Review on 🐉 Enhanced AudioQuest DragonFly Red USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier for Higher Performance by Drew Panah

Highly recommended. I bought the DragonFly to use as a headphone amp/DAC for use with my iPhone/Shure 535 on the go. I stream Tidal Lossless (CD quality) and sometimes Spotify. Without DragonFly, the sound on the iPhone/Shure sounds good, but there's graininess across the spectrum - the instruments lose their juiciness, the sound gets a bit compressed, and the music tires after 30-60 minutes. Type Dragonfly and the music sounds clear, emotional, juicy, transparent - and I can forget annoying graininess and enjoy music for up to 5-6 hours straight (on a recent long-haul flight). Dragonfly is the perfect portable DAC. It's small and plays out of a back pocket connected to a phone. REQUIRES NO ADDITIONAL BATTERIES - Won't drain your phone's battery and makes your portable system's sound quality more appealing to audiophiles. It does NOT sound like a MOJO DAC making music even thinner, more precise and more realistic, but that doesn't matter because the Mojo doesn't fit in your back pocket. each with over $400 worth of high-end headphones. For those with headphones under $400, save some money and buy better headphones - they'll make more sense. But plug a great pair of headphones straight into an iPhone without DragonFly and be careful, you're missing out! Is it good value for money? YUP! I'm lucky enough to have a pair of open Grado PS500e (great headphones). I also use a Mojo DAC (at home) and occasionally listen to my headphones through a Brooklyn DAC, which is also hooked up to a $10,000 stereo. I have a good idea of what a good audio component should sound like and when paying for sound means less return. The Dragonfly offers incredible value as a portable DAC/headphone amp. I've never spent $200 on an audio component that I've enjoyed so much. Is it better than X, Y, Z? It does not matter. It sounds better than you'll ever need for music on the go - you'll have to listen critically to see the difference between this and a $2,000 DAC in in-ear headphones - and you can't carry a $2,000 DAC with you to lead. . So more important is how convenient it is compared to the competition and how much it costs. My advice is to buy this one. This is the benchmark for portable headphone DACs, you won't miss $50 and you won't have the itch to upgrade because you bought the best. Note 1: A lot of people buy this unit as a stereo DAC - I haven't tried it with my stereo because I would never use it as such. Note 2: I didn't compare it to Mojo. Within 1 hour of comparing it to my mojo in store I found the mojo to be far more realistic in my favorite songs when played sequentially, but I never missed mojo when I traveled abroad for 10 days and listened to Dragonfly. Instead, I freed myself from cables and charging another device. At home, the Mojo amp is preferred. Note 3: This entire review is based on my experience with the Shure SE535 headphones. I haven't listened much with the PS500e Grados. Perhaps Grado does a better job of capturing DragonFly's shortcomings than Mojo. Again this doesn't bother me because grados work outdoors and this doesn't work outdoors so the comparison is meaningless.