[GryphonGuy]

I use canadian Sysconcept which I think is really good and ship to uk with reasonable costs. I have not compared to Lifatec but seem to understand that these 2 are among the best. QED also make a glass one that has great reviews. Have you or anyone else compared any of these as I have not?

I have the QED glass toslink cable and it is a class above the other toslink cables I have used. I apparently I only have plastic toslnk cables until I purchased the QED. So at the risk of being flamed, I guess glass cables transmit light pulses generally better than plastics.

Having said that, the Kimber USB cable I have (KS-2436) is a step above the QED again in terms of DAVE making great music in my system.

Regards
GG

 

[Jawed]

Make sure you disconnect the USB cable when you want to listen to optical. If you don't disconnect the USB cable, you have lost all of the galvanic isolation that the optical cable provides.

 

[rgs9200m]

So far, DAVE is awesome with USB. But I have not tried any other connection. I just decided to quit while I was ahead and go the plug and play route.

About burn in:
My DAVE seemed to take a few days of use and being powered up to reach what sounds like full potential to me (especially transparency in the bass), but now all is well.
I guess this is the same phenomenon as with the Yggy (to some degree; just guessing here).
But now I see what all the fuss was about with the DAVE.
Thanks Rob.

 

[theveterans]

So far, DAVE is awesome with USB. But I have not tried any other connection. I just decided to quit while I was ahead and go the plug and play route.

About burn in:
My DAVE seemed to take a few days of use and being powered up to reach what sounds like full potential to me (especially transparency in the bass), but now all is well.
I guess this is the same phenomenon as with the Yggy (to some degree; just guessing here).
But now I see what all the fuss was about with the DAVE.
Thanks Rob.

The Xilinx FPGA chip is not made from microscopic resistor that needs to be in thermal equilibrium like the ones from Yggy. You probably get a brain burn-in in this case.

 

[rgs9200m]

OK, maybe brain burn in it is. Thanks for the info on the Dave vs. Yggy innards. I'm not sure about this. I didn't see much about it on the Dave thread, but if anyone else has comments on this, I'd be curious.

 

[STR-1]

With so much discussion about recreating live acoustic performances on home audio gear on this and other Chord threads, some might find this Hans Beekhuyzen video of interest -

 

[onlychild]

OK, maybe brain burn in it is. Thanks for the info on the Dave vs. Yggy innards. I'm not sure about this. I didn't see much about it on the Dave thread, but if anyone else has comments on this, I'd be curious.

I’ve noticed mine opens up more after about 30mins, but I don’t keep it on standby. It’s powerd off completely after each session.

 

[rayl]

I’ve noticed mine opens up more after about 30mins, but I don’t keep it on standby. It’s powerd off completely after each session.

Rob Watts has cited 10 minutes in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-204#post-12596126

Though I leave mine on all the time.

 

[onlychild]

Rob Watts has cited 10 minutes in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-204#post-12596126

Though I leave mine on all the time.

That’s burn-in he’s referring to. I was talking about warming up the unit for 30mins each session before critical listening.

 

[rayl]

That’s burn-in he’s referring to. I was talking about warming up the unit for 30mins each session before critical listening.

Fair enough if one interprets only literally, though I would propose the inference that burn in time is >= warm up time.... i.e. if you receive DAVE in a box brand new via FedEx and it is ready in 10 minutes, I would imagine that retrieving it from your drawer or even just flipping the power switch should not take more time unless something has since degraded (which is possible as all things age, but hopefully not for a few years!)

 

[GryphonGuy]

That’s burn-in he’s referring to. I was talking about warming up the unit for 30mins each session before critical listening.

My experience is somewhere inbetween. After 20 mins of warming up from cold start there are no discernible changes for me but definitely in the first 10-15 mins DAVE can sound "odd" on some familiar tracks. So I usually just play a warm-up album at lower volumes for 20 mins and then DAVE is ready to deliver its sublime musical entertainment.

Regards
GG

 

[Jawed]

I was looking at this page:

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000PA1ASAW

which mentions "BNC 50 ohm terminator", along with these worrying words:

Terminate every single BNC input/output that you are not using, with BNC 50 Ohm terminators*. Switch these unused terminals to 'Floating Reference'. This will eliminate the cross talk and reduce the noise. Unconnected BNC connectors tend to act like antennae, thus picking up noise.

A 50 ohm terminator is, as far as I can tell, different from a BNC shorting cap. The 50 ohm terminator is presumably safe to use on both input and output BNC connectors on the back of DAVE, whereas I presume a shorting cap is not safe to use on the outputs.

Something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BNC-Term...486944&hash=item1c3cb23bd2:g:GzwAAOSwY3RXJMlQ

So with luck these are completely safe to use on all the unused BNC sockets on the back of DAVE and would be preferable to using just shorting plugs on the BNC inputs. What do you guys think?

Now playing: Ian William Craig - On the Reach of Explanations

 

[rayl]

I was looking at this page:

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000PA1ASAW

which mentions "BNC 50 ohm terminator", along with these worrying words:



A 50 ohm terminator is, as far as I can tell, different from a BNC shorting cap. The 50 ohm terminator is presumably safe to use on both input and output BNC connectors on the back of DAVE, whereas I presume a shorting cap is not safe to use on the outputs.

Something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BNC-Term...486944&hash=item1c3cb23bd2:g:GzwAAOSwY3RXJMlQ

So with luck these are completely safe to use on all the unused BNC sockets on the back of DAVE and would be preferable to using just shorting plugs on the BNC inputs. What do you guys think?

Now playing: Ian William Craig - On the Reach of Explanations

Wouldn't one at least choose 75 ohms over 50?

 

[Triode User]

I was looking at this page:

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000PA1ASAW

which mentions "BNC 50 ohm terminator", along with these worrying words:



A 50 ohm terminator is, as far as I can tell, different from a BNC shorting cap. The 50 ohm terminator is presumably safe to use on both input and output BNC connectors on the back of DAVE, whereas I presume a shorting cap is not safe to use on the outputs.

Something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BNC-Term...486944&hash=item1c3cb23bd2:g:GzwAAOSwY3RXJMlQ

So with luck these are completely safe to use on all the unused BNC sockets on the back of DAVE and would be preferable to using just shorting plugs on the BNC inputs. What do you guys think?

Now playing: Ian William Craig - On the Reach of Explanations

I haven't a clue. Why not address a question to the designer of Dave? ie @Rob Watts rather than leaping to conclusions?

 

[Jawed]

I don't know! Look ma and take your pick!:

https://www.canford.co.uk/TELEGARTNER-BNC-RESISTIVE-TERMINATORS-50-ohms-RF-and-75-ohms-SD-HD-3G-SDI

I think Rob's talked about using RG59 cables, which are 50 ohm, which would imply you're correct.

Now playing: Heather Nova - Heal