[Malcyg]

Aassuming the power amp has a sensible input, what can a pre-amp possibly do to what comes out of a DAVE except lose music?

Logically, you are right, but it’s not definitive as there are too many variables involved including personal preference and taste.

There is only ever one way to be certain what works best for you and that is to ignore what everybody else says and use your own ears to decide. This has always been my own golden rule although I actually ignored it myself with regard to Chord DAC’s for the same reason that you are citing - transparency trumps all. Except I found that sometimes it doesn’t. I run my BluDave directly into a power amp and have always been very happy with the sound. I always ran headphones directly out of Dave but was never entirely happy with it but I just assumed it was as good as it gets because of the transparency aspect. Anyway, I have increasingly moved to headphone use over the last year or so which led me to looking into headphone amps - and I find both my BluDave and H2Go can benefit quite significantly when fed through a headphone amp. YMMV.

So the best answer, as unsatisfactory as it may be, is to try it yourself and see what you prefer.

 

[Malcyg]

Deleted #nonsense

 

[adrianm]

It’s the Dave thread,why not a Dave?

 

[Malcyg]

It’s the Dave thread,why not a Dave?

In what context? He’s getting a Dave.

 

[adrianm]

In what context? He’s getting a Dave.

You nonsense post

 

[Malcyg]

Nonsense? How so?

It mentions Dave 3 times, so not the wrong thread.

 

[adrianm]

It’s the Dave thread,why not a Dave?

Was a reply to this

Deleted #nonsense

 

[Malcyg]

Ah, yes, my nonsense post. I see what you mean. I made a comment which was nonsense and couldn’t figure out how to delete it.

 

[Mikey99]

Yeah, I saw that video, that's an amazing set up! A Kondo Ongaku is way out of my budget (esp with the recent purchase of the Duo XDs), even an older 1997 version (made by Kondo san) is also a little rich for my blood (there's one for sale on USAM, which I briefly considered in a moment of fiscal insanity).

I will be looking at some "reasonable" SET amps as well, if folks have some good suggestions. I'm pretty clueless in this space (my experience has been mostly limited to Pass Labs X/XA series amps).

Anil

PS: What AN gear do you have. I assume from AN UK?

I have the Duo XDs as well. The Airtight ATM300R works beautifully with them. Still expensive, but much less so than the Audio Note Ongaku.

 

[Clive101]

regarding my original post any suggestions on following at all please???

however in terms of pointers interested in some recommended power cables to feed it, whether Fuse upgrade worthwhile (i.e. the Orange), heard some use it in pre-amp mode into a pre-amp also, and BNC cables for Mscaler (i have 1x Sarum T BNC-BNC cable, but is a lot of £ to get another one...) apologies for barrage of queries but really would appreciate any pointers on getting the most out of the DAVE from the off

I have tried a quite a few BNC cables with Dave and Mscaler along with the Chord Sarum T I ended up with the Wave Storm BNC cables and I love them.
Perhaps a demo of the Sarum T to go with your existing cable and demo against the Wave Storm. You may end up selling your Sarum T and with the money purchase a set of Wave cables but you have to do the demo to hear your preference. Please let us all know how you get on.
Fuses with Dave or any other hardware do make a change in my system (YMMV) Orange I found suck the midrange, Blue too much detail. I found the Atacama Imperium mains cable the best in my system which has it's own fuse matched to the cable, stellar.

 

[adrianm]

I have tried a quite a few BNC cables with Dave and Mscaler along with the Chord Sarum T I ended up with the Wave Storm BNC cables and I love them.
Perhaps a demo of the Sarum T to go with your existing cable and demo against the Wave Storm. You may end up selling your Sarum T and with the money purchase a set of Wave cables but you have to do the demo to hear your preference. Please let us all know how you get on.
Fuses with Dave or any other hardware do make a change in my system (YMMV) Orange I found suck the midrange, Blue too much detail. I found the Atacama Imperium mains cable the best in my system which has it's own fuse matched to the cable, stellar.

What exactly does the mains cable provide to warrant the price?

 

[mbj666]

I have tried a quite a few BNC cables with Dave and Mscaler along with the Chord Sarum T I ended up with the Wave Storm BNC cables and I love them.
Perhaps a demo of the Sarum T to go with your existing cable and demo against the Wave Storm. You may end up selling your Sarum T and with the money purchase a set of Wave cables but you have to do the demo to hear your preference. Please let us all know how you get on.
Fuses with Dave or any other hardware do make a change in my system (YMMV) Orange I found suck the midrange, Blue too much detail. I found the Atacama Imperium mains cable the best in my system which has it's own fuse matched to the cable, stellar.

Thats good idea seen lots of dave/mscaler pics with these wave cables just seen that wave do 14 day return too so possible to home demo as you say

 

[STR-1]

I found the Atacama Imperium mains cable the best in my system which has it's own fuse matched to the cable, stellar.

Hi Clive. What other power cables have you tried with the DAVE, which you prefer the Atacama cable to? I’ve tried a few from Shunyata, Audioquest, Chord Company etc, and am currently using a Shunyata Alpha NR v1, but I might give the Imperium a tryout.

As it happens, I’m currently discussing with Atacama possible custom options for the bamboo-shelf equipment rack I have, and about coupling generally. The cables did get a mention in conversation, but it was more in passing as my focus at that time was on equipment support and approaches to reducing internal resonances.

 

[anil]

Cool, thanks. I will keep this on my watch list.

Anil

I have the Duo XDs as well. The Airtight ATM300R works beautifully with them. Still expensive, but much less so than the Audio Note Ongaku.

 

[jlbrach]

may I ask a favor of dave owners...this may sound silly but I am trying to figure out which of the balanced out outputs the right and which is the left....since there are no labels on the unit I am looking at the manual and I see a manual that show the right being all the way at the end on the other side of the ac plug and on off switch and I see a manual 1.1 that says the opposite...I believe the right to be the balanced XLR all the way to the end of the side away from the on off switch but want to confirm it....I appreciate it folks