Can a $249 digital-to-analog converter/headphone amplifier deliver state-of-the-art sound? The Audiophiliac listens to the AudioQuest DragonFly to find out.

by Steve Guttenberg

The AudioQuest DragonFly is a USB-powered (it doesn’t use batteries or an external power supply) digital-to-analog converter. I usually need some time to get a handle on the sound of a component, but within minutes of plugging in the tiny $249 DAC I knew exactly what made it so special. It sounds clear and clean, so there’s less standing between the music and my ears.

The AudioQuest DragonFly

(Credit: AudioQuest)

The DragonFly is a bona fide Audio component, designed by Gordon Rankin, a man known in audiophile circles as a great tube electronics engineer, but Rankin is also a computer audio guy. He’s one of the few DAC designers with equal depth of knowledge in analog and digital audio technology.

The DragonFly uses an ESS Sabre DAC, a high-performance chip more typically found in higher-end CD and Blu-ray players. The DragonFly works with MP3s and CD-standard 16-bit/44KHz to 24-bit/96KHz file formats. Inside, there are 107 components mounted on a 0.6×1.7-inch four-layer board including regulators and custom capacitors.

The DragonFly was designed with the audiophile in mind, so instead of relying on a digital volume control that might reduce signal resolution and sound quality, the DragonFly’s volume control works in the analog domain for the best sound quality. The analog volume control tracks the movement of the volume slider on your computer. The DragonFly has a 3.5mm output jack.

It can be used with desktop speakers, like my Emotiva Airmotiv 4s, or a component hi-fi system, or it can directly drive headphones. I tried it all three ways, and the DragonFly’s stunning resolution was always a joy to listen to.

To put the DragonFly’s performance in context I compared it first with the Halide Design DS DAC ($295) that I raved about earlier this year. The DS DAC has a softer and richer sonic balance, which I still like, but the DragonFly’s sound is clearer and more precise. bass is tighter and better defined. Listening over the Airmotiv 4 speakers, the DragonFly’s more expansive stereo image floats freer of the speakers than it does with the DS DAC.

The DragonFly trounced the DS DAC, but how would it fare in a shootout with the $495 Halide Design DAC HD? The DragonFly didn’t win that one; the DAC HD had more bass and sounded more dynamically alive, and had better overall tonality. The stereo image was even bigger, and still had razor-sharp detail. When you hear a truly great DAC, like the DAC HD, on a desktop system, you’re a giant step closer to the sound of a first rate high-end hi-fi.

At first I was less happy with the DragonFly’s sound when I listened to it as a headphone amp. I plugged in the Audio Technica ATH M50 and Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones, and found the DragonFly’s sound lightweight. Bass oomph was lacking, which overemphasized midrange and treble frequencies. Then I popped on my Velodyne vPulse in-ears, and the DragonFly sounded positively awesome! My JH-13 custom-molded in-ears were also fantastic, so all I can say for now is the Dragonfly might not be a great match with some full-size headsets. We’ll see.

Granted, it’s a $249 desktop DAC, so you can’t really expect it to be a giant killer on every application, but the DragonFly still has a lot going for it.

[LINK]

AppAdvice has teamed up with AITA Limited, our latest AppAdvice Dailypodcast sponsor, in order to offer you a chance to win one of three $10 iTunes Gift cards. the credit can be used towards App in the air in-app purchases and anything else your little heart desires.

Whether a frequent flyer or occasional vacationer, App in the Air helps you stay up-to-date on flight details and everything that’s going on in and near the airport with a combination of technical information and social network integration.

Quick and easy access to everything App in the Air has to offer, including notifications.

Start by entering your name and flight information to create a virtual boarding pass, which you can share with friends via Twitter or Facebook. Flight tracking details include a map, plus check-in, boarding, taxi, take-off, and landing times. In addition, you can receive instant alerts for any gate changes or delays by adding the Notifications package via a $0.99 in-app purchase.

Beyond flight data, App in the Air offers great resources while at home, plus in and around the airport terminals. For each airport, separated into Departure and Arrival, you have access to overall flight delay status, weather, currency converter, chat, and a crowd-sourced tips area.

The tips area contains several sections for general activity, food establishments, transportation, rules, and much more. Each section consists of user submitted recommendations and reports. Tips can be what coffee shop is best to visit for morning travelers, which public transportation is cheaper or easiest, where the free Wi-Fi hotspots are, and so on.

Get recommendations and reports from other travelers just like you via tips and IM.

Along with tips, App in the Air also provides a chat system. You can strike up a conversation for a time distraction, ask where the quickest security lines are at the moment, or anything else you would like immediate feedback on.

That’s it! Now, get your own copy and enter to win a little extra money. App in the Airis designed for iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 4.3 or later, and available in the App Store as a free download.

To have a chance at winning one of the three $10 iTunes Gift Card codes, just leave a relevant comment below before June 22 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Gift cards are only valid for United States iTunes Store accounts. Only one entry per person is allowed. Please be sure to also check your junk email boxes so that you won’t miss out if you win. {Link}

I love reading blog posts about blogging, and I am always striving to make my blog better. Along the way I’ve picked up a mountain of tips and tricks so I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve used over the (nearly three!) years I’ve been writing Where is Harriet. I don’t think they are necessary for a good blog, but they are all things I wish I’d known how to do sooner than I did!

I’ve read quite a few posts recently about how great WordPress is, and I don’t doubt that WordPress blogs are pretty lovely, but good old Blogger is still my prefered platform, it’s just so easy to use, and I’ve never had any major problems with it.

I’d love to know what your best blogging tip is, Blogger related or otherwise. I’m always looking for more ways to improve my site, so please do share if you’ve got any good ones! These are mine:

1. Get a Favicon. See the little image next to the URL in the browser bar when you type it in? That’s a Favicon. I used Favicon.cc to make the little star you see next to mine (unless you’re reading this on Bloglovin!) and I much prefer it to the old blogger ‘B’ that comes as standard.

2. Get your own domain. I moved from whereisharriet.blogspot.com to www.whereisharriet.net just before Christmas and I haven’t looked back since! It doesn’t cost much, I think mine was about £15 a year, and blogger makes it really easy to redirect your blog there. There’s an option under Settings > Publishing to buy a domain through them, or if you buy from someone else they normally have fairly easy instructions to follow.

3. Make you blog wider. I used to get really irritated with how narrow the standard ‘minima’ template is in blogger. I have a wide screen laptop. and before that a pretty massive desktop screen, so it seemed silly that my blog took up so little space in the middle of the screen. If you’re interested in making your blog wider too then this is a great guide to changing the width of your blog.

4. Get rid of the blogger nav bar. I personally never really used or liked the Blogger Navbar being at the top of my blog so I got rid of it pretty easily using this guide to getting rid of the Blogger Nav Bar.

5. Loose the border. Another thing I’m not a massive fan of is the border that blogger automatically puts around photos. It’s just personal taste really, but this is a good guide to getting rid of the border around photos in blogger.

6. Use Link Within. This is how you get the ‘posts you may also like’ boxes at the bottom of each post. It’s great for new blog readers, as it’s a good way to persuade them to explore your blog a little more.

7. Google Analytics is free and I personally really like keeping up to date with where my traffic is coming from, and what posts are most popular, along with hundreds of other useful and not so useful stats about your site.  Checking your statistics can get very addictive though!

8. Remove comment verification. I comment on a lot of blogs, and after a while comment verification (where you fill in the annoying gobbledegook letters and numbers in order to post a comment) gets old. And really annoying. I got rid of mine a while ago and I really haven’t had any issues – the blogger spam catcher is pretty good at stopping spam anyway. To get rid of comment verification in blogger go to Settings > Comments and it’s the tenth option down. You can always turn it back on if you have spam issues after all.

So there you go, my top eight tips! What are yours?

Technical pro has got its finger on the pulse with the release of the DPU55 professional Double USB/SD Player. This professional MP3 mixer provides the solution for the DJ that does not want to risk setting up a laptop in a club setting, it’s perfect for the DJ that wants to integrate his or her vinyl collection into their growing collection of MP3’s. Easily integrated into a venue’s PA system via stereo RCA outputs, the DPU55 is a tool for the DJ that will be forever valued.

The music is connected via 2 32GB USB sticks and Dual SD Card at a 32 GB max. With this amount of space you can bring enough high quality MP3’s to play for a whole week.

Or you can bring Multiple USB flash Cards and swap them in and out like CD’s. With this amount of music at a gig you have choices you previously did not have. Bringing 30 crates of records to a party is not a fun thing! Now you can bring hours and hours of music in varying genres and never worry about whether or not you brought that one special cut!

The unit hosts an LCD display that will show all of your ID3 tags on from your files and a BPM readout which will allow you to match the beats on both songs to achieve that blend that only the elite can pull off! The face has a number of controls including a folder/track browsing knob with push feature! That means once you scroll to the song you need, use the same knob and push it in to cue it up. No need to search for another function or even move your hand! Other features include and essential loop function, repeat, reverse playback, built in brake effect which allows you to stop or start a song an achieve the same sound a record would make when starting or slowing down (A great DJ effect that will always come in handy!)

Use the onboard scratch function! In today’s modern era it is impossible to get that scratch sound like the old days when DJ’s used all vinyl. Knowing a scratch function should not sound like a robot’s bleeps and blips but rather a warm, thick “wiki wiki” the engineers at Technical Pro put a little extra time into this effect making sure your scratches sound as thick and “fresh” as they did in 1980!

Use the cue, search and pitch control at a varying rate of + to – 16%. This will allow you to play it like you would a CD deck with all the extra options that a CD deck doesn’t provide or that in the past would require efx boxes and other bulky equipment. DJs, if you are going to make the transition to the future you need this!

Vincent Yu / AP

Japan Self-Defense Force personnel stand near some safes they retrieved from houses destroyed by the tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in a photo taken on April 7, 2011.

By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer

TOYKO – If disaster struck, and millions of dollars in cash turned up, do you think it would be returned to its rightful owners?

In Japan, it was.

During the four months since the giant tsunami struck Japan’s northern coast, more than 5,700 safes containing approximately $30 million has been recovered from the three hardest hit prefectures, Japan’s National Police Agency recently announced.

Remarkably – since residents of the tsunami zone have scattered across the country and even the world – 96 percent, or nearly $29.6 million in cash, has already been returned to its rightful owners, or if authorities feared the owner had died in the disaster, their closest relative.

Detective job to find rightful owners
The majority of the safes recovered in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima were collected by Japan’s Self Defense Force, police, and volunteers while combing through destroyed homes and buildings and clearing debris left behind by the devastating wave; some individuals also came forward with lost valuables.

Masao Sasaki, with the Iwate prefectural police, said that determining who the money belonged to and then actually finding them proved to be a great challenge and often involved excruciating detective work.

“In some cases, entire communities were completely washed away. Even if we had information on the address of the owner, there would be no building left, landlines were destroyed,” Sasaki explained. “So we went around to the various evacuation centers and started checking through the rosters.”

In Iwate prefecture alone, where more than 23,000 structures along the coast were destroyed, 2,400 safes containing a total amount of $10 million was collected. Incredibly, 91 percent of it has already been returned.

Considering that up until June there were more than 330 evacuation centers in Iwate, and people were constantly moving to new locations, it was no small feat to return that much money.

Aly Song / Reuters

A survivor walks through debris caused by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, in this March 18, 2011 file photo.

“You can just imagine the difficult work involved in tracking down the owners,” Sasaki said. “In some cases where the owner was thought to have perished, we had to find the closest kin who could have been anywhere inside or outside Iwate.

It’s not unusual for Japanese, especially the elderly, to keep cash at home. In particular, fishermen, who made up a large portion of the coastal population, traditionally preferred cash transactions and often even paid salaries in cash.

Thankfully, many of the safes also held bank books, certificates of land rights, name chops (traditional stamps used in lieu of signatures on personal documents) or some other form of identification. But because they were drenched in mud and water, each item often had to be carefully cleaned and dried, at times using a shirt iron in order to extract useful clues.

“It was important to be able to return these items properly cleaned, but our first and utmost priority was to find the owners and return their belongings as quickly as possible,” said Sasaki.

Asked how they were able to return 91 percent of the lost valuables, Sasaki said it was simply the laborious work and perseverance of the prefecture’s officers.

Venturing into the nuke zone
It was a tougher task in Fukushima prefecture, where extra precaution was required to reach some of the areas affected by the nuclear accident.

When their officers entered the 12-mile-radius exclusion zone, they had to put on hazmat suits and equip themselves with survey meters so they could check the radiation levels.

“It might have taken a little longer in Fukushima,” said Yoshiyasu Sato of the local prefectural police headquarters. “We had to start from the outer perimeter of the exclusion zone and slowly work our way in.”

But according to Sato, even though it took four months, the police have pretty much completed their task: they have already returned 96 percent of the $7.2 million found in some 900 safe boxes.

And in the Miyagi prefecture they had an even greater rate of return. More than 2,400 safes were collected that contained approximately $13.5 million –amazingly 99 percent of that has been returned to its owners or closest kin.

Almost done
In Iwate, as they get closer to completing the task of clearing away the rubble, the number of safes and other belongings recovered has dropped. But, Sasaki said, “the collection is still not completely zero, the numbers have come down, but items are being turned in sporadically.”

In total, if you included the money retrieved from lost wallets and purses, $48.3 million worth of cash was collected from the disaster zone. Out of that total amount, 85 percent has found its way to its rightful owners.

While the sheer amount of cash collected and returned is astounding, it is also another reminder of the scope of the damage brought by the March earthquake and tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people and completely wiped out at least 112,000 homes and buildings.

This is the ultimate in personal travel. at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva last year, Eurocopter and mercedes-Benz jointly presented the EC145 Helicopter, the first product in the new Mercedes-Benz Style range. At this year’s EBACE on May 17, the Mercedes-Benz Style EC145 helicopter made its world debut. Tailor-made for luxury-class business and private travel, the luxury helicopter has its interior done by Mercedes-Benz designers, so we can imagine the luxury and comfort it’s going to offer.

The interior of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style draws inspiration from automaker’s range of high-end luxury vehicles. They have used quality materials, elegant woods, ambient cabin lighting and multi-function boxes. Prof. h.c. Dr. Gorden Wagener, head of design at Mercedes-Benz, said…

The interior design of the EC145 ‘Mercedes-Benz Style’ helicopter represents the classic passion of the Mercedes-Benz design language and fulfils the very highest expectations in terms of elegance, luxury and comfort.

Great for executive transportation, family trips, and leisure and sport trips, the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style helicopter seats from four to eight passengers. The seats can be adjusted or removed for different seating arrangements or luggage space. There is no word on pricing for now, but we know it will be out of the budget for many of us.

Tone2 has unveiled the ElectraX, a new soft synth that contains four powerful synthesizers in one interface. ElectraX features multi-synthesis oscillators, analog modeled filters, chaotic fractals, samples, psychoacoustic processing and flexible modulation.

The new synth allows you to combine multiple polyphonic or monophonic synthesizers and 13 different synthesis methods to create new sonic possibilities. All this comes with an easy-to-use interface, preset management, quality sound and a claimed low CPU hit.

Features:
» Four synthesizers in one interface
» High-end sound quality
» Sonic range
» Flexible routing
» 13 different synthesis methods which can be combined
» Psychoacoustic processing
» Low CPU, multicore processor support
» Easy to use
» 4x multitimbral
» Presets by professional sound designers
» 23 exclusive analog modeled filter types
» 45 oscillator types
» 18 effect types; Master effect section with Equalizer
» More than 1000 waveforms
» 64×4 voices
» MIDI learn
» Customizable user interface with 4 skins
» Standalone version for PC
» Flexible preset management
» Context sensitive help

At the heart of ElectraX are the multi-synthesis oscillators with up to 18 oscillators per voice. With ElectraX you combine classic synthesis types like Virtual Analog, FM, Phase Distortion, Ultrasaw, Sync, Waveshaping, Wavetables, AM, and completely new oscillator types. It also opens acoustic possibilities with its exclusive Fractal synthesis, which can be used to mimic the behaviour of organisms or analog circuits.

You can use ElectraX’s sample oscillator to import your own waves, a quick import option is available to create Custom patches or vocoder sounds based on your own samples with a mouse click. ElectraX ships with a large selection of licensed wave content, including morphable analog and digital wave types. In addition to this you can automatically resynthesize your own waveforms from samples or import custom wavetables.

Each synth’s filter section consists of two multi-mode filters with 23 unique filter types and multi-mode distortion. ElectraX comes with analog modeled filters, precision digital filters, vocal filters, comb filters, phasers, equalizers and other exotic types. The warm sounding filters are able to self oscillate and deliver a wide range of timbres due to the variable degree of analog behavior. A dual distortion unit offers six different modes. It can produce tube sound, known from analog pre-amp boxes, model a fuzzbox or do wave shaping.

ElectraX’s master and insert effects sections include 18 quality effect processor, built and fine-tuned specifically to compliment the synth’s sound such as: High-end Reverb, Multitap Delay, Vocoder, Chorus, Ensemble, Phaser, Flanger, Rotary, Surround encoder, Trancegate.

ElectraX’s modulation makes use of punchy, analog sounding envelopes. Its quality LFOs are syncable to BPM and can modulate up to the audible range. You can create rhythmic sequences or custom wave shapes with the step LFO. The flexible Modulation Matrix is easy-to-use and provides a good and instant overview of the active modulations. With the built-in ‘midi-learn’ feature it is possible to assign controllers with a single click.

Tone2′s ElectraX will be available in December for Mac and PC in the AU and VSTi flavors; no pricing has been announced. More information on Tone2 ElectraX.