Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
gb21011971
159
Aug 11, 2017
- Price too high compared to other sites - Not really portable, rather big (obviously that is subjective), battery life could be better. - Nice: the balanced option. - Audioquest Dragonfly Red much cheaper, much more portable (no balanced though).
l0stkn0wledge
87
Aug 11, 2017
gb21011971Except the DragonFly isn't truly portable because it needs to suck power from its USB Host device to be functional. Portable DAC/AMP needs to have it's own power to be truly portable. The DFR also cannot attach to anything that isn't a computer in nature (which included smart phones). This can be used on just about any source given the wide variety of inputs it has. While this is probably still overpriced for comparable items (some of which can be had in the $500 range, it's size is about on par with those other solutions.
WildMurph
131
Aug 11, 2017
gb21011971LOL.... dragonfly is not in same league here man.... Not even close
gb21011971
159
Aug 11, 2017
WildMurphI beg to differ. Obviously, it depends on the headphone. Driving a T1 or anything like that will be hard for the dragon fly, but usually those kind of headphones do not get used on the move a lot. Driving a Z7 or T5p or anything like that is not a problem for it.
gb21011971
159
Aug 11, 2017
WildMurphIt's all subjective. But for me, portable means portable and not carrying a brick around. I have home rigs that have enough juice to drive the most power hungry phones. For portable, I prefer a closed back headphone which is ...well... kind of portable. So not an lcd xc, but a T5p or so. Those kind of headphones tend to be easily driven.
Sure, if you want to take your Utopia on the train, the sony amp will do a better job...
WildMurph
131
Aug 11, 2017
gb21011971I agree that they are definitely not a problem for a Z7 or T1.. I mean I use a Zorloo DAC (similar to Dragonfly Black) to drive my current Z7's with my phone, & love it.. But that's where similarities end.. it must be said that the Pha-3 has balanced mode (and balanced cables), internal battery, DSD support, optical support, and goes to way higher frequencies something like 384 kHz / 32-bit PCM vs 96kHz / 24-bit PCM... I mean the dragonfly products are awesome... for the size and money they are one of the best upgrades you can make, but the PHA-3 is on a different level.
But I also believe in having a bunch of different tools for different jobs.. So you should probably own a pha-3 and dragonfly!
gb21011971
159
Aug 11, 2017
WildMurphI agree.
But I already own too much of this stuff already. Once you go down the rabbit hole... :-)
So will take a pass.
WildMurph
131
Aug 11, 2017
gb21011971sounds like you have some good problems! 😎
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile