[ecwl]

I sometimes wonder if we need a separate thread on black vs silver DAVE/Blu2/Hugo2
I think given how much money is spent on these devices, it is reasonable for the consumer to get to choose the color they want to match the rest of their gear... As to why supply is not matching demand, that's always hard to know. Black or silver, they're all beautifully made.

 

[Emerald Core]

Quick question,

So I bought a 64audio U18T as a new collection to try on the Dave and a daily driver on the go. Has anyone experience pairing IEMs with Dave ?

I am curious how IEMs scale with top end electronics.

 

[x RELIC x]

Quick question,

So I bought a 64audio U18T as a new collection to try on the Dave and a daily driver on the go. Has anyone experience pairing IEMs with Dave ?

I am curious how IEMs scale with top end electronics.

I’ve used the JH Angie, Noble K10 (custom), and LCD-i4 with the DAVE.

The way I see it is the more capable the IEM / headphone then the better it can reveal the source gear feeding them. I don’t see IEM’s / headphones as the things that scale in a system as their potential to be great (or not so great) is always there, but it’s the source gear that scales. The IEMs / headphones reveal. If the IEM / headphone isn’t that good it won’t matter as much what you feed them.

I’d place my IEMs in this order... LCD-i4 > K10 > JH Angie no matter what feeds them. By the way, the LCD-i4 reminds me of the Focal Utopia headphones for speed and dynamics with Chord gear.

 

[nogi replicant]

As a Hugo 2 and LCDi4 and Utopia user I decided to demo the Dave on Friday as I am considering my next audio purchase. Was thinking maybe the Final D8000 or Abyss Phi. But for the latter (which I am yet to demo but it’s key strong points are up my alley) I would need a Ledgit amp. Was strongly considering the Moon 430 hoping it might open the soundstage of the Utopia (which is my only gripe with the Utopia) and set me up for a future Abyss purchase. But now that I have heard the Dave with my Utopia and Lazuli Ref cable I am afraid that I need to seriously start trying to scrape some coin together. Gorgeous sound.

 

[jarnopp]

What is the purpose of changing the phase to pos or neg. Does it affect only speakers or also head phones!
Thanks

There is a discussion starting here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-413

 

[doraymon]

A few comments during my second session with DAVE.

Ferrite: during this second round I unleashed my "ferrite rage" over Dave's power cord (5 ferrite cores Würth 74271733S) and over the USB cable from the Macmini (15 cores, a mix of ten 74271633S and five 74271131S).
I also optimised the routing of the cables behind the cabinet and connected Dave's power cord alone to one of my two Mains Filters.

Phase: I can't hear any significant difference changing between positive and negative, although I admit I am enjoying the music so much that I'm not in a mood of too many A/B at the beginning of each song. The DAVE came in with Negative by default but I changed it to Positive only because in a few tracks I think I had a very slight impression of the sound being more consistent overall. But it may be Placebo kicking in...

HF Filter: I set it to off as it doesn't seem to have any significant effect on my tracks. I later found out that this has a more evident impact on hi sampling frequency tracks (above 192KHz) and considering that my music is mainly 44.1kHz or 96kHz my impressions kind of make sense.

Detail: an example of Dave's capabilities can be heard in the first couple of minutes of Amber Rubarth's "Full Moon In Paris" (Binaural+ recording, 24/96). At 0:04 there is a squeaking sound coming from the far background off stage, maybe an old wooden door opening? Later, at 1:41 I can clearly hear one of the artists (I believe Cellist Dave Eggar) softly inhaling and then releasing a whispering "Yeah..." while starting to play his first notes. From what I remember I had never heard any of this before... This song is spectacular with DAVE!

Now playing: Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach's Suite for cello No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007: Prelude

 

[Triode User]

Ferrite: during this second round I unleashed my "ferrite rage" over Dave's power cord (5 ferrite cores Würth 74271733S) and over the USB cable from the Macmini (15 cores, a mix of ten 74271633S and five 74271131S).

........and any thoughts?

 

[TheAttorney]

An update on my album phase tagging: the Positive phase albums now outnumber the Negative ones by over 10:1, so definitely Positive is the right default.
I can also understand why some people may actually prefer the sound of the wrong phase, or not notice it at all.
I seem to hear the effects of absolute phase more than most, but as my source has gradually improved to give better overall sound with either phase, I now worry less about phase than I used to, which truely is a blessing .

I still feel the effect of the HF filter is marginal, and still feel that HF=OFF sounds fractionally more transparent for my solely redbook files.

 

[doraymon]

........and any thoughts?

Literally just installed them so it's too early to say but if there is any improvement it won't be night and day. So far a bit of a disappointment for the almost 100 bucks spent on the cores...
But as I wrote I am being absorbed in the music and I'm not in the mood for critical listening. Can you imagine an A/B having to remove 20 cores using a security key...?

 

[doraymon]

Is there any table with the output voltage of DAVE changing with the volume?
I'd like to check the listening levels with my Clear to avoid destroying my ears...

 

[rayl]

Is there any table with the output voltage of DAVE changing with the volume?
I'd like to check the listening levels with my Clear to avoid destroying my ears...

My notes show that Rob had previously stated that -3dB setting is approx 6V RMS, with clipping at 13.6V RMS. I have not measured to confirm. Also, I can't seem to find the original post, but I am assuming these were for balanced outputs. (I forgot to write down explicitly balanced vs single-ended.)

So this means -3dB setting is approx 17.8 dBu (= 20 × log_10 (V_RMS / 0.775) ) in case your trusty RMS to dBu chart isn't handle....

 

[Triode User]

Literally just installed them so it's too early to say but if there is any improvement it won't be night and day. So far a bit of a disappointment for the almost 100 bucks spent on the cores...
But as I wrote I am being absorbed in the music and I'm not in the mood for critical listening. Can you imagine an A/B having to remove 20 cores using a security key...?

I played with ferrites on power cords but took them all off. Admittedly they were the same as the ones targeting the rf on the Blu2 dual bnc so were unlikely to be targeting the correct frequency. Also, my power cords have earthed screens and I do not know if the ferrites work through that screen.

I have an rf noise gadget to give an indication of rf mains noise. Neither did it show any improvement. Interestingly when I had a ps audio P10 that appeared to inject more RF noise into the mains that just using a wall socket.

 

[Elecroestatico]

I’ve used the JH Angie, Noble K10 (custom), and LCD-i4 with the DAVE.

The way I see it is the more capable the IEM / headphone then the better it can reveal the source gear feeding them. I don’t see IEM’s / headphones as the things that scale in a system as their potential to be great (or not so great) is always there, but it’s the source gear that scales. The IEMs / headphones reveal. If the IEM / headphone isn’t that good it won’t matter as much what you feed them.

I’d place my IEMs in this order... LCD-i4 > K10 > JH Angie no matter what feeds them. By the way, the LCD-i4 reminds me of the Focal Utopia headphones for speed and dynamics with Chord gear.

You are a writer! Thank you.

 

[jrfmd]

I’ve used the JH Angie, Noble K10 (custom), and LCD-i4 with the DAVE.

The way I see it is the more capable the IEM / headphone then the better it can reveal the source gear feeding them. I don’t see IEM’s / headphones as the things that scale in a system as their potential to be great (or not so great) is always there, but it’s the source gear that scales. The IEMs / headphones reveal. If the IEM / headphone isn’t that good it won’t matter as much what you feed them.



I’d place my IEMs in this order... LCD-i4 > K10 > JH Angie no matter what feeds them. By the way, the LCD-i4 reminds me of the Focal Utopia headphones for speed and dynamics with Chord gear.

fwiw:

with the dave I would rank my earphones (including my 1 iem) as
1.the shure 1500 s iem, 2.next the focal utopia, 3.next the LCD-4 and 4 last.the sennhauser 800

Jeff

 

[doraymon]

I played with ferrites on power cords but took them all off. Admittedly they were the same as the ones targeting the rf on the Blu2 dual bnc so were unlikely to be targeting the correct frequency. Also, my power cords have earthed screens and I do not know if the ferrites work through that screen.

I have an rf noise gadget to give an indication of rf mains noise. Neither did it show any improvement. Interestingly when I had a ps audio P10 that appeared to inject more RF noise into the mains that just using a wall socket.

For the USB cable I chose ferrites targeting the 100MHz - 1GHz range having a peak around 300MHz which is the area Rob suggested to attack. But he also stated it might not make any difference which I'm afraid it's my case.
For the power cable as you did I used the same ferrites of the USB cable as the noise being targeted is the same.
I will follow up on this in the coming sessions giving a bit more attention, let's see.

Regarding the P10 I am shocked! I always thought PS Audio had a good reputation but injecting even more noise Is not acceptable!
What is the gadget you are using to give an indication of RF noise carried by the cables?