Along with many others, this will remain an endless source of mystery to me. I know that you have conducted these experiments on your own and with Romaz at his home (Roy being the originator of that Audiophile Style thread).
Whose ears should we trust more than Rob Watts! I mean this with utmost sincerity.
And yet... here we are. The sound with my system (server, reclocker, isolator, power supplies, cabling, etc.) is not a brighter sound than the Dave alone. I don't have a Windows laptop of any brand. However, the Dave clearly sounds brighter when I go straight from my MacBook Pro. Adding the system, the sound is warmer, fuller, suppler, and more dynamic, with increased timbral delicacy and definition.
The background is more black which I can only attribute to a lower noise floor. There is nothing less than a dramatic increase in soundstage dimension and separation of sonic components in the image. I can hear detail which I simply cannot with the Dave alone, which is again, a phenomenon I cannot understand if more RF noise is being injected into the signal. The sound from the system does not have the telltale excitation "spice" of increased noise pollution but bears all the increased nuance and resolution of decreased noise. I don't consider any of this a way to better Dave, but providing Dave with the signal to take better advantage of what it offers.
In all my attempts to interpret and understand the technicalities of what I am hearing, the fact that my conclusions are so at odds with Rob Watt's, is utterly confounding. The mammoth levels of effort and obscene amount of finances expended by so many are driven by the revelation that came with hearing Dave. That what we are hearing with our additional systems is at such variance with the very designer of the Dave is deflating. And yet, with–all due deference and enormous respect–we go on.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
After all the hype and discussions here whether "to laptop or not to laptop?" "Or maybe whether to mac or to windows?" I'm going to listen to the often lauded Innuos server solution soon.
But I already know that maybe the one deciding limiting factor for me is Qutest.
Dave/Mscaler via my mbp USB is about as good as I've heard digital sound so far.
But that there can be audible differences between sources/cd players even with rbcd and optical out, oh yes indeed!
I have no doubts whatsoever as far as that is concerned.
My preferred cd player stopped working last week and just for fun while shopping for second hand cds at a local thrift shop I also bought an upmarket VERY expensive dvd/cd player that day.
A real "High End" brand NAD and I paid 10 € for it including a huge remote.
They also had two "new" pianos for sale that also sounded different from each other. One for 100€ and another for 250€.
Mozart sounded nicer on the cheaper one and Beethoven better on the more expensive one.
To my surprise the "HIGH END" 10€ NAD dvd /cd player sounds quite nice and with some cds better, but again audibly different from my other still working cd player via optical out into Mscaler, just as my now dead cd player sounded different from the other.
Neither of the three as good as cd s via Blu2/DAVE though,going by memory, which remains the best I've ever heard cd discs sound.
But since I still clearly hear that the hi res 24/96 master files from some of the same recordings still sound notably better and more realistic via my mbp/Qutest/Mscaler than via even Blu2/DAVE.
Yes a laptop!
Hence 25 k for cd player combo like Blu2 was NEVER on my horizon.
Proof of the pudding so far, cd can sound better than I ever thought it would or could. But hi res rules.
To "server or not to server?" now that remains to be decided after proper auditions with my reference material.
Cheers CC
