[rkt31]

a real test for any dac is a complex orchestral piece which may or may not be for everyone's taste. however there is some good orchestral work related to popular music by " Cincinnati Pops Orchestra " . telarc has released some good work of theirs.

 

[Brushane]

Let any DAC try to reproduce a metronome click with big bandwidth and it is not so terribly hard to hear differences in how they handle such a pulse. To think that big orchestras would be harder to reproduce than a metronome click is… a very simplified view of things actual complexity.

 

[rkt31]

a doorbell or telephone even on TV sounds so much real that sometimes you may think that your own doorbell or telephone has rung. this is because a single frequency or less number of frequencies ( read it less complex music ) are easier to reproduce by a sound system. imho crash of cymbals is also a very difficult to reproduce instrument because of its extreme dynamics.

 

[dmance]

Given all the talk about driving high efficiency (95dB+) speakers directly from DAVE's line outputs...I found these from Uxcell in China. I will couple them with ordinary BNC to RCA adapters for my tests.


https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Banana-Coaxial-Binding-Adapter/dp/B00TGODT18

 

[dguitarnut]

Hook up this Tekton 1812 speaker to your Dave

H 71" x W 23" x D 26" 300lbs
Sensitivity 104dB 1W @ 1m
140dB maximum output each
4 Ohm Impedance
Frequency response 20Hz - 30kHz
Power handling - 2500 Watts

 

[rkt31]

4 ohm is not advisable for directly driving from Dave. Dave may go into short circuit protection mode as minimum impedance recommend is 8 ohm.

 

[rgs9200m]

I am wondering why many are trying to power speakers directly. There are tons of nice used amps on audiogon for very low prices.
(Such as Pass, Boulder, Emotiva, Levinson, Linn, Mcintosh, Classe, Conrad-Johnson, Krell, Plinius, Luxman, Parasound, Bel Canto, Bryston, Audio Research and on and on.)

 

[bigfatpaulie]

  I am wondering why many are trying to power speakers directly. There are tons of nice used amps on audiogon for very low prices.
(Such as Pass, Boulder, Emotiva, Levinson, Linn, Mcintosh, Classe, Conrad-Johnson, Krell, Plinius, Luxman, Parasound, Bel Canto, Bryston, Audio Research and on and on.)

 
The simple answer is to preserve as much resolution and keep the system as transparent as possible.  Something else in the chain will only reduce those things, never increase them.

 

[JaZZ]

 

  I am wondering why many are trying to power speakers directly. There are tons of nice used amps on audiogon for very low prices.
(Such as Pass, Boulder, Emotiva, Levinson, Linn, Mcintosh, Classe, Conrad-Johnson, Krell, Plinius, Luxman, Parasound, Bel Canto, Bryston, Audio Research and on and on.)

 
The simple answer is to preserve as much resolution and keep the system as transparent as possible.  Something else in the chain will only reduce those things, never increase them.

 
That's the new Head-Fi spirit – at least I hope so.

Amps are overrated.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I think the best way to test any Dac is to listen to a familiar recording of instruments you know intimately from a live environment. If those familiar instruments are orchestral then great. For me it's stringed instruments like acoustic guitar and piano but I find that instruments with high frequency closely twinned strings like twelve string acoustic or mandolin are very hard to reproduce correctly. Dave is the only Dac I have heard which can pull this off ......but as I say, you need to be intimately familiar with the analogue sound to really know what's right.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

....to continue, it's not surprising this is a tough test for a Dac because the sound of each instrument is both transient and very fast in their release (because the strings are so close together.) The slower, blurred, transient responses of competitor Dacs are laid bare by these instruments imo. I use the 12 string solo part of Chicago's 'If you leave me now' and the mandolin from McGuiness Flint 'When I'm dead and gone' for this test.

 

[miketlse]

I think the best way to test any Dac is to listen to a familiar recording of instruments you know intimately from a live environment. If those familiar instruments are orchestral then great. For me it's stringed instruments like acoustic guitar and piano but I find that instruments with high frequency closely twinned strings like twelve string acoustic or mandolin are very hard to reproduce correctly. Dave is the only Dac I have heard which can pull this off ......but as I say, you need to be intimately familiar with the analogue sound to really know what's right.

 
I only have a Mojo, but have recently started exploring recordings of English medieval music, useing lutes and I have posted that I think that DAVE and M-Scalar will have fun with similar recordings, especially with church acoustics.

 

[EVOLVIST]

And still, most reviewers use simple electronica or pop rock  material when reviewing  anything from DACs to highend speakers and amps.
A sad state of affairs imho.
Crap in= crap out.

Right, but from what I gather you are a classical only person, which is fine, but that's a limitation, too, when it comes to hearing what the DAVE can do.

I'm not so sure about "crap in = crap out," either. There are several recordings that I could name to where I thought that I was going to get crap out, but the DAVE was able to peal away layers in the music that were there, but without a quality mechanism for reproduction like the DAVE I never knew the layers had a chance of standing out.

I've heard it said that the DAVE will not produce miracles with your music, yet I've heard it at least to perform minor miracles, which are still miracles by definition. On the flip side, one could say that if you put in crap, but it only comes out a little less crappy, then it's still crap, if you go by my previous logic... And that would be true, too. On the other hand, being "less crappy" might have just taken the recording from unlistenable to quite listenable by a few key percentages, in a game of percentages.

Of course with the best recordings out there, and if you only feed the DAVE the best-of-the-best, sure, you don't have to worry about crap at all. You've started with a great source. But as for me, I really enjoy hearing DAVE bring out perfection as much as I love DAVE to bring out flaws. I think it's really cool to hear DAVE reveal a dodgy tape splice, or a squeaky kick drum pedal. You won't find much of that in classical music, which is why I reach for a variety, including much classical.

All of this really makes me wonder what 1 million taps can do, which should make you wonder what getting your brain burned into 164,000 taps can do. I think - no, I know - that you're missing out. I mean, if the DAVE can take a crappy Pye era Kinks' album and make it sound "better," how much more can it do for your best Wagner?

 

[jelt2359]

Right, but from what I gather you are a classical only person, which is fine, but that's a limitation, too, when it comes to hearing what the DAVE can do.

I'm not so sure about "crap in = crap out," either. There are several recordings that I could name to where I thought that I was going to get crap out, but the DAVE was able to peal away layers in the music that were there, but without a quality mechanism for reproduction like the DAVE I never knew the layers had a chance of standing out.

I've heard it said that the DAVE will not produce miracles with your music, yet I've heard it at least to perform minor miracles, which are still miracles by definition. On the flip side, one could say that if you put in crap, but it only comes out a little less crappy, then it's still crap, if you go by my previous logic... And that would be true, too. On the other hand, being "less crappy" might have just taken the recording from unlistenable to quite listenable by a few key percentages, in a game of percentages.

Of course with the best recordings out there, and if you only feed the DAVE the best-of-the-best, sure, you don't have to worry about crap at all. You've started with a great source. But as for me, I really enjoy hearing DAVE bring out perfection as much as I love DAVE to bring out flaws. I think it's really cool to hear DAVE reveal a dodgy tape splice, or a squeaky kick drum pedal. You won't find much of that in classical music, which is why I reach for a variety, including much classical.

All of this really makes me wonder what 1 million taps can do, which should make you wonder what getting your brain burned into 164,000 taps can do. I think - no, I know - that you're missing out. I mean, if the DAVE can take a crappy Pye era Kinks' album and make it sound "better," how much more can it do for your best Wagner?

Actually sometimes I find that testing gear with 'crappy' compressed pop music can really show through. Some gear just sounds absolutely unlistenable; but the best gear tends to take the edge off, add separation, and all along make it enjoyable anyway.
 
EDM doesn't have to be compressed either- but it is frequently very complex and layered. Works well for testing too.
 
Ultimately the best tracks are the ones you know well.

 

[7ryder]

   
Ultimately the best tracks are the ones you know well.

 
EXACTLY and 'nuff said.