Quick summary of my question: Can I just plug DAVE into the wall with the stock power cord and be OK?
How do DAVE owners handle power to their DAVE? Do they use power conditioners or high-end power cables?
Does anyone use the stock cable?
Does anyone just plug it right into the wall?
Is it OK to take this minimalist approach (stock cable directly into the wall)?
Does anyone use so-called "audiophile" power strips ? (I have not tried them.)
Thanks.
(Over the years with other digital components and amps, I've had mixed results with various power conditioners/power cables/regenerators, many of them harming the sound, notably making the bass opaque. And with regenerators, I heard sizzling highs. Some silver-based power cables also over-emphasized the highs. I've had some good results with Shunyata cords, but I have no room for these firehose-like power snakes or their Hydra boxes in my desktop setup.)
In this 21st century of our calendar, if you are in a situation where you have an essentially private electricity supply because you have no electrically noisy neighbours or you’ve paid a power company lots of money to have a private and relatively noiseless electricity supply, you are in a very rare and/or extremely privileged situation. Enjoy it!
In my situation I am in a city where every house has more than one air-conditioner and usually has at least one air-conditioner running during the day and maybe one in the bedroom for sleeping at night. So the electrical supply is extremely noisy and here, voltages have ranged from 208 to 257 volts in a nominal 230v supply. However, the voltage is usually in the low 240’s.
So the above range of voltage, let alone noisy circuits, makes hi-fi audio pretty variable in listening terms. So I needed to do something. For my current speakerless DAVE headphone system I use a double on-line UPS that almost disconnects me from the noisy mains and delivers a constant 240v supply. To filter out the remaining noise from both the outside world and my own noisy circuits with air-conditioners refrigerators etc, I have installed a Shunyata Research Denali system with their Sigma and Alpha range power cables.
The sound quality was OK with the double-online UPS but adding the Shunyata Denali system took the sound quality to a night-and-day variance for me. So much so that my audition of a BluDave combo just didn’t do anything for me in my reference CD set I took with me. Mind you, it was an audibly noisy show floor so I might have been missing out.
So to answer your question about using DAVE directly plugged into the wall, Yes you can and depending on your existing gear, you may find it a step up in audio quality that is anywhere from nicely different to awesomely good (if awesomely is not a new word).
But for me, the laboratory grade power and electrical supply “cleaning” and management devices I installed is a no brainer and provides musical enjoyment far exceeding the standard wall outlet only approach.
It all depends on your current situation as to whether spending on electrical supply management and “cleaning” equipment is worth your hard-earned cash splash.
I hope this gives another perspective with respect to the normal population’s electrical issues for hi-fi listening pleasure.
Regards
GG
