Aside from a resurgence of vinyl in my world, I’m tending more and more towards playing music via a streaming service or off ripped files on network attached storage devices. The poor old CD player isn’t getting much of a look in at the moment.

This stage of the digital transition has caused a bit of a re-think about what audio gear I need to give me the best experience. Rather than forking out a whole lot of cash on new equipment, my current project is really enhancing what I have already got. I’m very happy with my separates spread across two different areas and I’m definitely not messing with my 2 sets of speakers.

My first purchase is the rather wonderful Audioquest Dragonfly and Jitterbug USB dongles.

The Dragonfly is basically a DAC, pre-amp and a headphone amp on a USB stick. The Jitterbug USB is another worthy addon to the Dragonfly that cleans up any noise from the USB ports if plugged into a PC. You can use both dongles via a PC connected to your sound system or simply use the stand-alone Dragonfly as a portable DAC connected to your device and headphones.

I tell you what - this little stick absolutely rocks! Califone’s new record gets the first workout using the Dragonfly in combination with my B&W P7 wired headphones. All I can say is WOW!.

I’ll tell you about my next device down the track.