Has anyone heard the Audioquest Dragonfly?

09-30-12: Philjolet
I find it interesting that you are not especially interested in keeping the
Dragonfly, I thought you liked it pretty well in your thread.

I do like it, at least in principle. It's a clever, well-packaged,
robust, well-thought-out design. After encountering multi-thousand-dollar
asynchronous USB DACs, I thought it would be interesting to hear/own one I
could afford, designed by Gordon Rankin, no less. I think the Dragonfly does
what it's intended to do: it creates multiple sample rates that provide cleaner
upsamples of all the typical sampling rates, it adds a little analog preamp, and it
provides a better signal path for high-def digital files. Playing the 24/96 sampler
from HDTracks through the Dragonfly was a significant improvement over
computer sound in my house.

However, I am less interested in higher highs, lower lows, louder louds and
softer softs than I am in my emotional response to music. Of course better
fidelity and high resolution helps, but there's something about even excellent
digital playback that doesn't grab me. My emotional response to my turntable rig
is significantly stronger than to any digital sources I listen to, and also closer to
the emotional responses I feel to live music. Therefore, instead of chasing my tail
going after the next round of digital, I'd rather put the money into a better
cartridge. I already have around 1500 LPs and 500 CDs, so at age 59 I'm not
about to start a collection of 24/96 downloads at $18 ea. when--as good as they
sound--they only take me about 80% of the way to where analog takes me.

I think the fact that you need a miniplug to RCA adapter is a pretty big downside
to the Dragonfly though I have not heard one.

Nah, not a factor. There are plenty of very high quality stereo mini-to-RCA
interconnects. I have a couple of them and tried them both--a 1.5M Zu Cable
Mission and a 3M AudioQuest level 5 with PSC+, which is AQ-speak for PCOCC
at six nines copper. Both are great interconnects and I swapped them back and
forth for a sanity check but I found their performance to be close to identical.

If you like the idea of the Dragonfly, don't be put off by the mini-to-RCA
interconnect. There are plenty of good ones out there from Cardas, AQ, Kimber,
Zu, and others.

I got one for my wife to upgrade her computer audio. It is a very large upgrade compared to straight mini-RCA. That's with Itunes in Apple lossless. I'D imagine a further upgrade with Pure Music or similar product. We also use it with ear phones and again it's a substantial upgrade from just the mini-microphone port out. Obviously it's small and portable meaning you can travel with it. My wife, who loves music and tolerates the Hifi stuff, loves it.

For the money it offers a lot. You would probably have to spend around a 1000 dollars for better sonics. Other devices do have more connection options.
FWIW, my system is Atma-sphere MP3 to Atmashere S30 to Zu Soul Superfly.
Out of curiousity, we compared it to my analog set up, (Technics SP10 in a OMA slate plinth with a Graham phantom and Koetsu Jade) lisening to identical Billy Holliday songs. Was it close? Ahhhh, no. Nor should it be at the huge price difference. But the fact that the dragonfly sound was good enough to make me wonder speaks volumes.

Sfar, good one.

Johnny regarding the miniplug comment I made I guess I was thinking about a $250 device and a cable that costs almost as much just to be able to use it would make it less cost effective.

Also I wonder about the quality of the connection of the miniplug.

No big deal and I do still wonder how the Dragonfly stacks up against the Musicstreamer II which you can use RCA ICs with that you have at home already (most of us)

OK OK I am cheap! I said it!

my two cents...

Philojet: I'm also cheap but am addicted to good cables. I already mentioned a couple of excellent stereo mini-to-RCA iPod style interconnects, and I own some of each. The first is the Zu Audio Mission iPod cable. This is a cable designed to sell somewhere around $200. Yet Zu and other storefronts put up new or slightly used ones on eBay all the time. If you check the completed auctions you'll see that people are picking up 1M examples for anywhere from $25-45. These are *excellent* interconnects--fast, clean, smooth, full-bodied.

The other is an AudioQuest blowout at MusicDirect.com. I picked up one of these, a 3M AQ mini-5, retail $209, yours on closeout for $59. It's superb, and a gift at $59. If you need more length, here's an 8-meter mini-3 at the same price.

And if you need still more flexibility and length, go here for a selection of AQ mini-3 and mini-5 mini-to-mini cables (male at both ends) and a mini-plug extension cord (female and male).

If you want to use interconnects you already have, get one of these or something like it. $12.95 gets you the adapter at the mini-5 level of conductor--PSC+ (PCOCC six-nines copper with gold-plated connectors).

As to the Dragonfly's connectors, they're first-rate: silver-plated and thick and sturdy. Sliding that AQ mini-5 cable into the Dragonfly's stereo mini feels slick and secure.

I haven't listened to the HRT Music Streamer II, but the October 2012 issue of Stereophile is a Recommended Components issue. According to them, the Dragonfly is a Stereophile Class B component, same as the $500 HRT Music Streamer Pro, while the Music Streamer II and II+ are both Class C.