AudioQuest DragonFly Red - Portable MQA DAC + Preamp + Headphone Amplifier

NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL SOUND IS RIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Whatever music turns you on, wherever you are, an AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC delivers inspiring, dynamic, and beautiful sound to earbuds, headphones, powered speakers, or complete audio systems.

With a DragonFly, music appreciation and exploration are limitless: Plug into an Apple or Windows^® computer or connect to an iOS^® or Android mobile device. Play YouTube or Vimeo videos. Go hunting on Bandcamp or SoundCloud. Explore playlists on Spotify or Pandora. Stream high-res audio from Tidal or Qobuz. No matter the choice of musical pleasure, DragonFly delivers beautiful sound, unraveling the emotional expression and nuance that makes music and movies so enjoyable.

While the original DragonFly created a new category of portable DAC, its USB power draw made it compatible with computers only. Black and Red answered the call of music lovers everywhere for DragonFlys that could be used with Apple iOS mobile devices and Android smartphones and tablets. These DACs proved for once and for all that convenience and performance need no longer be mutually exclusive.

All current-production DragonFly models incorporate 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC chips.

The DAC chips we’ve selected are remarkably powerful and sophisticated, yet we’ve intentionally limited DragonFly’s processing capabilities to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. This makes using DragonFly as simple as it’s always been: All models are fully compatible with PCs without having to download and install new drivers. Most importantly, DragonFly is designed to honor the music you already own and love. Whether you’re listening to Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, Qobuz, ripped CDs, or state-of-the-art high-resolution files, DragonFly will deliver a more emotionally compelling and enjoyable experience.

• AudioQuest'sDragonFly DACs have always plugged right into your computer's USB port to deliver an instant audio upgrade. Now with the DragonFly Red, you can also get that same clear, dynamic sound with your Apple or Android mobile devices. The design gurus at AudioQuest not only gave the Red a far more energy-efficient design — ideal for portable use — but they even managed to enhance its performance.
  

• Although tiny, the Dragonfly is every bit as impressive as many full-size DACs. Asynchronous transfer and twin clocks ensure perfectly timed and controlled digital information enters the DAC, for a highly accurate and precise sound quality. Compared to a computer/smartphone/tablet's headphone output you'll notice a more dynamic sound with more detail and openness. In essence, the sound will simply be more lifelike.

• he first thing that AudioQuest did was to give the Red a new high-performance USB microcontroller with greatly reduced power consumption (77% less, to be exact) for true compatibility with mobile devices. The new chip also provides an improved signal-to-noise ratio for quieter operation and cleaner sound. Plus, it enables future software upgrades through AudioQuest's free desktop application.
  

• AudioQuest also replaced the DragonFly's original DAC chip with an improved 32-bit ESS Sabre 9016 processor. This high-performance DAC features minimum-phase filtering for exceptionally detailed, dynamic, and natural sound. The 9016 also comes with the latest ESS headphone amplifier and bit-perfect digital volume control on-board. This powerful headphone amp gives even hard-to-drive headphones plenty of volume and punch. The 64-bit digital volume control offers super-precise sound level adjustment with no loss of detail.
  

• Despite its tiny size, the Dragonfly will play a wide variety of music files. Twin clocks ensure perfect playback of 44.1 kHz (CD quality), 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz. As a final neat touch, the dragonfly logo glows various colours to indicate the file frequency: green for CD (44.1 kHz), blue for 48 kHz, amber for 88.2 kHz and magenta for 96 kHz. Make the most of your music on the move, with the AudioQuest DragonFly Red - don't leave home without it!