To this point, i've been asking myself this question and i'm curious if anyone else arrived to the same conclusion. Considering a Smyth Research A16 Realiser. Does anyone have any experience with it?
CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE
- Thread starter magiccabbage
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Reactcore
1000+ Head-Fier
I have been reading alot about A16 in the past while it was still at kickstarter but since i had to blind buy one.. i declined and started my Chord journey..
You can ask user paulchiu He has one.. he also experienced with Ooyh software and Dave.
Sampajanna
100+ Head-Fier
I have a fully loaded Lampi Pac on the way now and will get a couple weeks to compare to my HMS+Dave+2 DC4 PS stack. Should be fun! I will post results. I do have option to keep either or both, so let’s see…
sm60
100+ Head-Fier
Look forward to your impressions. I find they occupy different sonic worlds, like electrostatics and moving coils. Stats do stuff that moving coil box speakers never can, and vice versa, just like horn loaded speakers can generate 100+dB on just one puny watt of input. For now I’m keeping both my Dave and my Lampi, just because I have the space. One day I’ll have to make a choice, but not yet.
I’ve owned every kind of speaker technology out there, but not yet any horn based design. That’s hopefully my next acquisition. Just have to decide if I want an antique big old Atec Voice of the Theater monstrosity or a more recent Klipschorn kind of design.
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Sampajanna
100+ Head-Fier
I am as much interested in the possibility of reducing 5 boxes and all associated spaghetti to just 1. This Lampi Pac has the extra analogue preamp built in as well… If it can provide the same transparency with the benefit of preamp and that tube magic, I will be in Heaven. I would even sacrifice some micro-dynamics for that.
sm60
100+ Head-Fier
Mine has no volume control, so no analogue inputs. But I love the fact that it has a LAN input and a built in Roon bridge, so I can stream to it through Ethernet without needing another streaming device in my listening room. I can see why having a built in volume control can eliminate the need for a preamp. I listen to a lot of vinyl still, so I need a phono preamp in any case.
LuthierJeff
New Head-Fier
@adrianm
Hi all, just popping in here. I have the Smyth Realiser A16 and I love it (I got it when it was kickstarted). However, it really is a different beast than a good standalone DAC. The spatial simulation it gives can be absolutely striking; however, ideally you'd have to go through the setup process yourself with the mics in your ears while modeling a loudspeaker setup. They have other examples HRTFs you can download (which is what I've had to do), but it would be difficult to find one that truly matches your own.
For me, I use it when specifically wanting surround sound (otherwise I remove it from the chain), and then push it out digitally to an outboard DAC. You can certainly use it's onboard DAC and amplification, but I can't really speak to it's quality. I can't imagine it's as good as a dedicated one, though. If anything, it would be an awesome complement to the DAVE, or anything, really, but shines mostly with surround sound. That's actually my current dream, is to get a Dave to put on the end. Let me know if you have any questions about the A16, though!
Has this been posted before ?
Chord Dave test and measurements + mScaler
Chord Dave test and measurements + mScaler
LuthierJeff
New Head-Fier
Holy crap, I'm only partway through but this article is extremely informative. Thank you for posting it! I'd never come across it before.
sm60
100+ Head-Fier
These measurements confirm what I have long believed and previously said on this forum. While the Dave certainly measures reasonably well, it’s not state of the art by any means. If you compare these measurements with those of the 10x cheaper Topping, you’ll see the latter measures far better. That’s not state of the art either. I expect the hugely expensive MSB DACs probably measure even better.
But it’s worth repeating that these measurements are largely meaningless, as are all measurements of DACs. The headphones or speakers we use to listen to them, not to mention the amplifiers are often many orders of magnitude worse. I doubt there’s a speaker made today that even has 10 bit linearity in the bass. That’s where the real challenge in hifi is, not in DAC design.
It has , by @GoldenOne himselfHas this been posted before ?
Chord Dave test and measurements + mScaler
I think some consideration does have to be given to when the DAVE was first released.
Whilst from an objective standpoint other products may beat it in many areas (but not all, no other manufacturer has matched Chord's reconstruction filter performance for example, and the inherent design of the pulse array itself has some notable benefits compared to other thermometer or switched-resistor designs), back when it was released it would have been kinda mind blowing in comparison to everything on the market I think.
Like not needing a 9k clock to reduce jitter like the latest DCS Lina stack. I can't wait to see your review on that
I'd absolutely love to try the Lina.Like not needing a 9k clock to reduce jitter like the latest DCS Lina stack. I can't wait to see your review on that
I imagine after my Bartok review though they might be somewhat reluctant to lend me one
Though weirdly it seems to be just the Bartok I don't like. I've tried their higher end stuff now and enjoyed it WAY more. So hopefully Lina will be similar.
I have a friend who is planning to get the full stack though so hopefully I'll be able to borrow his if dCS says no.
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Lina to me is kinda... Strange
A lot of strange design choices (from type of units to features and others) along with pricing.
A lot of strange design choices (from type of units to features and others) along with pricing.
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