CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Reactcore]

As someone who uses a mains filter + a power regenerator plugged into it and has seen massive performance gains from them, both in separation, and cumulatively, I would disagree. That said, I'm sure the extra current reserves would help as well.

Oh im not saying that RF filtering dont give benefit.. just that SJ and Farad are aiming on clean steady voltage with current reserve.. your filters are aiming at the RF.

Thats why i have designed a Battery setup replacing the SMPS of Dave.. but havent ordered the batteries and components yet.

I first work out the Supercap option followed by a dual 850nm optical Mscaler link.

The fibers are already waiting..

 

[adrianm]

SJ and Farad are aiming on clean steady voltage with current reserve.. your filters are aiming at the RF.

Actually the Genesis one has 2 torroidal psu's which completely regenerate the sine wave with a 0.3% delta. So it's the same thing really, however adding a passive RF filter in front of it still improves things.

 

[zen87192]

DAVE now on Model 2 Vibrapod's .... Wow! Wasn't expecting that Bass has tightened up and become more full in delivery. All because of these 'Pods... 'Well I never!'

 

[SteveHulk]

I've remarked before on the benefits of good vibration isolation even for digital devices.

In particular, I have noticed over the years that reducing vibration in digital devices systematically has had the effect of stabilising the bass - rendering it more firm, distinct, defined, articulate, and tuneful, even gaining some extension.

Organ music is a great way of sussing out these kinds of changes. I don't really mean Bach, which is properly played on the small chapel organs prevalent in his day, but the massive complex chords of eg Messiaen on a thundering monster organ such as that in Liverpool Cathedral.

Spiking, sorbothanes, suspension; casework damping, stiffening, and mass-loading are all techniques that can be deployed to great effect.

For each device the stratagy must be clear: isolation or inertia. If you choose to mix them then I think you must be very certain about what you are doing.

 

[801evan]

It will test my theory that its the SJ and Farad current reserves in their caps that give the performance boost. Not so much net RF filtering

As someone who uses a mains filter + a power regenerator plugged into it and has seen massive performance gains from them, both in separation, and cumulatively, I would disagree. That said, I'm sure the extra current reserves would help as well.

I'm with adrianm on this one. If a device needs to pull, it'll pull via mains. Caps are there for smoothening and too many can be hurtful than helpful.

 

[Reactcore]

Actually i will be trying to do the same as in TT2. There its used the same type of caps to power the amp ..so much it can even drive speakers directly.. but thats not my usecase

They act more as a battery than capacitor

 

[SteveHulk]

When the going gets tough, the first actual "pull" in a device is from the dc power rails within the device.

The device's psu sits between these rails and the mains.

If the psu cannot deal with the pull without the voltages on the power rails sagging then that's when the problems start. The ability of the mains to deliver power becomes irrelevant as the psu is now a bottleneck.

Providing the psu with extra capacitance enables it to hold the rail voltages up when the internals of the device suddenly demand more power.

Capacitors in a psu therefore can have one of at least two functions: as part of a passive LC filter to suppress ripple, or as an energy reserve to support short-term power demands.

Capacitors are expensive components. When requirements such as quality, increasing capacitance value and voltage range, and higher temperature resistance are specified the cost of each rockets.

When the psu "haircut" to reduce device cost is applied then capacitors are an obvious target for savings.

This is one reason why replacing the stock psu with a highly-specified psu very often results in startling sq jumps.

 

[nwavesailor]

Same boat, I care what it sounds like up to a point, after that, I care what it looks like more. Did you get to buy the Envy amp? I'm also considering it. Curious what it's like with Dave

Envy should arrive Monday!

 

[SteveHulk]

DAVE now on Model 2 Vibrapod's .... Wow! Wasn't expecting that Bass has tightened up and become more full in delivery. All because of these 'Pods... 'Well I never!'

Will you try pods under your other devices as well?

More benefits are probably there to be had.

 

[zen87192]

Will you try pods under your other devices as well?

More benefits are probably there to be had.

Definitely. Just gathering weight details of my other components and placing an order this evening.

 

[adrianm]

DAVE now on Model 2 Vibrapod's .... Wow! Wasn't expecting that Bass has tightened up and become more full in delivery. All because of these 'Pods... 'Well I never!'

Just to be clear, is this in a speaker or a headphone usage context?

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

DAVE now on Model 2 Vibrapod's .... Wow! Wasn't expecting that Bass has tightened up and become more full in delivery. All because of these 'Pods... 'Well I never!'

So now I really want to try vibrapods, price seems to be very reasonable.

 

[zen87192]

Just to be clear, is this in a speaker or a headphone usage context?

Headphone only.... I use KEF L60's as my speaker system which totally separate from my Headphone system.

 

[Reactcore]

When the going gets tough, the first actual "pull" in a device is from the dc power rails within the device.

The device's psu sits between these rails and the mains.

If the psu cannot deal with the pull without the voltages on the power rails sagging then that's when the problems start. The ability of the mains to deliver power becomes irrelevant as the psu is now a bottleneck.

Providing the psu with extra capacitance enables it to hold the rail voltages up when the internals of the device suddenly demand more power.

Capacitors in a psu therefore can have one of at least two functions: as part of a passive LC filter to supress ripple, or as an energy reserve to support short-term power demands.

Capacitors are expensive components. When requirements such as quality, increasing capacitance value and voltage range, and higher temperature resistance are specified the cost of each rockets.

When the psu "haircut" to reduce device cost is applied then capacitors are an obvious target for savings.

This is one reason why replacing the stock psu with a highly-specified psu very often results in startling sq jumps.

Exactly my point good explained.

I dont want the OP rails voltage to get in the least modulated with the output signal

 

[Triode User]

Im still patiently awaiting the arrival of the components to make my supercap precharger

It will test my theory that its the SJ and Farad current reserves in their caps that give the performance boost. Not so much net RF filtering

I look forward to your thoughts when you have tried it. I think it is possible that there are several aspects to these power supplies that make them sound different. I have not experimented with what you are doing with Dave (ie supercaps) but I have recently experimented with capacitors located close to the load within the Dave. There were surprising results revealed by doing this which makes me think that the tack you are taking may not ultimately be the best for sound quality with the Dave. For example I got to the point of listening to quite a few caps of the same stated value (and they measured about the same) but from different manufacturers. The sound of Dave with each was quite different.

By the way are you doing the same with the digital circuit in Dave? For my money that is at least as dependant as the analogue stages and reacts very clearly to all sorts of aspects of the power supply.