[Reactcore]

Wondering what is the best headphone running straight off the Chord Dave? Sent my amp for repair. Seeing if I can add a headphone in the interim.

Be sure to have tried Dave's depth with HD800's stage..

 

[alxw0w]

No problem with powering Stealth with Dave.
Only when you listen at very high levels sound hardens, soundstage collapses and you just hear distortion as Dave is running out of steam.
But with 'normal' listening levels you are completely fine. YMMV as 'normal' listening levels for one are not 'normal' for other.

 

[JTbbb]

Wondering what is the best headphone running straight off the Chord Dave? Sent my amp for repair. Seeing if I can add a headphone in the interim.

HD800S

 

[Somatic]

I always wanted to get the HD800. That was the first TOTL can I heard 10+ years ago.

 

[Crgreen]

Wondering what is the best headphone running straight off the Chord Dave? Sent my amp for repair. Seeing if I can add a headphone in the interim.

Meze Elite - a winning combination.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

No problem with powering Stealth with Dave.
Only when you listen at very high levels sound hardens, soundstage collapses and you just hear distortion as Dave is running out of steam.
But with 'normal' listening levels you are completely fine. YMMV as 'normal' listening levels for one are not 'normal' for other.

Yeah, that's the thing about the Stealth. It's so damn smooth and distortion-free that you can listen at outrageous volumes and not be bothered. I have to be careful.

 

[Kentajalli]

Yeah, that's the thing about the Stealth. It's so damn smooth and distortion-free that you can listen at outrageous volumes and not be bothered. I have to be careful.

FWIW, it has been shown, that people tend to crank up the volume when they are listening to low res sound.
Just like, when you can't hear someone clearly, you ask them to speak a bit louder.
With a high quality, smooth, distortion free setup, a lower volume will do very nicely.
I am sure there are other reasons for someone to push the volume up, but in practice, a smooth low distortion setup, can have the opposite effect.
With my setup (Hugo2 and Audeze LCD-XC 21), I get to hear perfectly well at much lower volumes, than I could with my mobile phone and my cheap IEMs.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Wondering what is the best headphone running straight off the Chord Dave? Sent my amp for repair. Seeing if I can add a headphone in the interim.

The 2022 Utopia is probably the best candidate I can think of, especially with its bit of warmth over the original. Anything easier to power that isn't inherently bright pairs well. I.e. original Utopia could get a bit hot with it, but that was due to inherent issues with the OG Utopia highs.

I personally would stay away from any of the high impedance headphones that are notoriously hard to drive, unless you get a good deal or want to use them when you get the amp back. The Dave can power them volume wise but they'll be limited. I would probably go Utopia, Caldera, or something along those lines.

 

[shaylin3]

Focal Utopia

 

[Icenine2]

I too use Stealth. All good here. BTW Rob Watts uses Stealth w/Dave

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I am sure there are other reasons for someone to push the volume up

There are: I like to listen loud sometimes, and these are the first headphones I can do that with without it hurting my ears.

 

[LucyWu]

The last few days I have been running a Abyss 1266 TC straight out of the Dave - I prefer it to running off a Benchmark AHB2. I need to listen to the TC more over the next few days, not sure their overall balance/resolution matches my desire for a complimentary pairing with the SR1A. But the Dave doesn't seem to be the bottleneck here.

 

[TheAttorney]

Both Meze Elite and Hifiman HEK (I've tried V2 and SE) sound great direct out of Dave. Go for HEK if you prefer a more open and airy presentation, and go for the Elite if you prefer a better built all-rounder that is kinder to poor recordings. At a demo, the Final 8000 (og) sounded very impressive out of Dave, with a particularly strong bass, but it was heavier and less comfortable than either Elite or HEK.

I was not a fan of the og Utopia out of Dave (or anything else), primarily because of its small sound stage and prominent HF, but I haven't tried the new Utopia.

 

[yellowblue]

Elite with the new angeled alcantara pads which do the DAVEs level of detail and imaging justice.

 

[jacc]

I drive my LCD-4 straight out of DAVE mostly around -17 db without feeling the lack of power for most songs I listen to