Originally Posted By: Mike Halloran
Back to the OP. The Dragonfly Red is also using a chip from the same family as all the new Fast USB interfaces. This one I wouldn't have to tear down to see since they advertise one of the brands that DAC chip is sold under.

For the same $169.99 as the Dragonfly Red, you can get a 2-channel interface such as the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen. The Presonus Studio 24c adds MIDI and an I/O blend control for $10 less. For another $10 less, there is the Mackie PROFx6v3 with 6 channels in and onboard effects with pan switches in a mixer format—no MIDI, however.

Again, all use the same DAC (and its excellent) but there are four levels of functionality.


Thanks, Mike, this has been a real education for me.

I just ordered the two-channel Mackie, because my only application for this is to get a good laptop signal into a powered speaker for live performance using the smallest/lightest/most reliable hardware possible.

Given that the powered speaker is mono and will have only one available input for the laptop signal, my initial thought on summing the output is to go to Preferences > Overrides and uncheck "panning" under "Allow loading of any of these settings". Anything I'm missing here/other ideas on summing the stereo output?