[rrolls]

Following on further regarding XLR vs RCA attributes and indeed running Dave straight to a high sensitivity speaker. This (below) from the cable manufacturer Chord Cables.
It occurs that if I were to run BlueDave as a power source direct to an Omega speaker, in theory the best connection for me would likely be XLR a) because it would provide double the output and b) because I would be using a 5 metre run. I am sure Omega have been asked this question and probably it is not possible but its an interesting premise I guess.

It is not possible to run speakers out of DAVE's XLR, because output resistance is 33Ω compared to 50mΩ of rca, there is an additional amplification stage. Sonically we should take rca, as told by R. Watts. Probably there are exceptions, when the power amp has both. Then you decide, which unit does a better job to convert to push pull.
My speakers are driven from DAVE's rca outputs directly. This is a lesson of purity, it is a pity, when you notice, how much gets lost in a pre or power amp, albeit of best sonic quality.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

T

It is not possible to run speakers out of DAVE's XLR, because output resistance is 33Ω compared to 50mΩ of rca, there is an additional amplification stage. Sonically we should take rca, as told by R. Watts. Probably there are exceptions, when the power amp has both. Then you decide, which unit does a better job to convert to push pull.
My speakers are driven from DAVE's rca outputs directly. This is a lesson of purity, it is a pity, when you notice, how much gets lost in a pre or power amp, albeit of best sonic quality.

Thanks for the reply rrolls. I felt sure there would be a reason, otherwise they would already be doing it in order to harness the extra power. I may try this out for myself also but please do provide feedback of your experience when the Omega's arrive. Which model did you go for?

 

[Christer]

It was recorded in July 1964 at Salle Wagram, Paris, a former ballroom built in 1812. Described as having an “acoustique exceptionnelle”, it was used extensively by EMI at the time, usually with the engineer Paul Vavasseur, who was the engineer on this recording. I don’t know the microphones used – I imagine the usual valve models of the time -- but I suspect that the quality of the recording is primarily due to the acoustic and microphone placement, and an engineer who knew the space intimately. And it was Callas! She also recorded Tosca there in the same year, though her earlier 1953 recording made at La Scala is probably better known.

Salle Wagram is still in use today as a recording and performance venue, and there’s a website with a brief overview of its history (in French). You can even take a virtual tour:

http://www.salle-wagram.fr/

Bon Chance

At the time, it was often the case that orchestral recordings would be in venue’s other than the orchestra’s regular concert hall, many of which did not have particularly good acoustics, or lacked the facilities required. The Vienna Philharmonic frequently recorded at the Sofiensaal (also a former dance hall), even though the Musikverein has a wonderful acoustic. I strongly recommend “The Golden Ring”, the BBC film of Solti, Culshaw & Co. recording Götterdämmerung at the Sofiensaal. Fascinating stuff.

Interesting read.
I have loads of Operas recorded at the Sofiensaal.
There are also some later recordings from Salle Wagram than the 1964 Carmen which while balance-wise very good is quite dated in other respects. Karajan did some recordings there while he was chief conductor of Orchestre de Paris in the 70s. Some of them are available as 24/96 downloads from Qobuz. Compared to other recordings of Carmen in my collection the Callas recording is of course one of the great ones musically.
She was also a great Tosca.
But it is a bit lamentable that she was never recorded really well.
Most of her recordings stem from an era when stereo was still not common and dynamic range was quite limited.
And massed strings had a tendency to sound a bit steely and wiry.
The good thing about many of them though are Callas and the fact that they still had not begun to multimic things to death yet.
Hence the excellent soundstage on both Carmen and Tosca.

 

[rrolls]

T


Thanks for the reply rrolls. I felt sure there would be a reason, otherwise they would already be doing it in order to harness the extra power. I may try this out for myself also but please do provide feedback of your experience when the Omega's arrive. Which model did you go for?

I ordered 2 pairs, for a friend as well. At first I ordered the super alnicos. A week later I noticed, that their impedance is 4-6 Ω, and DAVE should see at least 8Ω. But Louis was very helpful to find a solution.
Now we have special Alnicos, one driver is on the back. There are 4 binding post, so I can wire the drivers for 4Ω or 16Ω. Their efficiency is about 99db/W, shoud be an easy task for DAVE.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I ordered 2 pairs, for a friend as well. At first I ordered the super alnicos. A week later I noticed, that their impedance is 4-6 Ω, and DAVE should see at least 8Ω. But Louis was very helpful to find a solution.
Now we have special Alnicos, one driver is on the back. There are 4 binding post, so I can wire the drivers for 4Ω or 16Ω. Their efficiency is about 99db/W, shoud be an easy task for DAVE.

I must admit you have piqued my interest in this. I quite like the look of the specs on the Omega Junior 8XRS and the Omega Super 8XRS I wouldn't wish to lose too much bass and a single 8" seems a good compromise.

Anyway, good luck with it rrolls and let us know how you get on.

 

[Triode User]

I must admit you have piqued my interest in this. I quite like the look of the specs on the Omega Junior 8XRS and the Omega Super 8XRS I wouldn't wish to lose too much bass and a single 8" seems a good compromise.

Anyway, good luck with it rrolls and let us know how you get on.

Also good luck to rrolls. I will be interested to see how it pans out. Normally though there is a good reason why we don't all use full range drivers.

I did once try some Odeon Rigoletto 95dB speakers direct from Dave but lets just say that I did not feel inclined to continue with that.

 

[Crgreen]

Interesting read.
I have loads of Operas recorded at the Sofiensaal.
There are also some later recordings from Salle Wagram than the 1964 Carmen which while balance-wise very good is quite dated in other respects. Karajan did some recordings there while he was chief conductor of Orchestre de Paris in the 70s. Some of them are available as 24/96 downloads from Qobuz. Compared to other recordings of Carmen in my collection the Callas recording is of course one of the great ones musically.
She was also a great Tosca.
But it is a bit lamentable that she was never recorded really well.
Most of her recordings stem from an era when stereo was still not common and dynamic range was quite limited.
And massed strings had a tendency to sound a bit steely and wiry.
The good thing about many of them though are Callas and the fact that they still had not begun to multimic things to death yet.
Hence the excellent soundstage on both Carmen and Tosca.

Yes, the adoption of multi miking, prompted by multi track recording, was on the whole, not a good move. It enabled instruments to be spot lit, but tended to destroy any sense of natural acoustic. It was mainly a trend of the 70s and early 80s, and is one of the reasons the earlier, more simply miked recordings, were extolled amongst audiophiles and others. That more natural kind of recording did return however, so that many recent recordings are very good indeed. I sometimes think they're not given their due and that "golden age" Deccas, RCA Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence etc.. are preferred, due to their legendary status. Although there are some classic performances and recordings, particularly on Decca, some of the performances on other labels are not that impressive, irrespective of sonics.

 

[Articnoise]

Following on further regarding XLR vs RCA attributes and indeed running Dave straight to a high sensitivity speaker. This (below) from the cable manufacturer Chord Cables.

It occurs that if I were to run BlueDave as a power source direct to an Omega speaker, in theory the best connection for me would likely be XLR a) because it would provide double the output and b) because I would be using a 5 metre run. I am sure Omega have been asked this question and probably it is not possible but its an interesting premise I guess.

XLR vs RCA – which is best?
It’s very easy to assume that if your equipment has both XLR and RCA connections, that XLR connections are going to be the better sounding connection. It’s not always the case.

The XLR connection carries a balanced signal. The hot pin carries the signal, the cold pin also carries the signal but inverted (think mirror image) and the third carries the earth. At the receiving equipment, any noise that is common to both the hot and cold pins is cancelled out. This makes a lot of sense in recording studios where long runs of cable are often needed to carry the small voltage signal generated by a microphone over (certainly in terms of hi-fi) very long runs of cable.

In a hi-fi system though, where perhaps the longest interconnect is 1 metre and the signal is up to 4 volts, then the need for XLR connections is more questionable.

The most important thing though is sound quality, and this is harder to be certain about. Our experience is that there are systems where the XLR connection sounds better than the RCA connection, and there are systems where the opposite is true.

So with any system that has both XLR and RCA connections, we would recommend that you try both connections and decide for yourself which is the better sounding connection for you. This is also something that your dealer will be happy to advise you on.

Like rrolls said it is not good to run speakers directly out of DAVE's XLR, because the output impedance is higher than the nominal for speakers. Which output to choose if you doesn’t go directly and have a power amp is much more depending on the rest of your gear and how they work in SE VS balanced.

Dave is a single ended DAC/amp with a selectable balanced output. If it had been a true balanced design - to output a single ended (SE), the signal had to be summed. In Dave it’s the opposite – to output a balanced signal, it has to go thru a transformer or extra amplifier stage.

So normally (but not always) it best to stick in the mode that the amp or DAC I designed to operate in without any extra amplifier stage or summand of a true balanced. If one gear is SE and the other is balanced it’s more difficult to predict what’s best and will ultimately depend on the specific amp and DAC and how the work together in SE VS balanced.

 

[jlbrach]

quick question,when i connect my blu 2 to the dave and then set the dave input to BNC 1 it displays 705.6 KHZ....it doesnt change to display different levels dependent on what i am playing...in the past when set to USB it would change depending on what was being played...in other words 44.1 16 etc.....i am a bit confused and wondering if anyone has an easy explanation for a dense guy lol?

 

[Triode User]

Thats the connection between Blu2 and Dave and is not file dependent. Switch the upscaling switch on Blu2 and it will change I think.

 

[ecwl]

quick question,when i connect my blu 2 to the dave and then set the dave input to BNC 1 it displays 705.6 KHZ....it doesnt change to display different levels dependent on what i am playing...in the past when set to USB it would change depending on what was being played...in other words 44.1 16 etc.....i am a bit confused and wondering if anyone has an easy explanation for a dense guy lol?

In the best playback mode, CD/44kHz/88kHz/176kHz/352kHz/DSD would be converted to 705.6kHz for playback by Blu2. 48/96/192/384kHz skull be converted to 768kHz for playback by Blu2. The change in colour on DAVE between 705.6 and 768kHz is subtle so you might miss it if you weren't paying attention.

 

[jlbrach]

Thanks,one more question...the manual seems to indicate that the B2 remote will control the volume on the Dave but when I have tried adjusting volume with the B2 remote it does not seem to work....am i doing anything wrong or is there a setting i am missing?

 

[rrolls]

Thanks,one more question...the manual seems to indicate that the B2 remote will control the volume on the Dave but when I have tried adjusting volume with the B2 remote it does not seem to work....am i doing anything wrong or is there a setting i am missing?

We had the same issue this afternoon. It turned out, that more pressure is nedded for the "up" arrow, hopefully it helps.

 

[jlbrach]

no matter how much pressure i apply to the b2 remote the volume on the dave does not change...the dave remote however changes the volume quickly and easily.....would be nice to be able to use the b2 remote for both if there is a way

 

[Crgreen]

Thanks,one more question...the manual seems to indicate that the B2 remote will control the volume on the Dave but when I have tried adjusting volume with the B2 remote it does not seem to work....am i doing anything wrong or is there a setting i am missing?

The original remote which came with Dave controls CD playback on the Blu II, and obviously allows you to control volume and input switching on the Dave. I just use the Dave remote. I don't know if the later Dave remote - an agrarian item - also does that.

The remote which comes with the Blu II, or at least the one I got, can control volume on the Dave, but not input switching.