Furthermore, because of the great separation and clarity, the Cobalt also gives the impression that the imaging is more precise. Combine this factor with improved transparency, and you have a more colorful representation of the music overall. Not a yuge difference in soundstage, but you will feel an added sense of spaciousness, perhaps due to the superior separation. Guitar strums in the lower-mids, for example, are a little more delineated when listening through the Cobalt. SeparationĪs mentioned above, improved separation is also apparent, especially in the lower frequencies. So, especially with acoustic genres, the Cobalt certainly reveals a more realistic sounding instrument. Listening to string instruments, for example, the Cobalt not only conveyed more texture and resolve, but all the nuances in timbre and tone became more highlighted. You’ll hear a pretty big jump in the level of detail offered by the Cobalt as well. And playing Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like, the cymbals in the high frequencies had much more snap and shine than they did on the comparatively blunted feel produced through the iPhone DAC. Listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere, for example, the bells in the intro had more of a glittering quality. Percussion in this range was much crisper and more sparkly. But most apparent were the differences in the highs frequencies. You can expect a little added bass presence with improved articulation. In fact, even if the Cobalt did nothing else but improve the signal to noise ratio, it would still be worth buying, as it affects everything from transparency to separation and soundstage.

And in general, the track just feels more pure. The result is a cleaner, more crystallized sound. In fact, you don’t realize how much mud is in your song until you upgrade to a DAC like this. The most noticeable difference was the reduction in noise. So, don’t let the MQA capability be the deciding factor. It’s important to note that the Dragonfly Red and Black are now also able to support MQA with the latest firmware update. But once you move to Tidal Masters (MQA) it will light up purple, indicating 96kHz. So, if you’re streaming Spotify, that’s the color you’ll see. For example, green indicates that you are playing a track at 44.1kHz. Like the Dragonfly Black and Red, the Cobalt has an LED light that glows different colors, depending on which sample rate you are listening to. I was impressed by how much volume this little guy produced even on such a high impedance headphone. So, I decided to pair it with a 250 Ohm headphone (Beyerdynamic DT 1990) to see just how far the Cobalt could push it.

Like the Dragonfly Red, the Cobalt is able to produce 2.1 volts of output. T he processor is also 33% faster and has been designed to draw less current through your USB connection. The new DAC boasts a minimum-phase slow roll-off filter, which in theory, should translate to a more natural sound overall. I also tested the Cobalt with some high impedance headphones, which I’ll talk about below.Īudioquest has upgraded its DAC chip since it released the Dragonfly Red. And I hooked the setup to one of my old favorites, the Westone W40.

AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt Reviewįor testing the Dragonfly Cobalt, I used my iPhone with Apple’s Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (which you’ll have to buy separately, since the included OTG cable is USB-C). What improvements have been made since the Dragonfly Red? And what can you expect in terms of sound quality? Let’s take a look in this AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt Review. Now, the brand has released its latest DAC/amp combo, the Dragonfly Cobalt. If you’ve been looking to optimize your sound on the go, you’ve probably read about AudioQuest’s Dragonfly series.

Dragonfly cobalt light colors