jonstatt
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
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I'd look at the cables in between your DAVE and HPA4 with either the Phi TC or Susvara. I'm using the Water Audioquest XLRs and love it...just perfect tonality to my ears.
I tried the AQ Earth, AQ Sky and Chord Shawline. The best by far was the Earth (which shares its roots with the water). There are some that swear by that cable despite it not being the fashionable all silver cables like the Sky. The Earth is a mid priced gem. The more expensive Sky made the sound thinner, which gave the illusion of more detail but i found it fatiguing. Earth gives a warm edge while not losing any detail. After extensive comparison, I stand by what I said previously. The soundstage is wider with the demanding headphones via the HPA4 than DAVE directly. This can mean moving the artists a few steps further away which I can understand may be perceived as reduced intimacy. But the more I switched back and forth I realized with some tracks the intimacy was just as present with the HPA4 when the soundstage of the recording was smaller.
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