Audioquest Dragonfly Red DAC - PRE-OWNED

Description

AudioQuest DragonFly
USB Digital-to-Analog Converter
DragonFly is a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC) designed to deliver cleaner,
clearer, more naturally beautiful sound from any computer, smartphone, or tablet.
DragonFly’s unique design allows for playback of any file type regardless of resolution.
Natively, DragonFly is capable of decoding 24-bit/96kHz data. (For files with higher
sample rates, your computer or mobile device, in conjunction with its playback software,
will resample the data to a compatible resolution. For more details, see “The Importance
of Format.”)
Today’s DragonFly represents the culmination of several significant achievements: While
the original DragonFly defined the market for micro-DACs, its USB power draw made it
compatible with computers only. As music consumption quickly evolved, music lovers
soon craved a more portable version—one that could be reliably used with Apple and
Android smartphones and tablets.
Working closely with Microchip®, a leading provider of microcontrollers and analog
semiconductors, AudioQuest and DragonFly designer Gordon Rankin developed
sophisticated software that enabled the implementation of a new, high-performance
class of USB microcontroller. Thanks to their exceedingly low power consumption
and extremely low-noise power supplies, the Microchip® microcontrollers achieve
unprecedented levels of efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio, regardless of bit- or
sample-rate. The initial results of this collaboration were the critically acclaimed
4DragonFlys Black and Red, the first of their kind to offer compatibility with Apple and
Android mobile devices.
In the time since, significant advances in DAC chips have afforded performance that
exceeds even our multi-award-winning DragonFly Red. We therefore developed
DragonFly Cobalt. The current state of the art, Cobalt takes what music lovers around
the world have come to expect from the DragonFly family—naturally beautiful,
seductive sound—and strips away additional layers of fuzz and fog.
All DragonFlys use Gordon Rankin’s monoClock® technology and the StreamLength®
asynchronous USB code*. With monoClock® technology, a single ultra-low-jitter
clock generated from the DAC chip runs the headphone amplifier as well as all
microcontroller functionalities. This single ultra-low-jitter clock enables DragonFly to
produce greater resolution and clarity than DACs that employ multiple clocks.
StreamLength® asynchronous USB code ensures improved delivery of the audio
samples to the DAC chip. It produces low jitter, low resource load, minimal packet
errors, world-class audio playback, and reliable connectivity between our DAC
and any computing device compliant with USB Host Mode (as set forth by the USB
Organization). StreamLength® is compatible with the USB Audio Class (UAC) and
requires no additional drivers.
5(monoClock® and StreamLength® are registered trademarks of Wavelength Audio, ltd.)
Additionally, DragonFly is software upgradable. In today’s fast-paced digital world,
longevity in a hi-fi component is increasingly rare—at any price. AudioQuest
believes that today’s digital devices should evolve as technology itself evolves,
thereby delivering musical pleasure for many years to come. With our free Desktop
Device Manager application and a few simple clicks, when new software is available,
DragonFly can be upgraded at no additional cost.