[Triode User]

Thanks for this.
In fact yes I had read something in the past but was discouraged by the fact that in the country where I will be relocating to in a few days there is no Omega dealer.
Actually this would be a great solution as I need near field speakers so no need for tons of dB...
I just read that they can ship worldwide, I’m wondering how the warranty would work in that case.
I will drop them an email.
I will also do some research in @romaz posts to see if there is any downside in driving them straight out of the Dave

These have a number of fans here on Head-Fi but I think the important thing would be for you to hear a pair connected to Dave before purchase. They have their undoubted strengths but they are not everyones cup of tea.

 

[audio_1]

I was about to reply to @audio_1 then saw that your post answered it for me!

But just to add - why does one need an I to V converter anyway, as R2R are sometimes supplied without amplification. I too could eliminate the I to V conversion (so called voltage mode DACs) too with pulse array - and the reason I don't is distortion, as voltage mode DACs are a terrible idea as they create a lot of distortion, and some nasty HF distortion too. In experiments done decades ago with voltage mode, I was getting THD of the order of 0.03% - and that's around 10,000 times more distortion than Dave can do. And this distortion is highly audible. The reason it creates such a vast amount of distortion is the switching activity sees the OP voltage, and this in turn changes the switching delay times of the DAC switching elements, which creates distortion. And it is completely unavoidable, with all DAC types suffering from the problem.

Another problem with voltage mode is that the HF filtering is difficult to do, and so unacceptable levels of switching noise is fed to the pre or power amplifiers, which in turn creates more THD and more noise floor modulation. And of course you haven't actually replaced anything, as an amplifier to drive HP or speakers is still required. The beauty of my system is that the amplifier for drive is combined with the essential I to V that the DAC needs in one single stage, so we get the benefits of simplicity for better transparency plus ultra low distortion.

I have a question for Rob about the single output stage in the Pulse array DAC. Is the choice of capacitors and resistors in the signal path very critical for sound quality? Many power amplifiers now use direct coupled designs with servos to control DC offset. Does the type of capacitor affect the linearity of the output stage? Where these capacitors chosen with listening tests?

 

[doraymon]

These have a number of fans here on Head-Fi but I think the important thing would be for you to hear a pair connected to Dave before purchase. They have their undoubted strengths but they are not everyones cup of tea.

Yes I agree but it's going to be impossible to try them before buying, I'm not in the US...

 

[Rob Watts]

I have a question for Rob about the single output stage in the Pulse array DAC. Is the choice of capacitors and resistors in the signal path very critical for sound quality? Many power amplifiers now use direct coupled designs with servos to control DC offset. Does the type of capacitor affect the linearity of the output stage? Where these capacitors chosen with listening tests?

The coupling caps make a huge difference to SQ, with the best being teflon or PTFE, and this is down to dielectric absorption. But PTFE caps are horrendously expensive.

But the best coupling cap is none at all... Which is what I do, in that there is no coupling caps at all. But conventional analogue DC servos actually do have an integrating cap in the signal path, and this will create distortion and noise, and so change SQ. What I do is to use a digital DC servo, where the OP from the analogue DC servo, the DC integrator, is fed to an ADC, then the FPGA removes all of the distortion and noise by filtering it all out - so a DC trim is applied to the noise shaper, thus ensuring offsets are below 0.1mV but zero added distortion and noise. Indeed, switching the digital DC servo on and off resulted in no change in SQ at all.

So in SQ terms it has no coupling capacitors at all. The only downside to the system is it takes 16 seconds for the OP to stabilise - hence why the rainbow mode on Qutest, Hugo 2, TT2 and the delay with Dave upon turn on.

 

[S Crowther]

Dictionaries are really beside the point as they comment on general usage past (sometimes) and present, not what is grammatically current. I am open to correction but I do not remember "launch" being used this way until the last few years. Another example is "divide" as in the " divide between rich and poor". the noun is division, but what people usually mean is "gap". I think divide has been used like this for a long time. I gave the example previously of "reveal" that is being used more and more as a noun. The noun is "revelation". The gerund is "revealing". We used to say "unveiling". Watching NFL you hear the commentators say a player has "broken contain".

What is the rest of your system? Amp and speakers? Headphones? Analog? All sources need output circuitry, with Dave or TT2 you would get super low distortion output circuitry capable of driving any cable most headphones and with a no compromise digital volume control total win win situation

I only use the DAC for headphones. It is fed from MBP via USB using moon audio silver dragon cable. Then out SE to the head phone amp. Different amp depending on the headphones being used: usually V281 for planars, Head-Box RS for HD800s. See my profile.

 

[rgs9200m]

If we are talking about proper English here, if I got a dime for every time someone uses "euphoric" instead of "euphonic" or "base" for "bass" ...

But I always just tell myself it's the thought that counts, so don't worry, be happy.

 

[jonstatt]

This might be a dumb question but for those dave owners that have a blu mk2 in black, are the finishes different?

My blu 2 is a matte black and the dave is a shiny or glossy black???

Just received the blu 2 recently and the dave a few weeks ago.

I have never seen a glossy black Dave! But the finishes on my Dave and Blu are not an exact match. The "sheen" is about the same but the Dave has a rougher grain to it, and the texture is not the same on the bevelled edges. You wouldn't notice this unless looking fairly closely though. If I was being pedantic I find it odd that the bevelled edge that goes all the way around the top of the casings of both Dave and Blu is not the same thickness between Blu and Dave. Could you show us a pic of your Dave and Blu?

 

[Matez]

The only downside to the system is it takes 16 seconds for the OP to stabilise - hence why the rainbow mode on Qutest, Hugo 2, TT2 and the delay with Dave upon turn on.

That's a small price to pay.

 

[musickid]

Anymore than 16 seconds and that would be me out of this audio hobby for good.........no two ways about it..

 

[yellowblue]

Just want to say that the Lush^2 USB-cable pairs very well with the DAVE. I never thought it would be a so huge step up from my Curious cable. It makes a large soundstage with my Utopias. Wider than with Curious USB and my HE-1000 - believe it or not.
There is a thread at CA about the cable (with JSSG 360 tweak and many possible configurations)
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/49648-lush2-share-your-configuration-experiences/

 

[STR-1]

Just want to say that the Lush^2 USB-cable pairs very well with the DAVE. I never thought it would be a so huge step up from my Curious cable. It makes a large soundstage with my Utopias. Wider than with Curious USB and my HE-1000 - believe it or not.
There is a thread at CA about the cable (with JSSG 360 tweak and many possible configurations)
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/49648-lush2-share-your-configuration-experiences/

Do you hear any other improvements in addition to soundstage? I have both a Curious cable (20cm) and an original Lush cable (70cm) and they are very different - a little more air and detail with the brighter Curious, more warmth, heart and soul with the Lush, though sacrificing a smidgen of detail to my ears, which is why I prefer not to use the Lush in connecting my Zenith SE to the tX-USBultra (wanting to send as much detail as possible into the tX-U). Are the difference in sound easy to hear with the different configurations?

 

[yellowblue]

Because of the 10.000 possible different configurations of the Lush^2 you always have to talk about which configuration you choose. I have chosen a little odd configuration which gives me an extreme holographic effect which I personally like with my Utopias (not so much with my other headphones). But I think as the Lush 1 did even the Lush^2 gererally adds warmth and "soul". It generates more bass than the Curious and slightly more details in the midths. I don´t think that I loose some details in the treble though. Hard to tell about the air because the Lush^2 creates this fantastic soundstage which differs totally from the Curious.
I tried to describe it here
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/...periences/?page=3&tab=comments#comment-871657

 

[Triode User]

Interesting stuff with your cables guys.

'Soundstage, Detail, Air and Brighter' are all descriptions that I have come to associate with RF noise . . . . .

With digital cables, darker, less bright, less immediate detail and less loud are instead what I now search out and then let my ears adjust to the new accurate sound and then the real detail comes through.

Just a thought. Plenty of IMO and YMMV of course because I accept that we all look for the sound we like and that is all that really matters

 

[yellowblue]

I expected that someone would ask about RF noise. But I don´t think that´s the matter with the Lush^2 because it has a special shielding (JSSG 360 - more about that on CA). For me it´s OK to stop the discussion here at this point because a more detailed discussion belongs to other forums - as CA.

 

[Triode User]

I expected that someone would ask about RF noise. But I don´t think that´s the matter with the Lush^2 because it has a special shielding (JSSG 360 - more about that on CA). For me it´s OK to stop the discussion here at this point because a more detailed discussion belongs to other forums - as CA.

Sure, if you don't want to continue the debate that's fine. For me though, it is more about considering the RF generated by sources and in which cases shielding is not really relevant.