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Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt DAC

Price:

$299.95

The Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt DAC, is Audioquest’s newest flagship DAC, taking what music lovers around the world have come to expect from the multi-award-winning DragonFly family—naturally beautiful, seductive sound—and stripping away fuzz and fog that weren’t even noticeable until Cobalt removed them.

How is this possible? Like the critically acclaimed DragonFly Red DAC, Cobalt has the robust 2.1-volt output to drive almost any headphone, uses a bit-perfect digital volume control for outstanding signal-to-noise ratio, enables seamless compatibility with Apple and Android devices, and is an exceptionally competent and affordable MQA Renderer.

Audition all of the Audioquest DragonFly DACs and other digital electronics in our Pasadena, CA location for a one-of-a-kind listening experience.

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Description

Like all previous DragonFly DAC models, Cobalt uses Gordon Rankin’s precedent-setting StreamLength® asynchronous-transfer USB code. Further, in Gordon’s monoClock® technology, a single ultra-low-jitter clock generated from the ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip runs the ESS chip functions as well as all microcontroller functions. This superior clock enables DragonFly Cobalt DAC to provide greater resolution and clarity than DACs with multiple clocks.

WHY THE “SLOW ROLL…?”

Cobalt employs ESS’s new flagship ES9038Q2M DAC chip. While the chips used in DragonFlys Black and Red are unbeatable for the price, the minimum-phase slow roll-off filter in the 9038 results in naturally expressive sound that is always emotionally engaging and never fatiguing—a beautiful combination of warmth and detail that we find equally exciting and soothing.

KILLING THE NOISE

In Cobalt, we’ve taken what we’ve learned from our recent research and development in noise dissipation to employ power-supply filtering specifically designed to dramatically reduce the increasingly prevalent noise from WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals. Successfully combating this noise is absolutely crucial to the preservation of the lowest-level musical details, particularly when it comes to high-res audio—and especially when applied to a portable-audio device such as DragonFly.

BIT-PERFECT VOLUME CONTROL AND 2.1-VOLT OUTPUT

Cobalt features the same ESS Sabre 9601 headphone amp and bit-perfect volume control that give DragonFly Red its unique combination of power and grip over the music. This solution ensures maximum fidelity, thrilling dynamic contrast, and excellent signal-to-noise ratio. The 2.1-volt output makes Cobalt and Red compatible with a wide range of headphones, including power-hungry, low-efficiency models.

FIRMWARE UPGRADEABLE

DragonFlys Black, Red, and Cobalt are firmware upgradeable via our free Desktop Device Manager. 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. Our Desktop Device Manager will also allow you to identify your DragonFly’s serial number and software version to ensure that the device is up to date

 

While the original DragonFly created a new category of portable DAC, its USB power draw made it compatible with computers only. Black and Red answered the call of music lovers everywhere for DragonFlys that could be used with Apple iOS mobile devices and Android smartphones and tablets. These DACs proved for once and for all that convenience and performance need no longer be mutually exclusive.

All current-production DragonFly models incorporate 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC chips.

The DAC chips that Audioquest has selected are remarkably powerful and sophisticated, yet they’ve intentionally limited DragonFly’s processing capabilities to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. This makes using a DragonFly as simple as it’s always been: All models are fully compatible with PCs without having to download and install new drivers. Most importantly, DragonFly is designed to honor the music you already own and love. Whether you’re listening to Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, Qobuz, ripped CDs, or state-of-the-art high-resolution files, DragonFly will deliver a more emotionally compelling and enjoyable experience.

Whatever music turns you on, wherever you are, an AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC delivers inspiring, dynamic, and beautiful sound to earbuds, headphones, powered speakers, or complete audio systems.

With a DragonFly, music appreciation and exploration are limitless: Plug into an Apple or Windows® computer or connect to an iOS®or Android mobile device. Play YouTube or Vimeo videos. Go hunting on Bandcamp or SoundCloud. Explore playlists on Spotify or Pandora. Stream high-res audio from Tidal or Qobuz. No matter the choice of musical pleasure, DragonFly delivers beautiful sound, unraveling the emotional expression and nuance that makes music and movies so enjoyable.

Additional information

Weight1 lbs
Dimensions2.25 × .75 × .5 in
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