CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[KMann]

It feels a little dull in my favorite setup, but with other headphones i got like HD650 / HD800 and Ultrasone Ed 12 , Stax SR-009 ( with sep. Amp )i feel the cross feed function do a little better work, but my liking is to have it set to off most of the time, for the best spacious and out of the head feeling.

 
How do you use cross-feed through an external amp for SR-009? I thought cross-feed is available only through headphone out.

 

[dguitarnut]

My listening room/office is sort of sound isolated small 11x14. My speakers are set up in nearfied fashion 3ft from side walls 5ft apart and 5ft from back wall with slight adjustments to these numbers as I dialed in the sound with movement of speakers and listening chair.. I probably have $30K in my system but who is counting. It is anchored by Magico S1mk2 speakers.
When I a/b speaker system versus headphones, speakers win out every time. Now I must admit that headphones held the upper edge until I reached this plateau including speaker cable and interconnect upgrades. My setup is really just considered an entry system to but it's a very transparent crisp and accurate sound. Yes you can spend obscene money on speaker systems but I'm already beyond my paygrade and with the addition of the Dave it was the icing on the cake which crossed that line into sublime sound for me.
But you can't beat a good set of headphones when you don't have sound isolation from outside world or to the outside world.
I sold my master-9, ecc445, lcdxc, He-6,and Hd-800 once I figured out I was damaging my ears and developing tinnitus lol.
All I have left is my trusty Fostex Th-900 which I can plug into my Dave and give me wife isolation.

 

[JaZZ]

 

It feels a little dull in my favorite setup, but with other headphones i got like HD650 / HD800 and Ultrasone Ed 12 , Stax SR-009 ( with sep. Amp )i feel the cross feed function do a little better work, but my liking is to have it set to off most of the time, for the best spacious and out of the head feeling.

 
How do you use cross-feed through an external amp for SR-009? I thought cross-feed is available only through headphone out.

 
Yes, that's true. In this case the best solution would be to feed the electrostatic amp via DAVE's headphone output, which shouldn't cause any loss of sound quality.

 

[Automata]

New to this forum. Just ordered a black Dave from my dealer, I can't wait to try it out with my Utopia and TH900 headphone.

 

[JaZZ]

Welcome to Head-Fi and congrats on your decision! 

You won't regret it – I also bought my black DAVE blind and am more than satisfied.

 

[ray-dude]

  New to this forum. Just ordered a black Dave from my dealer, I can't wait to try it out with my Utopia and TH900 headphone.

DAVE+Utopia should be a stellar match.  I may have to ask @darinf to borrow his Utopias again!
 
With my new DAVE, I've fallen in love with my Audio Zenith PMx2's all over again (they've gone from incredible to extraordinary)

 

[Beolab]

How do you use cross-feed through an external amp for SR-009? I thought cross-feed is available only through headphone out.

I am using a Atlas Hyper Metic 1/4" - RCA phono adapter cable occasionally

 

[KMann]

 

Yes, that's true. In this case the best solution would be to feed the electrostatic amp via DAVE's headphone output, which shouldn't cause any loss of sound quality.

I am using a Atlas Hyper Metic 1/4" - RCA phono adapter cable occasionally

Thank you. Never thought of doing that. Though the only time I use cross-feed is if the bass is hard panned. 

 

[x RELIC x]

Yes, that's true. In this case the best solution would be to feed the electrostatic amp via DAVE's headphone output, which shouldn't cause any loss of sound quality.

I am using a Atlas Hyper Metic 1/4" - RCA phono adapter cable occasionally

Thank you. Never thought of doing that. Though the only time I use cross-feed is if the bass is hard panned. 

Typically, cross-feed is implemented to bring the hard panning closer together in a mix. On the DAVE I find the cross-feed to closer represent a binaraul recording where instruments are further separated and more like speakers. YMMV.

 

[EVOLVIST]

First impressions:

With headphones, I was astonished at the musicality and magic that the DAVE brought to the table.  It was a continuous smile as I jumped around favorite tracks.  Every thing was just better and more engaging/pleasing/emotional

I dropped it into my 2 channel system last night, and did not have the "wow" that I had with headphones.  The marginal lift was there, but not the leap I had heard with headphones.

That being said, I hear gaps with the 2 channel system better.  There is a lot of room for tuning (and I knew I had a lot of room tuning to do), but the tuning opportunities are more vivid now.  Looking forward to squeezing the 2 channel set up and seeing how far DAVE helps me push it

What's your amp?

 

[ray-dude]

What's your amp?

Classe 2300 feeding B&w 802d3's

Actually ordered a Benchmark amp this week to trial and compare with the Classe. Should be here in a week

 

[EVOLVIST]

Classe 2300 feeding B&w 802d3's

Actually ordered a Benchmark amp this week to trial and compare with the Classe. Should be here in a week

It's interesting. I've dropped my DAVE into 3 different systems and bam! - immediate improvement.

The Benchmark AHB2. I will be auditioning that amp, as well. It's also pretty cool how one can run these as two mono amps,which isn't an uncommon thing to do; nevertheless, it makes me wonder if they are what they say they are. I can't seem to get it through my head how every amp on the planet won't have its shortingcomings with the DAVE. Oh well. I'll at least upon an interim solution until Chord comes out with their new digital amps.

 

[Articnoise]

   
To my ears the amount of bass with the HE1000 has an enormous effect on the perception of transparency – the frequency response generally. That's why I swear by equalizing.

Yes transparency can get reduced by subbases. Two reasons:

 

1.   1. The bass wave mask other frequencies: The bass mask other lower signals so you can’t hear those frequencies as clearly (this happens also in non-recorded live events, so it’s natural).
 
2.   2. The transducer mask other frequencies: If only using one transducer like in most headphones. The membrane has to move simultaneously to create all frequency. The more the membrane has to move in and out to produce low bass the harder it is to also simultaneously make the small moves to create other higher frequencies so they doesn’t gets infected or smeared. It’s vital to understand that a membrane has to move longer distance in and out the lower the frequency, but the rate of the membrane move is higher the higher the frequency. In other words: To produce waves in all audio frequencies is pretty hard with only one transducer because the transducer has to move to make sound waves that are very different in wave size. 
 
 

 

[onsionsi]

  Yes transparency can get reduced by subbases. Two reasons:

 

1.   1. The bass wave mask other frequencies: The bass mask other lower signals so you can’t hear those frequencies as clearly (this happens also in non-recorded live events, so it’s natural).
 
2.   2. The transducer mask other frequencies: If only using one transducer like in most headphones. The membrane has to move simultaneously to create all frequency. The more the membrane has to move in and out to produce low bass the harder it is to also simultaneously make the small moves to create other higher frequencies so they doesn’t gets infected or smeared. It’s vital to understand that a membrane has to move longer distance in and out the lower the frequency, but the rate of the membrane move is higher the higher the frequency. In other words: To produce waves in all audio frequencies is pretty hard with only one transducer because the transducer has to move to make sound waves that are very different in wave size. 
 
 

 
I'm totally concur with you but the membrane movements in Electrostatic headphone differ than in Planar and Magnetic headphone to produce the frequencies. 

 

[ray-dude]

It's interesting. I've dropped my DAVE into 3 different systems and bam! - immediate improvement.

The Benchmark AHB2. I will be auditioning that amp, as well. It's also pretty cool how one can run these as two mono amps,which isn't an uncommon thing to do; nevertheless, it makes me wonder if they are what they say they are. I can't seem to get it through my head how every amp on the planet won't have its shortingcomings with the DAVE. Oh well. I'll at least upon an interim solution until Chord comes out with their new digital amps.

 
Yup, we're thinking similarly.  
 
I should say that I did hear a difference, just not the jaw dropping difference I heard with headphones.  I know its there to be found though!
 
My plan is to use the DAVE to tune up the speaker placement, compare the Classe to the Benchmark and see what the speed and ultra low noise/distortion buys me, then compare the various gain modes of the Benchmark to see what transparency lift there's to be had.  If the low gain mode of the benchmark wins, then I'll switch it to mono and see if a single Benchmark in low gain mode can effectively drive a single speaker.  
 
At the end of all this, I'll know what my bridge strategy is until the Chord digital amp comes out (or at least until I have a Blu/Davina to distract me
 
 
Good news is that the Benchmark amp is a VERY polite 15 pounds, so very easy to swap in and out, ship around, etc.  I appreciate the very generous 30 day return policy from Benchmark that will let me do the in depth eval in my setup.