CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Amberlamps]

No thanks, hold my beer while I put another CD in my Blu Mk II.

Can dave work with a flash drive plugged into it's usb B port ? If so with an adapter, that would completely eliminate any usb problems from a pc.

Also, is daves usb port galvanically isolated ?

 

[naynay]

No thanks, hold my beer while I put another CD in my Blu Mk II.

I just stay in my chair,let the songs play on and drink more beer.

 

[Amberlamps]

A question for dave owners who have also heard or own a TT2

Say Dave's sound quality was 10 out of 10.

Where would TT2 be on that scale, 8 out of 10 or 6 out of 10 ? Etc etc

Where would you all put TT2 on a 10 out of 10 scale, and knowing dave gets a 10.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

A question for dave owners who have also heard or own a TT2

Say Dave's sound quality was 10 out of 10.

Where would TT2 be on that scale, 8 out of 10 or 6 out of 10 ? Etc etc

Where would you all put TT2 on a 10 out of 10 scale, and knowing dave gets a 10.

As far as smoothness of frequency spectrum, transparency, sonic "openness", purity of transients, digital "black", etc., my personal opinion was that the TT2 is right there: a 9.5 at least, maybe a solid 10 or even a squeech higher.

As far as how the music coheres like one big wave coming out of the ocean, the way the downbeat of a chorus kicks you in the butt, the way the first chords of the Sokolov version of the Rach 2 punch you in the gut like Mike Tyson, the canyon-esque deepness of the groove coming off of Bernard Purdie's drums in Babylon Sisters, it wasn't even close. The DAVE was truly an emotional experience the TT2 just couldn't deliver.

Now this was all with the M-Scaler attached, so I couldn't help you on how the units sound alone.

I'm aware of how unmeasurable and subjective such a response is, and even that there could in theory be euphonics involved in the analog portion of the headphone amp etc (the way some mic preamps just sound creamy and wonderful, for example), so YMMV hugely and others may totally disagree.

PS - I should note that I was hoping to just go in and buy an M-Scaler for my Hugo2 and call it a day, so I had NO prejudice in favor of liking the DAVE. The contrary, in fact, as now I'm screwed, because the M-Scaler with the Hugo2 was even a bit worse than the TT2 (the jump from the TT2 to the DAVE was probably 5 times the jump from the H2 to the TT2 in my book) so I now have this memory of how good it can sound at the same time as knowing I can't afford it.

PPS - I was listening principally through headphones. I'm certain that through great speakers, the difference would be less, because the analog distortion through that chain would add a certain coherence to the music.

 

[onlychild]

I have owned the Blu2 and if CDs are your thing, there really isn’t a better choice.

Main reason I sold it is because I mostly listen to my music in “shuffle” mode by genre, something you can’t do with CDs or Vinyl

 

[iDesign]

I have owned the Blu2 and if CDs are your thing, there really isn’t a better choice.

Main reason I sold it is because I mostly listen to my music in “shuffle” mode by genre, something you can’t do with CDs or Vinyl

Agreed. And fortunately the Blu Mk II also has the flexibility to be used with servers and streaming audio via its USB input. Blu Mk IIs are now trading under $5,500 and that is a great value— especially because you don’t need to spend thousands more on a server or computer to achieve excellent sound quality. I use TIDAL and Qobuz extensively with my Blu Mk II, and although it’s great for convenience, the audio quality is handicapped.

 

[iDesign]

Also, is daves usb port galvanically isolated?

Yes.

 

[rkt31]

A $500 laptop vs $16k streamer, the major difference may be the power line of usb. For galvenically isolated usb input, it should matter less anyway. Usb power line can be replaced very easily by a cheap device called ifi idefender. I use 4xAA NiMH battery pack for replacing 5v power line. Now coming to data line. By using laptop you are already getting the advantage of asio driver and the remaining noise of data line can be completely removed by two or three ifi isilencer in series. This transport is still lot cheaper than $16k streamer and can easily compete with it.

 

[ZappaMan]

A $500 laptop vs $16k streamer, the major difference may be the power line of usb. For galvenically isolated usb input, it should matter less anyway. Usb power line can be replaced very easily by a cheap device called ifi idefender. I use 4xAA NiMH battery pack for replacing 5v power line. Now coming to data line. By using laptop you are already getting the advantage of asio driver and the remaining noise of data line can be completely removed by two or three ifi isilencer in series. This transport is still lot cheaper than $16k streamer and can easily compete with it.

But surely the people who spend 16k, wouldn’t, if spending £500 did the same?

 

[onlychild]

The Blu2 usb input is not galvanically isolated so the USB input on mscaler sounds better than USB input on Blu2.

 

[naynay]

A $500 laptop vs $16k streamer, the major difference may be the power line of usb. For galvenically isolated usb input, it should matter less anyway. Usb power line can be replaced very easily by a cheap device called ifi idefender. I use 4xAA NiMH battery pack for replacing 5v power line. Now coming to data line. By using laptop you are already getting the advantage of asio driver and the remaining noise of data line can be completely removed by two or three ifi isilencer in series. This transport is still lot cheaper than $16k streamer and can easily compete with it.

Certain costlier streamers have pretty much every part inside tweaked for maximum audio unlike most laptops there is no comparison.

 

[rkt31]

Certain costlier streamers have pretty much everything part inside tweaked for maximum audio unlike most laptops there is no comparison.

What tweaks ?

 

[ray-dude]

I’m finding that with digital, it all comes down to power and ground quality, and clock stability/precision. Closer you are to the DAC, the bigger the impact, but I contonue to be shocked how much things upstream continue to have an impact. The quest for the mythical digital moat goes on, but everything (still) matters.

 

[iDesign]

The Blu2 usb input is not galvanically isolated so the USB input on mscaler sounds better than USB input on Blu2.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...e-official-thread.885042/page-3#post-14383549

 

[rkt31]

If you replace usb power line by a clean battery power, clean the usb data line, then there should not be much difference between the usb transports, as clocking will be done by the dac anyway in each case. So what tweaks of expensive usb transport will improve it over laptop ?