[Powersquat]

120-130 seems impossible...a rock concert will be 100-110 when it is loud...where does he live lol?

PMC claim that my speakers are capable of reproducing 125db without distorting, being a studio monitor I suspect PMC are referring to music being reproduced in a heavily treated acoustic studio, because there's no way of testing this claim in my listening room without doing some serious damage.

For fun my friend brought over his SPL meter, at 100db things became uncomfortable, at 108db my brain was rattling, for the sake of our ear drums and the structural integrity of the building we decided to go no further.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

PMC claim that my speakers are capable of reproducing 125db without distorting, being a studio monitor I suspect PMC are referring to music being reproduced in a heavily treated acoustic studio, because there's no way of testing this claim in my listening room without doing some serious damage.

For fun my friend brought over his SPL meter, at 100db things became uncomfortable, at 108db my brain was rattling, for the sake of our ear drums and the structural integrity of the building we decided to go no further.

At 95db it's already uncomfortable for me, this guy I know is just special

 

[alxw0w]

At 95db it's already uncomfortable for me, this guy I know is just special

Or just deaf.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

@GoldenOne Hey Golden, are you going to Post Rob's interview soon?

 

[jlbrach]

Yes it all depends. LCD-4 is open headphone so the volume setting all depends on how noisy the environment is.

I drive my lcd-4z out of dave anywhere from -22 with loud remastered music to -12 with very low volume mono jazz....the LCD-4 I needed more volume...I think it all depends on the music you listen to

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I finally had a chance to listen to the Holo May DAC, are these people serious? This is what they were hyping to be the best thing since sliced bread? The Qutest without M Scaler smokes this thing, forget the DAVE or the M DAVE, I can go on all day how Rob Watts DACs are so much better, this thing can't even retrieve the details, not for me thanks.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

Wondering your thoughts on streamers. Are they necessary?

I run M-Dave off Audirvana/Qobuz and it sounds incredible. Do streamers add a lot more?

 

[ecwl]

Wondering your thoughts on streamers. Are they necessary?

I run M-Dave off Audirvana/Qobuz and it sounds incredible. Do streamers add a lot more?

My take is no. I think a noiseless/low-noise source into Chord DACs should produce the same sound (having tested multiple sources with laptops, desktops, iPhone, iPads, streamers).
With Chord DACs, to me, streamers are more for convenience, in terms of getting a better user interface/experience (as I personally use a streamer).
But the danger of using a streamer is that all streamers would be grounded so there is always a chance that you can make the sound worse if the streamer pumps too much RF noise from ground loop leakage current into the Chord DACs.
So if your current setup is giving your great sound with Chord DACs, and you’re happy with your user interface/experience, I wouldn’t waste my time looking into streamer. I would just spend that time listening to more music and enjoy.

p.s. I was happy with my iPad feeding DAVE. But when I first got my streamer, I tried so many different ways with the power source for the streamer to get the same sound and I really struggled. In the end, I used the streamer and a USB to Toslink converter to feed DAVE and I got the sound that I got with the iPad (because no noise from Toslink). So if it wasn’t for the UI, I could have saved myself a lot of time and enjoyed a lot more music.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Wondering your thoughts on streamers. Are they necessary?

I run M-Dave off Audirvana/Qobuz and it sounds incredible. Do streamers add a lot more?

I've wondering the same thing, I have an Intel NUC connected to the M Scaler via USB, some keep telling me the Streamer would sound much better. However, Rob put galvanic isolation on the M Scaler USB input, also Chord'd DACs are very good against jitter, so I'm not sure how it will be better. I may order the IFI Zen Stream to try it and hear if there is a difference.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Hi guys, great to see this thread is still alive and kicking. I have had my Dave since November 2015. Everything in my system has been replaced or added since then but Dave continues to sound exemplary. I know of no other piece of electronics that can hack it with the best a sector has to offer, more than 7 years after launch. Try doing that with a digital camera! What an achievement this product was for Rob and Chord Electronics. Kudos.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Hi guys, great to see this thread is still alive and kicking. I have had my Dave since November 2015. Everything in my system has been replaced or added since then but Dave continues to sound exemplary. I know of no other piece of electronics that can hack it with the best a sector has to offer, more than 7 years after launch. Try doing that with a digital camera! What an achievement this product was for Rob and Chord Electronics. Kudos.

That's very true, the DAVE DAC is fantastic. One can only imagine what Rob is cooking with the Ultima DAC.

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

I’d probably never be able to afford an Ultima DAC but I’m really interested to see what Rob can achieve at that kind of level.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Hate to continue an OT conversation, but since it was brought up. What volume are most of you listening at? Since this was brought up a while back + dealing with tinnitus, I reduced my listening from like 85db to around 75db, measuring with an SPL meter through cardboard for each cup. I actually don't have anymore ringing of the ears which really does say something (it's literally gone), but interested to see if I should be listening even lower. Tbh, it's really hard not to crank a good system up lol. Also, speakers don't seem to have the same effect, or maybe I just don't crank them like headphones because of the intimate nature of headphones.

 

[Powersquat]

Hate to continue an OT conversation, but since it was brought up. What volume are most of you listening at? Since this was brought up a while back + dealing with tinnitus, I reduced my listening from like 85db to around 75db, measuring with an SPL meter through cardboard for each cup. I actually don't have anymore ringing of the ears which really does say something (it's literally gone), but interested to see if I should be listening even lower. Tbh, it's really hard not to crank a good system up lol. Also, speakers don't seem to have the same effect, or maybe I just don't crank them like headphones because of the intimate nature of headphones. track dependent. I do find it's much more satisfactory to listen at levels under 80db since I performed some acoustic treatment to my listening room.

I find it's very much album or even track dependent, in my speaker based system, 75db-85db seems about right in my listening room for most albums.

I do feel it's much more satisfactory to listen at levels under 80db since I performed some acoustic treatment to the listening environment, but it's always tempting to crank things up every now and then.

 

[cotic54]

Wondering your thoughts on streamers. Are they necessary?

I run M-Dave off Audirvana/Qobuz and it sounds incredible. Do streamers add a lot more?

I use Audirvana/Quboz, and added a Bricasti M5 as a renderer, the difference was very surprising (in a good way).