Audioquest DragonFly Black USB DAC

Audioquest DragonFly Black - What HiFi Best DAC Winner 2106

“With improved sound and a tempting price tag, this is the best DragonFly yet”

DragonFly Black is a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC) designed to deliver cleaner, clearer, more naturally beautiful sound from any computer, smartphone, or tablet. DragonFly Black’s unique design allows for playback of any file type regardless of resolution. Natively, DragonFly Black is capable of decoding 24-bit/96kHz data.

Over the better part of three years, AudioQuest and acclaimed engineer Gordon Rankin have been tirelessly developing sophisticated software solutions that have allowed us to implement a new, high-performance class of USB microcontroller. We have chosen to work with Microchip®, a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors. With exceedingly low power consumption and extremely low-noise power supplies, the Microchip microcontrollers achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio, regardless of bit- or sample-rate.

While DragonFly versions 1.0 and 1.2 achieved new standards of performance and portability in the high-fidelity audio world, many of our customers have longed for a similar product that could be reliably used with their handheld mobile devices. Previously, DragonFly’s power consumption limited its compatibility to Mac and Windows laptops and PCs. Now, with our developments in the field of microcontrollers, we are able to improve DragonFly’s performance while also offering compatibility with handheld Apple Mobile and Android devices. Improved performance and greater versatility!

DragonFly Black employs a unique clock system called a Hybrid-PLL. While not discrete, the Hybrid-PLL performs equal to, or better than, many discrete clock systems, at a fraction of their cost. This has allowed us to devote resources to more sophisticated components elsewhere.

What’s Included?

• DragonFly Black v1.5 Asynchronous USB DAC
• Travel Pouch
• Flight Manual

Supported Operating Systems

• Apple OS X®
• Apple iOS®
• Microsoft Windows® (7, 8.1, 10)
• Android™