I started a thread nearly 2 weeks ago, "Any other AQ Dragonfly Early Adopters out there?"
I've been dinking around with a Dragonfly since Sept. 17 with my new MacBook Pro. It's a pretty cool gizmo and incrementally improves the sound over the analog output when playing iTunes. The Dragonfly opens up other possibilities, however. I downloaded Audirvana, which can take advantage of the Dragonfly's various sampling rates. I got some improvement by using Audirvana to change the upsampling of iTunes rips to 88.2Khz instead of 96Khz. There is an even bigger improvement when using the Audirvana player to play 24/96 FLAC files from HDTracks. It's also a nice little headphone amp and makes headphone listening more enjoyable.
Still, my primary music source is a turntable, and although the Dragonfly improves the sound of iTunes from my MacBook, it still doesn't have the organic ease I get from vinyl. But then, I don't know of a digital playback system at any price that does. The hi-res 24/96 and 24/88.2 FLAC files from HDTracks close the gap more. And the Dragonfly combined with Audirvana (for Mac) or JRMC (for Windows) is the most economical way to get into hi-def FLAC downloads.
Given that I've become such a vinyl junkie, I'm not sure whether to keep the Dragonfly or return it to use the money toward upgrading my phono cartridge. If you're a digiphile, I can't see a downside. It's a great little product with lots of versatility, both from its compact form factor and the many capabilities built into it, some of which can only be brought out through 3rd party software.
I've been dinking around with a Dragonfly since Sept. 17 with my new MacBook Pro. It's a pretty cool gizmo and incrementally improves the sound over the analog output when playing iTunes. The Dragonfly opens up other possibilities, however. I downloaded Audirvana, which can take advantage of the Dragonfly's various sampling rates. I got some improvement by using Audirvana to change the upsampling of iTunes rips to 88.2Khz instead of 96Khz. There is an even bigger improvement when using the Audirvana player to play 24/96 FLAC files from HDTracks. It's also a nice little headphone amp and makes headphone listening more enjoyable.
Still, my primary music source is a turntable, and although the Dragonfly improves the sound of iTunes from my MacBook, it still doesn't have the organic ease I get from vinyl. But then, I don't know of a digital playback system at any price that does. The hi-res 24/96 and 24/88.2 FLAC files from HDTracks close the gap more. And the Dragonfly combined with Audirvana (for Mac) or JRMC (for Windows) is the most economical way to get into hi-def FLAC downloads.
Given that I've become such a vinyl junkie, I'm not sure whether to keep the Dragonfly or return it to use the money toward upgrading my phono cartridge. If you're a digiphile, I can't see a downside. It's a great little product with lots of versatility, both from its compact form factor and the many capabilities built into it, some of which can only be brought out through 3rd party software.