[rkt31]

few days back I used my cheap Redmi S1 as transport to Hugo 2 with short silver usb cable from penon audio with three small ferrite besds (it could accommodate only three) i would say it bettered the optical input with clear margin. may be it was due to Hugo 2 clock coming in picture with usb input. sound with ferrite on usb cable was lot smoother and darker. then I tried same with cheap thin long data cable with lot of ferrites ( total six ) along with jitterbug . the sound degraded like anything, no bass, no depth and extremely congested. it was like something has been sucked out of the sound. it was strange experience. Theni tried my oyaide usb A class 1m cable with four ferrites and sound was again lot better . can't explain is it due to thin data cable which was not able to transmit the data properly ?

 

[Triode User]

No difference in performance before or after the powerplant What test/equipment did you use to confirm an increase in emi/rfi after the powerplant? How did your coax experiment workout?

Hi, it was a meter very similar to this but sourced in the UK. It has an audible indicator but more important it has a measured output. That might not be accurate but the measurement is very useful for relative measurements, ie before and after filters etc. (Edit, The meter spec says "Measures line noise 0-1999 mV from 10 kHz to over 1 MHz with an accuracy of +/-10%")

http://greenwavefilters.com/product/emi-meter/

My Blu2 BNC cable is coming on just fine thanks. It has ended up as a mixture of high spec silver conductor and silver sheathed coax, high end BNC connectors and also with integral ferrites. The end result is something that is 'plug and go' with no need to add extra ferrites and which looks aesthetically good. The bonus is that it is relatively flexible. I probably can't talk too much on here because with the success of how it has turned out I have decided to sell them.

 

[flyte3333]

Not sure what all the trouble with toslink is.

I made the switch from USB to toslink with my DAVE recently and prefer it for multiple reasons.

Which source are you using?

And can you get 192kHz to work reliably without any dropout?

 

[flyte3333]

Hi @Rob Watts

There's some interesting discussion on CA Forum about SPDIF sucking (I disagree obviously since TOSlink is my main input except when I want to pull out my Frankenstein 'off the grid' USB setup on weekends).

I've read a lot about your DPLL but how do you overcome the specific issues discussed here:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/...basically-suck/?do=findComment&comment=822024

Cheers!

 

[Rob Watts]

No competently designed SPDIF rx circuit would ever do what that poster suggests, it would create too much THD and noise. The DPLL creates a brand new word clock that is exactly frequency locked to the source, but is on the local 104.25MHz clock domain - the DAC master clock. A data buffer is used, and data is sampled by the DPLL created word clock.

I know for sure that this system works as intended (it actually took 6 years to perfect the DPLL) as with Hugo 2 on headphones I got USB to sound indistinguishable to optical. With USB the clock for the data is a direct multiple of the DAC master clock so no new word clock needs to be generated.

 

[jonstatt]

I have a DAVE on the way, with delivery scheduled for tomorrow. I will be using it with an iMac and USB connection, as the iMac does not have an optical out. I recently purchased an Audioquest Niagara 1000 Power Conditioner and Thunder Power Cord and have an ISO REGEN with UltraCap LPS-1.2 on order to use with a power isolated Curious Cable USB cable. I also have another power cable, the Danacable Source Clarifier for Source Components.
Since I will already be using the Niagara Power Conditioner with the Thunder Power Cord will using the Danacable Source Clarifier in place of either the standard DAVE power cable or the standard iMac power cable provide any additional sound quality? If so, with this setup which is the better place to use the Danacable, the DAVE or the iMac? Thank you.

Congratulations on the DAVE purchase. At least we can say for sure that component amongst the others you listed is not Snake Oil. Honestly I am a power cable sceptic. I have tried different ones costing up to £1000 and I honestly couldn't tell them apart with DAVE. Others swear by them. The only thing I do believe in is that noise such as RFI/EMI can degrade the sound quality at the DAC end. This is why things like galvanic isolation are vital. I can't for the life of me figure out what difference a mains cable can make, especially if it doesn't even have ferrites on it. A couple of years ago Audioquest actually removed the ferrites from some of their mains cables claiming they sounded better that way!

Dave's USB isolation isn't perfect. So for that last % of improvement people look to try all sorts of things like ferrites on cables etc. Now mains conditioners can be scientifically tested and shown to reduce the noise on the mains. The question is, does it actually make a difference to the sound? DAVE has very good mains noise control already in place so the Niagara may not make any difference. Good conditioners also ensure that the components connected to the conditioner don't pass noise onto each other (i.e. separately filtered).This may help components that do not have the best mains filtering in their design, perhaps a streamer, from being influenced by DAVE, and that streamer passing the noise back to DAVE via USB. The thing I am getting at though is we have no way of knowing for your specific set-up whether a conditioner makes any difference at all, or the power cable. How noisy is your mains?

At the very least for source and pre-amp devices a conditioner won't do any harm and may just improve things a little. And conditioners usually have surge protection which is vital to protect investments like DAVE. As for where to put the Danacable, I would say it doesn't matter, but if you were convinced that it does I think it has more chance of an improvement connected to DAVE than the iMac.

 

[jonstatt]

No competently designed SPDIF rx circuit would ever do what that poster suggests, it would create too much THD and noise. The DPLL creates a brand new word clock that is exactly frequency locked to the source, but is on the local 104.25MHz clock domain - the DAC master clock. A data buffer is used, and data is sampled by the DPLL created word clock.

I know for sure that this system works as intended (it actually took 6 years to perfect the DPLL) as with Hugo 2 on headphones I got USB to sound indistinguishable to optical. With USB the clock for the data is a direct multiple of the DAC master clock so no new word clock needs to be generated.

If it is exactly locked to the source how does it avoid jitter from a poor quality source clock?

 

[draytonklammer]

No competently designed SPDIF rx circuit would ever do what that poster suggests, it would create too much THD and noise. The DPLL creates a brand new word clock that is exactly frequency locked to the source, but is on the local 104.25MHz clock domain - the DAC master clock. A data buffer is used, and data is sampled by the DPLL created word clock.

I know for sure that this system works as intended (it actually took 6 years to perfect the DPLL) as with Hugo 2 on headphones I got USB to sound indistinguishable to optical. With USB the clock for the data is a direct multiple of the DAC master clock so no new word clock needs to be generated.

Rob, am I right to be using toslink from my computer, or should I be using USB?

 

[Rob Watts]

It's frequency locked, not phase locked. So over seconds, it will adjust the created word clock; but will completely ignore any jitter. We can see this on the jitter plots on the DAC; and if I add 2uS of source jitter, there is absolutely no change in measurements. 2uS is over a thousand times bigger than typical source jitter....

 

[Rob Watts]

Rob, am I right to be using toslink from my computer, or should I be using USB?

Yes. Toslink is the gold standard, and the target to hit with USB - assuming the toslink is bit perfect (and if it's not you will hear the drop-outs easily).

 

[Beolab]

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The Choral Étude has been designed to both compliment and exploit the full potential of the multi-award winning DAVE DAC, which has preamp functionality, and the brand new topology has even faster power delivery than exiting designs, offering unrivalled dynamics, life-like delivery of transient information, plus effortless control over loudspeaker drive units.

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The design for Étude is based upon multi-feedback and dual feed-forward error-correction amplifier technology that intelligently adjusts and compensates the individual linearity of the 250-watt lateral structure high-power proprietary MOSFETs. Internally there are three individual high frequency switch mode power supply units, one for each active power rail and a final for the auxiliary rails. When paired with advanced internal shielding, active cooled plenum chamber design, and custom Chord Electronics MOSFETs, you have Étude, an world class extremely fast crystal clear amplifier.


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Thought this amp should be using the Pulse array digital interface, but maybe the ètude will be upgraded next year then ?

 

[delirium]

I have a DAVE on the way, with delivery scheduled for tomorrow. I will be using it with an iMac and USB connection, as the iMac does not have an optical out. I recently purchased an Audioquest Niagara 1000 Power Conditioner and Thunder Power Cord and have an ISO REGEN with UltraCap LPS-1.2 on order to use with a power isolated Curious Cable USB cable. I also have another power cable, the Danacable Source Clarifier for Source Components.
Since I will already be using the Niagara Power Conditioner with the Thunder Power Cord will using the Danacable Source Clarifier in place of either the standard DAVE power cable or the standard iMac power cable provide any additional sound quality? If so, with this setup which is the better place to use the Danacable, the DAVE or the iMac? Thank you.

Hi! I also have iso.lps...it sounds better than optisk in my case? But that can be becouse optisk is going trew a soundcard on my laptop before dave? So i dont no if that sounds better..many here thinks so.but iso.lps sounds good..!!

 

[delirium]

Thanks. That's bad luck. I wonder if that's jitter causing the problem? Even though DAVE is meant to have no problem with jitter. Or is it the signal integrity problem?

Do you have a phone or tablet that can output music over USB? That might be better. But you might have to buy a new USB cable or an adaptor to make that work.

Can your laptop play music while it is on battery power? If the laptop works on battery power, try a simple USB cable, but do not use ISO Regen and LPS-1. This might prove that jitter or something else is causing bad sound quality.

Are you listening to DAVE through headphones plugged into DAVE?

Now playing: Lucy Rose - For You

I think it's going trew a bad soundcard in my laptop before dave? Only explenation? No? I will try with my phone..soon

 

[delirium]

Thanks. That's bad luck. I wonder if that's jitter causing the problem? Even though DAVE is meant to have no problem with jitter. Or is it the signal integrity problem?

Do you have a phone or tablet that can output music over USB? That might be better. But you might have to buy a new USB cable or an adaptor to make that work.

Can your laptop play music while it is on battery power? If the laptop works on battery power, try a simple USB cable, but do not use ISO Regen and LPS-1. This might prove that jitter or something else is causing bad sound quality.

Are you listening to DAVE through headphones plugged into DAVE?

Now playing: Lucy Rose - For You

And yes dave+utopia

 

[delirium]

I doubt it’s noise or jitter. But are you sure the Toslink is bit perfect? Should be easy to check on Chord DAVE but still, it’s very easy to accidentally have Windows accidentally change the sample rate, or just DSP the signal before sending it to the DAC.

Hi! What can a do about that! Thanks