I heard elements I’d never before heard the isolated studio sound of Kanye’s voice nearly transported me to the 2003-04 recording sessions for The College Dropout. I’ve listened to this album many times on many different systems but never have I heard it sound this good. (And yes, I still think Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is an unjustly hated, truly essential masterpiece.) I then moved onto Kanye West’s landmark 2004 debut The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella 44.1/16 files), which equally amazed me. “Fade 2 Red” had impressive top end air, “Man In The Night” rocked with the appropriate amount of detail, and “Adventures” presented a perfectly spacious soundscape. Upon installing the DragonFly, I played, in astonishment, Kid Cudi’s secret masterpiece Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven (Republic 44.1/24 MQA). During my listening, I listened through Audio-Technica m50x’s and ran the DragonFly Cobalt using Audirvana (via a free trial) out of a 2012 MacBook Pro using the High Sierra 10.13.6 OS. On the device is a dragonfly-shaped LED showing different colors for various sample rates green for 44.1kHz, blue for 48kHz, yellow for 88.2kHz, light sky blue for 96kHz, and purple for MQA.
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No additional drivers are necessary, but for future DragonFly software upgrades, AudioQuest has the free Desktop Device Manager app (currently, the Cobalt is up to date out of the box).
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It handles PCM files up to 96kHz/24bit, decodes MQA, powers a wide variety of headphones (with an output voltage of 2.1V rms, has an output impedance of 0.65 ohms), and works with most Android and iOS devices. The plug-and-play Cobalt utilizes an ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip, an ESS Sabre 9601 headphone amp, a Microchip PIC32MX274 microcontroller, and a 64-bit digital volume control as well as Gordon Rankin’s monoClock low-jitter clock technology, all within a USB stick-sized case. Despite its small size, the Cobalt fulfills more than I thought possible from a $299 DAC/headphone amp. Even for the analog enthusiast, it’s still essential to have a USB DAC to listen to one’s digital files. Within the past few years, the California-based company introduced the DragonFly line of affordable USB DAC/headphone amp units, starting with the $99 DragonFly Black and going up to their new flagship DAC, the $299 DragonFly Cobalt. Thankfully, cable, headphone, and accessory manufacturer AudioQuest seems to have the same viewpoint. If a product fails any one of those criteria, hundreds of potential audio enthusiasts are turned away and save for a few outliers, hi-fi continues to be a hobby for old, mostly white men. For as long as I’ve reviewed high-performance audio equipment, I’ve repeatedly iterated that to bring young people into the hobby, audio manufacturers need to make excellent, affordable, and convenient products.
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