But the course of hi-fi bliss never did run smooth – so you’ll need to suck it up and deal with the cables. Wired in ears or headphones are obligatory. My preference is the super well made and highly transparent OTG Cables from ifi (more info on them here). In the case of a smartphone, that means connection via a dongle. It requires a physical connection both to the device and the headphones. You will sacrifice some convenience in deploying the DragonFly. Of course, this has to be your main aim if you want to take advantage of what the DragonFly has to offer. The DragonFly takes the very ordinary sound that plays from your laptop or mobile device and levels it up significantly. It is also software upgradeable thanks to the Microchip PIC32MX270 microcontroller. The Red is plug-and-play meaning no additional drivers are necessary. Internally, the DragonFly Red sports an ESS Sabre 9601 headphone amp and an ESS ES016 DAC chip all enhanced with Gordon Rankin’s proprietary monoClock single ultra-low jitter clock technology. Without physical controls, volume up and down is achieved by using the volume control on your phone or PC (or whatever host you have it connected to) which will in turn control DragonFly’s 64-step, 64-bit, bit-perfect internal volume control. If you want to play higher res music files, the DragonFly will “reconstruct” or downsample them. The highest of which is the DragonFly Red’s sample rate ceiling of 96kHz. Anyway, red is for standby and then Green, Blue, Amber and Magenta represent sample rate levels. It illuminates in different colours to indicate status or sample rate (whilst this minimalist approach is cute, I do find myself having to make frequent trips to the instruction manual to remember what each colour means… not a big deal, but y’know…). The only indication that something is happening is from the dragonfly shaped LED. There are no physical buttons or dials on the DragonFly. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of help on the ‘net to help out. How they have managed to squeeze such awesome sound from such a small package is beyond me. AudioQuest’s engineers are modern day miracle workers. Connectivity might be limited but sound quality is not. The DragonFly has a single USB-A input and a single 3.5mm headphone jack output. Luckily size is not our single concern…Ī USB stick form factor means limited connectivity. It’s about the size of a single packet of chewing gum, whereas the Schiit combo is more like 40 or so packets of gum. The DragonFly trumps the Schiit combo hands down when it comes to form factor. If portability is your main aim then we can probably stop proceedings here.
![scite modi and magni combo scite modi and magni combo](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/9267491.jpg)
Today we’ll be looking at two names that I think represent the best answer to that question right now: the AudioQuest DragonFly Red and the Schiit Modi/Magni combo. So my search became a quest to answer the question: What desktop or portable headphone DAC/Amp(s) are to be found at that tipping point? I like to find that tipping point in audio gear where for every dollar increase in price beyond that point there is not a commensurate increase in sound quality or reproduction. I’m always looking to achieve the best for the least spend. It also, for me, means equipment that has been designed with a footprint ideal for desk or bookshelf placement. They fit the bill quite nicely for what I consider to be “desktop audio” – which is to say audio equipment designed with near field or headphone listening in mind. My quest for “desktop audio” utopia started over a decade ago with a pair of AudioEngine A2 powered speakers. Not really a hardship considering the quality of headphones and music reproduction gadgetry available to today’s music lovers.
![scite modi and magni combo scite modi and magni combo](https://iiwireviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Schiit-Magni-3_1.jpg)
Nowadays, with the advent of co-working and open plan office space, headphone listening has become a necessary adjustment. Of course, that was back in the day when I enjoyed the plush confines of an office and the indulgence of audible music at work was a thing. Headphones seemed to be a bit isolating for me. I used to much prefer listening to music at my desk through speakers. Actually, I love to listen to music any time.