[Whitigir]

What makes the Dave sound good ? The switching power supply unit ?

 

[Whazzzup]

What makes the Dave sound good ? The switching power supply unit ?

The price or is it that it sounds good thus the price

 

[EndGameSearch]

The price or is it that it sounds good thus the price

Dave cost what it cost due to the intellectual property that's inside of it. Obviously the quality of the components is second to none but the secret sauce simply can not be recreated by someone else. With two young children myself I think seriously about the large purchases I make but in this case I feel it's a fair exchange of my cash for something that truly is one of a kind. My Blu2 is on order and I can hardly fathom what that secret sauce will taste like. I have no regrets on the spend even though it really hurt pulling my wallet out. My point, it's tough to put a "fair" price on intellectual property that took a lifetime to develop.

 

[Whazzzup]

This was a fang joke, kinda inside joke with Whitgir. I’m not inferring anything bad with chord or hifi man

 

[Sonic77]

Which side are you on? I have compared the Direct Stream dac (with the lastest firmware) to Dave and think it sounds moderate compared to Dave! Retirement may never happen because you might get run over tomorrow. Anyway having seen seen so many friends that have died within a year of retiring I would say buy the Dave.

I'm on the wife's side

 

[doraymon]

I don't want to unleash the wrath of anyone here but is anyone using the Dave together with a headphone amp?
I know what Rob Watts (and many other fellow forumers for that matter) think about adding an amp to his DACs but I am interested to hear first hand comments of someone who does with satisfying results.

 

[Whazzzup]

one in particular a friend of mine, an idyllic lawyer with a fascination for greek mythology suggests that pandoras box isn't a box at all, but a vase. Just saying....

 

[marcmccalmont]

I don't want to unleash the wrath of anyone here but is anyone using the Dave together with a headphone amp?
I know what Rob Watts (and many other fellow forumers for that matter) think about adding an amp to his DACs but I am interested to hear first hand comments of someone who does with satisfying results.

Yes I am not 100% happy with the Focal Utopias bass directly from Dave. I love the transparency though. Dave’s damping factor is very high so that’s not it, perhaps the large impedance rise at resonance is causing problems (thanks Jawed). I first tried my Spectral DMC 20 with 1 ohm output resistors. The bass was very tight and to my liking but the lack of transparency I couldn’t live with. The next step was to pull out my Bryston bha1 modified with much larger coupling caps to improve the bass. Much better and we are getting closer. When I return home at the end of the month I have Questyle cma800r to try, good reviews and very low distortion. I’ll report back on how that works out. Impedance compensation works well for speakers and low power amplifiers so I’ve ordered the parts for a bass RLC network again I’ll get the parts at the end of the month. The problem (a good one) is Dave’s output is an order of magnitude cleaner than the best preamps and headphone amps so I’m hoping the impedance compensation will tighten up the bass to my liking driven directly from Dave. I’ll update you later next month.

 

[SunWarrior]

I don't want to unleash the wrath of anyone here but is anyone using the Dave together with a headphone amp?
I know what Rob Watts (and many other fellow forumers for that matter) think about adding an amp to his DACs but I am interested to hear first hand comments of someone who does with satisfying results.

Yes, that's me. I've had my Dave for nearly two years now, after it bested other DACs like the top-end one from Berkeley...and my all-digital system with the Aurender N10 server is better than ever with the Dave.

And while I'm nearly always very happy with the Dave as headphone amp, I love variety. So the Dave also feeds its signal into my Cavalli Liquid Gold headphone amp, bought last year.

Richer, warmer sound from the Cavalli; more detail direct from the Dave. Both bring great pleasure, highlighted by those different qualities. This with (mainly) Focal Utopia cans.

Dave, the man not the DAC who asks why does he need to choose between Italian and Mexican food and in fact he does not need to choose the food since over time his stomach can accommodate both which is not dissimilar from wanting enjoying exploring owning two excellent headphone amps because like many good things in life the best answer is not either/or but instead all-of-the-above

 

[tunes]

New firmware for DAVE? How do you know if you have the latest firmware????!

 

[jonstatt]

New firmware for DAVE? How do you know if you have the latest firmware????!

I believe it is not updatable. And I also believe there has only been one version.

 

[doraymon]

It has certainly been discussed already but may I ask a summary of which is considered the best input for the Dave. (If it makes any difference)?
I am late to the party and would need to read hundred of posts to get a fair idea...

 

[pjk1]

The price or is it that it sounds good thus the price

Completely worth the price as crazy as it sounds though. I thought everyone on here was exaggerating with how amazing the Dave sounds stand alone. Once I took the plunge I have not regretted it one bit! Driving Focal Utopia headphones.

 

[SCBob]

Completely worth the price as crazy as it sounds though. I thought everyone on here was exaggerating with how amazing the Dave sounds stand alone. Once I took the plunge I have not regretted it one bit! Driving Focal Utopia headphones.

I'm new to this thread and am intrigued by the DAVE. I am using the Hugo TT with Focal Utopia and Danacable Lazuli Reference cable. The thought of the sound getting even better is appealing. I've read about the Blu 2 and how advanced it is. Is there a DAVE 2 in the pipeline? DAVE has been around for a few years and things are obviously advancing. Hate to be one of the final DAVE full price payers. On the other hand would welcome more second hand DAVE "1" offerings.

 

[x RELIC x]

I'm new to this thread and am intrigued by the DAVE. I am using the Hugo TT with Focal Utopia and Danacable Lazuli Reference cable. The thought of the sound getting even better is appealing. I've read about the Blu 2 and how advanced it is. Is there a DAVE 2 in the pipeline? DAVE has been around for a few years and things are obviously advancing. Hate to be one of the final DAVE full price payers. On the other hand would welcome more second hand DAVE "1" offerings.

No plans for DAVE2 on the horizon.