[F208Frank]

So all this dac talk got me curious. I asked my dealer about DCS and MSB, and he's like no buy a Mula Mula Tambaqui or Playback Designs MPD-8. I've never heard of Playback Designs, but from what I've been reading, this dac sounds amazing:

https://darko.audio/2018/07/playback-designs-mpd-8-dream-dac-review/
https://www.monoandstereo.com/2019/04/playback-designs-mpd-8-dream-dac-review.html

It got separate everything, linear power everything, upsampling, etc. Anybody have any real world experience with it? How does it compare to a SJ mDAVE? It's $24k

I had the mpd6. Loved it. Tried to get some variety with buying weiss 501. It is good but it made me realize how much I value getting lost in music and how well the mpd6 did that for me due to how real, organic, and beautifully presented fhe music was. I returned the weiss and traded in mpd6 and doubled down to get a mpd8 blind not intending to look back. The creator + owner of PBD is god father of digital for a reason. It is the MOST essential piece of my audio chain and I always felt amps did the most, totally changed my belief system regarding system building, DAC is where its at.

 

[chesebert]

So all this dac talk got me curious. I asked my dealer about DCS and MSB, and he's like no buy a Mula Mula Tambaqui or Playback Designs MPD-8. I've never heard of Playback Designs, but from what I've been reading, this dac sounds amazing:

https://darko.audio/2018/07/playback-designs-mpd-8-dream-dac-review/
https://www.monoandstereo.com/2019/04/playback-designs-mpd-8-dream-dac-review.html

It got separate everything, linear power everything, upsampling, etc. Anybody have any real world experience with it? How does it compare to a SJ mDAVE? It's $24k

You got a good dealer. Most will push dCS and MSB because of higher margin/price and brand name. If you want tube, you should also check out Lampizator. I would personally go with PBD or Emm Labs and pair them with their own front end that connects via their own proprietary fiber optics protocols (in term of cable, a $10 multimode fiber patch cable from Amazon will do the job).

or better yet buy multiple dacs and roll them depending on your mood.

 

[Reactcore]

I can hear the difference between the two clips; what amazes me is that the M scaler difference is possible to hear via a mobile phone recording thru the internet! What I could hear was the change in the bass via the opening double bass; the improvement in refinement and warmth; and the sound-stage is a little better. Of course, in real life it was very much more pronounced.

Once the digital parts (notably the bi-directional USB) are working on Davina, I will be able to post clips, and this will give a much better rendition of the M scaler.

Could this be done with the coming scaler once released ..or is the Davina project permanently suspended?

 

[Rob Watts]

The pulse array ADC project hasn't been suspended - indeed I will be testing out the next version next month.

 

[Reactcore]

The pulse array ADC project hasn't been suspended - indeed I will be testing out the next version next month.

Wonderful !
I cant wait to see the first 'Pulse arrray ADCed' marked records appearing and ofcourse your findings about how close you are to reality with the WTA.

May i ask about the DX amp status also?

Note: it must be weighting alot on your shoulders so many running projects..
Im sure you have some help from fellow Chord colleagues.. at least for the surrounding works like case design and marketing.

 

[Backsplash7]

Maybe a slightly strange question, but has anybody tried outputting a dave into a sennheiser amp? I already have an HDVA 600, and am wondering whether acquiring a dave would make it redundant, or whether they might work better as a pair

 

[Reactcore]

Maybe a slightly strange question, but has anybody tried outputting a dave into a sennheiser amp? I already have an HDVA 600, and am wondering whether acquiring a dave would make it redundant, or whether they might work better as a pair

Seeing your inventory.. you probably run senns headphones from it. That amp must have good synergy with them.

It has single ended line-in which is best for Dave. In the past i doubted getting one of those but went for a Questyle CMA400i instead cause it was also designed with a HD800.

But imo Dave direct out easily outperforms vs with my amp in the chain.

 

[iDesign]

Maybe a slightly strange question, but has anybody tried outputting a dave into a sennheiser amp? I already have an HDVA 600, and am wondering whether acquiring a dave would make it redundant, or whether they might work better as a pair

The HDVA 600 would be redundant and it will reduce transparency— the DAVE can sufficiently drive the headphones you own. I owned the HDV 820+HD 800S, HD 800, HD 650, and HD 600 and quite liked the newer amplifier. So much so that I don’t see much reason for a Sennheiser enthusiast to spend multiple times more on a DAVE. It‘s a question of good enough and the HDV 820 certainly was.

 

[Backsplash7]

Seeing your inventory.. you probably run senns headphones from it. That amp must have good synergy with them.

It has single ended line-in which is best for Dave. In the past i doubted getting one of those but went for a Questyle CMA400i instead cause it was also designed with a HD800.

But imo Dave direct out easily outperforms vs with my amp in the chain.

Yeah, I expect synergy is a good argument, and I also have an HD800 on the way as well now. I have to admit to being very limited on testing amps or dacs, but I have been repeatedly surprised by the level of transparency with this amp and the HD700, in terms of more minor hardware changes, hence wondering whether it may still be of some benefit in conjunction with a dave as a dac

 

[Backsplash7]

The HDVA 600 would be redundant and it will reduce transparency— the DAVE can sufficiently drive the headphones you own. I owned the HDV 820+HD 800S, HD 800, HD 650, and HD 600 and quite liked the newer amplifier. So much so that I don’t see much reason for a Sennheiser enthusiast to spend multiple times more on a DAVE. It‘s a question of good enough and the HDV 820 certainly was.

Well I'm primarily interested in the dave as a dac, probably with m scaler, but also for use with speakers, but had forgotten that it also has an amp stage in it. I suspect that having the inherent loss of needing to use a cable to output to another amp is going to be an automatic handicap, but I've read very little about the dave in regards to its amplication performance. I might expect it to be good given its price point, but for all I know chord might simply be better at making dacs than amps, I've yet to hear a chord product so I'm in the dark until I do, really

 

[iDesign]

Well I'm primarily interested in the dave as a dac, probably with m scaler, but also for use with speakers, but had forgotten that it also has an amp stage in it. I suspect that having the inherent loss of needing to use a cable to output to another amp is going to be an automatic handicap, but I've read very little about the dave in regards to its amplication performance. I might expect it to be good given its price point, but for all I know chord might simply be better at making dacs than amps, I've yet to hear a chord product so I'm in the dark until I do, really

You certainly should listen to the DAVE with your headphones. I personally, did not like HD 800 and HD 800S from the DAVE and thats why I sold them— I imagine the HD 700 will be even less ideal. The HD 600 and HD 650 are fine from the DAVE but it can’t drive them anywhere near a tube amplifier like my old Eddie Current Balancing Act or the DNA Stellaris. The Head-Fi member Azvargulis did just that.

 

[Backsplash7]

You certainly should listen to the DAVE with your headphones. I personally, did not like HD 800 and HD 800S from the DAVE and thats why I sold them— I imagine the HD 700 will be even less ideal. The HD 600 and HD 650 are fine from the DAVE but it can’t drive them anywhere near a tube amplifier like my old Eddie Current Balancing Act or the DNA Stellaris. The Head-Fi member Azvargulis did just that.

Thats interesting, what things specifically did you not enjoy, or bothered you about it?

 

[Christer]

The pulse array ADC project hasn't been suspended - indeed I will be testing out the next version next month.

Hello Rob .
Will you also upload your ADC project native files test recording/s here as you so kindly did with you first Blumlein recordings a while back?
That would be very appreciated by me and I hope I can reasonably safely say "many others too" without getting too "severly spanked" this time around. Cheers CC

 

[miketlse]

Well I'm primarily interested in the dave as a dac, probably with m scaler, but also for use with speakers, but had forgotten that it also has an amp stage in it. I suspect that having the inherent loss of needing to use a cable to output to another amp is going to be an automatic handicap, but I've read very little about the dave in regards to its amplication performance. I might expect it to be good given its price point, but for all I know chord might simply be better at making dacs than amps, I've yet to hear a chord product so I'm in the dark until I do, really

You are in the same place that many of us long-term head-fi posters were in say 2017.
in good faith we can only recommend dacs to demo, because there is no absolute this dac is right/this dac is wrong recommendation.

My experience wit Mojo/Hugo2 is that direct driving speakers from the dac is better than using an amplifier.
I fully expect that i would find the TT2 or DAVE would similarly direct drive speakers.
However there are some headphones (eg Susvara) that have generated hundreds of posts, because they are difficult to drive, and some owners find the DAVE ideal to drive the Susvara, but others feel the need to add an amplifier into the chain.

So posters cannot give an absolute this is right/this is wrong recommendation when you could be spending thousands of pounds.
Canjam Londan is in a few weeks, and you would be well advised to use Canjam to demo as much kit as possible, before spending your hard earned money.

 

[alxw0w]

You certainly should listen to the DAVE with your headphones. I personally, did not like HD 800 and HD 800S from the DAVE and thats why I sold them— I imagine the HD 700 will be even less ideal. The HD 600 and HD 650 are fine from the DAVE but it can’t drive them anywhere near a tube amplifier like my old Eddie Current Balancing Act or the DNA Stellaris. The Head-Fi member Azvargulis did just that.

Hd700 is unlistenable without EQ.
It's so freaking hot in the treble... Maybe when you are 70 and your high frequency is rolled off to like 10k, then maybe you will be ok.