[Slim1970]

Innuos zenith mk 3 and phoenix usb reclocker would be the way

That is a stellar combo. I'll have to look into it.

 

[adrianm]

I have no clue which way I want to go to further improve the sound coming from the Dave. I’ve never considered a streamer or something like the Innuos until now.

Long time no see, glad to see you've jumped onto the Dave bandwagon.

 

[adrianm]

In all honesty, skip the Bartok. Give it a try if you must but in my personal experience it was really disappointing. In some ways a one box design can be attractive but I’ll take my three (Linn, Dave, M Scaler) any day over Bartok. Dave alone sounds way better even with a stock power cable straight out of the wall outlet. M Scaler changes the sound so much that the race is over before it even began. Linn just makes everything better in this setup. Granted all three cost more and take up slightly more space but the end result is worth it.

This is pretty much what everyone's been telling me. I'm a bit confused as to why you went for the Linn though. Especially with Katalyst dac. I thought its purpose was an all in one, why not just a dedicated streamer? Or an Innuos server since you need the functionality.
I'm curious as to what upgrade it would bring, or 2go2yu (but i just can't be bothered with bad software and instability) compared to my gaming pc via optical. I've found optical beats usb out of any source i've used so far, even macbook pro 16 on battery.
I was shocked at the difference when i upgraded my gaming pc psu from a lower end Corsair to a AX1000 with "japanese capacitors".3 times the price, but by far the cheapest upgrade i've made my system. Same when comparing Audirvana Studio to the Tidal app (even when running in exclusive mode and etc). So i'm now curious how much better a streamer would make things. I did audition the Auralic G1 vs my macbook pro as a source and was unimpressed, but that was in the store.

 

[mammal]

Huge power conditioning advocate, though a lot of people think it's snake oil. Which is ironic since i started out thinking everything is. I came around on most stuff (Still on the fence on some aspects of streamers and some cables).

There is no substitute to personal experience. In my years on head-fi, I have seen people claim night and day differences in parts that I tried and could not tell a difference (Chord Hugo M Scaler nor dCS Rossini Clock), yet, I feel I can discern differences between copper and silver headphone cables. So perhaps our ears/brains are sensitive to other things, mine is all about frequency response and others could be timing precision. Worth demoing even gear that you may think is a snakeoil, just to see for yourself, it may convince you, or not. Especially if a significant other helps you to do a proper blind ABX test.

 

[ecwl]

I'm curious as to what upgrade it would bring, or 2go2yu (but i just can't be bothered with bad software and instability) compared to my gaming pc via optical. I've found optical beats usb out of any source i've used so far, even macbook pro 16 on battery.

I personally have tried to optimize my USB source for years and also in the end stuck with optical as I wasn’t able to beat it. My iPad USB into M-Scaler/DAVE sounds identical to Toslink though.

That said, it’s true that I haven’t heard or tried a lot of really high-end streamers into DAVE via USB. And I know some people on this thread swear by them. For me, I finally decided I spent too much time and money on optimizing my USB source already and I just decided to stick with optical input and start enjoying the music.

 

[griff500]

I found an Auralic Aries G2 provided a noticeable improvement. Innuos products are well-made and have good power supplies, plus the new app is supposed to be very good.

I am also a big believer in quality power and have spent a bit on Ansuz C2 distributor and power cables and found a noticeable improvement in sound quality, along with a decent ethernet cable and a PhoenixNET switch (you might be surprised how much difference a decent ethernet cable can make - I was).

 

[adrianm]

There is no substitute to personal experience. In my years on head-fi, I have seen people claim night and day differences in parts that I tried and could not tell a difference (Chord Hugo M Scaler nor dCS Rossini Clock), yet, I feel I can discern differences between copper and silver headphone cables. So perhaps our ears/brains are sensitive to other things, mine is all about frequency response and others could be timing precision. Worth demoing even gear that you may think is a snakeoil, just to see for yourself, it may convince you, or not. Especially if a significant other helps you to do a proper blind ABX test.

100% agree, no substitute for testing yourself, and being mindful of the test conditions. I also really think you should try before you buy. After you've bought it, you're biased. Even if you can return it. You're already sold on the marketing/pseudoscience/others' opinions. For my Z1R i feel like the difference the silver cable makes is huge. And i don't mean the typical audiophile " silver is brighter, copper is smoother ". I mean it just flat out sounds better all across the spectrum with better dynamics. But the same cable made zero difference with the Dave M-scaler and Hifiman Arya. So that i can't really explain, but i wasn't as familiar with them as i was with the Z1R,only had them in for a weekend.
I might have the bad luck of being sensitive to both. Not sure about the Rossini, but the M-scaler was a wild ride for me. First try it made everything worse, turns out it was the Optical cable that was the problem, since it didn't fit all the way in.
Second round i heard it for the massive improvement it was. But also heard the terrible effect of the RFI it introduced. So it was a mixed bag. A battery helped tremendously, but i feel like there still might be some more noise in there. @Triode User is ignoring me though
Also switching between M-scaler passthrough is deceiving, because even with it off, if the BNCS are connected, you're still getting the RF degradation. So Solo Dave sounds better than M-scaler connected in passthrough.

 

[atya35mm]

It looks like the streamer believers and coming out of the woodworks!

Check out antipodes line as well. I was initially considering an Auralic Aries G2, but went down deeper into the rabbit hole than I expected.

 

[mammal]

100% agree, no substitute for testing yourself, and being mindful of the test conditions. I also really think you should try before you buy. After you've bought it, you're biased. Even if you can return it. You're already sold on the marketing/pseudoscience/others' opinions.

Oh absolutely, once you have spent the money, you are biased one way or the other. I for one, lean towards "crap crap crap, I spent so much money on this new piece and I don't hear a difference, audio is a scam, let me sell everything I own and go back to earbuds" camp prematurely. Then I collect myself, slow down and properly test the new gear, to see if it is worth the cost, as sometimes I do hear a difference, but I cannot justify the cost to my wife.

 

[adrianm]

It looks like the streamer believers and coming out of the woodworks!

Check out antipodes line as well. I was initially considering an Auralic Aries G2, but went down deeper into the rabbit hole than I expected.

I'm a few auditions away from being a true believer, at the moment i've just conceded that even via optical, in an as noisy gaming pc as possible (3080 ti and 9900k) a decent PSU makes a difference. So now I do believe there's gains to be had from not having your data source be a 5$ Realtek controller on a gaming motherboard Though it does have "audiophile grade audio " .
Not planning on going that crazy with spending though, I was thinking more of a 2Go2Yu or Zenith mk3/Auralic at most.

 

[bdjul]

a little bit off topic, but Sony z1r is really sensitive to cables. Somehow they respond very well on cable rolling. I tried changing cable on several different headphones and difference wasn’t as noticeable as with z1r

 

[adrianm]

a little bit off topic, but Sony z1r is really sensitive to cables. Somehow they respond very well on cable rolling. I tried changing cable on several different headphones and difference wasn’t as noticeable as with z1r

Must be the massive drivers

 

[Sampajanna]

I have a Finaltouch Audio USB for sale if any of you are interested. It is great for the Dave. I used it up until I upgraded some time back. Mint condition and with felt bag. PM me if interested.

 

[burbster]

I personally have tried to optimize my USB source for years and also in the end stuck with optical as I wasn’t able to beat it. My iPad USB into M-Scaler/DAVE sounds identical to Toslink though.

That said, it’s true that I haven’t heard or tried a lot of really high-end streamers into DAVE via USB. And I know some people on this thread swear by them. For me, I finally decided I spent too much time and money on optimizing my USB source already and I just decided to stick with optical input and start enjoying the music.

I have had a similar experience but have gone a step further (back, as some will say!) I spent a lot of time and money on various servers and streamers, I have owned Auralic aries, G1 and G2, Melco, Innuos and for the last 18 months I have owned an antipodes CX & EX, which I though, certainly at the time, was the best sounding to my ears for the money. I spent further money on Ethernet leads, Ethernet switches, reclockers, USB leads etc etc. I completely and utterly bought into the whole 'file based hi res content is superior' narrative. Then, after being forced to resort to a really cheap CD transport for a short period, (home network was down) it piqued my interest and after a few weeks I went out an bought a bottom of the range CEC, (roughly £2700 in UK) and I was faced with the very inconvenient truth, (literally inconvenient as I have to physically get up to change CDs!) that the CD just sounds better. I now have £17K worth of digital front end that I have relegated to a second system, it is actually quite heartbreaking as I am thinking how good my primary system could have been had I spent that money more wisely. There is no doubt that the convenience issue is huge, and I do miss the almost infinite choices I had whilst streaming, but despite all my efforts, try as I may, I just cannot get the server based solution to sound as good as a modest CD transport!

I have not tried the new Antipodes K50 or the Extreme Server, perhaps I would change my mind again if I did. I also have no doubt that in time the Server/Streamer solutions will reach their full potential and obliterate the humble CD transport, in my experience however we are just not at that point yet!

 

[Lgn3]

Roy Gregory wrote a very positive review of the CEC TL5 in HiFi+. It is accessible via https://www.definitiveaudio.co.uk/product-cec.html.