Cobalt Audio Download
Fatima Rubalcava
With a DragonFly, music appreciation and exploration are limitless: Plug into an Apple or Windows computer or connect to an iOS or Android mobile device. Play YouTube or Vimeo videos. Go hunting on Bandcamp or SoundCloud. Explore playlists on Spotify or Pandora. Stream high-res audio from Tidal or Qobuz. No matter the choice of musical pleasure, DragonFly delivers beautiful sound, unraveling the emotional expression and nuance that makes music and movies so enjoyable.
I flew out here at the request of an audio dealer, to work on a customer's home network. Once in a while I do consulting gigs because I really like getting out in the real world to see everything work in another environment, to get music coursing through the house again, and I like the challenge of fixing something that's broken. There were numerous issues, one of which was audio dropouts, in addition to spotty WiFi. Fortunately I had everything working by the end of my one day out here. At least I thought. By the time my puddle jumper flight reached Denver the following morning, I received word that other things weren't working as they should.
My "rig" for the review consists of the DragonFly Cobalt, DragonFly Red, DragonTail USB C adapter, Apple Lightning to USB adapter, and Apple Lightning to USB 3 (with power port). The last adapter enables one to connect the DragonFly and another Lightning cable to power the iPhone. I tested the Cobalt on my iPhone XS, iPhone 8, and Google Pixel phones, along with my MacBook Pro laptop. I won't even go into detail about using the Pixel because audio on Android is still a joke and a kludge.
Let's get into the listening. If readers don't know what the DragonFly is by now, I completely understand. Our lives are busy and y'all have lives outside of audio. However, I encourage you to open a topic in the forum to discuss the particulars. I'm going to skip the gory details of what's inside as they are covered in the objective assessment simultaneously published here.
A little piece of trivia: Mama Cass Elliot and Keith Moon both died in the same room in Harry Nilsson's London flat. Four years apart. Now on with the show. Harry Nilsson's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night is one of my favorite albums. I listen to it in spurts as I do Taylor Swift's 1989 album (gilty pleasure). I have this album on my laptop and my iPhone for my offline listening pleasure. I press play and don't stop listening until the final note of track twelve. The album's opener, Lazy Moon begins with a smooth Nilsson vocal and Gordon Jenkins conducted orchestra sending the listener floating through the air via violins and strings similar to when an Academy Award is presented and the winner walks up to the stage. My Etymotic and Cobalt combo reproduce this sonic delight pretty well and about as good as I'd expect from a portable system. Nilsson's voice doesn't quite have the enveloping full range that I'm used to with my full-sized audio system, but that's to be expected. Above all, this track, and entire album, has a beautiful bloom to it through the Cobalt.
The cobalt regardless of what some reviewers sell to think is a good DAC, happy with mine but I use it for headphones not line out. It might be an improvement I found using an external DAC to my Arcam AV when it was my primary amp was much better than the internal DAC as it eould bypass all the digital side processing as it had direct option for music. Your likely better getting a desktop DAC though if you want a significant uplift. Some are very good and reasonably priced. Try one, if you dont think it improvses things send it back.
I use the Dragonfly cobalt for streaming from an iPad 4 mini in my office. The difference between connecting the iPad to the amplifier via the headphone output and using the Dragonfly is striking. From my point of view, this is a clear buy recommendation, the sound improvement is great.
Insert background here about how Apple killed the beloved integrated 3.5mm jack and how dongles are the new hot commodity. While most listeners no doubt rued the removal of the integrated headphone jack, audiophiles mostly embraced it because its removal afforded another parameter for which to fine-tune their portable setups. Indeed, the audiophile market has seen a surge in the variety of dongles with - as most things niche in audio - prices quickly rising and hitting figures far outside what normal consumers might be used to seeing.
Contrary to some of my audiophile brethren, I've never been too enthusiastic about dongles. Apple's own dongle mostly equated to "it's good enough, case closed" for my purposes. But then in Singapore, I had the opportunity to demo a couple of the aforementioned higher-end, more expensive dongles, and this was followed by Headphones.com sending me some more to review in a round-up. The stage set, let's take a look at how I found these dongles to stack up and which - if any of them - have managed to shift my jaded paradigm.
In the box with the M12, you'll find the dongle, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A cable. The M12 has a rectangular aluminum chassis. There are two LEDs on the back whose color denote the gain active (it's done automatically) and the audio format being played. It's pretty much as simple as it gets not unlike the Dragonfly Cobalt. As the cheapest dongle in this shootout at $140, perhaps some would be willing to give the M12 a break for its lackluster features and accessories.
Hi everyone, I have the cobalt and use it with my 64audio U12t and Nio. Every time I raise the volume past 75% on my iPhone, the Cobalt crashes. Any ideas? I read that it could be an impedance issue with these IEMs, but I have seen many people use the 64audio line with Cobalt online.
I currently use the cobalt via my phone as line level out to my amps. Using with qobuz and via usb audio player pro app which is a must. The apps sonics via bit perfect make it the best 8 bucks that i ever spent.
Cobalt will not work properly without the app on my samsung galaxy note 8 because it is not true usb.
Anyone else use the cobalt line out to an amp? What is your experience via other standard dacs.
Ok thanks for that info. I know i can run a gashelli jnog via amanero usb to my phone according to them. Are there any other dacs that i can use? I dont have a computer so need usb.
I have to admitt im getting very good sound using the cobalt through an amp. Definitely superior to using just the dongle.
So am i just running the dongle amplified sound to another amp?
Thx
The issue is what matters to young people? It is not about old, white men buy, who have decided that they will use more of their income on better audio. I see everyday what "young people" think is important...$250 kicks and ( you can fill in the blanks yourself).
I wonder how many have any of the affordable usb I/O devices from Steinberg, M-Audio, Focusrite and others? For $150 you can get 24192 Playback and high res audio into your computer. Surely within most budgets...if quality matters.
It is all a matter of priority. I got it when I was 16 and bought what I could afford when audio was mostly LPs, R2R, and FM; then cassettes for PB and recording. I was ahead of many "old white folks" back then. Most of my friends were not, but sure loved my gear.
but with the Cobalt however, you can connect it to your phone and enter a new level of audio bliss. for $300, on the go, and in your pocket. and it looks good, especially with that nice LED staring at me as I type this.
Curious that you consider $600-700 to be a lot of money.
I bought my first audio system (consisting of a receiver, speakers, turntable and cartridge) when in my early teens. The cost, back then, was about $750 - equivalent to about $4,000 today, when adjusted for inflation.
Jim, I get what you are saying, but the first problem is marketing. I (and you may as well) remember when we were teens you could find semi-high end audio in department stores while walking with dad looking for the hardware department. Marketing through presence.
High End dealers and manufacturers advertise in audiophile publications. Dealers host events, largely publicized in the same publications, or via email to their existing customers. The industry sponsors multiple audio shows all over this great land of ours, advertising in, you guessed it, audiophile publications.
Manufacturers - donate inexpensive equipment to these record stores. Maybe I'm crazy, but if I'm a manufacturer I'd rather a hundred people a day waltzing through a record store hear my equipment versus ten people a day in a high end audio store.
It would be great if more Cobalts were sold than Nike sold expensive shoes, but we know that is not going to happen. The Pride Of Ownership comes into play. Those sole of the shoes that light-up when the kids walk...maybe that is what needs to happen in audio.
that young music listeners don't have a clue about high end audio, much as I don't have a clue about all the electronic gizmos kids today take for granted. My kids are incredulous that I am completely unaware of the electronic marvels they consider to be indispensable. The reason being, of course, is that those are marketed to the kids, not me. And as in my day, the only reason I knew about Atari, Coleco, etc., was because those companies marketed to me. My parents were just as clueless. So, I don't think it is a matter of them not seeking it out because they don't really care about better sound. Industries market for a reason. Its called good business.
If that young person's impression is that high end audio requires thousands and thousands of dollars to enjoy, why would they investigate in the first place? I don't walk into a Ferrari dealer because I know what I'll find. I'm not interested in just looking at cars. Marketing can be good or bad.
The high end audio industry will never be Apple, but it can certainly more narrowly target itself to consumers who would seem to be open to hearing about better sound. The marketing has less to do with cost than effort and creativity, two areas in which the high end strikes me as being woefully deficient.
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