CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE
Feb 25, 2020 at 10:26 AM Post #14,116 of 25,747
I have previous generation Alpha HC and Venom HC cables, as well as Alpha NR and Venom NR-V10 cables. I had both Venom NR-V12 and NR-V10 on loan to compare, and chose the V10 only because its larger gauge wire gave a slightly fuller and more authoritative sound. The two cables (both filtered) were essentially the same in all other respects. Both cables would deliver a significantly improved sound compared to stock cable when plugged into an unfiltered power point. The sound would be cleaner, a little darker, a little fuller and more authoritative. Less certain is whether additional filtering/conditioning would deliver changes that you would perceive as further improvements.

I have been using the Alpha HC with my DAVE, but will be having another look at that now that I have freed up the Alpha NR by replacing it as the Statement’s power cable with a Chord Sarum T cable.

Thank you very much for your elaborate reply, STR-1. I'm going to try to get my hands on a loaner :wink:.
 
Feb 25, 2020 at 9:10 PM Post #14,117 of 25,747
I am still patiently waiting for my new *used Dave to arrive and it would probably take another week of waiting. Nevertheless, as they all say, patience is a virtue.

In anticipation of the Dave's arrival, I have also traded in the Hugo TT2 for a ............... Hugo2 (shock & horror!!) and I have 3 reasons for this:
1) To simplify my desktop system. The Hugo2 is a very capable dac/amp and I thoroughly enjoyed it when I owned it. It's smallish size also means it takes up less precious space on my work desk. Furthermore I can bring the Hugo2 around when I travel.
2) Pairing with 2go. This all-in-one combination makes it highly interesting for me as well. However seeing the feedback of early poly adopters makes me want to wait a bit more before jumping in. Furthermore, I still have my Xduoo X10T II to pair with the Hugo2 for the time being.
3) To free up some cash. I still have an eye on the Hugo M-scaler and will spring for a used unit if it is available. However, failing which, I will most likely get a new unit at the end of 2020.

And so it is, my Chord journey so far. Chopping & changing stuff is fun, but I can't wait to settle down for the more important music stuff...
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 4:44 AM Post #14,118 of 25,747
I have been using the Alpha HC with my DAVE, but will be having another look at that now that I have freed up the Alpha NR by replacing it as the Statement’s power cable with a Chord Sarum T cable.

I had an Alpha NR and smaller brother Delta NR on loan to compare against my existing Clearer Audio (£400-ish) into DAVE.
I wasn't sure the Delta was a significant enough improvement over existing, but the Alpha was, so I bought it.
However, it's rather pricey, and I feel that I've had better bang for buck with my BNC and USB cable upgrades.

There's rumour of a V2 Alpha NR on the horizon, but I suppose there's always a new version on the horizon somewhere.
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 5:24 AM Post #14,119 of 25,747
I wonder if the Schiit LOKI HIGH QUALITY TONE CONTROL will enable bass improvement when running the SR1a off the JOT-R with DAVE HMS as the source. Will it work if routed between the output of my DAVE/HMS and the amp? Can I use the remote volume controller on the DAVE to control head speaker volume instead of the JOT-R? If the LOKI is in the chain, with all EQ flat, will it introduce any noise or coloration to the signal? Is there any other method to add EQ to SR1a via DAVE HMS? Will there be EQ in the software app for the 2GO/2YU?
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 7:34 AM Post #14,120 of 25,747
I wonder if the Schiit LOKI HIGH QUALITY TONE CONTROL will enable bass improvement when running the SR1a off the JOT-R with DAVE HMS as the source. Will it work if routed between the output of my DAVE/HMS and the amp? Can I use the remote volume controller on the DAVE to control head speaker volume instead of the JOT-R? If the LOKI is in the chain, with all EQ flat, will it introduce any noise or coloration to the signal? Is there any other method to add EQ to SR1a via DAVE HMS? Will there be EQ in the software app for the 2GO/2YU?
Equalizing in the analogue domain is a bad idea – you'd add a bunch of electronics components to the signal path, and each of them has a detrimental impact. Use your software player for equalizing in the digital domain, it is perfectly suitable for this task. I once had a well-respected semi-professional analogue equalizer and couldn't use it for listening to music due to the massive loss of transparency it caused, so it just served for crossover-network tuning during my speaker-building phase.

Sub-bass enhancement is easy, but not the only function it can fulfill. BTW, the mentioned loss of transparency with digital equalizers is an unfounded myth. I'm into equalizing since a few years now and never detected such a thing, quite the opposite: Removing peaks and dips in fact enhances transparency, as respective masking effects are eliminated. Also consider that the music you listen to has been DSPed more than once during the recording process, so it's absurd to think that it's the final DSP during playback that does the harm.
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 9:54 AM Post #14,122 of 25,747
I had an Alpha NR and smaller brother Delta NR on loan to compare against my existing Clearer Audio (£400-ish) into DAVE.
I wasn't sure the Delta was a significant enough improvement over existing, but the Alpha was, so I bought it.
However, it's rather pricey, and I feel that I've had better bang for buck with my BNC and USB cable upgrades.

There's rumour of a V2 Alpha NR on the horizon, but I suppose there's always a new version on the horizon somewhere.
The Alpha NR is a good cable (I have the original version of this cable before the internal geometry of the UK cable was slightly changed and the fuse upgraded to an AMR Gold last summer) and I have found it in the past to be slightly better than the Alpha HC with the DAVE, but I wanted to use my best cable with the source (Innuos Statement).

When I receive my Sarum T, and it is fully run-in, I will be able to focus again on the DAVE's power cable. I still expect to find the Alpha NR to be better than the Alpha HC, but with my system now cleaner than it was the last time I tried this comparison I want to hear whether the filtering with these Shunyata cables is still needed. As I said previously, you can have too much filtering, and these cables are already plugged into a Shunyata Venom UK6 distribution block, which has its own filtering. I had tried an Alpha NR feeder cable in the UK6 but found that additional filtering to affect dynamics and energy, so I settled for an unfiltered Alpha EF cable.

I had heard version 2 of these Shunyata power cables was planned for later this year but I now understand that that is no longer certain given various Corvid 19 supply chain issues.
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 1:26 PM Post #14,123 of 25,747
For the Roon users out there...what are you using to feed your Dave and how is it connected? Up to this point, I've been using DAC's that have built-in Roon endpoint network ports.

Does your current endpoint have usb out? If so, have you tried that via usb to your dave?
 
Feb 26, 2020 at 8:16 PM Post #14,125 of 25,747
It was actually Macedonian who convinced me to get the DAVE. I trusted his opinion and am waiting for mine. Quite excited.

You will NOT be disappointed! I'm done with DACs...I haven't looked for anything new since it arrived 2 years ago! Congratulations!
 
Feb 27, 2020 at 1:35 AM Post #14,126 of 25,747
you can have too much filtering, and these cables are already plugged into a Shunyata Venom UK6 distribution block, which has its own filtering. I had tried an Alpha NR feeder cable in the UK6 but found that additional filtering to affect dynamics and energy
I tried the exact same setup on DAVE with the exact same outcome. It was not a pleasant outcome and one i was not expecting.
 
Feb 27, 2020 at 2:37 AM Post #14,127 of 25,747
In my experience High Fidelity Cables mains cables and power conditioning products are excellent. Sound Application (and BPT now shuttered) also make the very best power conditioners.
 
Feb 27, 2020 at 3:15 AM Post #14,128 of 25,747
I tried the exact same setup on DAVE with the exact same outcome. It was not a pleasant outcome and one i was not expecting.

Rob Watts has previously mentioned that he selected the Dave power supply partly because of its very low output impedance. Perhaps the moral of trying too much filtering is that there are other factors affecting the sound of the Dave in relation to its power and fiddling can perhaps have unforeseen consequences.
 
Feb 27, 2020 at 5:39 AM Post #14,129 of 25,747
As I said previously, you can have too much filtering, and these cables are already plugged into a Shunyata Venom UK6 distribution block, which has its own filtering. I had tried an Alpha NR feeder cable in the UK6 but found that additional filtering to affect dynamics and energy, so I settled for an unfiltered Alpha EF cable.

I find it strange that one can have too much filtering on a 50/60hz cable. My Alpha NR (and all other power cords) are connected to an Audience TSSOX power conditioner, and there was no loss in dynamics/energy when replacing my (mostly unfiltered) Clearer Audio cord with the heavily filtered NR. Maybe because the Audience uses a different (capacitor-based) filter design to Shunyata's, so the two designs appear to be complimentary rather than destructive.

My hifi rack's location prevents me from trying the NR directly connected to wall socket, but in a previous situation (without the NR), removing the Audience conditioner was a bad move, so everything now just goes into it without further thought.

@Triode User, Rob is justifiably proud of his designs, as are all good designers. But we mess around with these things because we can demonstrate, at least to ourselves, that further improvements are possible. Rob also doesn't think that fancy BNC cables are necessary, and look where that's got us! :)
 
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Feb 27, 2020 at 6:10 AM Post #14,130 of 25,747
But your best plan is to go to Bristol and talk to the nice Chord chaps and then seek out a dealer that you can bully cajole into giving you a good deal on a Dave!

well that went really well. Sat in on the Chord demo (always a busy room, fantastic bunch of guys) of the Dave/M on the new ultima stereo amps (stunning) on Harbeths (I think) and it was all there, without a shadow of a doubt, I swear I can tell when the DAVE/M combo is in any system, even blind folded. It’s like the whole recording has an air all around it, beautiful, addictive, once you’ve heard it, there’s no going back that’s for sure. They even played some tunes from the 80’s which I’d heard played to death back in the day, and considering my ears are now 30ish years older, the track (Tanita Tikaram‘s twist in my sobriety) never sounded so bloody good! You could hear the grain in her voice, absolutely incredible! No doubt whatsoever about this combo being nothing short of outstanding.

I then popped into Rega ( again another packed room/s, enthusiastic guys who believe in their products, great chats and very informative ) , and was again blown away by the new Planar turntables (and I’m not a turntable guy) I do have a lot of vinyl, but never play it due to time, and that’s what got me thinking, I need to make more time for music, more importantly make more time for myself to de stress, vinyl is most definitely the perfect excuse. Which is why I pulled the trigger on the new P10. The Dave will still be mine, oh yes, it will most definitely be mine, but as I dont have any way of playing my vinyl it made more sense to fill that void!

I was also mega impressed with Hegel, awesome kit, nice chaps as well, the sound of their kit certainly works for me, another player now on my radar for sure.
 
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