[adrianm]

https://www.isolateit.com/collections/hemispheres-bumpers

Only the skeptics lose out. You have to pick a set with the right load. Everything needs to be sorbothaned. I had at least 10 devices except the src dx on sorbothanes and I felt the Dave to Susvara setup was underwhelming. I was being lazy but when I did finally place sorbothanes after a few days, I got the blacks and huge soundstage I was expecting.

So what is he "right load" for Dave, M-scaler, etc?

 

[801evan]

So what is he "right load" for Dave, M-scaler, etc?

Well, get the weight of both units and divvy it up to 3 or 4 (as feet) to find the Sorbothanes you need. There's a graph on each page to show load capacity.

 

[adrianm]

DCA Stealth is THD .03% on a good part of the band which equates to -70dB

.05% for the Elites, 0.1% for the LCD-5. They are getting better I do have an old Yamaha soundbar that has 10% distortion, i wasn't aware that there is still hi-fi in that range.

 

[chesebert]

Being neurotic about THD is not healthy and at the end of the day THD is not really all that meaningful in music reproduction (apart from obviously broken equipment).

 

[adrianm]

Yes, but any half way decent valve amplifier has infinitely better measurements than any headphone or speaker I have seen. Even the 70 year old Quad II or McIntosh 275 amplifier perform far better than most loudspeakers or headphones on this planet. And if you want to really get state of the art in valve technology check out the measurements of the latest McIntosh 1100 two chassis valve preamplifier. Hi Fi News measured something like 0.0005% THD of this preamplifier. I’d like to see a headphone or speaker perform anywhere close to that, heck I’d settle for a speaker that won’t distort at 10% THD like many popular moving coil loudspeakers do in the bass. Don’t believe me? Check out the measurements of the latest Kef LS 50 Meta loudspeaker in audioscience.com — under 200 Hz, even at 85 dB, the THD of this speaker is off the charts.

Like I said, you’re all welcome to continue this discussion of USB vs optical, but it’s a ridiculously academic discussion in light of the absolutely horrible performance of headphones and loudspeakers. I’m talking of distortion that’s a million times larger. The $600 Topping DAC has linearity errors that are less than -130dB on ANY input, USB or optical or AES or I2S. There’s no speaker or headphone on the planet that has linearity error less than -60dB. Even the wonderful Quad electrostatics that I have used for 30+ years have -70dB distortion only above 100Hz and that too only for sound pressure levels around 85 dB. Over 90 dB, the Quad 63 overloads quickly in the bass, although the region above 100 Hz still performs admirably. Other moving coil speakers perform dreadfully. Ever seen what inputting a square wave produces from your average moving coil? It’s a shambles. Only a small handful of phase accurate speakers like the Quad produce a reasonably accurate square wave at the output when fed one at the input.

You’re all barking up the wrong tree here fretting over optical vs USB, and ignoring the elephant in the room: your speakers or headphones. The day we can stream bits directly into our brains through neural implants and avoid headphones or speakers will introduce a new era in high fidelity. Or someone figures out how to do a truly digital headphone or speaker that avoids any D-to-A conversion prior to it.

I really wasn't looking to start a philosophical debate on Optical vs USB and Coax. I just stated that it sounds noticeably worse to me with via the M-scaler since getting new headphones. This is in spite of the RF noise that is clearly entering Dave, that affects the soundstage width and depth. I've been advocating for optical for 2 years now so I am surprised by this and trying to get to the bottom of it since it's very much a practical issue for me, and adding to the list of frustrations adding up with the M-scaler.
Something else that is now audible to me is the degradation that cross feed introduces, especially at level 3. This+ Optical sounded like a mushy mess compared to using coaxial, where everything is much sharper and well defined. I'm not saying it's because I can hear a difference between 0.05% and 0.78% (The max that Jude measured in the bass for the Z1R) but I am re-evaluating things and coming to different conclusions.

 

[simorag]

Since I have got my new music server and the SRC*DX I was planning to do a test of a simplified version of my system.

I am not at ease with myself by knowing how many boxes and cables are put in between the server and the DAVE in my current setup, which is the crazy mess listed below:

USB > SRC*DX > 2x BNC > M-Scaler (on battery) > OPTO*DX T (on battery) > 2x optical > OPTO*DX R (on battery) > 2x BNC > 2x DC*STOP > DAVE

I was aiming to reduce to USB > SRC*DX > 2x BNC > DAVE, and having experienced the benefits of feeding the DAVE with 705/768 material via the M Scaler during the last 4 years or so, I also used the demo version of PGGB to remaster a set of the albums I use for reference to evaluate new components in my audio rig.



In my testing it was easy to compare PGGB vs non-PGGB tracks, while to compare the 'complex' version of my sytem (upscaling via M Scaler) vs. the 'simplified' version (no upscaling, or upscaling via PGGB), I had to swap cables, which takes about 30 seconds. This is way more than enough for my weak aural memory to fade, but I learnt that instant A/B tests are not necessarily what works best for me anyway.

My findings have been as follows:

• After several years of addiction to M Scaler, going back to solo DAVE was a clear downgrade to my ears. I did some back and forth test with the M Scaler already in the early times and I always found that, while I was convinced about the HMS since I first listened to it, its qualities are even more apparent when you take it out. The music feels immediately harder, more mechanical, less engaging. The rythmic flow seems to lose grip, with a resulting flattening of the presentation. Also, soundstage size collapsed by a very audible notch.
• PGGB is real, as PGGB'ed files sounded consistently better than the respective native ones. This was easier to perceive with 16/44.1 source material. I also compared different variants of PGGB, and I found that the Natural-Moderate was my preferred configuration due to some additional body;
• PGGB vs. M Scaler was a though call, but if I am being honest to myself, as biased I was towards PGGB in my quest for simplification, I still believe that I like what the M Scaler does a bit better. I seem to perceive a more immersive experience through the HMS (slightly better sense of space, especially depth) and some further smoothening of the musical flow.

As I am using Qobuz for the most part of my listening, which on my system currently implies no way of using PGGB, it turns out that removing the M Scaler from the chain is not an option.

So for now I am putting the system simplification project on hold. I will revisit it when Taiko will come out with their own XDMS playback software integration with PGGB realtime processing capabilities, which seems to be on their development roadmap.

But, by then perhaps Chord will have come out with something new from the sorcerer @Rob Watts that changes the scenario again, who knows ...

 

[adrianm]

Since I have got my new music server and the SRC*DX I was planning to do a test of a simplified version of my system.

I am not at ease with myself by knowing how many boxes and cables are put in between the server and the DAVE in my current setup

It's funny, this is exactly what I'm doing now , only using HQplayer, since I don't actually own any music, or intend to. My patience has ended way before getting to the Opto-DX. I can clearly hear a need for another USB source, though i'm not so sure there is a need for even an SRC-DX.
Is it a clear upgrade over a low powered source, like a raspberry Pi connected to Dave via USB? I'm considering an Innuos Zen via usb and calling it a day.

 

[SteveHulk]

It is almost as if there should be a thread separate from the DAVE thread and the M Scaler thread - a "DAVE & M Scaler" thread where people who run both can comment on the particulars of running the Chord digital front end consisting of both devices.

 

[No KNOTsense]

Is the Dave's headphone driving power as good or superior to the Hugo 2? My TT2 is out of commission as I wait for it to be repaired so I've been using my Hugo 2 with my M Scaler for the last few weeks. I'm thinking of trading up to the Dave once the TT2 is fixed.

 

[DJJEZ]

Is the Dave's headphone driving power as good or superior to the Hugo 2? My TT2 is out of commission as I wait for it to be repaired so I've been using my Hugo 2 with my M Scaler for the last few weeks. I'm thinking of trading up to the Dave once the TT2 is fixed.

Superior. It's basically double the power of the Hugo 2 as well.

 

[Reactcore]

.

 

[Reactcore]

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[Reactcore]

Weird..
These were 'phone in pocket messages'

 

[SteveHulk]

If you are ready to drop that kind of money on the stand then I'd save it and spend it instead on the Wave Storm bnc cables to go between the M Scaler and the DAVE. You are likely to get more "bang for your buck" that way and still have change for a few nice dinners

 

[ufospls2]

Was anyone at the Rob Watts seminar at CanJam singapore, who would be willing to share what was said? I guess it may have to do with the rumoured Choral style M-Scaler, but I don't know obviously.

From the Impressions thread

"
warrenpchi said:
Rob Watts’s seminar had some fascinating leaks of future stuff, not even sure I’m allowed to repeat it even though it slipped. "