[Rob Watts]

  I actually agree with your experience on the DAVE, Simon.  My group also heard subtle differences from one source to another and unblinded, I had reported that some of us felt USB sounded a bit better than optical and that the N10 layered a bit better than the other sources although when blinded, none of us could tell what we were listening to.  It's possible, however, that while blinded, because it took a bit more time to switch from one source to another, it was easier for the mind to forget what it had just heard.  Regardless, our consensus was that if one source was better than another, it was subtle at best and from the worst to the best, they all sounded very very good.  Since then, I have also tested my Roku box and my Sonos via optical (both bit-perfect) and they all seem to sound just as good.
 
With more time spent comparing, using my Sonicorbiter SE which has both USB and optical outputs, I remain convinced that USB is slightly better than optical (a bit more air) and so almost all of my critical listening is now on USB although at no time do I feel shortchanged when listening via optical.  Having sold my AES/EBU cables with my TotalDac months ago, I have not tried the AES/EBU input on the DAVE and perhaps someone can report how the AES/EBU or the Coax inputs compare.

Agreed on the USB input - it is a tad more detailed with more clarity than the optical - but we are talking small differences here. Using the jitter test you can measure v tiny degradation using optical, but its barely detectable. The reason USB is slightly better is because the timing comes from the FPGA, and of course they are both galvanically isolated. 
 
Rob

 

[lovethatsound]

We recently tested the LCD-4 on the DAVE and there is plenty of drive there.  They are an easier load to drive compared to HE-1000.  For most music, we rarely got louder than -10dB.

Some of you guys have your headphones very loud,most of the time i have mine about -28,-30,with my hd800,and i think that's loud lol

 

[romaz]

Some of you guys have your headphones very loud,most of the time i have mine about -28,-30,with my hd800,and i think that's loud lol

With my HD800S, with very wide dynamic range orchestral recordings, I will sometimes go to -15 to -18dB so I can enjoy the quieter passages.  For studio recordings, -25 to -30dB is often plenty.  That headphone doesn't need much power and it's also potentially more fatiguing at higher volumes than either the HE-1000 or LCD-4.  Open headphones are definitely safer then closed headphones which are then safer then IEMs due to the higher pressures these monitors can generate against your ear drums.  At the point your ears start to ring, you will definitely want to shut it down.  Tinnitus (ringing of the ears) has the potential to become permanent.

 

[AndrewOld]

  Dave is unique in that there is no other control electronics apart from the FPGA powered by Dave's PSU. This meant I could reduce RF noise levels as another processor on a different clock is eliminated; but the downside is that I have to code for everything (including the display drivers too, the character generation and display interface is all done by the FPGA). I had planned to use the numbers from the remote, but I simply ran out of time.
 
Rob

Rob, thanks for the answer, and thanks for being honest! 

 

[gnomen]

Regarding the Dave and my overall system sound I have made some meaningful acoustic changes to my room recently and I continue to be surprised by how good this DAC is. Particularly so in how it presents classical music through the Sonus Faber Olympica's. I am trying to be objective but it is producing a believable performance in my room. Such is the quality that I feel privileged to experience this level of musical communication. Lucky indeed.

.....and all from just Red Book

Hi Dave,  if it is not too far off-topic I would be interested to hear what acoustic changes you made, since I am considering making changes to my own living room as well.

 

[rkt31]

any plan for Dave being used for cutting vinyl for native digital recordings ? has anybody approached chord ? I am curious to know the process involved in converting native digital recordings to vinyl . does it involve any eq and what are the gear involved ?

 

[Beolab]

Glad to hear that.  I know what you mean about that stand.  I didn't think too much about it until I saw that photo that Paul posted.

I got the chance to hear the Abyss on the DAVE again this weekend and it reminded me of how good it sounded on the DAVE when I heard it last November.  Without question, for me, there is enough drive there.

I also got to hear the Abyss with the JPS SC headphone cable paired with the not yet released Wells Headtrip Reference amp ($14,000) at CanJam this weekend.  According to Jeff Wells, it's the same amp as the original Headtrip but with a more robust external linear PSU and with copper caps.  How this justifies doubling the price to $14,000, I'm not sure but it sounded very good.  Plenty of power there for sure but even with the darker JPS SC headphone cable, I developed listener fatigue fairly quickly although I am told it may have been due to the La Scala DAC that was feeding it which is supposedly a bright DAC.  

As for the SR ground block, it went back.  Not as good as Entreq but with the DAVE, even Entreq is no longer necessary.

A pretty huge price step for moving the linear trafo outside the box with some new baybee caps =)

Can you describe the sound a little bit in more detail of the new reference romaz?

Same specs as before, and almost the same sound, so i don't see an upgrade is coming for me in the nearest future.

Most of the time i use the DAVE as the main amp for my Abyss. It can drive them to immense levels with 100% transparency to the source material.

The SC is going back unfortunately.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Gnomen
At this stage I am using adapted materials and frameworks to establish how the most noticable reflections can be avoided.
 
One very experienced hifi retailer once said to me that speakers always sound like the room they are in. My room is approx. 16 x 14 but it has recesses and a fire place chimney stack in the middle of one long wall. The ceiling is about 8' 9" high. Floor is carpeted and wood boards beneath. The speakers are set firing across the room from the long wall with the fireplace and chimney stack behind. This provides nice width and suits my more localised listening setup but the chimney stack is the rooms weakness as it bounces bass due to proximity effects. This is not due to the speakers being too close to the walls though (in relation to manufacturers recommended distances). They are out in the room. (more on this later). My seated position backs on to a long wall with a double door recess to the conservatory. The walls are 18 inches thick so the recess is useful behind the sitting position. I have heavy curtains behind the listening position along the long wall and this together with the recess avoids any bass bounce from what would have been close proximity and also deadens any mid to high reflection from behind the listen position. To the right of me I am fortunate enough to have a recessed window along that short wall which runs to the floor and avoids immediate reflection from the right speaker. It also has original wooden Georgian shutters. Not much work needed there. To my left is a radiator left of the speaker and a Georgian door in front of it. I have not addressed any reflection here yet but the door will provide some breakup from the left speaker side reflection due to its design.
 
I also have a 3 tapestries and numerous pictures on the walls to reduce and break-up high frequency reflections and also built-in bookcases up to the ceiling each side of the chimney stack behind the speakers.
 
Where I have had great success this last week is dealing with the chimney stack. I sited two 0.9mtr high 14" square structures 1 foot inside the proximity of each speaker and a third similar size structure to the right wall just behind the speaker aray plane (because there was more space to the right side than the left speaker has). The result on bass control, image separation and overall clarity was quite profound. I spent hours afterwards going through my music collection till the early hours in amazement. It has enthused me to make further acoustic improvements to the room. Once I know what I need I will look to buy a more professional permanent solution for each aspect. What is evident though is that the better the room acoustics the better Dave Dac sounds. Particularly the purity of sound.
 
This audiophile thing is an obsession that's for sure.
 
EDIT: Please note that the third structure is placed 'against the right wall' and away from the right speaker. It is filling a void to balance bass as the Olympica III's are set to vent outwards on their sides and the left speaker is closer to the wall than the right due to the imbalance of the room dimensions in relation to the chimney stack.

 

[innocentblood]

out of curiosity, is anyone here using DAVE as a stand-alone DAC connected to a tube amplifier such as Woo Audio's WA22? what are your impressions please? 

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I have to say that for anyone wishing to compare the Dave Dac with top line competitor Dacs the best way to compare is via a sota pair of Headphones. That will avoid any of the degradation of amplification, distortions of frequency band by loudspeakers and weaknesses in room acoustics. I listen to my music via loudspeakers but for test comparisons headphones have to be the optimum way of conducting a fair test I think, so long as the headphones used are of a calibre to do justice to the capabilities of the Dave Dac.

 

[AndrewOld]

OK. I have a dilemma. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a DAVE, but do I get a black one or a silver one? I had a silver Hugo and currently have a black TT, the black TT gets a bit fingerprinty, so I'm possibly slightly inclined to silver. I know in these days I am a very lucky person to have this as a dilemma, but if anyone has any views I'd be interested to hear them.

Peace in our time.

 

[gnomen]

  At this stage I am using adapted materials and frameworks to establish how the most noticable reflections can be avoided.
 
One very experienced hifi retailer once said to me that speakers always sound like the room they are in.

Thanks Dave.  Very interesting and thought-provoking.  Love the quote "speakers always sound like the room they are in".  So true.
The challenge is to find sound modifying materials which also meet the WAF -- wife-acceptance-factor -- unless you are lucky enough to have a den of your own.
My best success was with small trees in pots -- placed behind the speakers they allowed the speakers to stand well away from the wall without looking unnatural, while the thick foliage broke up reflections.  But I will need more ways to adapt the current listening room.
 
Cheers

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

That's quite inventive gnomen and I would imagine it would work well for diffusing reflections

 

[romaz]

  out of curiosity, is anyone here using DAVE as a stand-alone DAC connected to a tube amplifier such as Woo Audio's WA22? what are your impressions please? 

When I had a DAVE on temporary loan in November, I connected it to my Eddie Current Balancing Act with PX-4 tubes and then to my HE-1000 and compared how my HE-1000 sounded both with the tube amp and direct to DAC.  PX-4 tubes are known to have a very direct sound and are fairly neutral.  They are not known for any real bloom or harmonic coloration and even though I enjoyed this amp and tube combination with my HE-1000 very much in the past, without question, there was a greater degree of clarity and immediacy when my HE-1000 was connected direct to DAC. Background was quieter, colors were a touch richer, presentation was a bit smoother and more liquid and the degree of depth and space was also greater without the amp in the chain.  Of course, you could roll your tubes and alter the presentation of your tube amp to great effect and so that would be the advantage of a tube amp, especially if you are trying to compensate for a shortcoming of your headphones or speakers.  There's no right or wrong, only personal preference but there was a noticeable degree of transparency degradation when I connected my tube amp.  

 

[ecwl]

OK. I have a dilemma. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a DAVE, but do I get a black one or a silver one? I had a silver Hugo and currently have a black TT, the black TT gets a bit fingerprinty, so I'm possibly slightly inclined to silver. I know in these days I am a very lucky person to have this as a dilemma, but if anyone has any views I'd be interested to hear them.

If you like the black one, get the black one. I don't get many fingerprints on mine. But I mainly use it in my stereo and would rarely plug in my headphones for late night listening. I use the remote for volume control and occasionally presses the physical buttons on DAVE to change the input.