AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC

A new year, a new DragonFly color! But first let’s go back to the beginning. AudioQuest’s thumb-drive-sized DragonFly bowed in 2012 to immediate acclaim—and for good reason. Inside this diminutive, plug-and-play package resided both a high-res DAC (up to 96/24) and a surprisingly good headphone amp. The original DragonFly was wildly successful based on these merits alone, even though it was only compatible with Macs and PCs. The real breakthrough came with the introduction in 2016 of the DragonFly Black ($99) and DragonFly Red ($199). With those models, AudioQuest reduced power requirements so substantially that the devices could be driven …