[Triode User]

I apologise to fellow Dave owners for my diversion into ATC. I will post piccies of mine when I get home with them on Tuesday.

I did promise pictures when I had got home with my new to me 13year old ATC SCM150ASL speakers . . . . and here they are. They are simply divine driven direct from Dave.

 

[Crgreen]

I did promise pictures when I had got home with my new to me 13year old ATC SCM150ASL speakers . . . . and here they are. They are simply divine driven direct from Dave.

Look in good nick.

 

[Triode User]

Look in good nick.

Thanks, yes, two very very small marks but amazing for 13 year old speakers. They were owned by an 89 year old and 'never raced or rallied' as one might say.

 

[Amberlamps]

I did promise pictures when I had got home with my new to me 13year old ATC SCM150ASL speakers . . . . and here they are. They are simply divine driven direct from Dave.

Nice.

The look reminds me of my old Mission speakers, nice wooden box with detachable screen. Your ones above are better and larger. I like the wood, it has quality written all over it.

 

[JaZZ]

Just to be clear: «Driven direct from Dave» actually means «...whose integrated amps are fed directly by Dave», right?

 

[Triode User]

Just to be clear: «Driven direct from Dave» actually means «...whose integrated amps are fed directly by Dave», right?

Correct. Sloppy language from me. My bad. I will roll over and take a kicking but I don’t care because the speakers sound so good. Just listening to Fink - Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet. Lovely.

 

[rgs9200m]

Change of topic here. (Susvara.)
Comparing the Hifman Susvara, Focal Utopia, and Audeze LCD4 now that I've managed to get all of these and listen to them for quite a while using my DAVE as a source, the Susvara has become my favorite. But it needs an external headphone amp.

All 3 of these headphones are great and I use them all, but the Susvara has the best combination of
1. resolution, 2. "muscality", 3. powerful bass, and 4. sound-staging/imaging that make the total sonic package for me.

I'm putting this in the DAVE thread since I believe many DAVE owners may avoid the Susvara since it needs a separate headphone amp (as I hear things).
But OMG, DAVE + amp + Susvara is extraordinary.

 

[auricgoldfinger]

Change of topic here. (Susvara.)
Comparing the Hifman Susvara, Focal Utopia, and Audeze LCD4 now that I've managed to get all of these and listen to them for quite a while using my DAVE as a source, the Susvara has become my favorite. But it needs an external headphone amp.

All 3 of these headphones are great and I use them all, but the Susvara has the best combination of
1. resolution, 2. "muscality", 3. powerful bass, and 4. sound-staging/imaging that make the total sonic package for me.

I'm putting this in the DAVE thread since I believe many DAVE owners may avoid the Susvara since it needs a separate headphone amp (as I hear things).
But OMG, DAVE + amp + Susvara is extraordinary.

What volume level on DAVE are you using with Susvara?

 

[jacc]

You sure adding MFA preamp doesn't improve the sound?? And try adding on some good speaker spikes. You will be impressed.

I did promise pictures when I had got home with my new to me 13year old ATC SCM150ASL speakers . . . . and here they are. They are simply divine driven direct from Dave.

 

[ecwl]

I'm putting this in the DAVE thread since I believe many DAVE owners may avoid the Susvara since it needs a separate headphone amp (as I hear things).
But OMG, DAVE + amp + Susvara is extraordinary.

My understanding is that Hugo TT 2 with up to 8-18W/channel can drive Susvara well directly. But that’s a 10-element lower order noise shaper design.
I suspect there won’t be a lot of demand for a Chord DX amp to drive headphones exclusively to pair with DAVE with 20 element Power Pulse Array. And it’s not Chord’s style to charge $30,000 for an amp that they would normally markup to say $5000.
I do wonder if you can drive Susvara with Chord Etude though which might pair well? Not sure. I have a friend who drives his HiFiMan HE6 with his Benchmark AHB2 except that amplifier has lower gain settings.

 

[onlychild]

Another alternative to the Susvara are the HE1000SE run straight from Dave. No amp needed and have many of the qualities of Susvara.

 

[rgs9200m]

The volume was OK, but the Susvara just didn't have the fullness I like from it.

As for the HE1000SE, I never heard it, but my HEKv2 is not really competitive with the Susvara, which has a texture and especially a presence and speed and sense of engagement that the HEK can't touch. The HEK seems a bit distant compared to the Susvara.

The Susvara's images sound more forceful and upfront but at the same time the whole musical space seems more expansive.

Everything seems more palpable with the Susvara.

And the inner texture of musical objects with the Susvara is something that really grabs me.
The resolution of DAVE just seems to be carried forth well by the Susvara.

And this is Dave without any Mscaling (which I have not heard).

 

[Triode User]

You sure adding MFA preamp doesn't improve the sound?? And try adding on some good speaker spikes. You will be impressed.

Yes, I really am sure that the MFA preamp between Dave and my ATC active speakers does not improve the sound. I have tried it and I have tried it with a friends ATC SCM40 actives. All it does is to make the bass slightly less tight and the mids and treble slightly less accurate. Mind you the MFA is much better than the quite a few active preamps I have tried which really colour the sound (richer bass and low mids). Often this initially seems attractive especially with tube preamps but for me the novelty quickly wears off. Also often preamps make the bass much less tight but more importantly they lose a huge amount of definition and detail. For me Dave direct into the ATC actives is 100% the best.

As a side note I have posted before that I did prefer to have the MFA in the system when I was using tube power amps and I still stand by that statement. In that case the reverse was true (to my ears) and the bass was firmer and more detail was present in the mids and treble.

On speaker spikes, my photos were just quick ones whilst I decided where to place the speakers and I do always use spikes into the concrete floor.

 

[HeeBroG]

[QUOTEOn speaker spikes, my photos were just quick ones whilst I decided where to place the speakers and I do always use spikes into the concrete floor.[/QUOTE]

Instead of spikes, I would strongly recommend Townshend Pods. A paradigm shift but makes more sense. A friend with the current model of your speakers switched to pods from spikes and notice do a big improvement in clarity. A bit off topic but just a suggestion.

http://www.townshendaudio.com/hi-fi...t-vibration-isolation/seismic-isolation-pods/

 

[Antiquarian]

[QUOTEOn speaker spikes, my photos were just quick ones whilst I decided where to place the speakers and I do always use spikes into the concrete floor.

Instead of spikes, I would strongly recommend Townshend Pods. A paradigm shift but makes more sense. A friend with the current model of your speakers switched to pods from spikes and notice do a big improvement in clarity. A bit off topic but just a suggestion.

http://www.townshendaudio.com/hi-fi...t-vibration-isolation/seismic-isolation-pods/[/QUOTE]
+1 on that, I now have the alternative to Townshend, IsoAcoustics GAIA. Transformational!