Smallest DAC yet
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Native_bon
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- Nov 26, 2008
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Wow just seen the video really nice.. I think am going to get one of these when it comes out. When on Hoilday this will come really handy. Got some nice portable Bose speakers will go well with my alienware 14 inch laptop.
Even when am playing games hope it should make it sound really nice.. & muzic of course!!
Even when am playing games hope it should make it sound really nice.. & muzic of course!!
steve_1979
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- Jul 14, 2010
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According to reviews on the internet it's output is able to drive difficult headphones effectively which is good. There's no physical volume control on it though which would put me off.
If you are looking for something unobtrusive to use with a laptop, this is worth a look;
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/echoindigo.htm
There is also a version with 2 headphone outputs (but no input). I've used one for several years and it's a very nice sound. It can live quite happily in the expresscard slot and has an analogue volume control too!
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/echoindigo.htm
There is also a version with 2 headphone outputs (but no input). I've used one for several years and it's a very nice sound. It can live quite happily in the expresscard slot and has an analogue volume control too!
Native_bon
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- Nov 26, 2008
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Well that's much bigger than the dragon fly usb DAC. Usb is use on every system, but some systems may not have a card reader. cause I just checked my laptop & it does not use the big old card reader slot. Mine is much smaller. There you have it.
Apologies, I posted a link to the old version; there is a new version which is for the new style expresscard slot that most newer laptops do have.
http://www.musicmatter.co.uk/echo-indigo-iox
It can stay in the slot all the time so does take up less space and one less messy wire to worry about.
Just trying to be helpful really.
http://www.musicmatter.co.uk/echo-indigo-iox
It can stay in the slot all the time so does take up less space and one less messy wire to worry about.
Just trying to be helpful really.
There have been shedloads of USB-stick sized DACs for years, aimed at laptop users. Not sure if they were any good though.
That looks promising.
That looks promising.
I have a DragonFly DAC and I've got to tell you it's truly is amazing! It has that special ability to make you want to listen to all your favourite tracks because you keep hearing new sounds. You can hear so much more detail with a greater dynamic range - just what a good DAC should do! I would categorise the sound as having a lot of 'attack' but with a good amount of subtly and nuance with it.
Some particularly forward tracks can sound a touch harsh with my Audio-Technica headphones, but I'm sure better quality headphones would smooth that out. I mostly use the DragonFly via my MacPro, using the BitPerfect player engine in iTunes, driving Harman Kardon Sound Sticks.
Some particularly forward tracks can sound a touch harsh with my Audio-Technica headphones, but I'm sure better quality headphones would smooth that out. I mostly use the DragonFly via my MacPro, using the BitPerfect player engine in iTunes, driving Harman Kardon Sound Sticks.
idc
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- Jan 2, 2008
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It looks like a great product. My only reservation is this excerpt by the maker
"However, high-quality digital-audio conversion alone isn’t why DragonFly sounds great. How the audio data is transferred from the computer to DragonFly required particular attention from DragonFly’s design team. Remember that digital audio is stored on computers and delivered to DragonFly as streams of 1’s and 0’s. Making beautiful music out of 1’s and 0’s isn’t a case of simply getting all the music data from point A to Point B. Maintaining subtle digital timing relationships is crucial in order to be able to reconstruct the analog waveform that we hear as dialog or music.
Timing errors have long been the plague of digital audio playback, never more so than in recent years as computers have been pressed into service as audio source components. DragonFly uses a very sophisticated “asynchronous*” USB audio data transfer protocol. Rather than sharing crucial audio “data clocking” functions with the computer, DragonFly alone commands the timing of the audio data transfer, dramatically reducing digital timing errors. In addition, not all audio content is encoded at the same native resolution or “sample rate. ” DragonFly uses two discrete onboard “clocks” so that the math algorithms used to convert the digital audio data to analog are always optimized for the native sample rate of the audio file or stream being played. This ensures the least amount of mathematical manipulation to the native audio data, which results in fewer errors and better sound..."
Those claims fail to connect jitter to sound quality, they only suggest it. It is typical makers fluff. Whilst timing errors are a plague on digital audio playback, they were solved years ago. The use of computers as a source is just a variation of the same solved problem. There is no evidence asynchronous is better than other was of dealing with jitter. The idea that mathematical manipulation of the data is connected to sound quality is unfounded. There is not even any proof that fewer errors make better sound as the errors we are talking about are measured in picoseconds, or one trillionth of a second. The maker carefully avoids giving figures as they are correcting the already inaudible to make it even more inaudible, a pointless excercise.
It would be very easy to an ABX test with the Dragonfly to see just how good it really is.
"However, high-quality digital-audio conversion alone isn’t why DragonFly sounds great. How the audio data is transferred from the computer to DragonFly required particular attention from DragonFly’s design team. Remember that digital audio is stored on computers and delivered to DragonFly as streams of 1’s and 0’s. Making beautiful music out of 1’s and 0’s isn’t a case of simply getting all the music data from point A to Point B. Maintaining subtle digital timing relationships is crucial in order to be able to reconstruct the analog waveform that we hear as dialog or music.
Timing errors have long been the plague of digital audio playback, never more so than in recent years as computers have been pressed into service as audio source components. DragonFly uses a very sophisticated “asynchronous*” USB audio data transfer protocol. Rather than sharing crucial audio “data clocking” functions with the computer, DragonFly alone commands the timing of the audio data transfer, dramatically reducing digital timing errors. In addition, not all audio content is encoded at the same native resolution or “sample rate. ” DragonFly uses two discrete onboard “clocks” so that the math algorithms used to convert the digital audio data to analog are always optimized for the native sample rate of the audio file or stream being played. This ensures the least amount of mathematical manipulation to the native audio data, which results in fewer errors and better sound..."
Those claims fail to connect jitter to sound quality, they only suggest it. It is typical makers fluff. Whilst timing errors are a plague on digital audio playback, they were solved years ago. The use of computers as a source is just a variation of the same solved problem. There is no evidence asynchronous is better than other was of dealing with jitter. The idea that mathematical manipulation of the data is connected to sound quality is unfounded. There is not even any proof that fewer errors make better sound as the errors we are talking about are measured in picoseconds, or one trillionth of a second. The maker carefully avoids giving figures as they are correcting the already inaudible to make it even more inaudible, a pointless excercise.
It would be very easy to an ABX test with the Dragonfly to see just how good it really is.
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