[t258jgn]

Anyone using Uptone USB REGEN for the DAVE?

 

[shuttlepod]

As I reported in my earlier review of the DAVE (see page 150 of this thread), I was unable to detect any differences in sonic quality between an expensive USB cable with the Regen, a much cheaper and older audiophile USB cable, and Chord's own "made in China" generic USB cable. 

 

[rgs9200m]

By the way, awesome dissertation-level piece you wrote Mr. Bacon. Thanks and look forward to anything else you contribute or post.

 

[oscarnr]

Hi to all.
Do you know which is the average waiting time for DAVE? I ordered one around 6-7 weeks ago through my dealer in Spain and no news by now (I haven't got any approximate delivery date). Much longer waiting time than I expected...
Thank you for your great comments, reviews, etc. Hopefully it will be at home soon and I can hear all by myself.

All the best
Oscar

 

[Rob Watts]

I am doing an event in Singapore next Saturday, with presentations about Dave and Mojo, with plenty of time to talk about other things.
 

 
Rob

 

[yellowblue]

Thank you Bacon for your very detailed review! Someone more using Shunyata power cables with the Dave? Maybe even the Shunyata Sigma digital? There are others who recommend the Shunyata analog power cables with their Dacs, such as the Anaconda. Would be interesting to read some comparisons.

 

[rkt31]

@bacon333, thanks a lot ! I have seen some very good reviews of furutech bulk power cables which can a very good affordable alternative to expensive readymade cables. even bulk interconnect cables of furutech are also very good . I changed the stock cable of benchmark ahb2 power with furutech power cable and the difference was a lot of air and headroom which was instantly apparent.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Thanks to bacon333 for an interesting and extensive review of Dave. Thanks also to Jazz for posting.

Just thought I would mention that I played my (remastered) CD edition of Quadrophenia through Dave yesterday and found that it can serve as a remarkably effective test of any dac.

Those familiar with this double album by the Who will know there is a fair amount of recording devoted to the sea and the rain. Imo Digital struggles pathetically when attempting to replicate these natural sounds authentically. ( tbh I had forgotten how much I hated the way digital handled such sounds.)

I would say that anyone looking to audition Dave could do a lot worse than simply get a recording of the sea and compare to your existing dac. It will become immediately apparent why Bob Watts multi tap approach is superior in delivering fluent resolution. To my ears it is better even than testing via piano recordings.

As it turned out I had a ball listening to this album through Dave. Detail, resolution, papability and above all, dynamics were exceptional. It sounded modern through Dave. I hadn't realised how well the dynamics of this recording had been originally produced and preserved in the mastering. Way ahead of its time in this respect imo. Great stuff.

 

[rkt31]

a bit off topic. I tried ferrite cores on both analog ( headphone cord) and digital coaxial cable. while on analog cord the ferrite core clearly robbed the finer Treble details and music lost it charm but in digital cable the effect was cleaning the background without affecting the treble. still using two cores even on digital felt a bit too much and was affecting somehow the sound . this effect can't exactly be explained in words but it was a kind of modulation or something. what I found that using a single core on mojo side between fiiox3 and mojo gave the best result. my question is that using a ferrite core on a power cable would be a good idea or not ?

 

[ecwl]

I'd really like to thank Bacon's review so far as it inspired me to make more changes to my system.
In the past, I have all my components except amplifier plugged into a Torus isolation transformer/power conditioner. As my system slimmed down, only the Chord DAVE and my computer (CAPS v3 Carbon) which is connected to an HDPlex Linear Power Supply are connected to the Torus. And I had to have the computer plugged into the Torus because if it is not, I find there was degradation to the sound with my previous DAC, probably because the previous DAC uses the computer's USB power so if there's more noise in the computer power supply, it'll get into the USB port into the old DAC.
 
With my current setup, in an attempt to improve the sound from my video system, I had one component (miniDSP nanoDigi 2x8 B) plugged into the HDPlex and I noticed a sonic degradation when I was listening to stereo without the video system connected audio system. The only reason how that can happen is that the noise from the miniDSP is getting through the HDPlex, into the Torus back into the Chord DAVE to degrade the sound. So I abandoned that setup.
 
But then after reading Bacon's review, I asked myself, could the noise from my computer and HDPlex Linear Power Supply but limiting the performance of the Chord DAVE. Since I found the Chord DAVE USB source insensitive, I simply removed the computer from the power setup on the audio side of my system and put it to the video side. That means, Chord DAVE is the only device going into the Torus and indeed, I got a slight improvement in sonic quality. And now, it doesn't matter whether I connect the HDPlex Linear Power Supply to the miniDSP device, the Chord DAVE sound is still the same for the audio system.
 
The reason I decided to share this long-winded experiment and to thank Bacon is that as with all components, it takes time to understand to optimize them in the system. It surely helps that Rob Watts provides a lot of explanations for why things are the way they are. My current take on the Chord DAVE for optimal setup is the following:
1) Unless you truly have a superbly clean RCA/BNC digital source, avoid using it and use Toslink and USB instead because even if the source is turned off, it'll probably be injecting some RF noise into the Chord DAVE and degrading its performance.
2) Since Chord DAVE seems to perform better in an environment with better/cleaner power supply, if you have a computer or other digital devices that are connected to the Chord DAVE, you should try to have their power supplied from a circuit completely separate from the DAVE so that the power noise generated by the computer or switch-mode power supply or digital circuitry are as far away from the DAVE as possible. Your sources not getting the best power supply would not affect DAVE's performance because DAVE is source insensitive to Toslink or USB but by having your sources not polluting DAVE's power supply, you may and probably will be able to squeeze out even more performance out of the DAVE.

 

[Beolab]

 

Project EvaD - Evaluation DAVE is almost complete.

https://audiobacon.net/2016/04/15/chord-dave-review-project-evad-evaluation-dave/

Nearly a month long process...I'm finishing up the last section. I still need to do some touching up but if you're interested in how it compares to the MSB Analog, Chord Hugo TT, Lumin S1, and Berkeley Alpha Reference it's worth a read (especially the "Raw Notes" for the Berkeley). 

This is almost spooky that i got the the same test winning equipment as you have on test back home just for now in my test rig:

-Black Chord DAVE
-Chord Mojo
-MSB Analog ( Secondary DAC )
-Abyss with standard JPS cable
-DHC Silver Comp4 Headphone Cable
-JPS Labs SC HP Headphone cable
-M o o n 6 0 0 i  Amp
-We lls Au dio Head-Trip
-Aurender W20
-Mac Book Pro running Roon
-Transparent Reference 5 XLR
-All sorts of AQ Diamond digital cables
-W4s Remedy
-Regen
(-BlueSound Node II)

The only big difference is the power products, here i have a Isotek Sirius power conditioner and AQ NRG 1000 DBS power cables.





I highly regard your in depth review, and for your time you have spend on this project.

 

[yellowblue]

After Bacons review of power cables with the Dave I loaned a Shunyata Citron Alpha digital as he used in his test. Before I had the same JPS cables that he didn´t like so much.
The difference in my own test was quiet obvious. I never thought it would be so huge. The Shunyata cable has a much richer sound, the deeper mids sound more energetic and warm. The soundstage is a tad wider but has won a lot of depth. Everything is more fluid sounding. More bass! I hear all this improvements even without the P10. But it´s as always - you don´t think it can get much better until you hear something that you never thought was possible.
I began to experiment with the tuning pads for my Ether C before I got the Shunyata because I found them a little thin sounding on the one hand and a little bright in the upper mids on the other hand. Now they just has the sound signature that I always wished they should have. With other words - I am keeping the Shunyata.

 

[brightonjel]

Thanks to bacon333 for an interesting and extensive review of Dave. Thanks also to Jazz for posting.

Just thought I would mention that I played my (remastered) CD edition of Quadrophenia through Dave yesterday and found that it can serve as a remarkably effective test of any dac.

Those familiar with this double album by the Who will know there is a fair amount of recording devoted to the sea and the rain. Imo Digital struggles pathetically when attempting to replicate these natural sounds authentically. ( tbh I had forgotten how much I hated the way digital handled such sounds.)

I would say that anyone looking to audition Dave could do a lot worse than simply get a recording of the sea and compare to your existing dac. It will become immediately apparent why Bob Watts multi tap approach is superior in delivering fluent resolution. To my ears it is better even than testing via piano recordings.

As it turned out I had a ball listening to this album through Dave. Detail, resolution, papability and above all, dynamics were exceptional. It sounded modern through Dave. I hadn't realised how well the dynamics of this recording had been originally produced and preserved in the mastering. Way ahead of its time in this respect imo. Great stuff.

OT: Totally agree - not just the Who's best work, but an unsung rock classic that can still defeat all-comers.  I was living in Brighton at the time it came out, and almost made it as an extra when they showed up later to make the film.

 

[rkt31]

may sound a bit odd but I tried today my cheap redmi s1 with uapp to feed mojo . the USB cable was small. I put the phone in airplane mode . the sound was much fuller and had much better imaging than fiio as transport. I know people here taking about much expensive transports for dave but has anyone given a try to an Android device in airplane mode ? IMHO it can be a revelation too.

 

[shuttlepod]

Just thought I would mention that I played my (remastered) CD edition of Quadrophenia through Dave yesterday and found that it can serve as a remarkably effective test of any dac.
 

 
I'll have to compare the redbook version of Quadrophenia (1996 remix) with the vinyl reissue I bought last year. This is an album I listened to a lot in my teens. The vinyl reissue sounds damn good. I'd be surprised if any digital version could surpass it, but we'll see.