[Jawed]

Isn't it simpler to rip your CDs and play all of them through USB, which is the best sounding input?

 

[Crgreen]

As a solution that would I suppose, avoid any problem save that it would involve further issues. Much of my music has been ripped to disc, but I still have a lot which I've chosen to keep on CD, mostly classical, due to well known clunky metadata issues and that I want to keep sleeve notes, librettos and translations to hand. I'm not ready to give up on CD yet. Also, ripping CDs en masse and editing metadata is probably the most boring activity known to man. I'm not sure I've got the stamina for doing too much more of that!

 

[TheAttorney]

Romaz put me onto one from Maplesahde. Its long at 14" however it comes packed with a note explaining why that is the optimum length. Its also a great price ($119)
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Mapleshade-Clearlink-Optical-Cable-Standard-Toslink/productinfo/OPTICAL-ST/

 
Is this a new model? I don't recall it being this long when I had previously visited their site.
 
BTW, in the UK, 14" means 14 inches. The actual length is a whopping 14 feet! (14'). Strange that this should be the optimal length becuase coiling an optical cable does degrade the light transmission, so I wonder what the plus side is of the longer cable to overcome that down side?
 
Anyway, I've heard this one mentioned enough times now that I've just ordered it. Curious how it will compare against my still-on-loan AQ Diamond, which is about 3 times shorter and over 4 times more expensive.

 

[Crgreen]

14 feet? My hi-fi would end up looking like the Laocoön:
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n#/media/File:Laocoon_Pio-Clementino_Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg

 

[rkt31]

I don't own Dave but IMHO it should sound good with least of the equipments around as other equipments radiate their own RF noise . a good power cable with a single ferrite choke at Dave end directly into the power supply and good USB cable is all one should need. I may be wrong but keeping things simple for a product like Dave would go well aesthetically too besides sounding good. I have read some very good reviews of furutech USB cable . I found furutech cable extremely calm and transparent be it speaker cable or interconnect.

 

[rkt31]

adding two aq jitterbug to usb inputs of laptop would also help in further improving sound.

 

[paulchiu]

 
Romaz put me onto one from Maplesahde. Its long at 14" however it comes packed with a note explaining why that is the optimum length. Its also a great price ($119) and has a 30 day money back guarantee, I bought both types of connections which has come in really handy and it sounds good without all the usual hassles of placement or interference. I remember Rob saying a long time ago about the Hugo that Optical was his preferred connection.
 
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Mapleshade-Clearlink-Optical-Cable-Standard-Toslink/productinfo/OPTICAL-ST/

 
Simon, on the Dave.  Can you switch with the remote from source to source (USB, optical, etc) without any delays?
Does optical goes only up to 192khz?
 
Paul

 

[paulchiu]

adding two aq jitterbug to usb inputs of laptop would also help in further improving sound.

 
This does improve the sound with my Hugo somewhat.  Like maybe <1% with a second jitterbug at first, but after a month, removing the second made no difference.
Regarding adding jitterbug to Dave, I am not sure if one or two will make any difference as jitterbugs have made no difference with my Nagra HD DAC,
 
Paul

 

[ecwl]

Simon, on the Dave.  Can you switch with the remote from source to source (USB, optical, etc) without any delays?
Does optical goes only up to 192khz?

Paul

You can rotate through the sources with the remote (left and right buttons). But there is no remote button that directly selects a specific input sources, say USB or Toslink 2 or BNC 4.

The DAVE manual says optical goes only up to 192kHz. But I'm not even sure where you can find a Toslink source that goes above 192kHz. If you know one, please share. I think my desktop Windows PC's Toslink output only goes up to 96kHz. My Peachtree X1 USB to S/PDIF/Toslink converter also goes up to 96kHz only via Toslink.

I see in your other posts that you use USB anyway. So you can use USB with DAVE. Probably best input for DAVE anyway.

 

[paulchiu]

You can rotate through the sources with the remote (left and right buttons). But there is no remote button that directly selects a specific input sources, say USB or Toslink 2 or BNC 4.

The DAVE manual says optical goes only up to 192kHz. But I'm not even sure where you can find a Toslink source that goes above 192kHz. If you know one, please share. I think my desktop Windows PC's Toslink output only goes up to 96kHz. My Peachtree X1 USB to S/PDIF/Toslink converter also goes up to 96kHz only via Toslink.

I see in your other posts that you use USB anyway. So you can use USB with DAVE. Probably best input for DAVE anyway.

 
ecwl,
thanks for this.  I do use only USB now for my Nagra, etc.  The talk of using optical excites me because as Simon cited, sounds just as good without various interference and placement issues.  Since I have lots of optical wires in the closet, I wonder if I can have say, two source with one USB and the other optical and remotely toggle the Dave to play each.  that will be real easy to compare.
I think you're right about 96khz.  One reason I stopped using it years ago.  2010'ish
 
paul

 

[isquirrel]

   
Simon, on the Dave.  Can you switch with the remote from source to source (USB, optical, etc) without any delays?
Does optical goes only up to 192khz?
 
Paul

Bit early here now 4.10am, I will test it and report when I get a chance later on. I was pretty sure it did 24/192.

 

[gryphonos]

Dear all,
I am new to this forum as the Dave is to me. In listening music I mainly focus on classical and jazz music. During the time I did music by myself, I played classical piano and drums.
Since a while now I participate in this thread and after short time I was infected by the virus dave, by the idea to be able to play my red book and 24 bit flac files on another level. What impressed my most by the development of this dac, was Rob’s approach to talk to the neurophysiologists at first and to ask:, how does our ear work and how do we detect a tune: namely by the gradients at the beginning and at the end of a tune. It was even more astonishing to realize that the final product based on this scientific knowledge WORKS.

It is a matter of fact that I never heard my music so lively, naturally, airy, independent on how I lead the music to the Dave:
-Internet radio by tunein radio in safari browser via macbook: for example ~120kbit/s stream by jazz24 or “bayern klassik” classical radio.
-Qobuz 16/44
-16/44 to 24/192 flac
- DSD128

The sound is exceptional!!

I would like to ask you the following:
Until now I use preamplifier and power amplifier. Cause many of you recommend using a direct connection between Dave and power amp, I am curious how it might sound. Do you prefer an unbalanced (Cinch cable) or balanced (XLR) connection between Dave and power amp?

When Dave is in pre-amp mode I can use Chord’s remote control to highlight the single features and adjust the settings on Dave. When Dave is in dac mode I am not able to do this via the remote control. I can not even highlight the setting features in the display.
Manually everything works fine.

Is this behaviour normal?


Thank you very much for you help.

Classic Sound

 

[isquirrel]

Thanks, but I'm not sure Mapleshade products are available here in the UK

I am in Australia, you can order it on-line for overseas delivery.

 

[Crgreen]

I am in Australia, you can order it on-line for overseas delivery.

The problem with that is that postage and probably, import duty are a bit of a killer. I'm also wondering where I'd put four feet of cable for components on adjoining shelves on my rack! Given that the optical cable that comes with the Dave is said to be satisfactory, I might stick with that to start, but I'd be interested to hear other views.

Re: Jitterbug, with the Hugo, I have found this makes an appreciable difference. I'll try it on the Dave and see.

 

[izzard1982]

You can rotate through the sources with the remote (left and right buttons). But there is no remote button that directly selects a specific input sources, say USB or Toslink 2 or BNC 4.

The DAVE manual says optical goes only up to 192kHz. But I'm not even sure where you can find a Toslink source that goes above 192kHz. If you know one, please share. I think my desktop Windows PC's Toslink output only goes up to 96kHz. My Peachtree X1 USB to S/PDIF/Toslink converter also goes up to 96kHz only via Toslink.

I see in your other posts that you use USB anyway. So you can use USB with DAVE. Probably best input for DAVE anyway.

I have a Fostex HP-A4 which is a DAC/AMP but can act as a USB to Toslink/BNC interface as well, and it's optical out can do 192k, I know becaus I'm using it like this everyday with DAVE.