[landroni]

I'm not sure if he still follows the thread, but @Torq reportedly turned down a used Chord DAVE going for $6.5K, in favor of his existing Yggdrasil and Holo Spring.

 

[Energy]

$6.5K is a pretty darn good deal too especially when I've seen them go for $7.5K

I'm assuming the improvements aren't too wide and for his speaker/headphone setup the current configuration is more applicable.

 

[dguitarnut]

I had both the Dave and Yggy side by side. The Dave had a much better 3D like separation of vocals and instruments. Is it worth it? Only your pocketbook can decide. The yggy is a champ lasting 4 years in my system........put it up against Lampis, Ayres and PS audio pwd2 and it bested all of those to my ears. The Dave is definitely for me superior and after it dropped in price to 8K or so new I sold some other toys and got it. When you are chasing audio Nirvana a rational mind and practicality fly out the window. If I didn't have the Dave I would have an Yggy.
Is the 100k corvette as good as that Bugatti Veyron 0-60mph? Maybe.......yeah.....

 

[bacobits]

I'm still using the Yiggy now for a year and a half , not changing anything.

Speaking of upgrades there is now a "Gen 5 USB" card for it. Also a stand alone piece "Eiter" USB to SPDIF Converter $179.
I had read (read too much) that it may also be offered as a user upgrade.
I don't like shipping it to Cal at $50 a pop. Mine just came back a few months ago from a input board replacement over that wrong 50 ohm DNC jack.

 

[Torq]

@Torq

Are you using the Spring DAC straight from PCM native files or have you tried any upsampling to DSD512? If so, what are your thoughts?

I like the Spring DAC best in NOS mode with standard, Redbook, PCM files.

Yes, I've tried upsampling to DSD512, but it does nothing for me. More work. More hassle. Won't work with my preferred configuration. And never yielded any sonic benefit. Different, yes? Better? No. Not for me anyway.

 

[Torq]

I'm not sure if he still follows the thread, but @Torq reportedly turned down a used Chord DAVE going for $6.5K, in favor of his existing Yggdrasil and Holo Spring.

You're correct, I really don't follow/update this thread anymore.

And it wasn't that I preferred the combination of Yggdrasil and Holo Spring, as much as I didn't think that DAVE offered enough of a benefit over either of them to be worth 3x the cost.

I'm not sure what my buy-in price would be right now, but it's lower than $6.5K.

$6.5K is a pretty darn good deal too especially when I've seen them go for $7.5K

I've been offered this deal twice. Both were via dealers out of the UK, and were not US based deals/prices. The DAVE is MUCH cheaper in the UK even new.

I have no doubt if I called them up right now, and they had a used/demo unit on the shelves, I could get the same, or better, deal.

I'm assuming the improvements aren't too wide and for his speaker/headphone setup the current configuration is more applicable.

1-2% improvement at most, and certainly not worth a 300% cost-delta in either situation.

Though DAVE would be totally pointless in my speaker system ... as that's a Linn Exakt setup.

 

[Insidious Meme]

Agreed. It was never about the Dave being better than the Yggdrasil in different metrics (from what I can tell, it is in many), but whether it is worth the cost difference to people. This can't be stressed enough.

 

[Superdad]

I like the Spring DAC best in NOS mode with standard, Redbook, PCM files.

Surprised to hear that you don't mind the massive aliasing artifacts that result from sending 16/44.1 to your Spring in NOS mode. I own a Spring Level 3 and can't stand it at low rate in NOS. I always send it either 384 or some DSD rate.
(HQ Player>ISO REGEN>Singxer SU-1>Holo Spring)

 

[Torq]

Surprised to hear that you don't mind the massive aliasing artifacts that result from sending 16/44.1 to your Spring in NOS mode.

That'd be a record-time (ADC and/or alias and/or non-brick-wall-filter) issue, not a replay-time issue, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Oversampling at replay is useful for making the output filter easier to implement and pushing noise out of the audio band (which can have it's own issues if the resultant ultrasonics cause modulation elsewhere in the system).

Not that this is a debate I care to get into. I don't post here very often anymore, for a variety of reasons, and don't really care to debate over personal references - here or anywhere else.

Run with what you like, as long as it's not my money that's being spent I really don't care.

 

[Superdad]

That'd be a record-time (ADC and/or alias and/or non-brick-wall-filter) issue, not a replay-time issue, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Oversampling at replay is useful for making the output filter easier to implement and pushing noise out of the audio band (which can have it's own issues if the resultant ultrasonics cause modulation elsewhere in the system).

Well while the Spring does have its NOS mode (which I too use), it likely is still using a low-pass reconstruction filter of some sort simply to avoid sending the out-of-band fold-down artifacts to the preamp. NOS (non-oversampling) does not usually mean 100% "filterless" and that is fine.

I agree with you--run what sounds good to you.

 

[onsionsi]

@Torq will you considering Hugo2 in the future

 

[Torq]

@Torq will you considering Hugo2 in the future

From the first two lines in the first post in this thread:

Update (5/11/17):

While I mentioned it in the thread at the time, I should point out that I am no longer pursuing this process - nor am I updating this thread going forward.

But, if I was still doing this, then Hugo 2 would essentially have to equal DAVE's performance for me to be interested in it as an alternative to what I have. I find it unlikely that it will do so.

 

[DSlayerZX]

Hopefully I am not gonna get in trouble asking this....

but for the time being, assuming I listen more vocal than anything..

Which one would you guys suggest.

The Yggdrasil or the Holo Spring level 3.

Especially considering the usb interface..

I tend to use USB more. (I know.... I know... but I tend to have different sources and well... my computer ended up being on the most often... also really, really sure if i should add a Singxer su-1 it's 400 after all)

I do have some track in DSD.. that means if I go with YGGy, then I may have to down sample them. but they are maybe 1% or less of my tracks... so it's not a big concern.

 

[wink]

Get the YGGY......

 

[johnjen]

With the new Gen-5 USB capability built into the Jggy, that would be my recommendation, especially if you favor USB.

JJ