CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Reactcore]

I've had a lovely day listening to MDave with my dusty HD800s and my old favorite Radiohead albums.

I'm feeling very thankful for the beautiful experience.

HD800 1st gen can scale massively with Dave, specially when Dave is modded. Too bad some have forgotten them. Ive heard few that surpass them, even Immanis didnt leave them far behind

 

[azvargulis]

I have ferrites on the AC and DC cables for power into M Scaler, too.

Respectfully, my understanding is that ferrites on power cables are not a good idea. It probably matters less with source equipment, but in general, you want power cables to have as low an impedance as possible, and ferrites increase impedance. To quote Paul McGowan of PS Audio: "I don't like it on power cables... big lumps on a power cable, I would avoid like the plague... you don't want high impedance. Adding a ferrite bead gets us in trouble."

 

[Jawed]

Respectfully, my understanding is that ferrites on power cables are not a good idea. It probably matters less with source equipment, but in general, you want power cables to have as low an impedance as possible, and ferrites increase impedance.

Ferrites increase the impedance for common mode, which is a signal that's seen on 2 or more conductors simultaneously. Mains power itself is differential, so the impedance added by ferrites isn't effective.

Also, ferrites added to cables tend to affect frequencies that are typically 100KHz or higher (up to something like 2GHz). So even if ferrites added impedance to the mains power (e.g. a short spike of current drawn by a linear power supply) the spike would be at audio frequencies, not radio frequencies.

Anyway, the nice thing about clip on ferrites is that they are very cheap. In my opinion the price is so low that it's easier to buy them to find out for yourself, which is why I recommend the Topnisus ferrites on Amazon in the links in my signature.

There are some highly-priced ferrites out there, too. Perhaps they're worth trying after you've tried the cheap ones...

Anyway, try 20 for yourself as a starting experiment and decide whether you hear a benefit or harm.

 

[Triode User]

Ferrites increase the impedance for common mode, which is a signal that's seen on 2 or more conductors simultaneously. Mains power itself is differential, so the impedance added by ferrites isn't effective.

Also, ferrites added to cables tend to affect frequencies that are typically 100KHz or higher (up to something like 2GHz). So even if ferrites added impedance to the mains power (e.g. a short spike of current drawn by a linear power supply) the spike would be at audio frequencies, not radio frequencies.

Anyway, the nice thing about clip on ferrites is that they are very cheap. In my opinion the price is so low that it's easier to buy them to find out for yourself, which is why I recommend the Topnisus ferrites on Amazon in the links in my signature.

There are some highly-priced ferrites out there, too. Perhaps they're worth trying after you've tried the cheap ones...

Anyway, try 20 for yourself as a starting experiment and decide whether you hear a benefit or harm.

The problem with cheap ferrites bought on Amazon (or elsewhere) is that they generally come with no specification of frequency or material used so using them is essentially akin to whistling in the dark.

This example of the differences between different ferrite materials shows what I mean.

 

[Jawed]

The problem with cheap ferrites bought on Amazon (or elsewhere) is that they generally come with no specification of frequency or material used so using them is essentially akin to whistling in the dark.

This example of the differences between different ferrite materials shows what I mean.

Absolutely.

I'd only buy a product that's making claims for hi-fi use if the specification described the frequency range it was optimised for.

Meanwhile the cheap ferrites I've tried have always improved sound

 

[Reactcore]

I didnt even bother trying or calculating ferrites and went straight for optical reference isolation for the data. My book is on that closed.

 

[AndrewOld]

You can, if you wish, buy ferrites from a proper trade supplier like Farnell, in which case there will be a full data sheet for each, including the frequency they are most effective at. There is a good search tool so you can narrow your search down by cable diameter, frequency, type etc. They typically cost 2 or 3 £/€/$.

https://uk.farnell.com/c/passive-co...-core-ferrites?st=Ferrit&sort=adf_f1000062_bv

 

[SteveHulk]

You can, if you wish, buy ferrites from a proper trade supplier like Farrell, in which case there will be a full data sheet for each, including the frequency they are most effective at. There is a good search tool so you can narrow your search down by cable diameter, frequency, type etc. They typically cost 2 or 3 £/€/$.

https://uk.farnell.com/c/passive-co...-core-ferrites?st=Ferrit&sort=adf_f1000062_bv

Farnell is also my go-to site for most electrical and electronic items. They have a quite staggering range of products. The prices seem reasonable.

For more exotic stuff like very high-end electrical components, I also use hifi collective here in the UK.

For valves I would first check Tube Amp Doctor in Germany. Their after-sales service is very good.

 

[AndrewOld]

Farnell is also my go-to site for most electrical and electronic items. They have a quite staggering range of products. The prices seem reasonable.

For more exotic stuff like very high-end electrical components, I also use hifi collective here in the UK.

For valves I would first check Tube Amp Doctor in Germany. Their after-sales service is very good.

Radiospares (or rs components as they now are) are good too, and for professional audio stuff with a distinct BBC bias, Canford Audio can be very useful. And fun to browse.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/

https://www.canford.co.uk/

 

[icnaiwhimor1975]

white Choral scaler case looks just great

 

[Reactcore]

Just wild thinking..
Having created my own loudspeaker concept too..

It would be a idea to create DX amp with for each channel 3-way independant digitally filtered outputs for straight connection to low, mid and high frequency speaker drivers or use low/mid + tweeter (2way) Losing the analog crossover components.

On the amp one can set the freq. roll on/off frequenties and phase/amplitude shifts among the outputs.

So any set of drivers can be used to play with.
Then the setting should be able to save in a config file.

This would become a best seller of Chord for any Hifi enthousiast who wants to build their speakers ..or use exising ones and take the filter out

I had too had thought about such a device - a universal programmable 3 way active amp - but I suspect that the commercial potential would be very limited.

Hi @Rob Watts
Now that you have more insight in EQ and phase shifts processing, could this idea perhaps become interesting? If not as a DX amp, it could be a multi output DAC working as pre to be used with John's amp products, so his sales would benefit also.

He might have 'ears' for this

 

[miketlse]

Hi @Rob Watts
Now that you have more insight in EQ and phase shifts processing, could this idea perhaps become interesting? If not as a DX amp, it could be a multi output DAC working as pre to be used with John's amp products, so his sales would benefit also.

He might have 'ears' for this

Strangely enough, during the past few nights, I had been wondering about had anyone asked whether Robs EQ could be used to create a multi-output DAC/pre of the type you are proposing.
I had narrowed the initial two use cases down to:

• Two way (bass + mid/treble) targeted at electrostatic speaker amps/panels
• Three way (subwoofer/bass + mid + treble) targeted at most other non-exotic speakers.
  • I too had thought that John might be interested in this application for his ultima amps, but had the concern that this overall 'system' might be too analog to excite @Rob Watts to devote manyears to its R&D

Just casting bread on the water, in case any other posters want to contribute any thoughts
[edited] just spotted that this was discussed 3 years ago on the Watts Up blog

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Strangely enough, during the past few nights, I had been wondering about had anyone asked whether Robs EQ could be used to create a multi-output DAC/pre of the type you are proposing.
I had narrowed the initial two use cases down to:

• Two way (bass + mid/treble) targeted at electrostatic speaker amps/panels
• Three way (subwoofer/bass + mid + treble) targeted at most other non-exotic speakers.
  • I too had thought that John might be interested in this application for his ultima amps, but had the concern that this overall 'system' might be too analog to excite @Rob Watts to devote manyears to its R&D

Just casting bread on the water, in case any other posters want to contribute any thoughts
[edited] just spotted that this was discussed 3 years ago on the Watts Up blog

I think at this point Rob is overloaded with projects, the so called Davina project, the Ultima project and the Quartet project, I think he's done for years to come.

 

[icnaiwhimor1975]

I see on some screens that some people like the "negative phase", and some like the "positive one" - does anyone have any ideas why?

 

[theveterans]

I see on some screens that some people like the "negative phase", and some like the "positive one" - does anyone have any ideas why?

Use your ears. Some prefer the sound from inverted (negative phase). Other reasons is that they have a phase inverting power amplifier/headphone amplifier and therefore setting the DAVE to negative phase is audibly better