Dragonfly DAC

[Rigsby]

Hi guys. New here. Looked like a good place to ask an audio-related question.

Am considering buying a Dragonfly DAC (black or red I'm not yet entirely sure). I've looked thru' other forums and Audioquest's own site but haven't seen a definitive answer to my question. I'm gonna be connecting the DAC to my Onkyo TX-NR414 amp which I use for pure audio and home cinema. Will the DAC play & transmit anything from the computer ?? I.e. radio stations via MusicBee, AIMP etc. and audio playing on specific websites i.e. YouTube and UK specific radio station websites.

I ask this because a lot of reviews mention, Spotify, Pandora and don't say just 'everything'.

I have a desktop PC but the soundcard won't work on Windows 10. (Windows 7 is fine). I thought this might be a good solution for both Windows 7 & 10.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[cjmnews]

The DragonFly DAC could be a decent alternative for a sound card, and I were in the market, Cobalt would be my choice with the better performance it alone has, and the higher output that Red also has. Black should work, but it is 3 generations back, lower output analog volume control...

As for wide compatibility, it is should work per the manual I found online as the device appears as speakers, and if you set the Windows Default playback device to the DAC, then all sounds will go through it. I would follow their recommendation and disable all notification sounds for Windows itself as those will get played as well.

Now my concern about this device is the connection. Basically the sound is being converted to analog, and a single analog channel at that. Then you are taking that analog signal and playing it on multiple speakers. There will be no stereo effect (Def Leppard's Foolin will not bounce between left and right speakers) there will be no surround sound (Movies played on the PC will be either 2 speakers or if you adjust the sound field you may be able to simulate surround sound with Theater-Dimensional Virtual Surround.

Personally I would pick up a $40-$70 sound card and put it into my desktop PC and use an optical digital connection to the Onkyo. That would sound much better than a USB DAC to headphone jack to split analog cables to sound field processed audio in my opinion. Your cost will be lower, it fixes your sound issue, and it will sound much better.

 

[Rigsby]

Thanks cjmnews.

I found a manual online. I understand exactly what you're saying that, but I can't believe that for such a high-end audio product the output would be mono. Surely not. It would never sell. I'm not fussed about movies, just music. But only mono ??

 

[cjmnews]

As you say it is hard to know. The manual is not clear. It is possible that it is in stereo, but it certainly isn't multi-channel audio. The worst case is mono, the best is stereo.