Recommended as one of the best portable dac here: https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/hi-fi/best-dacs
Can get an adapter to turn you phone into a beast. ATL. Very tempted.
CamelCamelCamel.
How on earth was my comment spam, affiliate or referral?
It was a link to a review of the Cobalt, a link to a better product, and a YouTube review of MQA. Why was it banned?
This is an objectively bad product with an over inflated price. Who reported my comment?
Possibly due to the "link to a better product" 😅
If the link contains some weird parameters in the URL it might get flagged as spam and will be removed automatically. This happens to a lot of people when they copy and paste links from websites like Aliexpress.
Yep it was a link to AliExpress.
I'll try it again:
Better product: https://www.hidizs.net/products/hidizs-s9-pro-balanced-singl…
Don't get sucked into MQA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc
Reputable review of the Cobalt: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a…
The s9 is a way better product but I think there are even better options now as they are always improving them and making them cheaper. I think there was a fosi audio DAC that was even had a post on here that was cheap and performed very well.
How does that compare to the Fosi DS2 (the new version)? I got that for ~$78 AUD and I'm liking it so far.
Aliexpress app-sharing links have the same syntax and URL pattern as Aliex referral and affiliate links,
e.g https://a.aliexpress.com/* this will be detected as affiliate link and get removed automatically
so if you copy and pasted the link directly from the app, make sure you get the long URL by pasting into a browser first then pasting into Ozbargain comments, otherwise the system will think you're trying to spam affiliate links and auto-unpub that comment.
A clean link will look like aliexpress.com/item/{ItemNumber}.html
Thanks for that!
I personally don't like audioquest and think they are like a luxury clothing brand of the audiophile world. They sell cheap products to get people in but also ultra expensive products for hard core "audiophiles" and it's like a ladder you can climb and keep upgrading for a perceived benefit but I personally think it's snake oil.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a…
If you look at dacs you can see the performance is important but doesn't really change the sound, it's more like how much noise floor is has. It's the filter and the linearity that does slightly change the sound and this dac doesn't do really anything of that well. It has low performance and a very slow filter which is what is used to make digital analog essentially. Preferably it would be completely sharp but like I said it's slow and that means It includes high frequencies that are unnecessary and will change the sound technically (im still not sure if you can hear it). Some people say they hear this and like it but most people want accuracy when using a dac. The other measurements are ok but you don't want to turn up the volume to max as it seems to clip and that is horrible for audio quality. That's something you never see in dacs and is crazy it works like that (in a bad way)
I think the original black was good for its time back in 2012 but now there are too many other companies making way higher performance dacs that use modular USB c cables instead of a fixed USB a which is inconvenient now days. I also don't know how audible the difference would be over a apple USB c to 3.5mm. I want to say no difference but I haven't personally tested them side by side so I don't want to fall into a trap.
Next I want to talk about what hifi. Not saying this is true but I definitely have heard somewhere that companies can pay for ranking spots on similar sites and I wonder if it's true for this site also. I also just know that it's shady 5 out of 6 slots are owned by 3 brands with chord holding most of them. I haven't ever trusted what hifi.
I can also see you are into audio and I really recommend you do some research into how it works and what makes products worth getting and especially worth for the price.
I recommend getting something else and I'm sure me and others here can help with that. If you are still interested In this dac you should support a local business that sells them. You can use the welcome coupon and it's essentially the same price. https://www.minidisc.com.au/audioquest-dragonfly-cobalt-usb-…
Ỏne of their worst product. Literally worse than ther red dragon with price tag that offered little to nothing improvement
Snake oil runs strong on audio lol.
Excuse my ignorance but why is this so expensive compared to the apple dongle?
I've been thinking of getting some relatively cheap IEM to use with my iphone, and read I'll need a dongle or an adapter to convert the digital signal to analogue. What's stopped me is that the IEM are all corded rather than wireless, and also they don't have ANC. I really like the look of IEMs, but I think for me, convenience and ANC wins over possibly better sound quality.
I'm also very novice when it comes to this kind of thing, so not sure I'll be able to tell any difference with my airpod pros and a pair of $150 IEM
The Apple Dongle measures better, too lol
"I'm also very novice when it comes to this kind of thing, so not sure I'll be able to tell any difference with my airpod pros and a pair of $150 IEM"
Tuning is very important and if you get an iem with good tuning it will beat the airpods. Just get the apple 3.5mm adapters for a dac
Excuse my ignorance but why is this so expensive compared to the apple dongle?
A different target market. The higher price tag creates a perception of higher quality, and appeals to a certain market segment. Like wine or perfume.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
Also, the Apple DAC is designed for standard headphones. They do not work well with high impedance headphones, if that is your bag. (But fine for regular high-impedance inputs on your amplifier)
However the Apple dongle is surprisingly inexpensive by Apple standards. And they also sell a 2-way DAC/ ADC for $65.
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MW2Q3FE/A/usb-c-to-35-…
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MDV84FE/A/usb-c-to-35-…
It makes sense as even top quality DACs are very simple compared to a high-precision ADC.
When dealing with audio equipment, keep in mind that it only needs to operate at twice the frequency of the human hearing range. So ~44kHz.
Modern electronics can easily operate in the MHz, using a DAC chip that costs less than a cup of coffee.
commenting to downvote, please look at ASR before wasting any money on an audioquest product
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a…
Here’s a more reputable review. Avoid.
One of these would be better: I just found this on AliExpress: AU$191.24 | Hidizs S9PRO HiRes Headphone Amplifier HiFi Decoding USB TYPE C DAC to 3.5and2.5MM Adapter Amp for Phones/PC Portable Audio out
https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005001592548299.html
Don’t fall for the MQA crap either: https://youtu.be/pRjsu9-Vznc?si=mxsiVkqN7R2QzC_-
(mod: republished comment with un-shortened URL)