[Sabenza]

Thank you, Rob.  It's great to have the answer directly from you.

 

[Chrispb1]

Hold your speculations guys! ️

This guy could be genuine, but most probably a Troll from another brand, who want us to start a debate and misbelieving.
He have only published 1 post ever @ HeadFi , this says alot to me, so back to where we were. :muscle_tone2:

 

[thunder 99]

Hi guys,
So Ive had my Dave for a few weeks now and it is absolutely amazing. But I just wanted to know what would be a cheap usb to spidf connection that can be used? I envision multiple usb connections but there is only one usb port ok the dave (wondering what the rationale behind that is). I would ideally like to get audeophilio2 but considering cost and that the dave is relatively source neutral and that this is going to be youtube / non sound card pc output was wondering if people can recommend anything cheaper?

 

[maxh22]

Hi guys,
So Ive had my Dave for a few weeks now and it is absolutely amazing. But I just wanted to know what would be a cheap usb to spidf connection that can be used? I envision multiple usb connections but there is only one usb port ok the dave (wondering what the rationale behind that is). I would ideally like to get audeophilio2 but considering cost and that the dave is relatively source neutral and that this is going to be youtube / non sound card pc output was wondering if people can recommend anything cheaper?

Ifi iLink $265

Wyred 4 sound uLink $219

I'm getting the iLink for myself soon.

 

[halloweenman]

Halloweenman and Sabena, I don't know about Audirvana but using Pure Music with iTunes bypasses audio midi.  The files are sent to the DAC at native frequencies as stored in iTunes, switching between different sources without any user intervention.  I would expect that Pure Music is not the only player to do this, of course.  I am just mentioning it because it is the one I use.  I have tested the bit-perfect files successfully with my Weiss DAC, which has a test for this, and presume it is the same with the Chord TT.  Cheers

Hi gnomen, I'm not sure it is possible for any software to bypass OS X audio midi settings, it tells software such as Audirvana or Pure Music what sample rates and bit depths the DAC is cable of receiving. Pure Music is able to bypass iTunes\OS X Core Audio. When you did a bit perfect test it would have passed as your Weiss DAC probably has multiple bit depth options in audio midi setup that Pure Music is able to set depending upon the file being played. With Dave or any other Chord DAC this is not possible as OSX reads from the DAC that it can only accept a 32 bit depth.

 

[halloweenman]

After Rob's and others comments, for which I'm grateful, I've decided to audition Dave again after making some changes to my speaker and room setup. My previous thoughts were that Dave was so much better than TT in so many ways but there was just something just not right about the sound as a whole. The changes have made a difference. Dave's imaging and soundstaging sounds a lot better now in my room. Just goes to show that speaker and room interaction can have a profound impact on sound, seems more so with Dave. I'm going to give it more time and see how I get on. Sounds are coming from Dave that would indeed be hard to live without. My room does have a low bass resonance issue that unfortunately Dave does emphasise having a little more there.

 

[jelt2359]

After Rob's and others comments, for which I'm grateful, I've decided to audition Dave again after making some changes to my speaker and room setup. My previous thoughts were that Dave was so much better than TT in so many ways but there was just something just not right about the sound as a whole. The changes have made a difference. Dave's imaging and soundstaging sounds a lot better now in my room. Just goes to show that speaker and room interaction can have a profound impact on sound, seems more so with Dave. I'm going to give it more time and see how I get on. Sounds are coming from Dave that would indeed be hard to live without. My room does have a low bass resonance issue that unfortunately Dave does emphasise having a little more there.

What changes did you make?

 

[Sabenza]

I brought my Dave to the retailer which has an iMac running OS Yosemite and Audirvana 1.5, and I was abusing my Dave by switching from DSD+ to PCM + and vice versa.  I am also switching between playing DSD, wav aiff, and FLAC with many different sampling frequencies.  I abused my Dave for nearly 45 minutes and not once did my Dave select a wrong sampling frequency or put out strange noise.  Stock power cable and USB cable were used.
 
There is also less popping or cracking noise when playing tracks with the iMac at the retailer.
 
Would my problem be my iMac running Sierra?

 

[x RELIC x]

OS X has been having USB audio issues since El Capitan. The issue very well could be Sierra. Try doing a google search for Sierra USB audio. It's very unlikely the DAVE would be the cause.

 

[halloweenman]

What changes did you make?

I basically moved the speakers more into the room and got closer to them, the result is probably less room interaction. Once I get proper room acoustic room treatment I'm hoping to experiment further.

 

[halloweenman]

I'm running El Capitan using Audirvana and got issues with wrong sample rate with Dave when swapping between Dave and TT. TT never once got wrong sample rate, only Dave. Never yet had the issue just using iTunes so perhaps this is an Audirvana/OSX issue?

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

After Rob's and others comments, for which I'm grateful, I've decided to audition Dave again after making some changes to my speaker and room setup. My previous thoughts were that Dave was so much better than TT in so many ways but there was just something just not right about the sound as a whole. The changes have made a difference. Dave's imaging and soundstaging sounds a lot better now in my room. Just goes to show that speaker and room interaction can have a profound impact on sound, seems more so with Dave. I'm going to give it more time and see how I get on. Sounds are coming from Dave that would indeed be hard to live without. My room does have a low bass resonance issue that unfortunately Dave does emphasise having a little more there.

If you have a wooden or even concrete 'suspended' floor then the low bass issue will probably be down to that. I had a simililar issue and found that a granite plinth under each speaker made a significant improvement. I would say that it has reduced the highlighting of one or two specific bass frequencies by approx. 90%.

 

[halloweenman]

Hi DaveRedRef, thanks, yes already have granite plinths in place, they do help.

 

[rkt31]

@halloweenman, for $12k, dave having a $150 pc transport is not a bad idea. why to stick to Mac . pc is far more hassle free transport using chord asio driver.

 

[halloweenman]

Installing Windows on my Macbook is also an option. I much prefer OS X to Windows so would rather not. Macbook makes a great source, has a long battery life, silent, no fans, no spinning disks, and uses very little energy.