[learpot]

Still waiting my Blu2 (black), but confused about one thing. If you already feed 768 pcm in, doesn’t that replace m-scaler?

I am still trying to compare different setting with the blu2. I used to upsample everything to 768 with dave alone. Now I have noticed significant improvement with blu2 in the chain with no other changes. I could not explain the huge improvement when blu2 is fed with the same old 768 pre-upsampled files from HQPlayer though. Thanks.

 

[Mython]

(I always observe my ‘likes’ to ‘posts’ ratio. If I start dipping below 1:2, then I know that I am posting too much, and I’m getting close again now).

It's too late - it's already obvious that you've been slacking - Rob Watts has a ratio of almost 2:1!!

 

[ecwl]

I am still trying to compare different setting with the blu2. I used to upsample everything to 768 with dave alone. Now I have noticed significant improvement with blu2 in the chain with no other changes. I could not explain the huge improvement when blu2 is fed with the same old 768 pre-upsampled files from HQPlayer though. Thanks.

My guess is that there could be better galvanic isolation you’re getting (so less noise) between Mac/Blu2 via dual Coax vs Mac to DAVE via USB.

 

[Triode User]

Yes, exactly that. I have always wanted all of the detail, depth, transparency and accuracy without the inherent harshness in the high end, some call it glare, that always seems to accompany those objectives. BluDave does deliver that.

Sorry, I’ve got to stop posting today - I have had too much caffeine!!! (I always observe my ‘likes’ to ‘posts’ ratio. If I start dipping below 1:2, then I know that I am posting too much, and I’m getting close again now).

Your poor unliked soul. I have given you a like just to make you feel better.

 

[marcmccalmont]

I am primarily using the abyss phi with my dave/blu2 but also own the LCD-4 and Utopia and both are also fantastic

Can you describe the sonic difference between the 3 !

 

[jlbrach]

Let me give it a try.....the Utopia is incredibly detailed and dynamic...very forward with a narrow soundstage,it is the most "exciting" of he 3 but the one i find fatiguing most quickly.It is comfortable and beautifully built.It is like sitting in the front row of a concert where what you hear is incredibly dynamic but a fair bit floats above you...the utopia is by far the most efficient of the 3 which is very convenient and allows most anything to drive it easily.The Chord hugo 2 is great with it as is the Dave for example....

The LCD-4 is more comfortable than people describe IMHO although it is heavy but the weight is well distributed and easily tolerated.It is not quite as detailed as the Utopia but far more forgiving and almost pillow like in its presentation.It can be an addictive sound with great bass and vocals.The soundstage is very natural IMHO and it is like moving back to the 10th row of the concert hall,it is a terrific listen...the LCD-4 requires more power than the utopia by a fair bit.The Hugo 2 IMHO is not up to the task without an external amp but the dave is and also works great together....

the Phi is a difficult build and tough to get just right but if you do it is glorious.It is very detailed with incredible bass and the widest soundstage of the 3.It is a bit more open sounding than the LCD-4 and with the Phi we move to the 20th row of the concert hall hearing most everything around us.There are times when listening to the Phi that i think I hear things from another room or a person or the TV...The Phi is the toughest to drive of the 3 for me.I use it primarily with the dave/blu2 without an external amp but have on occasion used my moon 430 which is quite nice but not necessary.If i could find an amp that did not rob me of the transparency of the Dave/blu2 i would use it but i havent yet come across that.

As far as ranking i would put the Phi first followed by the LCD-4 the utopia would be third although I can easily see somebody loving the dynamic forward sound of the utopia best.I do listen to it often and i do use it with my hugo 2 which i think is an outstanding combo.I used to own the He1000v 2 and liked it quite a bit as well but i had to draw the line somewhere with this crazy and very expensive hobby.

Hopefully this is helpful for somebody

 

[Malcyg]

It's too late - it's already obvious that you've been slacking - Rob Watts has a ratio of almost 2:1!!

Oh yes, that’s fair. We’re talking about a borderline genius who is changing the face of digital technology there, so.......... c’mon!!

Your poor unliked soul. I have given you a like just to make you feel better.

Thank you Nick. My point is not so much about being liked, but not being an irritant. In these days of being constantly logged in via an iDevice, it is all too easy to keep firing comments in, many of which may be a waste of space or even an irritant. I always think that if you provoke a reply or a like, then that comment has been of some use to someone - otherwise, probably not.

I get very frustrated myself when wading through lots of trivial comments trying to pick out the useful snippets of information, so it is just my way of trying to avoid being ‘that guy’. Some may think that I already am that guy, but I can’t help that and at least I try not to be.

In fairness, there isn’t very much of it in this particular thread - and I have my thoughts on why that is the case - which is why I like the thread so much compared to many others.

Anyway, I’ve been down the pub since 4:00, and here I am at it again.

 

[Malcyg]

Let me give it a try.....the Utopia is incredibly detailed and dynamic...very forward with a narrow soundstage,it is the most "exciting" of he 3 but the one i find fatiguing most quickly.It is comfortable and beautifully built.It is like sitting in the front row of a concert where what you hear is incredibly dynamic but a fair bit floats above you...the utopia is by far the most efficient of the 3 which is very convenient and allows most anything to drive it easily.The Chord hugo 2 is great with it as is the Dave for example....

The LCD-4 is more comfortable than people describe IMHO although it is heavy but the weight is well distributed and easily tolerated.It is not quite as detailed as the Utopia but far more forgiving and almost pillow like in its presentation.It can be an addictive sound with great bass and vocals.The soundstage is very natural IMHO and it is like moving back to the 10th row of the concert hall,it is a terrific listen...the LCD-4 requires more power than the utopia by a fair bit.The Hugo 2 IMHO is not up to the task without an external amp but the dave is and also works great together....

the Phi is a difficult build and tough to get just right but if you do it is glorious.It is very detailed with incredible bass and the widest soundstage of the 3.It is a bit more open sounding than the LCD-4 and with the Phi we move to the 20th row of the concert hall hearing most everything around us.There are times when listening to the Phi that i think I hear things from another room or a person or the TV...The Phi is the toughest to drive of the 3 for me.I use it primarily with the dave/blu2 without an external amp but have on occasion used my moon 430 which is quite nice but not necessary.If i could find an amp that did not rob me of the transparency of the Dave/blu2 i would use it but i havent yet come across that.

As far as ranking i would put the Phi first followed by the LCD-4 the utopia would be third although I can easily see somebody loving the dynamic forward sound of the utopia best.I do listen to it often and i do use it with my hugo 2 which i think is an outstanding combo.I used to own the He1000v 2 and liked it quite a bit as well but i had to draw the line somewhere with this crazy and very expensive hobby.

Hopefully this is helpful for somebody

As an occasional headphone user - I use speakers and iem’s a lot more than headphones - that is a really good and helpful post. I ended up looking at a short list of exactly the same 4 you mention plus some Oppo model - can’t remember what the model name is now. I thought the same as you about the Utopia’s and, good as they undoubtedly are, they weren’t for me. I liked the LCD-4 but I personally preferred the HE-1000 V2 and also found them a lot more comfortable to wear. In fact, comfort for sustained listening is important to me and I like the HD800”s as well in that respect.

Then I didn’t even try the Abyss for the reasons that I have already mentioned. If the Susvara are a mile ahead of the HE-K, I wouldn’t be interested as they’re just too expensive for the use that they’d get from me.

 

[Silvertone4]

Just changed to the canare 12g cables, while rearranging the blu on the ensemble stand that finally arrived.

Compared to the belden 12g, the canare sounded warmer. May or may not be your kind of sound, as the music is more laid back and comparatively lack energy compared to the beldens.

This is in-line with my observations:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.831343/page-169#post-14032221

 

[learpot]

Mm...it is a lovely combination actually... extremely hard to beat. Highly recommended.

Wow, your setup looks nothing less than fantastic From the picture, I noticed different power cables for the dave and blu2. May I ask you the brands of those cables and if you have a power regenerator attached to the the bludave. Thanks.

 

[raypin]

Mm...power cables: Monitor Acoustics, power conditioner: Monitor Acoustics, balanced/xlr: atlas asimi, usb: audioquest diamond, coax/digital: audioquest diamond, dual bnc: stock blu mk2.

 

[esimms86]

So, for those still excitedly waiting on their Blu II - and good for you, you have a lot to look forward to - just consider this a health warning - for your wallet!

BluDave is actually less expensive than you may think, especially when you think about all the money people spend over a period of decades in search of their end game system. You can buy and sell a lot of kit (as I admittedly have) before you find BluDave. Nowadays I read a lot of DAC and headphone amp reviews purely out of interest/curiosity and without once considering swapping out BluDave for other components.

 

[esimms86]

Personally, I would avoid upscaling altogether when feeding Blu II - it just seems logically redundant to me, although I’m sure some may argue to the contrary. To me though, that’s exactly why you’re buying into M Scaler. I’m pretty sure that Rob Watts recommended against it from memory, though that wouldn’t ever stop me from trying.

While I’m interested in hearing what other people’s impressions are of the pairing of BluDave with HQPlayer, I too recall Rob Watts arguing against using other upsampling programs with Dave. Specifically, he responded to one of my posts way back when in the “Dave thread,” admonishing me against using XX High End(XXHE) upsampling software with Dave(this being before the introduction of Blu2). XXHE works great with the PhasureNOS1a DAC, for which it was designed, as well as with other DACs who(mostly) don’t do their own internal upsampling.

 

[marcmccalmont]

Let me give it a try.....the Utopia is incredibly detailed and dynamic...very forward with a narrow soundstage,it is the most "exciting" of he 3 but the one i find fatiguing most quickly.It is comfortable and beautifully built.It is like sitting in the front row of a concert where what you hear is incredibly dynamic but a fair bit floats above you...the utopia is by far the most efficient of the 3 which is very convenient and allows most anything to drive it easily.The Chord hugo 2 is great with it as is the Dave for example....

The LCD-4 is more comfortable than people describe IMHO although it is heavy but the weight is well distributed and easily tolerated.It is not quite as detailed as the Utopia but far more forgiving and almost pillow like in its presentation.It can be an addictive sound with great bass and vocals.The soundstage is very natural IMHO and it is like moving back to the 10th row of the concert hall,it is a terrific listen...the LCD-4 requires more power than the utopia by a fair bit.The Hugo 2 IMHO is not up to the task without an external amp but the dave is and also works great together....

the Phi is a difficult build and tough to get just right but if you do it is glorious.It is very detailed with incredible bass and the widest soundstage of the 3.It is a bit more open sounding than the LCD-4 and with the Phi we move to the 20th row of the concert hall hearing most everything around us.There are times when listening to the Phi that i think I hear things from another room or a person or the TV...The Phi is the toughest to drive of the 3 for me.I use it primarily with the dave/blu2 without an external amp but have on occasion used my moon 430 which is quite nice but not necessary.If i could find an amp that did not rob me of the transparency of the Dave/blu2 i would use it but i havent yet come across that.

As far as ranking i would put the Phi first followed by the LCD-4 the utopia would be third although I can easily see somebody loving the dynamic forward sound of the utopia best.I do listen to it often and i do use it with my hugo 2 which i think is an outstanding combo.I used to own the He1000v 2 and liked it quite a bit as well but i had to draw the line somewhere with this crazy and very expensive hobby.

Hopefully this is helpful for somebody

Thanks for the comparison
If your looking for a clean powerful world class headphone amp a Spectral DMC20 mkII preamp is uniquely suited. I lowered the output resistors to 1 ohm and use the balanced output about a 100 watt power amp!

 

[learpot]

Just reviewing some of my favorite musical pieces from the past by playing five recorded CDs in blu2 with USB disconnected. My eyes are filled with tears at some point of listening. BluDave gets you right into the soul of the music and those sweet and bitter past memories... Now the only task is to titrate HQPlayer/Usb/Switch/Ultrarendu/Iso Regen setup to match the signature of BluDave alone...