AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt
AudioQuest’s DragonFly Cobalt transforms phone and laptop playback into a remarkably spacious, natural, detail-rich listen, pairing crisp timing and controlled bass with a smooth, low-grain top end. What Hi-Fi? highlights its precision and dynamics, while The Absolute Sound praises its airy staging, liquidity, and revealing musical insight.
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Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
92/100
Build Quality
83/100
Features Connectivity
75/100
Value for Money
90/100
Pros
Clean, highly detailed presentation with sharply defined instruments and strong rhythmic timing.
Smooth, natural, low-fatigue sound with an airy soundstage and controlled, textured bass.
Compact, driverless DAC/amp that works across phones and computers while offering useful 2.1V headphone output.
Cons
The supplied DragonTail USB-C adaptor can fit loosely and disconnect from phones.
PCM playback is limited to 24-bit/96kHz, with no DSD support or balanced output.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 92/100
Reviewers consistently describe a substantial step up from laptop, phone, and previous DragonFly outputs: fuller, cleaner, more spacious, and more natural. Its presentation combines strong rhythmic and dynamic drive with a smooth, low-grain top end, though the strongest praise is generally in comparison with built-in audio and earlier DragonFly models.
Tonal Balance and Musicality
93/100
The Cobalt is repeatedly described as smooth, natural, coherent, and easy to listen to for long sessions. The Absolute Sound calls it “musical, smooth, coherent and easy to listen to,” while Gramophone describes a “superlative listening experience” and 13th Note praises its rounded sound with no treble harshness.
Resolution and Detail
92/100
What Hi-Fi? hears granular detail, sharply delineated instruments, and notably better timing, while The Absolute Sound calls detail the most striking aspect and says it reveals a much more engaging world within familiar tracks. Several other reviewers also report stronger separation, clearer transients, richer timbre, and more audible micro-detail than the DragonFly Red or device outputs.
Digital Performance
91/100
Reviewers repeatedly hear the Cobalt removing haze, fuzz, fog, grain, and sibilant edge from computer and phone playback. Its cleaner, sweeter treble, improved timing, low apparent noise, and smooth rendering make digital files sound more relaxed and less processed, although PCM playback remains limited to 24-bit/96kHz.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
83/100
The compact aluminium-bodied design, integrated USB cap, status-indicating DragonFly logo, and protective pouch are all welcome practical touches. However, reviewers report a slight case/socket wiggle, and What Hi-Fi? found the supplied DragonTail USB-C adaptor loose enough to disconnect easily from phones.
Features Connectivity
75/100
This is a deliberately simple, highly portable USB DAC/headphone amplifier with driverless Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android compatibility, a 3.5mm output, bit-perfect variable volume, and the ability to feed powered speakers or an external amplifier. MQA rendering is supported, but there are no dedicated S/PDIF or balanced inputs/outputs, no display or remote, no DSD capability, and PCM is capped at 24-bit/96kHz.
Value for Money
90/100
At roughly $200-$300, several reviewers consider the Cobalt unusually compelling: What Hi-Fi? calls it “something of a no-brainer,” Darko Audio cannot think of another DAC that sounds as good at its price while serving computers and phones, and Hans Beekhuyzen calls it the best for the money. The praise is not unanimous, however; IWII Reviews feels its competitive-market position would be more comfortable at a substantially lower price, while 13th Note notes the sizeable step up from earlier DragonFly models.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
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Specifications
- DAC Chip
- ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound
- Output
- 2.1 volts
- Mobile Compatibility
- Apple iOS 5 and later; Android 5.0 and later
- Desktop Compatibility
- Windows 7 and later; Apple 10.6.8 and later; Linux (no tech support provided)
- Volume Control
- 64-Bit Bit-Perfect Digital Volume Control
- Included Accessories
- DragonTail A to C Adaptor
- Country of Origin
- China
- Sold As
- Each
Manufacturer's Description — AudioQuest
USB Digital-to-Analog Converter
DragonFly Cobalt, the latest and most sophisticated member of the award-winning DragonFly franchise, is a USB DAC (digital-to-analog converter), preamplifier, and headphone amplifier. It bypasses the audio circuitry in laptops, computers, and smartphones to deliver cleaner, clearer, more naturally beautiful music to headphones, powered speakers, or complete audio systems.
With AudioQuest’s DragonFly USB DAC, 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 and podcasts on Spotify, Pandora, or Deezer. Stream high-res audio from Tidal or Qobuz. No matter the choice of sonic pleasure, DragonFly unravels the emotional expression and nuance that makes music and movies so enjoyable. Now, more than ever before, naturally beautiful sound is right at your fingertips—however you want it, whenever you want it. For easy reference, DragonFly's LED changes color to indicate playback status or sample rate. Note: A red lens indicates that the device is in standby mode; purple indicates MQA playback.
Plays all music files: MP3 to MQA and Hi-Res
- Compatible with computers, tablets, streamers, and mobile devices
- Includes DragonTail USB-C Extender Cable (iOS mobile devices require Apple Lightning-to-USB adaptor)
- Resolution up to 24-bit / 96kHz
- DAC Chip ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound
DragonFly Cobalt: Improved Performance, More Beauty!
Compared to previous models, DragonFly Cobalt incorporates some important new features, including a new, more advanced ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with a minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound; a more sophisticated Microchip PIC32MX274 microprocessor that reduces current draw and increases processing speed by 33% over DragonFlys Black and Red; and improved power-supply filtering specifically designed to reduce the WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular noise that plague mobile devices.
- 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.
AudioQuest, Gordon Rankin: A Beautiful Partnership
Like all previous DragonFly models, Cobalt uses Gordon Rankin's precedent-setting StreamLength® asynchronous-transfer USB code. Further, in Gordon's monoClock® technology, a single ultra-low-jitter clock generated from the ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip runs the ESS chip functions as well as all microcontroller functions. This superior clock enables DragonFly Cobalt to provide greater resolution and clarity than DACs with multiple clocks.
*Streamlength and monoClock are registered trademarks of Wavelength Audio, ltd.
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.
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.
- Plays All Music Files: MP3 to MQA and Hi-Res
- Compatible with iOS Mobile Devices (requires Apple Lightning-to-USB adaptor) and Android Mobile Devices (requires USB adaptor)
- Drives Wide Range of Low- to High-efficiency Headphones
- Variable Output Drives Powered Speakers or Power Amp, Fixed Output Feeds Preamp or AV Receiver
- Includes form-fitting Carbon-level DragonTail USB-A to USB-C adaptor
- Native Resolution: Up to 24-bit / 96kHz
- Output: 2.1 Volts
- Volume Control: Digital: 64-Bit Bit-Perfect Volume Control
- Desktop Compatibility: Windows 7 and later; Apple 10.6.8 and later; Linux (no tech support provided)
- Mobile Compatibility: Apple iOS 5 and later; Android 5.0 and later. For Android devices, see owner's manual
- DAC Chip ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound
- Native Resolution up to 24-bit / 96kHz
- Connectivity technology: Wired
- Compatible with Apple and Windows PCs
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt
- Resolution A/V — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- 3mA Audio — online and in-store — Houston, Texas, United States (website)
- A Tube High Fidelity — online and in-store — Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands (website)
- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- Absolute Audio - Canada — in-store — Calgary, Alberta, Canada (website)
- Abt Electronics — online and in-store — Glenview, Illinois, United States (website)
- Accent On Music — in-store — Mount Kisco, New York, United States (website)
- Acoustic Sounds — online and in-store — Salina, Kansas, United States (website)
- Acoustic Streams — in-store — Lower Drift, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Acton Gate Audio — online and in-store — Cymru, United Kingdom (website)
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