I apologize in advance to audiophiles, because I will omit some technical points in this article, but there will be a lot of puppy delight. Some time ago, my colleagues gave me the red and black AudioQuest Dragonfly USB / DAC amplifiers to try, and for some time I skimped on the test, because it was frankly not up to it. Hands did not reach. I immediately realized that I would mainly drive this thing from the iPhone and iPad, I bought a Lightning-USB adapter, it can also be used to transfer files from a flash drive or directly from the camera, I do this with Sony a7, it turns out well. In general, AudioQuest Dragonfly can be used with a wide variety of equipment, with computers, tablets, smartphones based on iOS / Android. An audiophile test from those that came to me, I advise you to read on stereo.ru . I’m here to tell you about another of my new favorite toys.

How to make a Hi-Fi player from iPhone?

You take a regular iPhone 7 Plus Jet Black 256 GB. Or any other, even though the iPhone SE – I tried it, it turns out well. You take a switch. Install a Vox player. You take the Master & Dynamic MW50 headphones (for example), they are generally wireless, but you can connect them with a cable. Of course, here you can connect any headphones, this is the trick. Now, try listening to your headphones without the AudioQuest Dragonfly, with an Apple adapter, for example.

You can listen to the strange album Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke, each track is layered like a pie and it’s just very good to check the capabilities of any equipment. Now we assemble our design, make it quieter, as indicated in the instructions, turn on Play. Well, how? It turns out very well! Details come out, things you haven’t heard before, the SOUND appears, oh yes, oh yes.

Difficult “flash drive”

The dragonfly is lit green, which means the sampling rate is 44.1 kHz, the colors may be different, a funny indication, but what else was possible? They did it the right way. As you understand, the accessory receives power from the iPhone battery, I can’t say that the connection greatly affects the discharge, I listened to music for four hours a day, I didn’t notice any serious effect.

The thing comes complete with a case and a cover for the USB plug, so forget this cover somewhere at home, otherwise you will lose it later. Of course, here you get a sausage, an adapter, an AudioQuest Dragonfly, a headphone cable, I hide the whole thing in a bag so that only the cable sticks out – nevertheless, you need to be careful.

Next, we will have a space flight with Dragonfly and you will understand why, despite all the inconveniences, despite all the cables, you don’t want to listen to music without this accessory at all. Yes, AirPods are better and easier in everyday life, nothing is better than Bose QC35 for flights and travel, but if you want to rock your expensive headphones, look towards Hi-Fi players, try AudioQuest Dragonfly first. Moreover, it is a universal device for all your gadgets.

The red and black adapters differ only in the way the volume is adjusted (digital / analog, respectively) – but, in general, your device is used to adjust the volume – the red Dragonfly DAC Saber ESS 9016, the black Saber ESS 9010. Depending on the headphones, you need to choose one or another “Dragonfly”, I’m sure, for the majority, the possibilities of black will be enough for the eyes.

Plug and Play

The main thing is that the add-on works without any problems with the settings, yes, you need to install the player (I advise Vox for iOS), upload FLAC files there (as an option), but then just plug it in and enjoy. The album Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, listened to the holes, is painfully familiar, but something new flashed on the left, and here at the end the record clicks, and here on the left it’s either a rhythmic squeak, or some other special effects, and that’s all this together makes you sit again for an hour and listen to the tracks again, again, again. Alas, there are no options yet to do without a cable, the warm analog capabilities of the AudioQuest Dragonfly make you remember again how it is, try not to pull the cord, hide it under your clothes, and not catch on a seat on an airplane.

How much is it?

Black and red adapters cost about 10,000 and 19,000 rubles, it is clear that for this money you can also buy a Hi-Fi player – I won’t even say which one, there are dozens of them, there is a choice. Another question is that AudioQuest Dragonfly can be used with any gadgets, look at the photo, you can easily connect to an iMac or to a computer, laptop, tablet, any smartphone.

High-quality elements are selected by smart people, which guarantees listening pleasure with any headphones – people write on the forums that the “dragonfly” pumps even EarPods, it’s hard to believe, but God bless him. Versatility captivates, opportunities too. Therefore, if you suddenly want to get more sound from the iPhone and start looking towards the players, remember this article and come to the store to listen to AudioQuest Dragonfly.

The author expresses his gratitude to SoundProLab for the device provided for testing