AUDIOQUEST Dragonfly COBALT

USB DAC + Preamp + Headphone Amplifier. Dimensions: 12mm H x 19mm W by 57mm W. Dragontail USB-A to USB-C adapter from AudioQuest and leather keyring included.

From MP3 to MQA and high resolution: naturally beautiful sound at your fingertips. Whenever and wherever you want.

Whatever music excites you, wherever you are, a DragonFly AudioQuest USB DAC delivers stimulating, dynamic and wonderful sound to earphones, headphones, powered speakers or complete sound systems. With DragonFly, music appreciation and exploration are unlimited: connect it to an Apple or Windows computer or connect to an iOS or Android mobile device. Play YouTube or Vimeo videos. Hunt on Bandcamp or SoundCloud. Explore playlists on Spotify or Pandora. Stream high-resolution audio from Tidal or Qobuz. Regardless of your choice of musical pleasure, DragonFly delivers wonderful sound, revealing the emotional expression and nuances that make music and films so enjoyable.

FEATURES

Meet Cobalt: the most beautiful sound

DragonFly Cobalt, our new flagship DAC, takes what music lovers around the world have come to expect from the award-winning DragonFly family - beautiful, seductive sound, of course - and strips away even more of the fluff and fog that wasn't even visible in previous versions.
How is this possible? Like the acclaimed DragonFly Red, Cobalt has the robust 2.1-volt output to handle almost any headphone, uses a bit-perfect digital volume control for an exceptional signal-to-noise ratio, enables seamless compatibility with Apple and Android devices, and is an exceptionally competent and affordable MQA Renderer.

Significant updates:

New, more advanced ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with a slow minimum phase anti-rotation filter for more natural sound.
Microchip's unique PIC32MX274 microprocessor consumes less power and increases processing speed by 33%.
Improved power supply filtering specifically increases immunity to WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular noise.
Includes a DragonTail female USB-C to male USB-A adapter.
All DragonTails use AQ's Carbon USB cable.

Experience more beauty wherever you listen

AudioQuest, Gordon Rankin: a beautiful partnership: like all previous DragonFly models, Cobalt uses Gordon Rankin's precedent-setting StreamLength® asynchronous USB transfer code. Furthermore, in Gordon's monoClock® technology, a single ultra-low jitter clock generated by the ESEC ES9038Q2M DAC chip performs the functions of the ESS chip and all microcontroller functions. This superior clock enables DragonFly Cobalt to provide greater resolution and clarity than DACs with multiple clocks.

Why the "Slow Roll ...?"

Cobalt uses ESS's new flagship ES9038Q2M DAC chip. While the chips used in DragonFlys Black and Red are unbeatable for the price, the 9038's low phase roll-off filter produces a naturally expressive sound that is always emotionally engaging and never fatiguing, a beautiful combination of warmth and detail that you will find equally exciting and relaxing.

Killing the noise

At Cobalt, we have taken what we have learnt from our recent research and development in noise dissipation to employ power supply filtering specifically designed to dramatically reduce the increasing noise from WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile phone signals. Successfully combating this noise is absolutely critical to preserving lower-level musical detail, particularly when it comes to high-resolution audio, especially when applied to a portable audio device like DragonFly.

Bit-perfect volume control and 2.1 volt output

Cobalt features the same ESS Sabre 9601 headphone amplifier and bit-perfect volume control that give DragonFly Red its unique combination of power and grip on music. This solution guarantees maximum fidelity, electrifying dynamic contrast and an excellent signal-to-noise ratio. The 2.1 volt output makes Cobalt and Red compatible with a wide range of headphones, including energy-efficient models.

Firmware upgradeable

DragonFlys Black, Red and Cobalt are firmware upgradable via our free Desktop Device Manager. In today's fast-paced digital world, longevity in a hi-fi component is increasingly rare, at any cost. AudioQuest believes that today's digital devices should evolve as technology evolves, thus providing musical enjoyment for many years to come. Our Desktop Device Manager will also allow you to identify DragonFly's serial number and software version to ensure your device is up-to-date. Click here to download the latest Device Manager available for your operating system.

Beautiful sound in a smaller pocket ... and now with a tail

All this goodness is packed into a sleek new case measuring only 57.5 mm x 18.6 mm x 11.9 mm, making the latest DragonFly 10 per cent smaller and even a little more pocketable. Finally, to facilitate the growing number of electronic devices equipped with USB-C ports, DragonFly Cobalt comes with AudioQuest's Dragontail USB-A to USB-C adapter.

Tidal Master flow everywhere

DragonFlys Black, Red and Cobalt support Tidal Masters (MQA) playback from iPhone and Android smartphones. The MQA technology folds high-resolution files into smaller files that can be streamed on the go. Like the MQA Renderers, DragonFlys Black, Red and Cobalt complete the unfolding process, allowing music lovers to enjoy a wider selection of high-resolution music.

The DragonFly fleet: DragonFlys Black, Red and Cobalt

While the original DragonFly created a new category of portable DAC, its USB power draw only made it compatible with computers. Black and Red answered the call of music lovers worldwide for DragonFlys that could be used with Apple iOS mobile devices and Android smartphones and tablets. These DACs proved once and for all that convenience and performance need no longer be mutually exclusive.

All current production DragonFly models incorporate 32-bit Sabre ESD DAC chips.

The DAC chips we selected are extraordinarily powerful and sophisticated, yet we intentionally limited DragonFly's processing capabilities to 24-bit / 96kHz resolution. This makes using DragonFly as simple as ever: all models are fully PC-compatible without having to download and install new drivers. Above all, DragonFly is designed to honour the music you already own and love. Whether you are listening to Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, Qobuz, ripped CDs or state-of-the-art high-resolution files, DragonFly will deliver an exciting and compelling experience.

The ESS 9010 DAC chip in black and the high-performance 9016 chip in red employ minimum phase filtering for naturally detailed sound. While DragonFly Black utilises the same high-quality analogue headphone amplifier and volume control found in DragonFly v1.2, DragonFly Red includes the latest ESS headphone amplifier and bit-perfect digital volume control found on the 9016 DAC chip itself: a sophisticated implementation that ensures maximum fidelity, dynamic contrast and signal-to-noise ratio. DragonFly Black outputs a voltage of 1.2 volts, enough to successfully drive all preamp input circuits and a wide range of modern headphones. Meanwhile, with its higher 2.1-volt output, DragonFly Red is compatible with a wider range of headphones, including low-energy models.