[nwavesailor]

Caps 'forming' is real and I do understand this. I am, however, not a tube or piece of wire 'settling' believer. Yes a capacitor forms but 3 months???

I also don't understand why there isn't a straight line improvement as caps form. They get better and then they get worse?............come on guys!

 

[chesebert]

I can accept days and weeks, but months - we are getting into audiophile neuroticism

 

[chesebert]

Pro tip: when you feel like you need an upgrade or your rig used to sound good but no longer, stop listening right away, step away for a few days and evaluate again.

 

[The Jester]

Pro tip: when you feel like you need an upgrade or your rig used to sound good but no longer, stop listening right away, step away for a few days and evaluate again.

Or maybe do a little “system maintenance” clean all connections and/or apply a preferred cleaner/enhancer and then allow a day or two to “settle in” ?

 

[chesebert]

Or maybe do a little “system maintenance” clean all connections and/or apply a preferred cleaner/enhancer and then allow a day or two to “settle in” ?

That works too. The key is to stop listening

 

[nwavesailor]

OK............what the heck is it with the concept of 'settling'?
What is disrupted to the point of needing this 'settling'?
I don't get it................

 

[Sampajanna]

My DC4 was wow out of the box and then a slow increase of SQ that went on growing for quite some time.

 

[chesebert]

My goodness, if you are in Taiwan, just spend a day in Taipei and you can listen to every DAC on the market that's $10k+ and can probably get the dealer to do shootout for you. If I had that kind of listening resource, that's what I would do and not try to DIY upgrades.

 

[edwardsean]

Caps 'forming' is real and I do understand this. I am, however, not a tube or piece of wire 'settling' believer. Yes a capacitor forms but 3 months???

I also don't understand why there isn't a straight line improvement as caps form. They get better and then they get worse?............come on guys!

What's being said and challenged here shows a lot of common sense, but the sense needed here is not common. As Rob Watts says, as usual the matter is much more complex. I don't know enough to understand it, but I do know enough to be confused by it.

Theoretically a capacitor would just get better, but a real capacitor made with aluminum, polymer, paper, etc., why would it develop linearly? Wouldn't certain frequencies and attributes mature in complex ways depending on a number of physical, chemical, electromagnetic processes?

Our understanding of audio is so limited and constantly evolving. The whole sea change of understanding electricity as not analogous to flow but propagation is fascinating. The stuff, e.g., folks like High Fidelity are doing with magnetism and SR with quantum induction would've made no sense not too long ago.

 

[Sampajanna]

I am not sure how Dave is even "semi portable" but okay

So another high end killer couldn't really kill the high end. Why am I not surprised.

Why can't people just accept this: you get what you pay for.

Sometimes that is true, but he wasn’t comparing upgraded Mscaler + Dave with cables and DC4 to the Paciific. Never compared that and lampi may come out on top, but modded and dialed in Dave is NOT the Dave, that’s for sure. As many have said, it is Dave 2.0. Whether you want to add the extra funds is personally and some like modding and some don‘t. I really enjoyed the process….

 

[Sampajanna]

My goodness, if you are in Taiwan, just spend a day in Taipei and you can listen to every DAC on the market that's $10k+ and can probably get the dealer to do shootout for you. If I had that kind of listening resource, that's what I would do and not try to DIY upgrades.

I have listened to tons of DACs. This modded Dave does things they dont. Whether you like that is taste. I liked it better than all DCS and most MSB, for example. I thought the Reference gave it a run and came ahead in many areas, but that is 50k. Best not to knock what you haven’t heard….

 

[Sampajanna]

Also all discussion of a singular product dont make sense unless you discuss what is being used with them. This is where i think reviews can also mislead us. Synergy is a huge deal. My speakers can take unlimited transparency and never get harsh or fatiguing, so i want the most resolving, transparent front end i can get. Some people have speakers that are forward and highly resolving so a tube system might synergies way better. It all depends what you are looking for. The Dave is highly transparent and resolving, compared to any dac at any price.

 

[edwardsean]

Also all discussion of a singular product dont make sense unless you discuss what is being used with them. This is where i think reviews can also mislead us. Synergy is a huge deal. My speakers can take unlimited transparency and never get harsh or fatiguing, so i want the most resolving, transparent front end i can get. Some people have speakers that are forward and highly resolving so a tube system might synergies way better. It all depends what you are looking for. The Dave is highly transparent and resolving, compared to any dac at any price.

I think this is why Sean Jacobs' power supplies synergize so well with the Dave. In Jay Luong's big power supply roundup, he rated the DC4 as being in a class by itself in terms of its ability to add corporeal mass to the sound. A power supply that excelled at transparency/resolution at the expense of density would be the wrong mate for Dave in my opinion.

 

[chesebert]

Also all discussion of a singular product dont make sense unless you discuss what is being used with them. This is where i think reviews can also mislead us. Synergy is a huge deal. My speakers can take unlimited transparency and never get harsh or fatiguing, so i want the most resolving, transparent front end i can get. Some people have speakers that are forward and highly resolving so a tube system might synergies way better. It all depends what you are looking for. The Dave is highly transparent and resolving, compared to any dac at any price.

What speaker has unlimited transparency and resolution? I think you are breaking the laws of physics...

 

[Sampajanna]

“I think this is why Sean Jacobs' power supplies synergize so well with the Dave. In Jay Luong's big power supply roundup, he rated the DC4 as being in a class by itself in terms of its ability to add corporeal mass to the sound. A power supply that excelled at transparency/resolution at the expense of density would be the wrong mate for Dave in my opinion.”

Never put that together, but makes perfect sense. Synergy is all. Another example related to Lampi discussion is that most Lampi users have Wilson, magi o etc which makes sense. DSD dacs dont work in my system. As others have said, they are too warm for my amps/speakers…