Over at Archimago's Musings, a long-running blog dedicated to providing objectivist findings for "rational audiophiles," Archimago runs a full set of test measurements on our DragonFly Copper, compares its measured performance to that of previous DragonFlys, and uses it to drive three sets of headphones: Sennheiser HD800, AKG Q701, and KZ Planar IEMs.
Archimago notes DragonFly Copper's minimalist packaging, "attractive and eye-catching" appearance, and solid overall build quality. Moving to Copper's performance on his test bench, Archimago finds much to appreciate, beginning with our DAC's "great-looking 1kHz waveform" with excellent channel balance and no evidence of clipping.
Compared to previous DragonFlys Black and Red, Copper produces lower distortion and greater resolution, finds Archimago. Further, average THD+N, output linearity, and THD+N vs. Level all look "predictably clean and boring" with no evidence of anomalies.
Regarding Copper's ability to drive headphones, Archimago finds very low output impedance and current draw. He decides, not only is Copper "capable of higher power output than the previous Cobalt and Red variants" but it does so "at significantly lower current draw from the USB port."
While the DragonFly Copper is by no means a high-power headphone amp, it looks like they have achieved better energy efficiency and overall a bit higher power output as well.
Mission accomplished there, we suppose, though we'd argue that Copper's power output is more than "a bit" higher than previous versions of our award-winning DAC. In fact, our admittedly tight-lipped claim of "2x greater output power" is a modest approximation.
And, finally, what does the rational objectivist audiophile Archimago have to say about sound quality?
He begins, "Honestly guys and gals, I really don't think any flowery words are needed for what I heard...," before describing pop music reproduced as "appropriately bass-heavy, detailed with tons of propulsive pacing;" classical music portrayed as "excellent without any sense of artificiality or piercing quality;" and live rock recordings conveyed with appropriate energy.
Of soundstaging, that most classic of irrational audiophile preoccupations, Archimago rightly notes it can be "difficult to evaluate with headphones and IEMs" unless he uses a binaural album like Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra's Up Close. Doing so uncovers an "Excellent rendering of the 3D space" with Copper driving the single-driver KZ 13.2mm planar IEM. Archimago urges his readers to "Close your eyes and be immersed in the realistic-sounding hand claps and percussion on "La Luna."
He concludes:
To me, this is simply clean-sounding, modern, ESS sigma-delta chip DAC performance; highly resolving, delivers the music's dynamics, and full frequency response.
Hey, we'll accept those flowers.
