[bmichels]

It's a pity you don't have your HE1000 anymore. To my ears they make an excellent pairing (with a Silver Dragon cable and equalization).

How do you connect the Fiio to DAVE ? Coax ? USB ?

RE the He1000 i was not THAT impressed with my EC445. May be it offers better synergy with DAVE ?

Anyway I just received today a Dharma and a HD800s to Test for 1 week.

 

[STR-1]

No I am not worried about the SQ at all. The great thing about Dave is that it resets your expectations about reproduced sound and Dave does things - particularly in terms of sound stage space - that I have never heard before from audio. In my view it very easily establishes a new benchmark for sound quality.

But measurements are supposed to be objective, and any subjective listening test is simply one persons judgement. But in reality, measurements depend upon the quality of the test equipment, and the judgement of the reviewer as to whether a particular measurement has any validity or not. Dave very easily establishes a new benchmark for measurements too; it would be good to see that confirmed, rather than the usual problem of poor test equipment and or low expectations of what constitutes good performance. I get fed up with gross distortions being shown, and then a silly caveat of that gross distortion probably won't upset the sound quality. In my experience, if a distortion is measurable, removing that distortion (with everything else unchanged) will give sound quality benefits.     

But from the listeners perspective, measurements does not really matter I guess - its whether the music is more enjoyable or not that really counts.

Rob 

Rob, while any general advance in sound quality with the Dave (which I have not yet heard) over the TT (which I have heard) will no doubt be apparent through headphones (mine are HIFIMAN HE1000 and Sennheiser HD800) has any effort gone into making Dave's headphone driving abilities better than that of the TT?

 

[JaZZ]

 

It's a pity you don't have your HE1000 anymore. To my ears they make an excellent pairing (with a Silver Dragon cable and equalization).

How do you connect the Fiio to DAVE ? Coax ? USB ?

RE the He1000 i was not THAT impressed with my EC445. May be it offers better synergy with DAVE ?

Anyway I just received today a Dharma and a HD800s to Test for 1 week.

 
Coax is the only connection the X5 II offers.
 
Don't worry, the HD 800 (S) sounds equally phenomenal with DAVE. 

After noticing the high distortion level I had no interest in the Dharma anymore (which was purely platonic anyway, since I'm served in terms of headphones).

 

[Mavwong]

Congratz, that black beauty looks sexier than mine
 
Quote:

  A new black DAVE has found a new home:
 

 
The difference to Hugo is larger than I thought. Just two words so far: purity and space.
 
In case you wonder: Yes, the FiiO X5 II (2x 128 GB) acts as digital drive in this system.

 

[Mython]

  Congratz, that black beauty looks sexier than mine
 

 
 
Quick tip: don't let the wife see/hear you talking about her like that!

 

[Rob Watts]

Yes the output is more advanced, its a 2 nd order analogue noise shaper. This means when the current increases, there is no change in OP distortion - apart from a minor increase in 2nd harmonic - this has the benefit in a smoother sound quality. Also, I got a big improvement in HF linearity too, and I suspect this 2nd order system helped that too.
 
The voltage OP is larger too, some 6.8v, and its same at 33 ohms and 300 ohms.
 
I will try to publish the numbers showing this.
 
Rob

 

[Mavwong]

@rob
 
Between the PCM+ and DSD+ filter, what are the differences?
 
When I play PCM 44khz files, switch between them I did hear differences. Can't really describe them in works for now. Seems that using DSD+ filter with PCM files sounded like I sat few more rows behind from music. Not veil I am saying, just bit more distance away. Anyone notice that?
 
Mav

 

[Mavwong]

Haha, if she enjoy music like I do that won't be a problem anymore
 
Gosshh... even Eternal Flame sound so good....
 
And this is through an un optimize PC, just running jplay on top of jriver, still a hd600 headphone.
 
 
Quote:

   
 
Quick tip: don't let the wife see/hear you talking about her like that!

 

[JaZZ]

  Congratz, that black beauty looks sexier than mine
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Quote:

  A new black DAVE has found a new home:
 

 
The difference to Hugo is larger than I thought. Just two words so far: purity and space.
 
In case you wonder: Yes, the FiiO X5 II (2x 128 GB) acts as digital drive in this system.

 
Thank you. Yes, now – eye to eye – I'm happy with the color choice. Also, in my experience black devices always sound a little better than their silver counterparts.

 

[chordguy]

Got my chance today to hear Dave for the first time today, with Chord Electronics amplification, small floorstanding Proac speakers and a laptop running JRiver. Only listened to one song, Peter Gabriel, So album, song Mercy Street.
First thing I noticed was the noise floor, or lack of it, I just heard music, very very clean.
The little triangle rhythm that runs through the song was very clear, heard the notes starting and stopping each time.
Bass had a solidity to it that made it sound very real.
But the biggest impact on me was the vocals, the multi tracking came through really clearly and I could actually visualise Peter Gabriel shaping his mouth to get the sound of the words the way he wanted them to sound.
Very impressed, Chord has a winner on their hands.
Rob, great job, I'm sure you're very proud of Dave, I know I would be if I had created something so wonderful. 

 

[Sonic77]

Got my chance today to hear Dave for the first time today, with Chord Electronics amplification, small floorstanding Proac speakers and a laptop running JRiver. Only listened to one song, Peter Gabriel, So album, song Mercy Street.
First thing I noticed was the noise floor, or lack of it, I just heard music, very very clean.
The little triangle rhythm that runs through the song was very clear, heard the notes starting and stopping each time.
Bass had a solidity to it that made it sound very real.
But the biggest impact on me was the vocals, the multi tracking came through really clearly and I could actually visualise Peter Gabriel shaping his mouth to get the sound of the words the way he wanted them to sound.
Very impressed, Chord has a winner on their hands.
Rob, great job, I'm sure you're very proud of Dave, I know I would be if I had created something so wonderful. 

Thanks for your impressions, I won't be getting my Dave till next month. I transferred all my iTunes files to my server hard drive in preparation for Dave. My flac and DSD files are on my network hard drive.

 

[STR-1]

Yes the output is more advanced, its a 2 nd order analogue noise shaper. This means when the current increases, there is no change in OP distortion - apart from a minor increase in 2nd harmonic - this has the benefit in a smoother sound quality. Also, I got a big improvement in HF linearity too, and I suspect this 2nd order system helped that too.

The voltage OP is larger too, some 6.8v, and its same at 33 ohms and 300 ohms.

I will try to publish the numbers showing this.

Rob

Thanks for the reply, Rob. I look forward to an opportunity to listen to the Dave.

 

[AndrewH13]

Just wondering how long before Dave tech filters down to a level for those that can't contemplate buying. I don't regret at all buying Hugo a year ago and am pleased that its sibling had now reached a price for the masses. But I'm getting on now, maybe two or three years? .....

 

[JaZZ]

  I'd be most interested to hear DAVE within the context of a dipole loudspeaker setup. That could prove very interesting, in terms of spatial perception.

 
Yes, I agree!

 

[analogmusic]

 
But from the listeners perspective, measurements does not really matter I guess - its whether the music is more enjoyable or not that really counts.
 
Rob 

 
That is the crux of the issue in hi-fi for me. Unless I play music on the Hugo in my car (through AUX in), I find myself not listening to music on the standard car CD player. My long commute to work seems endless.
 
But when the Hugo is plugged in, I am enjoying each and every song, and the commute is something to look forward to, strange as it seems (well my wife and daughter aren't around to tell me the lower the volume or switch it off !)
 
It is the very best hi-fi purchase I ever made.
 
I wonder if Chord will ever make a portable DAVE... I suppose those with the money can always use an inverter in the car through the DC socket to power up DAVE?