Audioquest DragonFly Red
When the original DragonFly flew into our testing rooms back in 2012, it was a breath of fresh air. A DAC and headphone amp disguised as a USB stick – and with great sound to boot. It was some serious innovation, and became the de facto quick and easy way to give a laptop a sonic upgrade. These days, however, the landscape is markedly different, and rising above the DAC norm is far harder.
Audioquest’s approach? A twopronged assault at the affordable end of the market. On the one side there’s the DragonFly Black (p44), on the other, this more expensive Red.
First impressions
Audioquest has set itself quite a challenge by giving the Red a £170 price tag to justify, and on paper the case doesn’t look particularly strong – after all, its support for high-resolution music tops out at 24-bit/96kHz. The Black has that limitation too – but costs only £90.