Audioquest Dragonfly Red into N272 for hi-res audio

Streaming Audio
1

Hi,

Current set up - N272 / CHC555 / 300DR / PMC25.23

Subscribe to Tidal each month so able to get hi re master streaming too so want to look at connecting laptop or Ipad to N272 to enjoy hi-res audio.

Looking at Audioquest Dragonfly Red with jitterbug connected by 3.5mm jack to RCA connector to analogue inputs on N272.

Any thoughts, recommendations, alternatives?
Is hi -res audio worth the outlay compared to standard Tidal Hifi?

Thanks

Gordon

2

I guess it always is something to be tested. But I guess on the surface that what you potentially win through high res, you lose as well due to the suboptimal road to the final signal.
But I could of course be wrong…

3

I used a Dragonfly Red plugged into the USB port on my pc and then analogue into my SuperUniti when the BBC did it’s FLAC trial on radio 3 a year or so back. It sounded really lovely, far better than the SuperUniti’s built in FM tuner did on the same music. Because there was a big delay (of about one minute) between the live feed on FM and the FLAC feed, I could listen to the Live feed and then switch over to the FLAC to listen to the same music again.

By “lovely” I mean open, airy, quite analogue sounding, confident, quiet and generally excellent. The Dragonfly Red is an absolute bargain as well.

Best
David

4

To my mind, HiRes material is mostly very overpriced for what it is, and although it can sound very good, some of it, to me, is no better that standard 16/44, so I usually buy CDs and rip them.
If you can get your phone or laptop sounding as good as the streamer in your 272, that begs the question, why not sell the 272 and buy the best analogue preamp you can afford. Otherwise, good though it is, what’s the point of the Dragonfly?

5

There is one point that occurred to me and that is that if you are using a pc to decode a digital stream that the Naim kit can’t handle natively, then it’s quite difficult to get the digital signal out of your PC and into your Naim streamer so the Naim DAC can do its work. I couldn’t find a way to do that, when I was playing with the BBC FLAC trial and posting a request for ideas in the Naim Forum didn’t bring me any new insights, but the Dragonfly Red lets you do the transfer at analogue, which is easy.

Best

David

6

Here is another supporter of the Dragonfly Dacs. I use a Chord Mojo, a Dragonfly Black (however I listened a few times to the Red), and my SuperNait has an inbuilt Dac. The Dragonflies fit nicely between the smooth Chord Mojo and the SuperNaits Dac. Love them all.

Don’t forget that you will need a good cable between the Dragonfly and the Preamp, the will be the limiting factor. I was only happy with the Dragonfly and Mojo when I got a good 3.5 to Din cable. Consider vendors like Flashback Sales or Design a Cable - they make good cables and if you tell them wherefore you need it, they will be happy to advice.

1 Like
7

If you can still fine one, then if your WiFi network is Chromecast Audio supports 24/192 via optical out, and that can feed an optical S/Pdif input of the 272.

8

Now why didn’t you tell me that at the time I was doing the Radio 3 FLAC trial?! It might have made a Huge difference…

I bought a new Chromecast Audio on eBay recently, so I think they are still available.

Best
David

9

I’ve just re-read my post - what a pig’s ear I made of that! :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

If you can still find one…
if your WiFi network is consistent and reliable enough…

And yes Huge had actually posted about this before!

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