[Triode User]

Does anybody know the power input requirements of Dave? I'm trying to figure out if it could match with an Audioquest Dragon Source cable, which allegedly can handle up to 10 amps RMS

I did know but I have forgotten. However it will be two tenths of b*gg*r all compared to the 10amps capacity of that cable. If the cable can supply say 2000 Watts then Dave is more likely to require about 30 Watts (wild guess). See what I mean?

 

[ecwl]

Does anybody know the power input requirements of Dave? I'm trying to figure out if it could match with an Audioquest Dragon Source cable, which allegedly can handle up to 10 amps RMS

I can’t imagine DAVE drawing more than 100W, definitely no more than 200W. So that’s 1-2 Amps at 110V. Whatever the power draw is, it’s definitely not 10 amps which is like 1100W.
M-Scaler uses like 15W per Rob Watts the designer. I guess you can use that as a reference for my guestimate

 

[ecwl]

How hard to drive is the Abyss TC compared to the LCD-4? I can easily drive my LCD-4 (200 Ohm drivers) out of the Dave - the headphone output level is usually around -20dB and I don't find it lacking in anything, including bass slam. I guess I don't listen that loud, so wondering if I could also drive the Abyss directly out of Dave.

I have brought my DAVE to my local Head-fi meets a few times and somebody has an LCD-4. What I learnt Is that even though my listening volume is similar to yours at around -20dB (maybe slightly above) with that LCD-4, some other head-fiers were playing the same music at 20dB louder than me. this is pretty much true, regardless of the setup we use.
I also visit my stereo dealer quite often and with speaker setups, he and his customers usually listen at 10-15dB louder than me, sometimes even 20dB louder.
if you trust Abyss specifications, it is 9dB less sensitive than your LCD-4 so you’d have to listen at 9dB louder. Moreover, DAVE would need 4 times the wattage to drive the Abyss at the higher volume. But since DAVE is rated to be able to drive 33ohms at 6.8V, theoretically, it should work but no way to know until you try it. Btw, you need to use the headphone jack not the balanced XLR at the back because the impedance of the XLR output is higher.

 

[jlbrach]

How hard to drive is the Abyss TC compared to the LCD-4? I can easily drive my LCD-4 (200 Ohm drivers) out of the Dave - the headphone output level is usually around -20dB and I don't find it lacking in anything, including bass slam. I guess I don't listen that loud, so wondering if I could also drive the Abyss directly out of Dave.

I do not listen particularly loud but I listened to my lcd-4 out of my dave at between -15-0

 

[jlbrach]

I have brought my DAVE to my local Head-fi meets a few times and somebody has an LCD-4. What I learnt Is that even though my listening volume is similar to yours at around -20dB (maybe slightly above) with that LCD-4, some other head-fiers were playing the same music at 20dB louder than me. this is pretty much true, regardless of the setup we use.
I also visit my stereo dealer quite often and with speaker setups, he and his customers usually listen at 10-15dB louder than me, sometimes even 20dB louder.
if you trust Abyss specifications, it is 9dB less sensitive than your LCD-4 so you’d have to listen at 9dB louder. Moreover, DAVE would need 4 times the wattage to drive the Abyss at the higher volume. But since DAVE is rated to be able to drive 33ohms at 6.8V, theoretically, it should work but no way to know until you try it. Btw, you need to use the headphone jack not the balanced XLR at the back because the impedance of the XLR output is higher.

the abyss doesnt require more than 4 or 5 db using the dave relative to the lcd-4 at least in my experience....it is amazing how people listen at different volumes...I have been told by people that I listen at relatively low volumes yet with the dave I listen to the lcd-4 from -15 to 0......perhaps it is has to do with the source into the dave?

 

[TheAttorney]

Does anybody know the power input requirements of Dave? I'm trying to figure out if it could match with an Audioquest Dragon Source cable, which allegedly can handle up to 10 amps RMS

A long time ago, I measured it to be around 20W operational, and around 10W in standby.
So the often stated 30W is probably a conservative figure to allow for worse case scenarios.
So no need for a beefy power cord in order to meet the power requirements, but IMO a good quality power cord will improve SQ.

 

[ray-dude]

Folks, I did a quick search but didn't see anything. I'm experimenting with HQPlayer on Windows to upsample DSD64 content to DSD512 to DAVE (via the Chord ASIO driver). When I do so, I'm seeing DAVE register the signal as DSD512, but I'm not hearing anything. When I set the upsampling limit to 44.1k x 256, it very happily upsamples to DSD256 and plays.

I'm a newbie to Windows and the Chord ASIO driver. Has anyone gotten DSD512 to work from Windows to DAVE?

Thanks!

 

[musickid]

i have a demo dave on its way to compare to my tt2/hms. i'll be having a listen to dave mscaled too to see if it's a path for the future. for now it's dave solo or my tt2/hms through oppo's planar magnetic 1 headphone. this is a tough choice. right now i don't even know what i'm looking for not being familiar with dave. the mscaler does add undeniable energy and sparkle to the music. i can't really justify the cost of a dave and another mscaler. if it's tracked delivery i might be doing live updates like i did with the mscaler.just for fun.

 

[jcn3]

Folks, I did a quick search but didn't see anything. I'm experimenting with HQPlayer on Windows to upsample DSD64 content to DSD512 to DAVE (via the Chord ASIO driver). When I do so, I'm seeing DAVE register the signal as DSD512, but I'm not hearing anything. When I set the upsampling limit to 44.1k x 256, it very happily upsamples to DSD256 and plays.

I'm a newbie to Windows and the Chord ASIO driver. Has anyone gotten DSD512 to work from Windows to DAVE?

Thanks!

have you gotten it to work with another dac? upsampling to dsd512 is processor intensive -- is your computer up to it? check to see with the cpu utilization is in task manager.

if not, first thing i would do is upsample to dsd256 to make sure it works. if it does, then try dsd512 again and change filters to see if you can get something to work. if dsd256 works and dsd512 doesn't, then i would conclude your computer isn't up to the task.

 

[ray-dude]

have you gotten it to work with another dac? upsampling to dsd512 is processor intensive -- is your computer up to it? check to see with the cpu utilization is in task manager.

if not, first thing i would do is upsample to dsd256 to make sure it works. if it does, then try dsd512 again and change filters to see if you can get something to work. if dsd256 works and dsd512 doesn't, then i would conclude your computer isn't up to the task.

Thank you for the note.

I have not yet tried it with my Chord TT2, but that is a good suggestion (thank you)

When going to DSD512, my CPU is below 10% (Xeon processors). Stepping down the filters to less CPU intensive ones doesn't change things (HQP says DSD512, DAVE says DSD512, but no music plays). Everything is fine when set to 44.1k x 256 (vs 44.1k x 512).

I'm fairly ignorant on the Windows side (and with the Chord ASIO driver), so I'm hoping it is something simple to get things going (and to make sure that I have the ASIO driver setup properly)

Does anyone know if there is a ASIO control panel for the Chord ASIO driver? (I'm not finding one) Also, before I chase this rabbit too much further, has anyone gotten DSD512 to work with HQPlayer Desktop on Windows with the Chord ASIO driver to DAVE?

 

[Mircea C.]

Is there a way to use DBNC out of an HMS into a Dave and then DBNC out (DX out) of the Dave into a TT2 in order to use both dacs in the same time with the benefits of HMS? or maybe connect first TT2 and then the Dave? TT2 have also some connectors named DX output.

 

[ray-dude]

Is there a way to use DBNC out of an HMS into a Dave and then DBNC out (DX out) of the Dave into a TT2 in order to use both dacs in the same time with the benefits of HMS? or maybe connect first TT2 and then the Dave? TT2 have also some connectors named DX output.

Yes that works. Note that the outputs of DAVE are not galvanically isolated, but I believe the inputs to TT2 are, so you should be fine. When I was playing with this config WAY back in Blu2 days, there was a step down feeding the second DAVE from an mScaled DAVE vs direct. TT2 will be much better.

 

[Mircea C.]

Yes that works. Note that the outputs of DAVE are not galvanically isolated, but I believe the inputs to TT2 are, so you should be fine. When I was playing with this config WAY back in Blu2 days, there was a step down feeding the second DAVE from an mScaled DAVE vs direct. TT2 will be much better.

Thanks! seems awesome. It was an idea to keep a TT2 and a Dave (which I don't have yet) but looks like I will have to sell my TT2 in order to get the Dave

 

[Triode User]

Is there a way to use DBNC out of an HMS into a Dave and then DBNC out (DX out) of the Dave into a TT2 in order to use both dacs in the same time with the benefits of HMS? or maybe connect first TT2 and then the Dave? TT2 have also some connectors named DX output.

Why would you want to do that? Surely a Dave owner would only ever want to listen to Dave and never to a TT2 having got the Dave.

 

[Mircea C.]

Why would you want to do that? Surely a Dave owner would only ever want to listen to Dave and never to a TT2 having got the Dave.

O, I don't know, I have never listen to a Dave yet (it will be a blind purchase based on many other's opinions including yours; looking for a used one). I was just wondering if it was possible. Seems like some people find the TT2 output with certain headphones preferable (warmer/more powerful?) to Dave. It should not be a problem for me as I mainly use Stax so there's another amp after the dac and the other headphones I have, are easily driven (Grado PS1000e and Audeze LCD XC, i4).

I just find the TT2 such a great piece of gear and I am kind of sorry to part way with it but as you said, after getting a Dave it would probably be redundant and I should recover some of the money put in. I do like that the TT2 have 1/4 inch jacks in addition to the 3.5mm one.

Will the headphone jack on the Dave allow a Grado 3.5mm to 1/4 inch adaptor (which is like 12.9mm thick) to be plugged in? Thank you!