[MarkusBarkus]

FWIW as food for thought, I have three dedicated lines for the audio system. One line is for the network gear, call it Phase A. Routers, switches, modems.

Phase B has audio gear, two lines. Server and dac are on a 12 gauge (AWG) Romex line, 20 amp breaker. All other gear is on a 10 gauge, stranded THHN line, in a metal flex conduit, 20 amp breaker. Both B Phase lines are the same length; the network phase is a bit longer.

I considered a larger 8ga. cable, but you become limited in options for outlets beyond 10ga AWG. And it is a pain to pull that cable. The gear will never come close to nearing the capacity of 10 or 12 ga. anyway.

These things are specific to each structure, but if you can separate your network and house from the audio gear, it's a net plus to SQ IMO. I know, that can be an easier said than done moment.

Additionally, I ran fiber to connect the network to the audio. In my environment, this was a big gain in SQ. Good Luck!

 

[burbster]

Seeing as we are on the subject of power, my wife just text me to say that a rather heavy DC4 shaped box has arrived for me. I need to get the screw driver and allan key set out then! Wish me luck!!

 

[Triode User]

Seeing as we are on the subject of power, my wife just text me to say that a rather heavy DC4 shaped box has arrived for me. I need to get the screw driver and allan key set out then! Wish me luck!!

Exciting! Dc4 or ARC6?

 

[burbster]

Exciting! Dc4 or ARC6?

Just the dc4 I am afraid. Times are hard!
any views on how long it takes to burn in. I installed it earlier and left it running, but have not listened to it yet!

 

[DJJEZ]

Just the dc4 I am afraid. Times are hard!
any views on how long it takes to burn in. I installed it earlier and left it running, but have not listened to it yet!

I've seen people say it's 500 hours+

 

[Triode User]

Just the dc4 I am afraid. Times are hard!
any views on how long it takes to burn in. I installed it earlier and left it running, but have not listened to it yet!

I found the DC4 was pretty darned good from the word go and then just got better. It was the ARC6 that was a difficult beast to tame initially and took more running in before it became sweet and overtook the DC4. Have fun, you will enjoy the DC4.

 

[Super Pang]

Can't resist being devils advocate here (sorry), but if his new, more expensive product sounds worse than his old "cheaper" product out of the box, why isn't Mr. Jacobs burning them in before shipment?
Genuine question. It would reduce the risk of returns.

 

[Triode User]

Can't resist being devils advocate here (sorry), but if his new, more expensive product sounds worse than his old "cheaper" product out of the box, why isn't Mr. Jacobs burning them in before shipment?
Genuine question. It would reduce the risk of returns.

You are in the UK so why not give him a call and ask. He is a nice guy and is happy to chat. I think his number is on his web site. Any of the rest of us would just be guessing.

 

[Ciggavelli]

You are in the UK so why not give him a call and ask. He is a nice guy and is happy to chat. I think his number is on his web site. Any of the rest of us would just be guessing.

+1 Sean is very responsive. I emailed him a couple of weeks ago, and he responded in about 1 hour

 

[Sampajanna]

Sean is a pleasure to chat with, indeed. I exchanged emails with him several times.

 

[burbster]

I found the DC4 was pretty darned good from the word go and then just got better. It was the ARC6 that was a difficult beast to tame initially and took more running in before it became sweet and overtook the DC4. Have fun, you will enjoy the DC4.

Well, taking on board your comments, I give in to my urge and had a quick listen last night. There are few things more clichéd that a man buying a piece audio equipment, then, same man, taking to forums and telling everyone how wonderful it is, night and day blah blah, so I won't! I would just calmly suggest that anyone who has the opportunity to try a DC4, please do!

What I am having difficulty getting my head around though, is prior to the DC4, I had what I thought was a pretty resolving, quite decent system (appreciate these things are relative) and yet I am astounded at how much 'music' that system was leaving on the table, its mind boggling to think how much detail is in the humble CD and how few people ever get to hear it properly! (and I doubt very much that even now I am hearing all it has to offer, I suspect one would have to spend orders of magnitude more again to get to that stage!)

 

[Triode User]

Well, taking on board your comments, I give in to my urge and had a quick listen last night. There are few things more clichéd that a man buying a piece audio equipment, then, same man, taking to forums and telling everyone how wonderful it is, night and day blah blah, so I won't! I would just calmly suggest that anyone who has the opportunity to try a DC4, please do!

What I am having difficulty getting my head around though, is prior to the DC4, I had what I thought was a pretty resolving, quite decent system (appreciate these things are relative) and yet I am astounded at how much 'music' that system was leaving on the table, its mind boggling to think how much detail is in the humble CD and how few people ever get to hear it properly! (and I doubt very much that even now I am hearing all it has to offer, I suspect one would have to spend orders of magnitude more again to get to that stage!)

Ah, yes, but once you have eaten the apple there is no going back!

I also used to think that the Dave was the most extraordinary DAC I had ever heard. Now I realise that I was kidding myself. The DC4 (and now ARC6) seem to allow Dave to reach new heights of greatness than I couldn’t even dream of being possible. I have no need for a Dave 2, Dave + DC4 is that good already and renews my respect for Rob Watts and his design every time I listen with it.

 

[Ards]

its mind boggling to think how much detail is in the humble CD and how few people ever get to hear it properly!

It's this sort of experience that convinces me that digital audio, as we experience it, is fundamentally "broken". So many things we need to attend to in order to get decent from the format. Somebody needs to start over and design a digital format immune to any and all issues.

 

[BassicScience]

It's this sort of experience that convinces me that digital audio, as we experience it, is fundamentally "broken". So many things we need to attend to in order to get decent from the format. Somebody needs to start over and design a digital format immune to any and all issues.

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with current digital formats (note plural), and there's also no such thing as a format immune "to any and all issues". Getting "decent" sound from current digital formats is reasonably trivial. What's being discussed (somewhat hyperbolically) here is pushing the state of the art.

EOM.

 

[Triode User]

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with current digital formats (note plural), and there's also no such thing as a format immune "to any and all issues". Getting "decent" sound from current digital formats is reasonably trivial. What's being discussed (somewhat hyperbolically) here is pushing the state of the art.

EOM.

And the other thing which is rarely discussed is the software used for playback. For many of us, experience has shown that sound quality is often not the same for different digital player (and server) software.