Bill, list; On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 2:49 PM, Bill Unruh <unruh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Sun, 10 Feb 2013, chris hermansen wrote: > >> Good people; >> >> I believe that I should report my sound card status on the Alsa sound >> cards page, but before I do that I have a few questions. >> >> My Audioquest DragonFly does not appear there, and I now believe it > > > This is somewhat off topic, but I am wondering about the DragonFly. It seems > an incredibly expensive usb soundcard, which moreover does only output and > not > input. Its claim to do better than the onboard sound card is setting an > absurdly low standard, since many onboard soundcards are simply attrocious. > And the price of it I saw in an airline SkyMall booklet yesterday is pretty > steep ( $250 or so). Certainly the company's claims for their speaker cables > are pure gobbldygook, > and makes me want to lump them in with other companies as sellers of hype > rather than product. So I am asking someone who has one why they bought it-- > what are its > advantages? Bill, always being ready to be pulled off topic, I will do my best to give you a reasoned response to your question. If anyone is concerned we are hijacking the thread, please say so and we can move on. I wanted an external DAC/headphone amp for several reasons: 0) the sound card in my System76 Gazelle laptop is noticeably not great, though I would not call it atrocious - music sounds "closed in" or "airless" over both of my headphones (Etymotic in-ear and AKG 701 over-ear) 1) I travel a lot; probably 40% of my time is spent away from family home and stereo, so I take my music with me on my laptop with my Etymotic in-ear phones 2) in those long quiet evenings away, I don't watch TV; I have Skype, my Kindle and my music 3) given 1-3) above, improving my enjoyment through a better sound card is a pretty reasonable thing to do To improve my "away" music experience, I used to drag my Headroom Total Bit Head along with me, but a few months ago I gave it to my son who for the time being has only a headphone / laptop option. By the way it was $150 or so when I bought it a few years back. I have looked at a number of alternatives, but I'm no equipment tester / audio critic, nor do I have a lot of time to try to arrange a try-out of various different solutions. However here in Vancouver The Headphone Bar is a nice place to go and try out some of the options. The equipment they sell ranges from just under $100 or so on up. They don't stock anything that I would call "really crazy" (like DCS or MSB who both weigh in at over $10,000), but they don't sell the same chipset you get for free in your laptop in an external case for $40 either. The option they had that seemed to best fit my needs was the DragonFly, for the following reasons: 0) I don't record 1) I wanted something that could play 44.1/16 and higher resolution files 2) I wanted something that could easily drive my AKG 701s when I listen at home 3) I liked the analogue volume control 4) I like the "asynchronous" USB protocol 5) I liked the fact that it generates enough volts to drive my stereo if I ever need it to 6) I liked the size (basically a heavy USB stick 7) AudioQuest has a reputation of making good quality equipment (not using cheap connectors etc) 8) the reviews I have seen have been positive 9) I think the price is, if not reasonable, at least competitive, in comparison to what else is available at the Headphone Bar 10) I like buying stuff at the Headphone Bar (good to support a local store trying to give good service) I don't know if that answers your question. I tend to be somewhat wary of snake oil myself, especially when it comes to audio. I guess everyone's thresholds are different, but for me a well-designed, well-built, well-received, good-sounding DAC/headphone amp that takes up no space and doesn't need all sorts of extra cables and power adapters and stuff and that costs $250 - I don't see a lot of snake oil in that. > > >> works (ie I have convinced myself my earlier problems were with the >> sole USB-2 port on my laptop, since the device works fine on the USB-3 >> ports). Still, I think my experience trying to get it to work with my >> laptop and various ports might be of use to someone. Do I report that >> info in the listing? > > > Of course. Ok I will, thanks for the advice! -- Chris Hermansen · clhermansen@xxxxxxxxx C'est ma façon de parler. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Free Next-Gen Firewall Hardware Offer Buy your Sophos next-gen firewall before the end March 2013 and get the hardware for free! Learn more. http://p.sf.net/sfu/sophos-d2d-feb _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
