[moemoney]

I finally got around to testing this some more. I’m still find crossfeed 0 (off) sounds best with the Utopia’s. Everything is more solid with it off. It’s almost like there is a Hall effect with the other settings that gets stronger as you move to 3. And I don’t feel they add more depth. What they seem to do is push some of the sounds that would be close to me further away but the final depth is the same. So with off I get more sense of depth since I have some sounds right by my head and others further away vs everything pushed back a little. I feel immersed in music.

So remember this is with the Utopia’s with angled drivers and open design. Maybe something like Grado headphones, even though still open, would need crossfeed since drivers are not angled. Or most close headphoness suffer from closed in feeing and crossfeed helps that. Curious what others with Utopia’s prefer.

I have to cross feeds set to “one” with the late 60s early 70s recordings you would really notice it, especially those recordings with the lead singer may be exclusively on the left channel and the group is on the right channel or a certain instrument like the bass player will be on the right channel, and the other instruments on the left.

 

[iamoneagain]

I have to cross feeds set to “one” with the late 60s early 70s recordings you would really notice it, especially those recordings with the lead singer may be exclusively on the left channel and the group is on the right channel or a certain instrument like the bass player will be on the right channel, and the other instruments on the left.

That makes sense too. I used to see the use of crossfeed just for this type of music but then saw more people not used to headphones trying crossfeed for all their music. Also crossfeed has improved over the years.

 

[Kelee123]

I haven't found a significant difference and finally left cross feed setting to 0 with my Audeze LCD-24 headphones.

 

[adrianm]

I finally got around to testing this some more. I’m still find crossfeed 0 (off) sounds best with the Utopia’s. Everything is more solid with it off. It’s almost like there is a Hall effect with the other settings that gets stronger as you move to 3. And I don’t feel they add more depth. What they seem to do is push some of the sounds that would be close to me further away but the final depth is the same. So with off I get more sense of depth since I have some sounds right by my head and others further away vs everything pushed back a little. I feel immersed in music.

So remember this is with the Utopia’s with angled drivers and open design. Maybe something like Grado headphones, even though still open, would need crossfeed since drivers are not angled. Or most close headphoness suffer from closed in feeing and crossfeed helps that. Curious what others with Utopia’s prefer.

The Z1R also have angled drivers, crossfeed just bleeds the channels ,which is what speakers/live music sounds like. After i got used to it, off it feels a bit unnatural. The center of the image is split in 2.
That said, with the bad optical cable and solo Dave, and with USB i also preferred 0 and heard things just the way you're describing them but after adding the m-scaler and a decent fitting cable the image is just as solid on 3 as it is on 0, depth and positioning are the same, it's just the center part of the image that i find more natural. Not sure what changed thing but i can't go back now.

 

[alxw0w]

I have a question about connecting Dave to drive directly passive speakers (my speakers are not efficient, anyway I want to try this as I remember having great effect when using TT2 directly to speaker).
Can I use RCA connectors on the back ? They suppose to be connected to the same output as headphone jack on the front, right ?
And what about volume/heat/power handling, can I listen for example at -3 for long period of time without worrying about any overheat/malfunction ?

 

[HeeBroG]

The RCA connectors are the only way to do it.
Some use RCA to banana/spade connector convertors but I had speaker cables made specifically for this purpose with RCA on the DAVE end and spades on the speaker end.
I listen at +5dB for prolonged periods without any issue with Blu2 connected.
I believe standalone DAVE would max out at +3bB.

 

[alxw0w]

The RCA connectors are the only way to do it.
Some use RCA to banana/spade connector convertors but I had speaker cables made specifically for this purpose with RCA on the DAVE end and spades on the speaker end.
I listen at +5dB for prolonged periods without any issue with Blu2 connected.
I believe standalone DAVE would max out at +3bB.

Yup this is exactly what I will do. Rca to banana cables.

 

[rgs9200m]

I have pair of powered KEF LS50s on my desk connected to the DAVE via the RCA outputs on the DAVE. Sounds great. Very high-endy. For convenience, I use a little Schiit SYS passive volume control in the signal path to control the volume. It probably degrades the sound a bit but it's so convenient I can't live without it.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys

 

[MatW]

I have pair of powered KEF LS50s on my desk connected to the DAVE via the RCA outputs on the DAVE. Sounds great. Very high-endy. For convenience, I use a little Schiit SYS passive volume control in the signal path to control the volume. It probably degrades the sound a bit but it's so convenient I can't live without it.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys

Interesting. I have the lsx, but they don't have rca in. Why the volume control, why not use the Dave or the kef controls, can you please elaborate?

 

[MrCypruz]

I have pair of powered KEF LS50s on my desk connected to the DAVE via the RCA outputs on the DAVE. Sounds great. Very high-endy. For convenience, I use a little Schiit SYS passive volume control in the signal path to control the volume. It probably degrades the sound a bit but it's so convenient I can't live without it.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys

Just curious...why don’t you use the speakers to control the volume since they’re active? Is it because of a “hot” signal coming from the Dave?

 

[MrCypruz]

Interesting. I have the lsx, but they don't have rca in. Why the volume control, why not use the Dave or the kef controls, can you please elaborate?

If you have a M Scaler, you can use the optical output and it would be feeding the LSX with 192 KHz sample rate if I’m not mistaken. It will probably yield better results and higher sound quality than streaming directly from the speakers. Give it a shot and report back.

 

[MatW]

If you have a M Scaler, you can use the optical output and it would be feeding the LSX with 192 KHz sample rate if I’m not mistaken. It will probably yield better results and higher sound quality than streaming directly from the speakers. Give it a shot and report back.

Interesting suggestion. I currently stream Roon to the LSX. Going through the M scaler is an interesting alternative, but the signal would still be going through the LSX's internal DAC. I would like to use the Dave as a DAC, but the LSX only has a single AUX input. Feeding that from an SP2000 for example did not work, lots of crackling and low volume. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a shot.

 

[alxw0w]

Interesting suggestion. I currently stream Roon to the LSX. Going through the M scaler is an interesting alternative, but the signal would still be going through the LSX's internal DAC. I would like to use the Dave as a DAC, but the LSX only has a single AUX input. Feeding that from an SP2000 for example did not work, lots of crackling and low volume. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a shot.

But I'm guessing that analog input on lsx is digitized. So in my opinion it's better to use its optical in.

 

[MatW]

But I'm guessing that analog input on lsx is digitized. So in my opinion it's better to use its optical in.

Yes, that could well be, and would explain why it has not worked for me. I am intrigued why it does apparently work with the LS50, as mentioned in a post above.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Yes, that could well be, and would explain why it has not worked for me. I am intrigued why it does apparently work with the LS50, as mentioned in a post above.

I have the LS50w. Even going in analog, the ls50w still uses its internal dac. I read up on it, apparently it’s related to the speakers use of DSP (which can’t be disabled)