[TheAttorney]

The theory behind Opto Dx is interesting and plausible.
The most surprising element, is that so few owners post about trying Opto Dx.

I'm a strong believer in the impact of BNC cables between HMS and DAVE, but I would never ever consider the Opto DX solution, however good it may sound, simply because I hate cable spaghetti. All those extra boxes and cables and power supplies totally rule it out for me. Especially as the BNC cables at either end still matter according to some reviews. And the quality of the power supplies matter too. I suspect others feel the same way, so won't even bother to try.

Thanks for the reply, did you still have to spend a lot on BNC cables? Or does the Opto DX reduce the need for heavy/shielded cables?

IMO it is a mistake to assume that cables must be heavy with ferrites, or heavily shielded, to sound good. Some may, some may not - there are too many variables involved.
For example, when I had the Blaxius BNC cables with their multiple, configurable, shield layers, the shielding combination that sounded best could not have been predicted by traditional engineering theory. And the combination with most shielding was definitely not the best sounding.

And my end-game USB cables, Sablon 2020, apparently have no shielding at all for the signal wires. Earlier, lesser sounding, versions did have shielding I think.
People are free to predict an outcome based on engineering theory and common sense, but only listening will tell you what sounds best in practice.

 

[doraymon]

@doraymon I realise there was no malicious intent, but your post fell into the same trap as previous head-fi posts (not by you), stating that black coloured dacs had a darker sound signature, than silver coloured dacs.
Such posts totally confuse/mislead new head-fi posters who 'are not in the joke'.

Mike, come on, everybody knows black dacs can't have a darker sound. It was silver ones that had sibilance no?

Hey, stop, I WAS JOKING! silver dacs are as good as any other color!

I hope we can still be friends

 

[miketlse]

Mike, come on, everybody knows black dacs can't have a darker sound. It was silver ones that had sibilance no?

Hey, stop, I WAS JOKING! silver dacs are as good as any other color!

I hope we can still be friends

We are still friends, but this just illustrates the importance of considering the potential impact that all our posts may have, to new followers of the thread, who may not understand the in-jokes.

 

[doraymon]

We are still friends, but this just illustrates the importance of considering the potential impact that all our posts may have, to new followers of the thread, who may not understand the in-jokes.

What potential impact, sorry I'm not getting it?

 

[jlbrach]

sorry but anyone considering buying a 10K DAC who can be convinced that the color of the DAC will impact its sound signature probably shouldnt be buying it

 

[miketlse]

What potential impact, sorry I'm not getting it?

You and I both know that the colour of the dac does not impact on its sound signature - that is 'tacit knowledge'.
New viewers to any thread, do not understand such tacit knowledge, or 'in jokes' so can easily be misled by posts implying that the colour of a dac, is a proxy for its sound signature.

 

[jlbrach]

if you are in the market for a DAC costing what the Dave does and you can be convinced that different colors will influence the sound then I suggest you are not the right person to be buying such gear...but hey whatever

 

[sm60]

if you are in the market for a DAC costing what the Dave does and you can be convinced that different colors will influence the sound then I suggest you are not the right person to be buying such gear...but hey whatever

I wish that were true. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find reviews that tell you silver clad preamplifiers by Audio Research sound “better” than the black faceplate models. If you tell any of my computer science colleagues that many audiophiles are convinced that the quality of a USB cable influences the “sound” produced by transferring bits over it, they’d all roll on the floor laughing till tears came out. The vast majority of audiophiles believe in things that most of the rest of the planet would consider insanity. But I wouldn’t single out audiophiles for this type of delusional behavior. The greatest classical musicians believe that instruments made several hundred years ago, for example violins by Stradivarius, are much better sounding than any modern violin. So much so that Stradivarius violins are now so expensive, costing in the many millions of dollars, that no musician can afford to buy one, and usually end up playing on borrowed instruments loaned by a bank or a museum (e.g., the Smithsonian). There’s no rational explanation for why Stradivarius violins sound better. Usually the explanations are based on things like the type of varnish on the wood Stradivarius used or the wood itself or some unique shape. Many studies have been done on this subject and no one has ever shown using any scientific method that these violins produce a unique sound that is measurable. Yet this is taken as gospel by the world‘s most highly paid violinists who perform at the top concert halls.

 

[alekc]

if you are in the market for a DAC costing what the Dave does and you can be convinced that different colors will influence the sound then I suggest you are not the right person to be buying such gear...but hey whatever

Considering that some hear the difference between different RAM manufactures for music servers the impact of color does not surprise at all. Audio industry is full of non-scientific facts that a lot of people not only believe but do hear the difference even if it is impossible for human ear. But like you've said... hey whatever

 

[jlbrach]

I wish that were true. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find reviews that tell you silver clad preamplifiers by Audio Research sound “better” than the black faceplate models. If you tell any of my computer science colleagues that many audiophiles are convinced that the quality of a USB cable influences the “sound” produced by transferring bits over it, they’d all roll on the floor laughing till tears came out. The vast majority of audiophiles believe in things that most of the rest of the planet would consider insanity. But I wouldn’t single out audiophiles for this type of delusional behavior. The greatest classical musicians believe that instruments made several hundred years ago, for example violins by Stradivarius, are much better sounding than any modern violin. So much so that Stradivarius violins are now so expensive, costing in the many millions of dollars, that no musician can afford to buy one, and usually end up playing on borrowed instruments loaned by a bank or a museum (e.g., the Smithsonian). There’s no rational explanation for why Stradivarius violins sound better. Usually the explanations are based on things like the type of varnish on the wood Stradivarius used or the wood itself or some unique shape. Many studies have been done on this subject and no one has ever shown using any scientific method that these violins produce a unique sound that is measurable. Yet this is taken as gospel by the world‘s most highly paid violinists who perform at the top concert halls.

you are not comparing a usb cable to the color of the DAC are you?...I mean cable are controversial for sure but they actually do transmit the information to components....color lol?....

 

[edwardsean]

I'm happy this discussion is on the thread. It may just sound like diplomacy, but I think both parts of this are good for everyone to hear.

I really enjoy the in-jokes! They often give me a good laugh when I need it these days. I'd be sad if all the fear and judgment in the air right now suffocated our collegial joking. Please no.

At the same time, yes please, let's look out for those who are newer to audio. We all remember back to when we were first trying to make heads or tails of this stuff. Of course there is no difference between black/silver Dave, but at the same time, on the AKSP2000 thread the difference in tone between the silver/black/copper models are readily accepted. It's not the color, but one is stainless steel, one is painted SS, and the other is copper. Believe it or not, the vibration in the different casing materials do affect tone. Chord engineers have told us that Dave's hefty aluminum casing is part of its SQ. It's just that the black and silver Dave are the same case, but it could get confusing.

I think I made one of those jokes about silver/black Daves a while back. I can't remember if I indicated that I was joking, which I do. I don't think any apologies are in order. At the same time, I'm glad that people are keeping us mindful that we all share this thread with lovers of sound at many levels.

Maybe DAVE 2 will be two-tone black and silver–best of both worlds (joking!).

 

[Ciggavelli]

I'm happy this discussion is on the thread. It may just sound like diplomacy, but I think both parts of this are good for everyone to hear.

I really enjoy the in-jokes! They often give me a good laugh when I need it these days. I'd be sad if all the fear and judgment in the air right now suffocated our collegial joking. Please no.

At the same time, yes please, let's look out for those who are newer to audio. We all remember back to when we were first trying to make heads or tails of this stuff. Of course there is no difference between black/silver Dave, but at the same time, on the AKSP2000 thread the difference in tone between the silver/black/copper models are readily accepted. It's not the color, but one is stainless steel, one is painted SS, and the other is copper. Believe it or not, the vibration in the different casing materials do affect tone. Chord engineers have told us that Dave's hefty aluminum casing is part of its SQ. It's just that the black and silver Dave are the same case, but it could get confusing.

I think I made one of those jokes about silver/black Daves a while back. I can't remember if I indicated that I was joking, which I do. I don't think any apologies are in order. At the same time, I'm glad that people are keeping us mindful that we all share this thread with lovers of sound at many levels.

Maybe DAVE 2 will be two-tone black and silver–best of both worlds (joking!).

Well said. I was thinking about the DragonFly headphone amp and their different colors (which have different sound quality, and are different products). I could see a new head-fier maybe think the same was happening with the Chord DAVE. I know, with a little bit of research, you could easily find out that the color does not matter at all. But still, somebody new may not know this

 

[doraymon]

Allow
Me to be honest. I find this discussion about the extra care towards less experienced headfiers overly protective and “politically correct”.
We need to smile and take innocent jokes for what they are.
However in the years I’ve learned to love and appreciate this community and all its members so I will follow the suggestion and refrain from these little provocations in the future.

 

[ZappaMan]

lets not create a sterile environment

 

[Roasty]

An acquaintance will be loaning me his chord Dave and mScaler. Going to go pick it up tomorrow! So excited. Only ever heard the Dave in the shops. Can't wait to try it out in my own system, and see how it fares against the Wavelight. Will be feeding the dave/mscaler from my sotm 200 ultra to Innuos Phoenix usb reclocker.