Red Dragonfly Sounds Bad With iMac--What to do?

Rob-F

Likes Vintage Gear and DIY
My wife bought me the new Red Dragonfly, after I read a great review of it in Stereophile. I wanted it for classical music on YouTube. It sounds awful on my iMac. I followed all the setup directions: direct the sound effects through the iMac speaker, not the Dragonfly; select the best sample rate; etc. I tried every sample rate, they all sound awful on music. The Dragonfly actually sounded good for voice, but piano and orchestra are garbled. Using Grado 225i phones plugged directly into the Dragonfly.

What can possibly be wrong? Any ideas?
 
Could it be your source? YouTube has never been known for quality audio. Have you tried any other source? Try one of the free downloads from HD tracks.
 
I am not familiar with audio quality on YouTube -- could be ^^^ the case. My settings look like the pasted image
 

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Could it be your source? YouTube has never been known for quality audio. Have you tried any other source? Try one of the free downloads from HD tracks.

Well, I tried this concerto by Olga Kern. Maybe someone who has a Dragonfly, or a different DAC, could give a listen:


And to this one, by Anna Fedorova:


They both sounds pretty good when I plug the phones directly into the iMac, without the Dragonfly.
 
Wow, I just tried the first one and didn't reset my volume controls!! The applause was deafening! Given its a live recording theYouTube sound quality is maxed at 192 kpbs AAC as far as I researched. Hard to say how well the recording was processed. It can sound fairly decent if the audio is given care during the encoding process, but most people are re-encoding low-bitrate MP3s which then get re-re-encoded to YouTube's file format. I can hear details, even audience coughs. I am using the older DragonFly my MacBook Pro through Oppo PM3 phones. I really notice a lack of soundstage too.
 
I swapped out the DragonFly for my Chord Mojo - richer sound but similar detail. Again, soundstage not wide. I then went to my iTunes to play the Andre Watts, Leonard Bernstein and the difference was large. I hear the orchestra all around meI stream the Apple Music at 320kbs.

Hope you get it resolved. The Dragonfly is handy and very portable.
 

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Something wierd must be going on here. No way the imac output should sound better than the dragonfly Red. My dragonfly black destroys the sound out of my laptop directly. It even sounds better than than my DAP (Ibasso DX90).

Like others have said - why don't listen to some well produced tracks? At least 320kbps MP3s or above. I'd be really curious if you did an A/B comparison with this song,which is also live but well produced. Plus it's an amazing radiohead song stripped down:

 
Well, I tried again tonight, with different results! This time I started with Sarah Chang, and that sounded great! Then I tried Hilary Hahn, and it was just as good. So then Tchaikovsky's fifth--fantastic! I was about to conclude that maybe the piano recordings were poorly done; but then I put on Olga Kern again--the same one--and it was just fine! I have no idea what could have been going on. I'm wondering: could it be that the Dragonfly needed some burn-in time? Or the Dragonfly and the iMac needed time to get used to each other? (Silly, I know.) But there has to be some rational explanation for this.
 
Doubt it, I think it was some setting that you missed in the iMac.
However, youtube audio quality is just marginal, I can't imagine myself listening music that way. But then, maybe those piano concerts and acoustical guitars don't need much in the bandwidth and compression department.
 
But I hadn't changed any settings in the iMac! Oh, Chang and Hahn are violinists, not guitar. Full orchestra plus the soloist.
 
For what it's worth, I just streamed all of the YouTube clips from my IPad Pro to an Auralic Aires Mini and then into a Bryston DAC/preamp/amp. Sounds fine.
 
My Dragonfly does not work with my iPad Pro as proposed using Apple Lightening to USB adapter. Nothing.
Based on the Stereophile and other reviews I tried to use the Dragonfly with an iPad as pictured in the Sep 2016 Stereophile and pictured in the Dragonfly ads using the Apple Lightening to USB adapter. Amazon even sells the Dragonfly bundled with the Apple Lightening to USB adapter. There are also videos on youtube showing this. Fail?
I also tried an HRT Headstreamer the same way and got no sound. I tried various head phones and ear buds and nothing.
 
My Dragonfly does not work with my iPad Pro as proposed using Apple Lightening to USB adapter. Nothing.
Based on the Stereophile and other reviews I tried to use the Dragonfly with an iPad as pictured in the Sep 2016 Stereophile and pictured in the Dragonfly ads using the Apple Lightening to USB adapter. Amazon even sells the Dragonfly bundled with the Apple Lightening to USB adapter. There are also videos on youtube showing this. Fail?
I also tried an HRT Headstreamer the same way and got no sound. I tried various head phones and ear buds and nothing.

As I recall. You have to go into the "Settings" app, select the sound function, and then select the DAC that's plugged into the computer.
 
Thanks Johnny. That is true of my iMac. I couldn't find the speaker output settings page for the iPad. I look in setting, but no.
 
Thanks Johnny. That is true of my iMac. I couldn't find the speaker output settings page for the iPad. I look in setting, but no.

I just did one minute worth the research and I found some information where people were saying that with the new iOS for the iPad, not every DAC will work. Some, apparently, require an external power supply because the DAC draws too much power.
 
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Some say that but there are dozens of videos and articles saying that it works too. Audioquest Dragonfly ads show pictures connected to the iPad
 
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I did some more reading this morning. Conclusion: the Red Dragonfly is supposed to work with the current IOS, although some people experience intermittent clicking sounds.
 
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