[Malcyg]

When you say you dislike the sound of too many ferrites you're effectively saying that this mythical new DAVE would also sound worse in your system...

I didn’t actually say that at all if you read my post. I said that putting ferrites onto my USB cables, as you recommended, seemed to compress the sound somewhat. But my USB cables are running from a Zenith SE into a SotM tX-USBUltra and from there into the Blu II whereas your USB cable is running from a laptop into Dave. These are entirely different signal paths and one cannot say that what works for A will definitely be the case for B, which is what you are saying.

It could well be that the already very clean signal coming from the SE, after being refined still further by the tX-U, gains no benefit at all from the ferrites, indeed, the contrary imo. In any event, this is all conjecture and irrelevant because what matters is how the whole system sounds as a whole entity to the person listening to it.

I do feel it is a bit odd that you keep posting telling people what they should do with their BluDave setup when you don’t have a Blu II yourself. I only ever post about equipment that I own and have experience of using day to day, unless it is to ask questions about an item that I am not familiar with.

Anyway, this is exactly why I didn’t post in support of Marc when he first commented about the CA cables - because I couldn’t be bothered to get into all of this ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ kind of thing. So I shall not post again about ferrites and BNC cables, they shall now be taboo subjects for me.

Now, about power cables............

 

[STR-1]

Hi Steve,

They are the Silver Line Optimus Reference 75 - 1m length.

Ouch! That’s around £1.5k for a pair - completely different ballpark from the various cheapies many have been discussing up until now. Still, as you say, 60-day return terms, so no harm in trying.

I’ve been told my Blu 2 is still 6-8 weeks away. I think I will prepare for its arrival by buying a few of the cheap BNCs to identify the best from that approach first before maybe trying the Clearer Audio cables. Thing is I’m not sure at what stage in the system development path that I’m now largely set on do I try the more expensive cables. Currently, the system is Zenith SE > heavily ferrite’ed cheap USB cable > ISO Regen (LPS-1) > USPCB > DAVE > headphones. I have a Paul Hynes SR4 on order as a more versatile option than the LPS-1 with better reported sound quality. When the Blu 2 turns up I then want to tryout the tx-USBultra, both in place of and in sequence with the IR, but not sure whether or not to get tne tx-USBultra with master clock input.

I thought getting the Zenith SE would make light at the end of the tunnel that much larger, but maybe not.

 

[Malcyg]

Ouch! That’s around £1.5k for a pair - completely different ballpark from the various cheapies many have been discussing up until now. Still, as you say, 60-day return terms, so no harm in trying.

I’ve been told my Blu 2 is still 6-8 weeks away. I think I will prepare for its arrival by buying a few of the cheap BNCs to identify the best from that approach first before maybe trying the Clearer Audio cables. Thing is I’m not sure at what stage in the system development path that I’m now largely set on do I try the more expensive cables. Currently, the system is Zenith SE > heavily ferrite’ed cheap USB cable > ISO Regen (LPS-1) > USPCB > DAVE > headphones. I have a Paul Hynes SR4 on order as a more versatile option than the LPS-1 with better reported sound quality. When the Blu 2 turns up I then want to tryout the tx-USBultra, both in place of and in sequence with the IR, but not sure whether or not to get tne tx-USBultra with master clock input.

I thought getting the Zenith SE would make light at the end of the tunnel that much larger, but maybe not.

I think the SE does do a lot and others seem in agreement on that. I’d say do nothing at all until you get your Blu II and see how it all sounds in your system. You may be completely satisfied and not need anything else. There’s no point planning for the as yet unknown really.

I don’t think that there is a magic bullet solution because everyone will have variances in their system and environment as well as their ears and personal preference. If there was a magic bullet that everyone agreed upon, we’d all have it.

I found the cheap Canare plus ferrites at £89 total cost to sound as good as most of the supposedly ‘better’ cables and they will probably be perfectly adequate for most people.

 

[ecwl]

For me, I used to notice these sonic differences between streamers/cables more in the past. But ever since I grounded all my routers/gadgets linked to the audio system to remove/shunt the high impedance ground leakage noise, I really don't notice much of a difference anymore and I was exceedingly happy with the sonic upgrade. I think I've mentioned this a few times in this and the DAVE thread. I only see one other person comment on the same thing recently. I read about from John Swenson over at Computer Audiophile. I personally think it's a better way to approach the problem than using ferrites or constantly upgrading streamers.
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/37034-smps-and-grounding/

 

[ray-dude]

I don’t think that there is a magic bullet solution because everyone will have variances in their system and environment as well as their ears and personal preference. If there was a magic bullet that everyone agreed upon, we’d all have it.

+100

When it comes to tweaks, establish your reference and work towards it until it is good enough. I was ready to open the big wallet for the SE, but got close enough (in my system) with ferrites and inexpensive cables where my attention and budget was best applied elsewhere

Save the big stuff the elevate you reference (new transducers, new source, new converter). Drop loaners into your system and see whether the step up is worthwhile (BluDAVE + Omega and Voxativ speakers have all been huge game changers for me).

For me, my sources and converters are more than good enough right now (my hard limit is my transducers). Once I sort out some big changes on transducers, I’m sure I’ll pivot around to sources and converter optimizations at some point. I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences

 

[STR-1]

For me, I used to notice these sonic differences between streamers/cables more in the past. But ever since I grounded all my routers/gadgets linked to the audio system to remove/shunt the high impedance ground leakage noise, I really don't notice much of a difference anymore and I was exceedingly happy with the sonic upgrade. I think I've mentioned this a few times in this and the DAVE thread. I only see one other person comment on the same thing recently. I read about from John Swenson over at Computer Audiophile. I personally think it's a better way to approach the problem than using ferrites or constantly upgrading streamers.
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/37034-smps-and-grounding/

I only today grounded the Meanwell smps feeding my LPS-1 in the system I described a couple of posts back, and I heard no difference. YMMV

 

[marcmccalmont]

I know how RF affects the sound of DAVE. Blu or any other source isn't the topic at hand. It's solely the RF that gets into DAVE. RF always makes the sound of DAVE worse.

I'm puzzled why you think it's preferable to have some RF, rather than none, getting into DAVE.

"Too many ferrites" simply shows you that there's an aspect of another part of your system that you dislike.

Imagine Rob makes a new DAVE that's exactly the same sound quality but is entirely immune to RF noise from its electrical inputs. When you say you dislike the sound of too many ferrites you're effectively saying that this mythical new DAVE would also sound worse in your system...

Now playing: Supersilent - 3.1

The 2.5 GHz Wurth ferrites are specifically for the 2GHz noise on Dave’s ground plane caused by Blu2‘s fpga (pm with Rob Watts) this recommendation was not a general recommendation for Dave alone or for all coax usb applications. BTW I found the Fair Rite 61 material to be a bit more effective at half the price of the Wurths. The ferrites on other applications than between Blu2 and Dave would be for general rf suppression

 

[Malcyg]

I think that the propensity for tweaking is that the BluDave combination is that good, it kind of makes you feel obliged to maximise its potential. I think that it is good enough for me whatever else may be around the corner in terms of new technology. I don’t care.

Edit - I meant this as a reply to @ray-dude post

 

[marcmccalmont]

I didn’t actually say that at all if you read my post. I said that putting ferrites onto my USB cables, as you recommended, seemed to compress the sound somewhat. But my USB cables are running from a Zenith SE into a SotM tX-USBUltra and from there into the Blu II whereas your USB cable is running from a laptop into Dave. These are entirely different signal paths and one cannot say that what works for A will definitely be the case for B, which is what you are saying.

It could well be that the already very clean signal coming from the SE, after being refined still further by the tX-U, gains no benefit at all from the ferrites, indeed, the contrary imo. In any event, this is all conjecture and irrelevant because what matters is how the whole system sounds as a whole entity to the person listening to it.

I do feel it is a bit odd that you keep posting telling people what they should do with their BluDave setup when you don’t have a Blu II yourself. I only ever post about equipment that I own and have experience of using day to day, unless it is to ask questions about an item that I am not familiar with.

Anyway, this is exactly why I didn’t post in support of Marc when he first commented about the CA cables - because I couldn’t be bothered to get into all of this ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ kind of thing. So I shall not post again about ferrites and BNC cables, they shall now be taboo subjects for me.

Now, about power cables............

I’ve received several pm’s from others intimidated by a vocal few so they don’t post their results too bad the vocal few out weigh the majority. I’ve passed along my results from time consuming work and a lot of money. Just to be criticized by those who have not spent the money on various cables, ferrites and sources. “Pearls for pigs” as they say

 

[Jawed]

I didn’t actually say that at all if you read my post.

My argument is with this:

I’m not sure that the effects could be described as dramatic, but in my own experience, different BNC cables do make a difference to the sound and there are a couple of points that @Silvertone4 has made that do match with my own observations. Certainly, I think you can go too far with ferrites.

Whether the RF noise gets into DAVE because it came solely from Blu 2 or it was transmitted into Blu 2 by another source, making a comment that you dislike the sound with too many ferrites amounts to the same thing. You have found a fault somewhere else in your system, revealed by the presence of enough ferrites.

Good luck, I know the itch will eventually get to you and you'll iron out the problem!

Now playing: Bedhead - Unfinished

 

[marcmccalmont]

My argument is with this:


Whether the RF noise gets into DAVE because it came solely from Blu 2 or it was transmitted into Blu 2 by another source, making a comment that you dislike the sound with too many ferrites amounts to the same thing. You have found a fault somewhere else in your system, revealed by the presence of enough ferrites.

Good luck, I know the itch will eventually get to you and you'll iron out the problem!

Now playing: Bedhead - Unfinished

Your comments have been accurate for general rf suppression we should be clear in our posts general rf suppression or the 2GHz Blu2 fpga ground plane noise issue

 

[Malcyg]

My argument is with this:


Whether the RF noise gets into DAVE because it came solely from Blu 2 or it was transmitted into Blu 2 by another source, making a comment that you dislike the sound with too many ferrites amounts to the same thing. You have found a fault somewhere else in your system, revealed by the presence of enough ferrites.

Good luck, I know the itch will eventually get to you and you'll iron out the problem!

Now playing: Bedhead - Unfinished

Again, I totally disagree with you. I do agree that I should have perhaps been more specific about exactly what I meant by over doing it, but I did attempt to clarify in my subsequent post.

Let’s just drop it now because this ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ sort of thing provides nothing positive for anybody.

 

[Malcyg]

The 2.5 GHz Wurth ferrites are specifically for the 2GHz noise on Dave’s ground plane caused by Blu2‘s fpga (pm with Rob Watts) this recommendation was not a general recommendation for Dave alone or for all coax usb applications. BTW I found the Fair Rite 61 material to be a bit more effective at half the price of the Wurths. The ferrites on other applications than between Blu2 and Dave would be for general rf suppression

Agree with all of that.

 

[TheAttorney]

For me, I used to notice these sonic differences between streamers/cables more in the past. But ever since I grounded all my routers/gadgets linked to the audio system to remove/shunt the high impedance ground leakage noise, I really don't notice much of a difference anymore and I was exceedingly happy with the sonic upgrade. I think I've mentioned this a few times in this and the DAVE thread. I only see one other person comment on the same thing recently. I read about from John Swenson over at Computer Audiophile. I personally think it's a better way to approach the problem than using ferrites or constantly upgrading streamers.
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/37034-smps-and-grounding/

I'm also looking at grounding as an alternative/complement to ferrites. However that CA post refers only to the RFI introduced by SMPS, which doesn't address all the other sources of RFI and isn't applicable to linear p/s. A different grounding technique promises to address all RFI sources: Connecting the device's (e.g. DAVE's) ground plane directly to mains earth, key examples being the rave reviews of the Gutwire grounding cable, which connects the -ve pin of any input socket to the earth pin on a mains socket. I'm not sure why this should matter, but my test is costing me nothing to try because I'm joining together existing bits and bobs from my spares box, like a home made version of the iFi Groundhog. This probably won't have the supa dupa components inside the Gutwire (which BTW claim to include special materials to absorb RFI across it's entire length) , but it's just a start to see if this idea is worthy of further investigation

 

[Arcabonne]

Greetings to all. Being interested only in the cd player capabilities of the Blu, and wanting to improve on my current player (Arc cd5), I wondered if any of you had the opportunity to compare the BluDave with other top of the line players (Arc Ref9, T + A 3000 etc.) and report the main differences. Thanks to everyone in advance.