[Slim1970]

I have owned my Dave for several years and have listened to numerous new DAC's and as much as I love to switch things up and own new things nothing I have heard in the same zip code price wise has convinced me to move away from my dave

I share similar thoughts about the Dave. I've listened to a few other high ends DAC's for comparison sake just to see if they could better the Dave. Long story short, I still have the Dave with zero intentions to replace it. For headphone listening the Dave suits my sonic preferences.

 

[VladYR]

People who take ASR seriously don't deserve good music

@alxw0w and I once listened out of curiosity to a cheap Chinese DAC (brand with "high SINAD" highly praised by ASR) and compared it directly to DAVE and a very basic vinyl setup. Because the system was relatively simple (speakers in an acoustically untreated room), it was impossible to critically listen to soundstage depth, transparency, and other audiophile stuff. BUT! Difference was absolutely obvious from the first seconds. Right after vinyl Chinese DAC sounded like as if it weren't playing music, but just consistently and monotonously emitting a set of sounds. In contrast to vinyl, it was awful. No sense of rhythm, no harmony, no desire to listen further.

To be honest, then I mentally prepared that DAVE would also be powerless compared to a cheap turntable, but no. DAVE played just as rhythmically, melodicly and captivatingly as the vinyl record. Technically it was very different, but emotionally - just right there.

For all that, I happily used such a Chinese DAC for the Playstation. It reproduces sounds very well, why can't it play music as well - hell knows.

Have you had any luck connecting the Dave to PlayStation 5? I’ve heard others use various usb dacs with it but for some reason I can’t select it as an output device. All I have is hdmi on a Viewsonic gaming monitor, which unfortunately doesn’t have an optical out. Any help would be much appreciate.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Have you had any luck connecting the Dave to PlayStation 5? I’ve heard others use various usb dacs with it but for some reason I can’t select it as an output device. All I have is hdmi on a Viewsonic gaming monitor, which unfortunately doesn’t have an optical out. Any help would be much appreciate.

I never used DAVE with PS5, no idea if it will work as usb DAC or not.

 

[Somatic]

Hhhm, had a weird occurrence with Dave just now. It has been on 24/7 for a few months. I was listening to classical and all of a sudden I heard some digital clicks. I turned off the music and it was not coming from my amp. Only when playing music. I restarted the Dave and all is good again. Has this happened to anyone before?

 

[alxw0w]

Hhhm, had a weird occurrence with Dave just now. It has been on 24/7 for a few months. I was listening to classical and all of a sudden I heard some digital clicks. I turned off the music and it was not coming from my amp. Only when playing music. I restarted the Dave and all is good again. Has this happened to anyone before?

Are you using optical? (I mean toslink input on Dave)

 

[Somatic]

Anyone else using HF Fil - OFF with solo Dave? After knowing it lowers -.9 dB @ 20 kHz? Thanks.

 

[Somatic]

Are you using optical? (I mean toslink input on Dave)

Yes, was using optical. Oooh, I am going to restart the Matrix X-SPDIF 2 as well.

 

[alxw0w]

Yes, was using optical. Oooh, I am going to restart the Matrix X-SPDIF 2 as well.

Also check cable.
Once I had similar clicks/pops and it was cable being not fully inserted - it was happening especially with 192khz rates.
Also as always to track the problem use different optical cable, maybe the current one is damaged/broken in some way

 

[Somatic]

Also check cable.
Once I had similar clicks/pops and it was cable being not fully inserted - it was happening especially with 192khz rates.
Also as always to track the problem use different optical cable, maybe the current one is damaged/broken in some way

After I reset the Dave. All was well. I reset the source and plugged/unplugged cables just in case. Thanks for the tips.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

Is an external headphone amp recommended with the DAVE and DCA Stealth/Expanse? If so, which? Is there an option with a great analog EQ?

 

[Slim1970]

Anyone else using HF Fil - OFF with solo Dave? After knowing it lowers -.9 dB @ 20 kHz? Thanks.

I recent turn my HF Fil to off after reading Rob has his off all the time.

 

[Somatic]

Ok I think the issue of the clicks I had with the Dave was actually 2 bad recordings in a row. What is the chance of this happening, lol? Almost had a heart attack.

https://open.qobuz.com/track/1760931 (throughout song)

(around 1:40)

 

[Somatic]

I recent turn my HF Fil to off after reading Rob has his off all the time.

I would assume he would have used it ON, lol. I thought he added the filter for lower noise floor or something. Yeah, after my system got better, I turned it OFF as I wanted the last bit of highend.

 

[Slim1970]

I would assume he would have used it ON, lol. I thought he added the filter for lower noise floor or something. Yeah, after my system got better, I turned it OFF as I wanted the last bit of highend.

Yep, that was my reasoning as well. I want every ounce of sound from my Dave.

 

[drmcgown]

Excuse my first post, been enjoying my DAVE that I bought used from a friend almost 2 years ago, coupled with an MScalar, it has been transformative in my system and my appreciation of digital source compared with a very nice analog setup. Anyway I have a question about the Digital Preamp mode and the maximum volume level shown on the display. I always though the highest level was +6dB, but yesterday I noticed the max level displayed +19dB. I was not playing anything at the time, so do not know if it actually could output the voltage, but wanted to check with other DAVE owners if this is unusual. Thanks.

David (I had to get the DAVE just for the name )