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CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

Apr 24, 2016 at 5:35 PM Post #2,657 of 27,054
gryphonos said:
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?
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Rob Watts recommend unbalanced over balanced output to the power amp because of lower noise floor. I'm unable to test this because of my personal setup. Would be interesting to see if anyone else on the forum has tried.

Since I have no pre-amp, I'm not going to put my DAVE to DAC mode to test the remote. But I can tell you, I can change the settings with the remote. I hit the BAL+ button (which has the letters MENU written underneath it) to activate choosing one of the 4 options that we can change and then I can use the up and down arrow buttons to choose which of the 4 options to change. But I rarely change the settings.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 12:23 AM Post #2,659 of 27,054
Can confirm that Optical will play up 24/192 no problem. DAVE also drives the Abyss really well, I am thoroughly enjoying the pairing. Plenty of PRAT and dynamic impact Volume level is set at -10dB max it will go to is +19dB and the Abyss is so loud I cannot listen to it. I am actually delighted with the pairing, Sounds excellent on PCM and DSD.
 
I am beginning to have a love affair with the DAVE, so far I have restricted myself to Roon from the Mac via USB. Time to hook it up to the big system and see what we have. 
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 12:41 AM Post #2,660 of 27,054
isquirrel said:
Can confirm that Optical will play up 24/192 no problem. DAVE also drives the Abyss really well, I am thoroughly enjoying the pairing. Plenty of PRAT and dynamic impact Volume level is set at -10dB max it will go to is +19dB and the Abyss is so loud I cannot listen to it. I am actually delighted with the pairing, Sounds excellent on PCM and DSD.

I am beginning to have a love affair with the DAVE, so far I have restricted myself to Roon from the Mac via USB. Time to hook it up to the big system and see what we have. 
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Awesome, isquirrel. It would be interesting to learn of your comparison with the MSB Select :thinking:.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 12:44 AM Post #2,661 of 27,054
kamil21 said:
Awesome, isquirrel. It would be interesting to learn of your comparison with the MSB Select :thinking:.
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Sorry to disappoint, but that's not going happen. I will say they are both very good DAC's and I will be leaving it there.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 12:46 AM Post #2,662 of 27,054
crgreen said:
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.
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Postage was like $30 and there are no duties payable as its less than $1,000. AS for the length you can just cry it up, not too tight and tuck it under a shelf, that's the beauty of Optical zero interference.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 1:11 AM Post #2,663 of 27,054
Optical will play 24/192 no problem if - and that's a big if - the transmitter and the cable is up to it.
 
We used to use the Toshiba range of optical rx. and tx., and they were excellent, you could use 1m of cheap palstic fibre and it would work fine.
 
But around 3 years ago they stopped making them, and the replacements - specified at 16 Mb/s NRZ - 250 kHz - are a bit iffy, in that they will do 250 kHz if the cable is very good. This means that 192k will work with a decent tx. and 0.25m cheap plastic fibre. But if you want 192k and longer lengths, you need a quality low loss glass fibre.
 
To get 192k to work with the poorer tx and rx was not easy. The optical rx. have a differing fall time to rise time; fortunately it is a consistent error. So built into the SPDIF demodulator in the FPGA I actually measure this error, then dynamically compensate for it, so it gets eliminated. That was the only way I could get it to work at 192 kHz reliably.
 
Its interesting that AP used to specify their test equipment as 192k, but now they say 96k. Its a real shame that 33 years after Toslink was invented we are actually going backwards in data rate.
 
Rob
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 1:19 AM Post #2,664 of 27,054
I can verify the Mapleshades optical cable will play 24/192 and DSD128.  It is as good an optical cable as I have found regardless of price and while 14 feet of length is a strange length, it coils easily and without compromise in sonics.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 1:34 AM Post #2,665 of 27,054
isquirrel said:
  DAVE also drives the Abyss really well, I am thoroughly enjoying the pairing.
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I am enjoying this pairing now as well.  I had much trouble with the Abyss in the past due to an annoyingly bright treble that would cause headaches after about an hour.  I have a loaner Abyss in my possession now and despite the smoothness of the DAVE, the brightness is still there with both the stock cable and the more expensive JPS SC cable which I find isn't much of an improvement.  I had almost given up but my adapters finally came in and I am now able to connect the Silver Spore4 to the Abyss and finally, that brightness is gone and the Abyss just sounds glorious.  It has been the cable all along.  I have been listening to the Abyss for several hours now and no headache or fatigue!  Oddly, the sub bass on my HE-1000 and TH-900 is still better IMO but I find that the Abyss has much better presence and nothing performs as well when I want an illuminated and commanding performance.  It fills in nicely for all the music I used my HD800 S for but with much better tonal balance and so I will be selling off my HD800 S.  If anyone is interested, please PM me.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 2:14 AM Post #2,666 of 27,054
romaz said:
  I am enjoying this pairing now as well.  I had much trouble with the Abyss in the past due to an annoyingly bright treble that would cause headaches after about an hour.  I have a loaner Abyss in my possession now and despite the smoothness of the DAVE, the brightness is still there with both the stock cable and the more expensive JPS SC cable which I find isn't much of an improvement.  I had almost given up but my adapters finally came in and I am now able to connect the Silver Spore4 to the Abyss and finally, that brightness is gone and the Abyss just sounds glorious.  It has been the cable all along.  I have been listening to the Abyss for several hours now and no headache or fatigue!  Oddly, the sub bass on my HE-1000 and TH-900 is still better IMO but I find that the Abyss has much better presence and nothing performs as well when I want an illuminated and commanding performance.  It fills in nicely for all the music I used my HD800 S for but with much better tonal balance and so I will be selling off my HD800 S.  If anyone is interested, please PM me.
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That annoying bright glare that the Abyss had as stock is what led me down the road last year to finding a new cable for it and that's how I found DHC. The cable works wonders for the Abyss and the DAVE really drives it well, there is no way I would want more gain out of it. Trouble I am having is the Headphone socket is recessed so I can't quite get the DHC XLR to 6.3mm Jack to click into place. Frustrating !!
 
I contacted Joe and asked him to send out a headband with shorter rubber hooks on both sides which keeps the earopads higher and off the tops of my ears, that has really improved the comfort level. Still not at HE-1000 level, but i find I get used to them after an hour or so of listening. The SC cable is an interesting one, I found it heavy and I think I preferred the stock cable.
 
How do you have your Abyss setup, are you using much toe in? Do you have them setup all the way out ?
 
 
 

 
Apr 25, 2016 at 2:38 AM Post #2,667 of 27,054
isquirrel said:
  Trouble I am having is the Headphone socket is recessed so I can't quite get the DHC XLR to 6.3mm Jack to click into place. Frustrating !!
 
How do you have your Abyss setup, are you using much toe in? Do you have them setup all the way out ?
 
 
 
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Because Peter Bradstock is so busy, I luckily found a Head-fi member (Peterek) who is an excellent cable maker and cable modifier and he, in fact, uses DHC cable for his best builds.  For example, he modified my TH-900 so that the headphone cable is now removable and I can now use my Silver Spore4 on it.  He also took my Silver Spore4 and re-terminated the XLRs with a 6.35mm jack so I don't have to use the DHC adapter.   The adapter was a nice convenience but it just didn't work well for me.  
 
I haven't tried toeing in the Abyss.  Obviously, I will need to learn to master how to adjust it properly but it is working well for me, nonetheless.  I have them extended all the way out. and the fit is comfortable enough but not HE-1000 or TH-900 comfortable.  It is for sure a good fit with the DAVE, plenty of power as you've said.
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 3:43 AM Post #2,669 of 27,054
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