[GryphonGuy]

Nope. Heard two of them at canjam. One silver one black. Incredible.

 
I heard the black blu2 at CanJam and I was impressed by the perfection of the notes of my own test CD but the impact and transients had been lost. This DAVE and BLU2 combo was on a headphone amp stand (Woo audio?) and I realised that the DAVE had been nobbled by mid-range Chord Company Cables (not Chord Electronics company), a standard free-issue power cable and LCD-4 headphones. What I heard was "polite" and whilst nice sounds were produced, the dynamics had been lost. I actually mentioned this to Rob (The Chord stand was right next to this combo) and he seemed genuinely surprised. I worked out the nobbling after research online as to the interconnect cables being used and that there were huge red interconnects unplugged waiting to go into an equally huge headphone amp. I know from my own DAVE what it can do with CD and my test CD in particular was not well portrayed by that combo. Unfortunately time did not allow me to wait for the line to go down on the silver combo of DAVE and BLU2 on the Chord stand but Rob did give me 15 mins of his time which I thought was extremely generous in such a crowded room.
 
Cheers
GG

 

[EVOLVIST]

I heard the black blu2 at CanJam and I was impressed by the perfection of the notes of my own test CD but the impact and transients had been lost. This DAVE and BLU2 combo was on a headphone amp stand (Woo audio?) and I realised that the DAVE had been nobbled by mid-range Chord Company Cables (not Chord Electronics company), a standard free-issue power cable and LCD-4 headphones. What I heard was "polite" and whilst nice sounds were produced, the dynamics had been lost. I actually mentioned this to Rob (The Chord stand was right next to this combo) and he seemed genuinely surprised. I worked out the nobbling after research online as to the interconnect cables being used and that there were huge red interconnects unplugged waiting to go into an equally huge headphone amp. I know from my own DAVE what it can do with CD and my test CD in particular was not well portrayed by that combo. Unfortunately time did not allow me to wait for the line to go down on the silver combo of DAVE and BLU2 on the Chord stand but Rob did give me 15 mins of his time which I thought was extremely generous in such a crowded room.

Cheers
GG

What is "nobbling?" and what tunes did you have on your CD? Also are you saying that there were huge red cables plugged into the Blu2 or DAVE that wasn't connected to anything else, awaiting to be plugged into a headphone amp?

 

[jelt2359]

I tried the black one out of the Milo first, sounded nice honeyed and sweet, but then swapping between it and the Dave hp out showed me the Milo was really sacrificing detail and precision, smoothing over the sound. I didn't really know the CD's there so I moved on.

The silver Blu2 and Dave was hooked up to what I think was Rob's laptop. Tonnes of classical music, all mindblowing. It felt like an IMAX experience, sound assailing the senses from every which way. This was an incredible experience. It was basically everything I loved about the Dave on Steroids. The sound was crisp without being sharp and enveloping without being distant. Rob deserves four Michelin stars!

He also spoke to me about his plans going forward, very sensible. He is going to use Davina to compare original 768khz files vs 768khz files downsampled to 44.1 and then upscaled to 768khz via m scaler vs 44.1 upscaled to 768khz via m scaler to hear the differences between the three. Can't wait to see what he finds out. He was very candid in saying he was surprised the M scaler made such a big difference because in the past with his other dacs getting more taps in the equation has led to more and more diminishing returns. Not so here. Davina boards will be ready mid this year if nothing goes wrong though they probably will; so we should be hearing more about his next research direction then.

 

[jelt2359]

Yeah, I read your impressions in the Canjam thread. Did you get the impression that the Blu2 would sound just as good with speakers as they did on cans, or perhaps even better with speakers?

That might be a difficult question to answer. I'm just thinking about how one perceives depth with headphones and how depth is generally better with speakers.

Yes difficult to answer since I haven't tried them with speakers. But what you said is true with the Dave alone.

 

[Triode User]

What is "nobbling?" and what tunes did you have on your CD? Also are you saying that there were huge red cables plugged into the Blu2 or DAVE that wasn't connected to anything else, awaiting to be plugged into a headphone amp?

British slang. "nobble: to make something fail, especially to make a horse in a race fail by giving it drugs."

 

[EVOLVIST]

British slang. "nobble: to make something fail, especially to make a horse in a race fail by giving it drugs."

Like "hobble?" To mame something or somebody. "Nobble" sounds a little lewd, so I guess I like it. Heh.

 

[Triode User]

Like "hobble?" To mame something or somebody. "Nobble" sounds a little lewd, so I guess I like it. Heh.

Hobbling is tying or strapping a horse's legs together to prevent it from straying. This isn't slang and is a proper word. (I ride horses).

 

[seeteeyou]

Peter Barakan listened to the combo in Tokyo
 
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1277851922298182&id=120983034651749
https://www.facebook.com/timelord.ltd/posts/1283614635052239
http://www.a-taste-of-music.jp/article/vol-19/
 
Vol.19では、独自のコンセプトで音響特性にこだわった音楽ホール「TheGLEE（ザグリー）」に、英国“CHORD”の最新モデルを持ち込んで“前人未踏のCD再生”を体感。ピーター・バラカンさんが選んだ「音のいいCD」をじっくりと堪能します。
 

 

 

[Kamil21]

Interesting to see that only stock power cables are used.

 

[Triode User]

Interesting to see that only stock power cables are used.

Q. E. D.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Interesting to see that only stock power cables are used.

 
 
I think Rob is convinced that NOTHING behind DAVE matters - not cables, not source.  Nothing.  Except when it comes to Blu2...  Take that for whatever it is worth.

 

[EVOLVIST]

   
 
I think Rob is convinced that NOTHING behind DAVE matters - not cables, not source.  Nothing.  Except when it comes to Blu2...  Take that for whatever it is worth.

 
...And that's pretty much my experience, too, for the most part. I have tried...man, I don't know anymore how many cables, and interconnects, I've tried with the DAVE and I'm not even sure that anything was beneficial. What I believe I'm hearing is coloration of some sort, and sometimes with this "high-end" cables I've heard more harm than good. When the sound starts to harden because you have a $5,000 cable in there, that's no bueno.
 
It reminds me of this bible verse I heard one time, something like, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial."

 

[maxh22]

   
...And that's pretty much my experience, too, for the most part. I have tried...man, I don't know anymore how many cables, and interconnects, I've tried with the DAVE and I'm not even sure that anything was beneficial. What I believe I'm hearing is coloration of some sort, and sometimes with this "high-end" cables I've heard more harm than good. When the sound starts to harden because you have a $5,000 cable in there, that's no bueno.
 
It reminds me of this bible verse I heard one time, something like, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial."

What about the laptop you use to use with Dave? I remember you said it was producing a hardness in the sound..

 

[EVOLVIST]

What about the laptop you use to use with Dave? I remember you said it was producing a hardness in the sound..

Hmmm... I don't remember a laptop causing any hardness. The only laptop I've used with the DAVE has Audiophile Optimizer installed on it, and it gives a pretty swell sound. I use the mRendu now, but I might be changing up a few things. We'll see.

 

[maxh22]

Hmmm... I don't remember a laptop causing any hardness. The only laptop I've used with the DAVE has Audiophile Optimizer installed on it, and it gives a pretty swell sound. I use the mRendu now, but I might be changing up a few things. We'll see.

I remember seeing that post when you still had the HD 800 and didn't have the mRendu yet, maybe you were just tired of the sound signature of the HD 800 at that time.