Budget Component of the Year
AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt USB D/A headphone amplifier ($299.95, reviewed by John Atkinson, December 2019, Vol.42 No.12 Review)
Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Denafrips Ares II D/A processor ($768, reviewed by Herb Reichert & John Atkinson, September & November 2020, Vol.43 Nos.9 & 11 Review)
Elac Carina BS243.4 loudspeaker ($1199/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, January 2020, Vol.43 No.1 Review)
GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker ($1599/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson and Herb Reichert, September& December 2020, Vol.43 Nos.9 & 12 Review)
JBL Stage A170 loudspeaker ($499.99/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, November 2019, Vol.42 No.11 Review)
Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier ($1595; reviewed by Herb Reichert, August 2020, Vol.43 No.8 Review) This year, I chose to raise the upper limit of the price range of what constitutes "budget" to about $2000. I did that because I felt that products like the GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker ($1599/pair) and the Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier ($1595) ought to be regarded—due to some combination of low price and extreme value—as "budget." But in the end it was the cheapest product in the whole competition that took home the prize, and by a fairly wide margin.
The latest and most expensive DragonFly—AudioQuest's line of highly portable DAC/amps, intended mainly to improve the sound of laptop computers—the Cobalt upgrades the microcontroller and the DAC chip (the latter to ESS's new ES9038Q2M). The Cobalt is also said to do a better job of filtering electronic noise—an important factor in computer-based audio.
In listening to the Cobalt, what first caught JA's attention was what wasn't there: fatiguing glare and edge. Or, to put it another way, what it provides is "a sense of ease," with good low-frequency authority and extension, among other virtues.
About the Vote
A clear pecking order: The latest AudioQuest DragonFly led the second-place GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker by a solid eight votes, which led the third-place Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier by the same margin. The other four components split the remaining votes almost evenly.
Finalists (in alphabetical order)Denafrips Ares II D/A processor ($768, reviewed by Herb Reichert & John Atkinson, September & November 2020, Vol.43 Nos.9 & 11 Review)
Elac Carina BS243.4 loudspeaker ($1199/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, January 2020, Vol.43 No.1 Review)
GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker ($1599/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson and Herb Reichert, September& December 2020, Vol.43 Nos.9 & 12 Review)
JBL Stage A170 loudspeaker ($499.99/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, November 2019, Vol.42 No.11 Review)
Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier ($1595; reviewed by Herb Reichert, August 2020, Vol.43 No.8 Review) This year, I chose to raise the upper limit of the price range of what constitutes "budget" to about $2000. I did that because I felt that products like the GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker ($1599/pair) and the Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier ($1595) ought to be regarded—due to some combination of low price and extreme value—as "budget." But in the end it was the cheapest product in the whole competition that took home the prize, and by a fairly wide margin.
A clear pecking order: The latest AudioQuest DragonFly led the second-place GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker by a solid eight votes, which led the third-place Rogue Sphinx V3 integrated amplifier by the same margin. The other four components split the remaining votes almost evenly.
