Anyone used an Audioquest DragonFly with a 272 to play MQA files?

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Has anyone used an Audioquest DragonFly with a 272 to play MQA files?
Would this just decocde the MQA files (do the ‘1st unfold’) or also render them (i.e. do the ‘2nd unfold’)?
OR - has anyone used any other MQA-enabled DAC with the 272 as a streamer and/or preamp - and if so how did that work?
thanks
Jim

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The Dragonfly is an MQA DAC, so it would do the second and third ‘unfold’ as MQA call it, so it would rely on Tidal software to do the first unfold. Yes, you could play this into a 272, which would then be functioning purely as an analogue preamp. How good this would be will depend on the analogue output stage of the Dragonfly, from which you would need a 3.5mm jack to 5 pin DIN lead.

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I can’t comment on the MQA aspect, but Chris has already done so. But I can comment on the quality of the analogue output stage of the Dragonfly. During the BBC Radio 3 FLAC trial in 2017, I used a Dragonfly Red to take the digital feed from my laptop into an analogue input on my SuperUniti in my office and the sound quality was stunning. It was clearly much better than the built in FM module in the SuperUniti, so I conclude that the Dragonfly audio stage is excellent.

Best
David

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I agree that the Dragonfly does sound very good - although I have only used one with headphones, and still prefer my Sony ZX2 for that.

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I tried my laptop into a dragonfly red into the analogue input of my SU and It amazed me how good it was.

I found that some MQA files sounded more open with an improvement in the soundstage compared to the SU on its own.

Quite worrying that a simple and cheap combo sounded so good.

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I think, from reading the reviews when it was launched as well as how it sounds, the Dragonfly Red is something special. And for very little money, in Naim terms.
Best
David

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