It easily outperforms DACs that cost 3x as much. Overall, there are few DACs on the market that offer the combination of sound quality, portability, and value for money. I also found the audio jack on my unit to be a bit loose but others haven't reported similar problems. The sound quality with low to mid impedance headphones, however, is downright stunning. Two, while the headphone amp is powerful enough, you won't get the best results with high impedance headphones, like the Sennheiser HD600 (300 Ohms).
Support for older Android devices, however, might be poor. Note: This article was originally written in 2019 and upon subsequent revisions, we found that AudioQuest has solved the compatibility issues with Android devices.
If you're going to use it exclusively with Android, check user forums before you buy. For one, there are compatibility issues with some Android phones. There are a few caveats before you buy this. With hard to drive headphones (especially cheaper cans), the results are good but not as noticeable. You get astonishing clarity and a much richer, vibrant sound.
Overall, a tiny, highly portable package. I must say I'm not a fan of the dragonfly logo. It features a shiny red metal casing with a glowing green dragonfly. Plug it in and you won't be able to distinguish it from a standard thumb drive. It weighs under 100g and is just 2.4″ long. Build quality and design: The DragonFly Red is as small as DACs come.It will seriously blow away your expectations, especially if you've never used a DAC before. What you get, however, is absolutely fantastic digital audio quality. You don't get half a dozen ports, nor do you get dedicated volume controls. There's a small built-in headphone amp as well.Īs far as bells and whistles go, it has none. This means that it plugs straight into a USB port and outputs the digital audio via a headphone jack. The DragonFly Red (not to be confused with the cheaper DragonFly Black – which is also good but not as much) is a portable USB DAC.
It's for no reason that What Hi-Fi calls it “near-flawless”. It's absolutely tiny, doesn't cost the earth, and packs a massive punch. The AudioQuest DragonFly Red is the best budget DAC on the market.Īudiophiles swear by the DragonFly Red. Let's take a more detailed look at all these DACs below: Best Budget DAC: AudioQuest DragonFly RedĪfter using dozens of the best USB DACs, I have zero qualms making this claim: I’ll start this guide by answering the question you all came here for: what’s the best budget DAC I can buy right now?Īt a glance, these are my top selections: In the next few sections, I'll do a deep dive on each of these DACs and cover what makes them worth your money. Mapping this list on a price-performance graph, we get the following: Affordable gear that doesn't sound good isn't worth any amount of money.īased on these two factors, here are our the six best budget DACs right now: Product Performance, of course, is a top criteria. But since we don't live in that perfect world, your choice – and ours – depends heavily on price. If you had an infinite budget to work with, you could buy any bespoke gear (and audiophile gear can be extraordinarily expensive). Price is the limiting factor in most purchase decisions. While there are a number of elements that go into making a competent DAC, we essentially think it all boils down to two elements: value for money (i.e.