Dragonfly vs Meridian Explorer

[daveredfern]

Hi all,

I was lucky enough to get a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P7 for Christmas from my girlfriend.

I own a Macbook Pro and generally listen to Spotify for my music.

I was looking for a dac and came across the dragonfly 1.2 which seems to be a popular choice. I then saw amazon are selling the Meridian Explorer for £150 now, just £20 more than the dragonfly. I am guessing this is because the Explorer 2 has just come out at £199.

So I have the following questions...

Will a DAC make much difference to the sound quality since I am listening with Spotify (all be it at 320kbs)?

Is the Meridian Explorer better than the dragonfly, especiall since they are virtually the same price?

Many thanks in advance!

Dave.

 

[mitch65]

Cannot comment on the Dragonfly but the Explorer is a very good DAC especially if you like your music slightly warmer than neutral.

http://www.martinshifi.co.uk/news/208/offers-from-martins-hifi/

£115.00 is a bloody steal!!

EDIT- used to listen to Spotify through the Explorer and, yes, it does improve it. Anything less than 320kps is not advisable though as it just sounds c**p *sad*

 

[daveredfern]

Thanks! At £115 it is oozing to me.

I mentioned DACs and someone gave me their old Fiio E7 (http://www.whathifi.com/fiio/e7/review) and my headphones sing when using it.

Will the Explorer be a noticeable step up from the E7?

Thanks,

Dave.

 

[vpacalypse]

I'd love to get one or the explorer 2, though I have no idea if it works with car audio.

 

[SteveR750]

The Dacmagic XS at £80 is an absolute belter at the price, and if you download the USB 2.0 driver it will be at least as good as the other two when used connected to a PC. I use mine when I'm travelling away from home with work laptop and spotify web player. It's more than good enough to use with my DT880s.