Please come back with your impressions when you have received the DAVE how it works out with the HE-6 can be very good to know other HeadFi:ers .
Are you going to order the Silver or Black Ed ?
no DAVE owner here have tryed the combo? O-o''
i hope someone did
I had a DAVE on home loan back in November and I connected it to my CAD CAT via Curious USB/USB Regen and it sounded glorious. Because Rob had told me optical should sound almost as good as USB and had mentioned the DAVE was immune to source jitter, I compared the CAD CAT on USB against my Mac Pro on optical and with the identical bit-perfect file, I could not distinguish a difference. With my TotalDac d1-monobloc, the difference was obvious and the CAD CAT was clearly superior.
At CES this past week, I paid the DAVE a visit again. As you can see in the photo, the DAVE was connected to a very basic Windows laptop using a cheap non-audiophile USB cable. To add to the audacity, cheap 18g computer-grade power cables were used on both the DAVE and laptop and amazingly, the sound was as good as I remember, the best sound I have heard on headphones.
Here are some further insights from Rob when I asked him about the benefits of using a very expensive high-end source like the Aurender W20:
"Its a bit more complex than that. Sure jitter is eliminated, and that's true of all my current DAC's. But there is more too it; RF and correlated noise from the source can have an influence too. For Dave, Hugo, TT and 2 Qute the DAC is insensitive to it - but the source noise can affect the rest of the system to a smaller degree.
But we are talking third order effects here, I can't hear a difference between a very noisy PC and a very low power source in my system. So no I wouldn't bother spending much on the transport - absolutely not from the sound quality POV."
Regarding MQA, this was the the buzzword at CES this year, more so than Roon Ready. Bob Stuart was there to promote MQA exclusively and it seemed MQA banners were everywhere with many vendors proudly proclaiming support for it. Having sat through the demo and given the opportunity to A/B an MQA file using a Mytek Brooklyn DAC that had an MQA decoder built in that could be flipped on and off, it was impressive in the sense that with MQA on, the soundstage depth and the air around the notes increased in a similar way that you hear from the DAVE although with the DAVE, the magnitude of improvement was considerably greater. It leaves me to wonder whether MQA is necessary with the DAVE or whether MQA could perhaps enhance the DAVE.
In case anyone is interested, here is the DAVE in black at CES, my preferred color.
I had a DAVE on home loan back in November and I connected it to my CAD CAT via Curious USB/USB Regen and it sounded glorious. Because Rob had told me optical should sound almost as good as USB and had mentioned the DAVE was immune to source jitter, I compared the CAD CAT on USB against my Mac Pro on optical and with the identical bit-perfect file, I could not distinguish a difference. With my TotalDac d1-monobloc, the difference was obvious and the CAD CAT was clearly superior.
At CES this past week, I paid the DAVE a visit again. As you can see in the photo, the DAVE was connected to a very basic Windows laptop using a cheap non-audiophile USB cable. To add to the audacity, cheap 18g computer-grade power cables were used on both the DAVE and laptop and amazingly, the sound was as good as I remember, the best sound I have heard on headphones.
Here are some further insights from Rob when I asked him about the benefits of using a very expensive high-end source like the Aurender W20:
"Its a bit more complex than that. Sure jitter is eliminated, and that's true of all my current DAC's. But there is more too it; RF and correlated noise from the source can have an influence too. For Dave, Hugo, TT and 2 Qute the DAC is insensitive to it - but the source noise can affect the rest of the system to a smaller degree.
But we are talking third order effects here, I can't hear a difference between a very noisy PC and a very low power source in my system. So no I wouldn't bother spending much on the transport - absolutely not from the sound quality POV."
Regarding MQA, this was the the buzzword at CES this year, more so than Roon Ready. Bob Stuart was there to promote MQA exclusively and it seemed MQA banners were everywhere with many vendors proudly proclaiming support for it. Having sat through the demo and given the opportunity to A/B an MQA file using a Mytek Brooklyn DAC that had an MQA decoder built in that could be flipped on and off, it was impressive in the sense that with MQA on, the soundstage depth and the air around the notes increased in a similar way that you hear from the DAVE although with the DAVE, the magnitude of improvement was considerably greater. It leaves me to wonder whether MQA is necessary with the DAVE or whether MQA could perhaps enhance the DAVE.
In case anyone is interested, here is the DAVE in black at CES, my preferred color.
I'm using the hd800 and as far as loudness goes the most ive had it on is -24 db,and that was too loud for me personally.On that note i really must congratulate Rob,because the hd800 sound totally amazing from the Dave.I do have a hdvd 800 amp and for all my other dacs i use it,but not with Dave.ive been running the Dave in now for nearly 2 weeks and it just keeps getting better,I would say that the sound coming out my hd800 is REAL music,and by that i mean it's like having the band or singer their with you.well done Rob,well done Chord.
I'm gonna say something something here and it's not meant to upset anyone.I really feel after listening to Dave using it's own headphone output that maybe to get the best out of Dave with headphones you should get some headphones, Dave can drive with no problems.
And your belowmed TOTAL DAC STACK will not find a new home for wile or what's your now when you just ned one DAC , so whats your plan Roy ?
( Roy i think you have the best objective overview / knowledge fullness in your statments and postings, im very grateful for that! )
