CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE
Nov 26, 2017 at 8:15 AM Post #9,361 of 25,757
I have not listened to the LS50 apart from briefly at a Hi Fi show but I don't think your statement is entirely correct. Others have said that the essential character of the Chord DACs still comes through despite the LS50 ADC / DAC processes.
Well as always your YMMV, here is a link to where I'm coming from http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/01/between-ad-and-da-the-power-of-pragmatism
I have both H2 and LS50Ws. For me the H2 makes no difference to the already wonderful LS50's. However my Stax 009s / KGSShv Carbon H2 is for me SOTA.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 9:01 AM Post #9,362 of 25,757
Well as always your YMMV, here is a link to where I'm coming from http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/01/between-ad-and-da-the-power-of-pragmatism
I have both H2 and LS50Ws. For me the H2 makes no difference to the already wonderful LS50's. However my Stax 009s / KGSShv Carbon H2 is for me SOTA.

I agree with the general thrust of the article, but isn’t the article saying that the Hugo character should be maintained?

‘In real-world listening tests, the Mojo’s clean-and-lean personality is maintained by the KEF LS50 Wireless’ signal path’.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 11:35 AM Post #9,363 of 25,757
I don’t have KEF LS50 Wireless. But I do have a pair of Paradigm Shift speakers which work on similar principals of ADC, DSP, DAC, class D amp. I can directly hook up my Airport Express DAC/headphone jack to the Paradigm Shift or I can hook it up to the Mojo via Toslink and hook up Mojo to the Shift. It is true that the sound is better with Mojo. However, if I were to directly plug my headphones into the Airport Express Vs Mojo, I hear a significantly improved performance compared to the difference I hear through the speakers.
I’ve also compared Oppo BDP105 player DAC vs Mojo into a Class D amp at a friend’s place and once again Mojo sounded better but when my friend upgraded to a class A/B amp, the Mojo sounded significantly better compared to the BDP105.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 12:09 PM Post #9,364 of 25,757
I bought a pair of AKG N90 Q headphones some while ago to use with my Mojo and in anticipation of the Poly which was some way down the road at that point. They fitted the bill and reviews were very good and, since they were available at half price, I decided to get a pair. They have a built in DAC as well which I thought could be quite useful for using with just my phone. When they arrived, I connected my phone by USB and was a bit disappointed as I didn’t much like the sound signature which seemed a bit thin and sharp to me. Fortunately, when I plugged the analogue cable into the Mojo, I much preferred the sound which was very different to the inbuilt DAC in isolation.

The phones have EQ and surround sound type options, so the Mojo must presumably be going through the inbuilt DAC which worried me, but it still sounds very much like being plugged directly into Mojo, which pleasantly surprised me. This seems consistent with Darko’s findings in the article posted above. Whilst they cannot compare to HE-1000 V2 plugged into BluDave, that’s not why I got them and they are actually pretty decent phones for a knockabout portable pair and very good value if you can get them at half price.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 12:27 PM Post #9,365 of 25,757
The phones have EQ and surround sound type options, so the Mojo must presumably be going through the inbuilt DAC which worried me, but it still sounds very much like being plugged directly into Mojo, which pleasantly surprised me.
There’s no doubt ADC’s can take advantage of Mojo because you’re still getting the better upsampling from Mojo and all the systems we’ve talked about (Paradigm, KEF, AKG) run their ADC at 96kHz. I would never discourage anyone to buy a Chord DAC if they use ADCs or Class D amplifiers down their audio chain, as long as they’re happy with the audio upgrade.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 1:15 PM Post #9,366 of 25,757
I am not sure what the significance is for the comment " The wizard is the Blu2 with its double coax, I could not live just with DAVE any more."

Many of us are waiting for an upscaler without a CD transport or a DAVE with the additional taps since hard drive storage of ripped CDs has become so convenient along with Hi Res download availability.

Our daily experience with Hugo2 or DAVE is different, I would like to clarfiy this, otherwise people may think that it is sounds like you have put the handbrake.
No, both Hugo and DAVE can go very loud with our Omegas (97db), we tried it the first evening, when
my good friend had just bought Hugo2 (look above for the walnut Omegas test setup), and after a couple of minutes we had to lower the volume, the room is about 50m2. And there is more:
The sound does not get congested at higher volumes, I have not heard them running out of steam yet. Of course it is not a party combo. As soon as there are more than a few people talking in the same room, they will not suffice. And by the way, the sound is so rich with timbre, you do not have to turn up the volume to compensate for the missing quality. Using the word "nearfield" does not say anything here. You can see that the speaker setup is nearfield in the photo (maple Omegas), because distance to the speakers is less than a couple of meters, but the soundfield expands to the window in the back, I have yet to compare this with the horns (105db).
I strongly hope that more people have a chance to listen to it. And last my personal opinion: The wizard is the Blu2 with its double coax, I could not live just with DAVE any more.
 
Nov 26, 2017 at 3:05 PM Post #9,368 of 25,757
Did anyone tried Dave with Blu2 with headphones? How much improvement is over just Dave.Thanks.

BluDave with HE-1000 V2 sounds incredible. I prefer speakers generally, but that combination blew me away and is the best I have ever heard headphones sound. Compared with Dave - not a fair comparison really. There has been a lot of feedback of that type on the Blu II thread. Also, Blu II trade reviews generally review Blu II with Dave and make reference to the Dave alone. That sort of feedback may be better than biased feedback from BluDave owners! :wink:
 
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Nov 26, 2017 at 5:07 PM Post #9,369 of 25,757
Did anyone tried Dave with Blu2 with headphones? How much improvement is over just Dave.Thanks.

i use my dave/blu2 with my Abyss Phi and LCD-4 and it is glorious...simple as that
 
Nov 27, 2017 at 9:59 AM Post #9,370 of 25,757
I have had very good luck with Topnisus clip on ferrites from Amazon you can order the diameter that fits your cable. They can be removed with your finger nail no key required and they are reasonably priced. Some argue that without published specifications beware Ferrites are cintered ferric oxide (rust) my guess is given a physical size and shape they filter about the same. I also recommend Clearer Audio digital cables their top of the line is the best I’ve heard

An update on my ferrite-fi journey:
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered 13 x 8mm ferrites to fit my USB cable from Amazon uk for under £7 including delivery (high end pricing gone mad!). But I hadn't anticipated that the delivery was to be via a slow boat from China,so whilst still waiting for that, I ordered various size Topnisus ferrites, which cost a a bit more, but were delivered from UK within 2 days. These to be added to my ethernet and power cables (no Topnisus sizes were ideal for my USB cable thickness). There seems to be all sorts of brand names for these cheaper ferrites - my guess is that they all come from much the same mass production lines in China.

So, to my existing setup of 8 Wurth ferrites on each of my USB and ethernet cables, I added a further 8 Topnisus ferrites on my ethernet cable (total now 16), plus 4 ferrites to DAVE's power cord (in addition to the 2 ferrites built-in to this Clearer Audio power cord). I wasn't sure if further ferrite improvements were possible after my last Wow moment, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the improvements were immediately apparent: yet more focus and detail whilst at the same time more natural and effortless. Apart from the extra weight and clunkiness on my cables, there is no downside to this SQ improvement. I'm now a full ferrite convert and declare these little blighters to be the best VFM upgrades of all time. Ever. Previous title holders were audiphile fuses and later my Supra CAT 8. But pound for pound, the ferrites easily take over that title. Can't wait for the slow boat from China to arrive.

As my system has improved recently (including the ISORegen still in place and mR v1.4 clock upgrade), my reaction to some DAVE functions has shifted:

1. I'm a big fan of the cross-feed function, particularly for HEK V2's, my preferred setting being CF=2, and I never quite undesrtood why some eminent headfiers liked CF=3. Well now I prefer CF=3 as well, although any CF value is miles better than none at all for the HEK V2's

2. I've always fussed over the Phase switch. Now I don't worry about it so much. I can still tell which phase is which, but the wrong phase doesn't now bother me as much, because both ways sound better than they used to. BTW, my albums are now tagged at over 10:1 in favour of Positive phase.

3. I've always preferred HF Filter Off, and I still do, but now I'm less bothered by the slight dulling effect of Filter On, and might even prefer that on my brightest recordings.
 
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Nov 27, 2017 at 1:45 PM Post #9,371 of 25,757
So, to my existing setup of 8 Wurth ferrites on each of my USB and ethernet cables, I added a further 8 Topnisus ferrites on my ethernet cable (total now 16), plus 4 ferrites to DAVE's power cord (in addition to the 2 ferrites built-in to this Clearer Audio power cord). I wasn't sure if further ferrite improvements were possible after my last Wow moment, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the improvements were immediately apparent: yet more focus and detail whilst at the same time more natural and effortless.
Hi Attorney. How long are the usb and ethernet cables that each have sixteen ferrites? Do you fit the ferrites equal distances apart along the length of the cable, or focus mostly on the downstream end of each cable?

I’ve got several Wirth ferrites on three Supra Cat8 cables - four on a 1m cable between NAS and switch, six on a 1m cable between switch and upstream fmc, and four on a 0.5 cable between downstrean fmc and mRendu 1.4. I might try a few more.
 
Nov 27, 2017 at 2:33 PM Post #9,373 of 25,757
Hi Attorney. How long are the usb and ethernet cables that each have sixteen ferrites? Do you fit the ferrites equal distances apart along the length of the cable, or focus mostly on the downstream end of each cable?

I’ve got several Wirth ferrites on three Supra Cat8 cables - four on a 1m cable between NAS and switch, six on a 1m cable between switch and upstream fmc, and four on a 0.5 cable between downstrean fmc and mRendu 1.4. I might try a few more.
I suggest you put all 14 of your ferrites on the USB cable that's plugged into DAVE. Place them so that they are all close together at the end which plugs into DAVE.

If your USB cable isn't long enough to fit all of them, you might like to conduct an experiment to compare:
  • your short USB cable with as many ferrites as will fit
  • the USB cable that came with DAVE, with all 14 ferrites
Now playing: The Fall - Cruisers Creek
 
Nov 27, 2017 at 2:34 PM Post #9,374 of 25,757
My 1M USB cable has only 8 ferrites (slow boat remember). For practical reasons they're roughly in the middle (so they don't pull apart the tiny and lightweight ISORegen.
My 2M Supra has 16 ferrites roughly in the middle (so they don't pull apart the tiny and lightweight microRendu).

Also have 2 ferrites on my Anker USB3->Ethernet dongle. I've just realised this is Gigabit spec, so wonder if this in itself could be causing RFI in the GHz range? (i.e. where DAVE's galvanic isolation does not reach).

When my system is settled and I stop mucking around with cables, I'll try placing the ferrites as close as possible to the desintaion ends.
 
Nov 27, 2017 at 2:39 PM Post #9,375 of 25,757
I suggest you put all 14 of your ferrites on the USB cable that's plugged into DAVE. Place them so that they are all close together at the end which plugs into DAVE.

If your USB cable isn't long enough to fit all of them, you might like to conduct an experiment to compare:
  • your short USB cable with as many ferrites as will fit
  • the USB cable that came with DAVE, with all 14 ferrites
Now playing: The Fall - Cruisers Creek
I would put some on the USB cable if I was using one, but I’m using two USPCBS - between mRendu/ISO Regen and between IR/DAVE
 

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