[EVOLVIST]

That's weird, because everything I've read about the Blu2 has come out of CES or that show in Japan. There's really not much out there to begin with.

 

[miketlse]

  sipping some woodford reserve my favorite bourbon and listening to U2 on my Utopia's and my Dave...I was supposed to go out tonight to a jazz club with my girlfriend but it is freezing here in NYC so my girlfriend persuaded me to stay in.....not a bad way to make up for missing the jazz

Risky leaving your headphones on, whilst she is talking. 

 

[jlbrach]

And what are your girlfriend's impressions of you spending Saturday night listening to music on headphones?

the utopia with dave is wonderful and my girlfriend was to blame for our staying in given that she decided it was too cold to venture out to the jazzclub!......

 

[Crgreen]

the utopia with dave is wonderful and my girlfriend was to blame for our staying in given that she decided it was too cold to venture out to the jazzclub!......

I don't think you realise: your girlfriend can never be to in the wrong...ever. It's always your fault. Grasp that and life will be easier

 

[miketlse]

  the utopia with dave is wonderful and my girlfriend was to blame for our staying in given that she decided it was too cold to venture out to the jazzclub!......

 
Your girlfriend, and your headphones, sound like keepers. 

 

[romaz]

   
Really? Don't they have a pre-show period for journalists, or don't journalists listen with the rest of the public during the show? You'd have thought at least one journalist would want to listen to Chord's flagship product. Sounds might odd to me, especially at something like CES.

 
Yes, the pre-show for journalists occurs on Thursday, the first day of CES.  I arrived on Friday, the day after, and yet Rob had indicated on his post that I was the first one to get to hear Blu2 (along with a Japanese gentleman who was also there with me).  Having read several journalists' impressions of their time in the Chord room, they all heard Rob's lecture on Thursday but none commented on hearing Blu2.  Furthermore, Blu2 was inconspicuously tucked away in a side room for the entire show and not featured in the main room of the suite.

 

[romaz]

  Kubala Sosna is very suitable for DAVE.

 
I am a big fan as well.  While DAVE is largely immune to the USB cable that connects to it (even cheap $5 USB cables sound excellent), you can discern some differences among a few that really stand out but unfortunately, you have to spend a lot of money to achieve it.  For example, my current reference, the Clarity Cables Natural USB is a definite step up from my previous reference, the Curious USB with respect to a bigger and more airy soundstage but the Kubala Sosna USB is even better.  The problem is the Kubala Sosna Realization USB cable is $3,500 USD and I didn't find the slight improvement over the Clarity Cables to be worth the extra money.

 

[jlbrach]

I don't think you realise: your girlfriend can never be to in the wrong...ever. It's always your fault. Grasp that and life will be easier

as a divorced guy I have decided to proceed assuming she is always right and i am always wrong..it is much easier that way to be sure!

 

[yamuling]

Thx. But the Kubala Sosna I mentioned was the power cable  For USB I chose the Entreq Apollo.

 

[Crgreen]

Blu2 was inconspicuously tucked away in a side room for the entire show and not featured in the main room of the suite.

I suppose that would make it easy to miss.

 

[Light - Man]

I suppose that would make it easy to miss.

 
Maybe it is really really ugly or is so expensive that they are afraid to mention the price if anyone asked?

 

 

[yellowblue]

Exciting times - which will be the best device to feed the Dave?
 
SOtM smS-200 Ultra or MicroRendu with Iso Regen?
 
You can read some fresh information about the upcoming Iso Regen here:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f27-uptone-audio-sponsored/iso-regen-31769/ (after post #24)

 

[EVOLVIST]

Exciting times - which will be the best device to feed the Dave?

[COLOR=3E3E3E]SOtM smS-200 Ultra or MicroRendu with Iso Regen?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=3E3E3E]You can read some fresh information about the coming Iso Regen here:[/COLOR]
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f27-uptone-audio-sponsored/iso-regen-31769/ (after post #24)

Leaving no pocket unturned, I see. That the DAVE is already galvanically isolated, I'm not sure of the benefits of the Iso Regen, but I will read on since I love my mRendu so much.

 

[yellowblue]

Alex from Uptone audio got the same question about the benefits of the Iso Regen beyond the galvanic isolation and he answered:
 
The enhancements to the REGEN (which sonically are more significant than the galvanic isolation which took a frustratingly long time to make work right) are what benefit the microRendu--and every other device.

I've been listening to my microRendu feeding the ISO REGEN (version of the board with and without the Silanna isolator chip) for a while now, and it sounds fantastic. 

The combination of the great signal integrity USB 3.0 hub chip we chose (which lmitche and Jud separately picked blind from very early beta units last summer), the ultra-low-phase noise Crystek 575 clock, the e beefing up and separating of the power networks, and the 5(!) separate ultra-ultra-low-noise LT3042 regulators--those are the things that really contribute to the leap ahead of the ISO REGEN.

And some of the above--especially the clock--are why ISO REGEN is of benefit to even the hub-chipped "regen" output of the microRendu.
 
 
That sounds promising to me, even if the smS-200 Ultra has the better clock.

 

[Silvertone4]

Audio Sync Problems with DAVE.

I've been auditioning the DAVE at home this weekend in my two channel rig, I'm pretty happy with the DACs sound, one of the best DACs I've heard on my rig at any price.

However, I can't get over the sync problems when I switch over to my TV input. The audio sync delay is pretty bad when using PCM+ , when switching to DSD+ the delay is much better, not completely solved but at least video is watchable.

Questions/Suggestions for a DAVE software update:

Can each input preserve its individual settings when it comes to HF Filter On/Off, DSD+, PCM+, etc?
Having to 'reboot' the DAVE and wait 20 seconds every time I want to switch between music listening and tv watching is deal breaker for me. To make things worst this task cannot be done from the remote control either.

As I mentioned above, DSD+ processing aliviates the problem for the most part but it doesn't fix it 100%. Can there be a third option which minimizes processing further for video watching? You can call it Video+.

And lastly, can the inputs that are not in use be disabled invidually? This way you don't have to scroll through all the options until you reach the input you need.

Most competitors at this price range have each of these requests implemented in some form. For example, the Ayre QX5 DAC has a 'Video' mode on their dac that minimizes processing in their fpga to prevent audio delays. You can also disable digital inputs on that DAC so you don't have to scroll through all input options when in use.

On a different note, I'm finding that the HF Filter ON/OFF setting makes a clear audible difference even with 44khz material. When I turn on the filter the sound is smoother, midrange has better presence, and to my ears the noise floor is lower. I have thrown all sorts of material at the DAVE over the weekend and every time I preferred the less fatiguing sound with the HF filter ON.

ST