Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt DAC

Ever wanted an incredibly portable Digital-to-Analog Converter? The new flagship and most beautiful sounding AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC  is just that. Taking whatever your music-loving tastes are and stripping away the fuzz and fog that you would never have noticed till now! Providing a naturally beautiful and seductive sound, this is the nest DAC in the DragonFly family so far.

How is this possible? Like the critically acclaimed DragonFly Red, Cobalt has the robust 2.1-volt output to drive almost any headphone, uses a bit-perfect digital volume control for outstanding signal-to-noise ratio, enables seamless compatibility with Apple and Android devices, and is an exceptionally competent and affordable MQA Renderer.

- New, more advanced ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with a minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound.

- Microchip's superb PIC32MX274 microprocessor draws less current and increases processing speed by 33%.

- Improved power-supply filtering that specifically increases immunity to WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular noise.

- Includes a form-fitting DragonTail female USB-A to male USB-C Adaptor.

- All DragonTails use AQ's Carbon-level USB cable.

BIT-PERFECT VOLUME CONTROL AND 2.1-VOLT OUTPUT

Cobalt features the same ESS Sabre 9601 headphone amp and bit-perfect volume control that give DragonFly Red its unique combination of power and grip over the music. This solution ensures maximum fidelity, thrilling dynamic contrast, and excellent signal-to-noise ratio. The 2.1-volt output makes Cobalt and Red compatible with a wide range of headphones, including power-hungry, low-efficiency models.

WHY THE "SLOW ROLL...?"

Cobalt employs ESS's new flagship ES9038Q2M DAC chip. While the chips used in DragonFlys Black and Red are unbeatable for the price, the minimum-phase slow roll-off filter in the 9038 results in naturally expressive sound that is always emotionally engaging and never fatiguing—a beautiful combination of warmth and detail that we find equally exciting and soothing.

KILLING THE NOISE

In Cobalt, we've taken what we've learned from our recent research and development in noise dissipation to employ power-supply filtering specifically designed to dramatically reduce the increasingly prevalent noise from WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals. Successfully combating this noise is absolutely crucial to the preservation of the lowest-level musical details, particularly when it comes to high-res audio—and especially when applied to a portable-audio device such as DragonFly.