lot cheaper
I only have middle of the range headphones and fairly cheap speakers, would a DAC improve the output in any meaningful way? Or is there a minimum standard of speakers required to get any benefits from a DAC
A DAC will always improve SQ - you will just get a full view of that improvement with better speakers/headphones.
Depending on your gear, it’ll either be beneficial or not. Some cheap $10 earbuds aren’t going to be worthwhile, you’d be better getting some better headphones instead of trying to improve cheap headphones.
But if you have something that isn’t too bad - they should be able to show you the improvement.
You then also need to have a good source - playing low quality files won’t help, you’d want some sort of lossless audio where compression is minimal.
Right, I probably won't benefit much as my source is Spotify 95% of the time. Thanks, mate
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a…
Ill take a hard pass on that one. Apple dongle is the clearer output and better value.
But music is in the ear of the beholder, so to each their own, and I hope it drives your output as you desire.