[romaz]

   
Roy,
Would it be possible to mount the sCLK-ex board into my H5 PC casing, power it separately with an LPS-1 and then use the 4 clocks for various tasks, including TX USB card, motherboard?  That way I should be able to power the TX USB PCIe card with a LPS-1 separately?

 
Yes, absolutely.  The problem you might face is that SQ takes a hit when the clock cable gets too long and so SOtM will use a max clock cable length of 45 cm.  This means you will want to mount your clock in your PC chassis in a way where it is no more than 45 cm away from any of the components it powers.  People who are using this clock board now in their PC chassis are typically using one clock for the system board (which then clocks many things directly or indirectly including the CPU, SATA, USB and PCIe), an input port (such as LAN) and an output port (either an audiophile grade USB card or another LAN port).  SOtM has confirmed for me that you can easily power this entire clock board with its 4 clocks with a single LPS-1 at 7V.

 

[deuter]

Auralic just announced the Aries 2.0 at AXPONA this weekend.  I will hopefully get to hear a production model in Munich in a few weeks.

Having owned the original Aries, I found it to be good but probably mid-level with respect to what's out there.

I think the Aries sounds fine with headphones.  While I don't listen to headphones as much these days, I find they resolve small detail better than 2-channel speakers.  Speakers, however, have better depth resolution.  When I evaluate DACs and servers, I make sure I use both headphones and speakers.

The Aries 2 will definitely be at a different level but the law of diminishing returns start to him at about $1000 mark with endpoints.
Also referring to your earlier post, on the money with recommendation on lighter, simpler end points and doing minimum results in less noise.

I know a few that have replaced the Sotm sms200 with an Uptone LPS with the Aries, same with rendu probably a little inferior to the sotm 200.femto clocks are the real deal and it's purer power supply.

When we start talking N10 and windows 8 custom builds, it gets into a territory where I or anyone could potentially upgrade their speakers or dac.
In my opinion at the level spend we tend to have strayed too far chasing the wrong thing.
Again that's just my opinion.

 

[romaz]

  It really feels like the next 3 months will settle many questions for me regarding end-game server-based audio, where 3 threads will hopefully all come together. Decisions on any one of these threads could impact the importance of the other 2 threads:
 
1. Server End Points and USB conditioners: My choices are:

1. Keep my mR/LPS-1 and add the SOtM TX Ultra with a supa power supply (probably PH SR7)
2. Replace mR with SOtM SMS 200 Ultra with a supa power supply (probably PH SR7) - preferred option so far to minimize the number of little boxes
3. Get both Tx and SMS Ultras
4. Wait for Sonore to come out with their own mR Ultra equivalent

 
2. Server to replace my Windows laptop. Current top 3 contenders at increasing price points:

1. Sonic Transporter; SOtM 1000 EU thingy (why do they make their product names so hard to remember) with super clock; Antipodes DX 2
2. The first two could be powered by one of the rails of a PH SR7, which should give them a power supply advantage over the built-in Antipodes p/s
3. The chosen Server MUST be able to run Roon in direct connection (no intervening router) to Roon Ready on the above server end point
   1. Either by Ethernet/Ethernet or Ethernet/WiFI bridge, or by a DHCP server app running in Server

 
3, Chord Blu 2

1. Will the m-scaler in conjunction with DAVE be such an advance that it will conclusively blow all other DACs out the water? Including Doc's ODSX
2. Does the SQ improvement of the m-scaler justify doubling the price of DAVE?
3. Will the m-scaler completely change the importance/priority of threads 1 and 2?
4. Should I wait (possibly a long time) for Chord to come out with a standalone m-scaler?

 
Hopefully romaz will be able to give his verdict on some of above before he disappears from all forum activity - soon apparently

 
The digital climate is changing rapidly and those who have taken their time to upgrade are looking wiser by the day.
 
I hope to answer as many of these questions for myself soon but then some new "monkey wrench" invariably gets thrown into the works that forces you to pause.  A company is sending me a product that could be a game changer.  I am not at liberty to talk about it at this time but if they are open to having me modify its clock and replacing its regulators with much better Hynes regulators, it's conceivable this product could outperform anything I have yet heard and for less money.  My thinking, however, is that this solution will work best if you also build a server with no bad clocks in the path since I still don't believe a single good clock 
 
Then there is the matter of SQ improvement with respect to value and absolute SQ improvement that comes at any cost  For the money spent, the SQ improvements I am hearing with improving your clocks (or getting rid of bad clocks) has been tremendous.  I can think of many things I have spent much more money on with far less return.  Even with the inadequacies of the motherboards you can buy today, there are some decent options out there that combined with the right PSU and a well-implemented lightweight endpoint easily outperforms any commercial megabuck music server I have yet heard.
 
Regarding M-scaler + DAVE, if fidelity to the original recording is the greatest priority, I have not heard anything yet that comes close to bringing me there better than this combination but the price tag is indeed high.  I do feel, however, that these improvements are mutually beneficial.  Regardless of what has been believed in the past, DAVE is definitely not immune to upstream components and to improve your server will improve your return on DAVE and on M-scaler.  It is my conviction that anyone with a good DAC will never fully know just how good their DAC is unless proper attention is paid to the server.

 

[romaz]

The Aries 2 will definitely be at a different level but the law of diminishing returns start to him at about $1000 mark with endpoints.
Also referring to your earlier post, on the money with recommendation on lighter, simpler end points and doing minimum results in less noise.

I know a few that have replaced the Sotm sms200 with an Uptone LPS with the Aries, same with rendu probably a little inferior to the sotm 200.femto clocks are the real deal and it's purer power supply.

When we start talking N10 and windows 8 custom builds, it gets into a territory where I or anyone could potentially upgrade their speakers or dac.
In my opinion at the level spend we tend to have strayed too far chasing the wrong thing.
Again that's just my opinion.

 
I have no argument with what you're saying.  Upgrading a server should never be the first thing you do.
 
At the same time, for those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty, some of the things I am talking about like bridging your LAN ports or improving your OS are not expensive nor difficult to implement and can result in significant improvements.  Unfortunately, these tweaks aren't for those who own commercial products like an Aurender.
 
As for someone who has the budget to spend $10k on a server for their $30k DAC, I think we have to be careful about how we judge what others do.  For the average music listener who is content to listen to music through the stock earbuds that came with their iPhone, I'm pretty sure they would look at spending $1k or more on an Auralic Aries as "straying too far" and "chasing the wrong thing" especially when there are many dying of hunger in Africa and so let's leave that out of the discussion.  After all, we are in the Summit-Fi section of Head-Fi.
 
Since you seem value-oriented, I'm sure you realize that for the price you paid for your Aries, you could have bought either an sMS-200 or microRendu + LPS-1.  I have no argument with anyone who prefers an Aries to something else like the sMS-200 or microRendu.  If you have done your own comparisons and prefer one over the other, then nothing I say should matter.  All that I offer is an accounting of my own experiences based on my personal biases in my system. 

 

[romaz]

I have been running a thread on the Audiogon forums that was started in April of 2014 documenting my quest for the best digital front end. Focused on top tier DAC's but also talks Music Servers quite a bit. Between my thread and this one, one can get a MASSIVE amount of info. I will continue to chronicle my DAC auditions. The DAVE is burning in currently and I just bought a Davinci Light Harmonic (which is the most amazing DAC I have ever heard!). I have compared my ODSE to dozens of DAC's over the years and just upgraded to the ODSX. But the Davinci graced my room's presence last weekeknd and I was blown away! I either buy the DAC's I audition or borrow them. On occasion they are sent to me by a manufacturer since my thread has become relatively well known. I am expecting a top tier Waversa DAC in this summer or sooner.

Don't want to hijack this amazing thread because they accomplish VERY different tasks, so here is the link to the thread. Follow along there.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/absolute-top-tier-dac-for-standard-res-redbook-cd?page=65

 
Great thread, doc.  I like your style.  Like you, I like to hear things and compare.  Audio is a very personal thing and so it's interesting to hear what people like and how they can hear things very differently from the way I hear things even though we each seek musical "realism."  
 
Interesting story, I don't live that far from the Light Harmonic factory here in northern California and I have driven there several times to audition the many fine things that they make including their audio upgrades for automobiles.  Having spoken with Larry Ho, Manny, Brody and the gang over there, I am a big fan of what they do.  When I first went there, I had high hopes of hearing their Sire DAC which, I am told, costs $180k fully configured.  I found out that such a DAC is made only upon request and that they had no Sires just lying around.  I did get a chance to listen to their DaVinci MkII DAC and have since directly compared it against my DAVE and I preferred my DAVE by a considerable margin.  In fact, if I had to name my top 5 DACs, I'm not sure the DaVinci would make it on the list but this just goes to show how personal DACs are.  I think one of the biggest challenges with any new piece of equipment that we buy is whether that component positively or negatively impacts the balance of our system.  Without balance, it's hard to go further.  In my setup, everything (even my speakers and headphones choices) revolve around my DAC.
 
As to what I look for in a DAC and how I compare my DACs, here are a couple of posts:
 
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-the-sms-200-and-microrendu/?page=35#comment-635538
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/4335#post_12815991

 

[ray-dude]

  As to what I look for in a DAC and how I compare my DACs, here are a couple of posts:
 
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-the-sms-200-and-microrendu/?page=35#comment-635538
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/4335#post_12815991

 
I'm continually discovering that more than any other piece of equipment, my sense of a given DAC is almost emergent.  Listening to a DAC trains your brain to hear what the DAC can do.  Once you brain is trained, you hear that "thing" everywhere.
 
I'm going through that process with my new DAVE right now.  My Mojo had partially prepared me, but every hour with the DAVE is rewiring how I hear and what I hear.
 
As an aside, we have a 1920s Steinway that my daughter grew up playing.  I spent hours lost in the tone and emotion that came from that instrument.  She's in college now and that piano is in storage waiting for her, so I haven't heard it for several years.
 
Cookie Marenco (Blue Coast Records) also has a vintage Steinway in her studio that she uses in her recordings.  Listening to Blue Coast recordings with my DAVE has been tremendously emotional: I am hearing my daughter's piano again.  I had never had that experience prior to the DAVE, even though I had listened to those albums countless time (it was and is startling actually...completely unexpected)
 
Can I put a finger on what combination of timing and voodoo and whatever took a piece of well known recorded music and turned it into an emotional time machine?  I can't, but I am enormously grateful to feel that presence again.

 

[deuter]

   
Since you seem value-oriented, I'm sure you realize that for the price you paid for your Aries, you could have bought either an sMS-200 or microRendu + LPS-1.  

I do realise that, but seems as if you are implying the sMS-200 with LPS-1 is what you prefer to the Aries.
That is fine, as for me I cannot look past the beauty of the Aries. It just sits on my audio visual cabinet looking very smart.
I don't believe I would be able to say the same of the sMS-200
 
Also I find the Lightening DS app to be sounder better than my Roon.

 

[DocSkeekmo]

Great thread, doc.  I like your style.  Like you, I like to hear things and compare.  Audio is a very personal thing and so it's interesting to hear what people like and how they can hear things very differently from the way I hear things even though we each seek musical "realism."  

Interesting story, I don't live that far from the Light Harmonic factory here in northern California and I have driven there several times to audition the many fine things that they make including their audio upgrades for automobiles.  Having spoken with Larry Ho, Manny, Brody and the gang over there, I am a big fan of what they do.  When I first went there, I had high hopes of hearing their Sire DAC which, I am told, costs $180k fully configured.  I found out that such a DAC is made only upon request and that they had no Sires just lying around.  I did get a chance to listen to their DaVinci MkII DAC and have since directly compared it against my DAVE and I preferred my DAVE by a considerable margin.  In fact, if I had to name my top 5 DACs, I'm not sure the DaVinci would make it on the list but this just goes to show how personal DACs are.  I think one of the biggest challenges with any new piece of equipment that we buy is whether that component positively or negatively impacts the balance of our system.  Without balance, it's hard to go further.  In my setup, everything (even my speakers and headphones choices) revolve around my DAC.

As to what I look for in a DAC and how I compare my DACs, here are a couple of posts:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-the-sms-200-and-microrendu/?page=35#comment-635538

http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/4335#post_12815991

Romaz, I heard the Baetis at the conclusion of a long listening session for only 20 minutes and not critically listening. It did sound great, but I have not made a final judgement on it. Comparing servers is MUCH harder then comparing DAC's. As of now, the N10 is still top dog. I plan on borrowing the Baetis again this summer. There was definitely a synergy between the LH and the Baetis in the short time I listened; and it was via USB, not their Uber AES.

The DX and N10 should be a good comparison. And I am arranging to hear a CAT as well in the next few months.

Regarding the LH and the DAVE I will be able to give you my own opinion shortly. I do not listen through headphones. I have a purpose built room with some of the best audio equipment money can buy, meticulously selected and painstakingly connected and set up professionally to create the most "live" recreation I have ever heard. My system offers resolution and subtlety that I have rarely heard in any headphone and even more rarely in any other stereo system. It's taken me years to accomplish this and a lifetime of obsessive Audiophilio Nervosa, and a small fortune, to accomplish this task. Not bragging, and don't mean to sound egomaniacal at all. Please don't interpret it that way. But in my system, the Light Harmonic offered layers of detail, involvement, tonal accuracy and complexity that I have never experienced before.

The dealer who generously brought the LH to my house told me he has heard the DAVE several times and it's abilities as a headphone DAC are unsurpassed, but as a DAC for a dynamic speaker system it can and has been bettered. I will have one and will be very honest in my opinions as I have been all along.

I'm not saying I have the best stereo on the planet (although I'm trying to get there, lol), but I have achieved a level of realism in live reproduction that is brutal to anything placed up front. My DAC and front end journey alone started in mid 2014 and I have every intention of trying everything worth trying!

Regarding your statements about Baetis I have nothing to argue. Your logic is sound and your arguments are well formulated. I appreciate your input and actually expect the CAT to sound as good as you said it does. I also plan on discussing with the people at CAD if the CAT can be built to be powered by sources other then theirs. I have much to learn regarding the server end of things and have learned a MASSIVE amount from your thread. Thank you. I am thrilled that you found your final DAC. I feel I am getting closer to finding mine. I hope that by making our two journeys a public experience many others can benefit from what we are learning independently, and now together!!!

 

[romaz]

   
I'm continually discovering that more than any other piece of equipment, my sense of a given DAC is almost emergent.  Listening to a DAC trains your brain to hear what the DAC can do.  Once you brain is trained, you hear that "thing" everywhere.
 
I'm going through that process with my new DAVE right now.  My Mojo had partially prepared me, but every hour with the DAVE is rewiring how I hear and what I hear.
 
As an aside, we have a 1920s Steinway that my daughter grew up playing.  I spent hours lost in the tone and emotion that came from that instrument.  She's in college now and that piano is in storage waiting for her, so I haven't heard it for several years.
 
Cookie Marenco (Blue Coast Records) also has a vintage Steinway in her studio that she uses in her recordings.  Listening to Blue Coast recordings with my DAVE has been tremendously emotional: I am hearing my daughter's piano again.  I had never had that experience prior to the DAVE, even though I had listened to those albums countless time (it was and is startling actually...completely unexpected)
 
Can I put a finger on what combination of timing and voodoo and whatever took a piece of well known recorded music and turned it into an emotional time machine?  I can't, but I am enormously grateful to feel that presence again.

 
I know what you're saying.  I look at speakers like a fine instrument -- like a Stradivarius, Guarneri or a Steinway.  They each have their characteristic traits that set them apart and they have the greatest direct impact on what we hear.  I look at the DAC like the performer -- Yo-Yo Ma, Pablo Casals, or Joshua Bell.  They don't write the music that they play but their interpretation of it is very much their own.  From a technical standpoint, sometimes there's not that much that separate the greats from the "merely good"  but you know you're among greatness based on how you feel once the performance has concluded.  For me, it's the same with DACs.  

 

[romaz]

Regarding the LH and the DAVE I will be able to give you my own opinion shortly. I do not listen through headphones. I have a purpose built room with some of the best audio equipment money can buy, meticulously selected and painstakingly connected and set up professionally to create the most "live" recreation I have ever heard. My system offers resolution and subtlety that I have rarely heard in any headphone and even more rarely in any other stereo system. It's taken me years to accomplish this and a lifetime of obsessive Audiophilio Nervosa, and a small fortune, to accomplish this task. Not bragging, and don't mean to sound egomaniacal at all. Please don't interpret it that way. But in my system, the Light Harmonic offered layers of detail, involvement, tonal accuracy and complexity that I have never experienced before.

The dealer who generously brought the LH to my house told me he has heard the DAVE several times and it's abilities as a headphone DAC are unsurpassed, but as a DAC for a dynamic speaker system it can and has been bettered. I will have one and will be very honest in my opinions as I have been all along.

I'm not saying I have the best stereo on the planet (although I'm trying to get there, lol), but I have achieved a level of realism in live reproduction that is brutal to anything placed up front. My DAC and front end journey alone started in mid 2014 and I have every intention of trying everything worth trying!

Regarding your statements about Baetis I have nothing to argue. Your logic is sound and your arguments are well formulated. I appreciate your input and actually expect the CAT to sound as good as you said it does. I also plan on discussing with the people at CAD if the CAT can be built to be powered by sources other then theirs. I have much to learn regarding the server end of things and have learned a MASSIVE amount from your thread. Thank you. I am thrilled that you found your final DAC. I feel I am getting closer to finding mine. I hope that by making our two journeys a public experience many others can benefit from what we are learning independently, and now together!!!

 
You're doing it the right way, you're taking the time to listen for yourself.  I completely respect it.
 
Regarding the CAD CAT, before I sold mine, I was in talks with Paul Hynes about improving the HDPlex linear PSU that comes with the CAD.  If the CAD CAT has an Achilles' heel, it is its very mediocre PSU.  Should you decide to get a CAD CAT, feel free to ask Scott Berry which PSU builder he would recommend to build a custom PSU for his CAD CAT and he will tell you Paul Hynes is your man.  Scott is one of many who insists that Paul Hynes is the best in the business.
 
A couple of curious comments regarding things you've said, however:
 
From your Audiogon thread, you said:
 
"I also still have a Chord DAVE coming in. Now it’s more for curiosity and to report to you. I can’t imagine it would outperform the LH. It might be better then the ODSX, maybe. But the ODSX tonal similarity to the LH was uncanny. Like the ODSX was the $14k model in Davinci’s line; sounds like it came from the same DNA. It’s THAT good!"
 
I have no reason to campaign for the DAVE or any other DAC since I believe DACs to be a personal thing but based on your comment above, it seems you've already pre-judged the DAVE before it's had its day in court.  I think we already know how this one turns out which is fine because if it means you've found the DAC that best suits you, that's great.
 
From your post above, you said:
 
"The dealer who generously brought the LH to my house told me he has heard the DAVE several times and it's abilities as a headphone DAC are unsurpassed, but as a DAC for a dynamic speaker system it can and has been bettered."
 
Be careful not to let any dealer bias you or do too many generous things for you.  What else do you think your LH dealer would say about other DACs he or she doesn't sell?  I have fallen into this trap before and in my opinion, very few dealers really know much outside of the products they sell nor are they going to be honest since the equipment they sell you puts food on their table.  Here is an interesting fellow by the name of George Vatchnadze.  He happens to be an accomplished classical pianist and here is a youtube video of one of his performances:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7FXA2Q1_kI&feature=youtu.be
 
Few would argue that George is an authority when it comes to music but George also happens to own Kyomi Audio in Chicago.  More than that, he also happens to be a Chord dealer and guess which DAC he will tell you is the finest in the world?  Regardless of his musical pedigree, I can assure you his advice on audio equipment will be very self-serving and should be taken with a grain of salt.
 
I don't doubt that you have a very good system.  Regardless of whether you spent $1000 or $10 million dollars on it, if you made the earnest effort to put it together yourself through painstaking listening and comparing, I would have no reason to doubt your claim and I'm sure I would enjoy very much listening to it.  These are the systems that I respect the most as opposed to systems put together by dealers.  Regarding the DAVE being a great headphone DAC but not being a great DAC for dynamic speakers, I'm not even sure what this means but I know where this reputation comes from.  In case you're curious, Chord DACs are unique in the headphone world because they are among the only DACs that can drive headphones without having to use a separate headphone amp.  While the DAVE has a headphone jack, once you plug a headphone into this jack, you are actually listening to the DAC's native signal without further amplification from a dedicated headphone amp.  What this results in is a level of transparency not achievable by any other system as no outboard amplifier in the world for headphones or speakers, whether it be a $120k silver-wound  Audio Note 300B SET or a $250k Naim Statement, will ever have the full bandwidth, low noise floor, speed and dynamic range of a DAC's native signal.
 
Here's the thing you should know about this DAC, however.  Some of us actually use this DAC's native signal to directly drive dynamic speakers.  Because of the DAVE's ultra low output impedance (0.055 ohms) and because it can output 2 of the most information-laden watts at 8 ohms that any dynamic speaker will ever see, with DAVE directly driving my high-efficiency Omega Alnicos, my speaker setup is the most transparent in the world and this is not a statement I make lightly.  So transparent, in fact, that I have spared no expense combining a set of High Fidelity Cables Pro RCA interconnects with a set of High Fidelity Cables Pro Speaker cables to drive these speakers directly and while I would have never thought I'd ever spend 5x more on analog cables than on my DAC, the outcome has been nothing short of breathtaking with respect to timbre accuracy, the layering of detail, depth and the subtlest of nuances.  In the past year alone, I have attended CES in Las Vegas, Axpona in Chicago, RMAF in Colorado, The High End Show in Newport, and the California Audio Show in San Francisco. In 2 short weeks, I will be traveling to The High End Show in Munich and I do all of this because I enjoy hearing new things.  Even in the rooms with 7-figure setups, I have yet to hear anything remotely as transparent as DAVE directly driving speakers.  This is what drives me to find or create the very best digital server that I can.
 
While I don't expect others to do as I have, it gives me a real sense of what is to come which will be more applicable to others.  Later this year, Chord (Rob Watts) is expecting to release their new digital amps that will pair with DAVE via digital (and not analog) BNC cables.  These amps will start off as 20-watt amps (or 70-watt monoblocks) and will eventually scale to 200 watts and greater.  Unlike any other amplifier in the world including the very fine amps that I'm sure you own, these amps will be invisible (transparent), meaning all that you will hear is the DAC in much the same way as my current setup but with much more power.  Understand that this will be unprecedented.
 
Is DAVE a perfect DAC?  No, but thus far, it is the best that I've heard for my personal sensitivities and it will soon be getting massively better. Some DACs excel in their digital conversion while some excel with their analog output stage.  While I have heard many DACs with wonderful analog stages, I have yet to hear anything close to DAVE's digital abilities and DAVE will be undergoing a 6-fold increase in resolution next month with the release of M-scaler, Rob Watts' new outboard hardware upsampler that will allow DAVE to reach a hallowed 1-miillion taps.  With 1-million taps, DAVE will be capable (in theory) of reproducing the original analog waveform before it was sampled by the ADC to the extent that a human ear can no longer discern the sampled file from the original.  No other DAC even aspires to this and having heard a working production model at CES this past January of this M-scaler paired with DAVE, all I can say is that it's the real deal and my order for one has already been placed. 
 
Just like with music servers, behind any good DAC is a good power supply and some DACs have better power supplies than others.  Perhaps the best there is are the dual power bases used on the MSB Select II.  Could the DAVE use a better power supply?  If I am to be honest, this could be an area where the DAVE could be better.  I don't know this yet for a fact but I hope to find out as I have been in talks with Paul Hynes to develop a better PSU for my DAVE.  Custom PSUs he has built for other DACs including a Berkeley Reference and a TotalDac have further transformed those DACs and so I won't be surprised if one of his PSUs further improves my DAVE.  
 
Is the Chord DAVE my final DAC?  It would be easier on my wallet if it were but my history suggests that it may not.  Before this, I owned a much more expensive TotalDac d1-monobloc and prior to that, a Bricasti M1 and all within the span of a few months.  I have either owned or listened to and compared many music servers but I have gone through even more DACs and so I have a real sense of the journey you are on but also a very strong idea of what I am looking for my DAC to be able to do and so if there is another DAC that will one day replace what I have now, it will have very large shoes to fill given that my current DAC also functions as my preamp and speaker amp.
 
Sorry about this drawn out response but if you are truly earnest in your evaluation of the DAVE, I felt it important for you to know that there is much more to DAVE than meets the eye.  You also don't need 500 hours to burn in the DAVE.  It's pretty much ready to go but you may need 500 hours of actual listening to get used to how DAVE sounds which is what we call "brain burn-in".  If indeed you've already made your choice and the DaVinci is it, then congratulations are in order.  Settling on a DAC is a big deal and should allow you to now focus on a server that best serves the strengths of that DAC.

 

[STR-1]

  SOtM has also confirmed with me that sMS-200 with tX-USBUltra would be better than sMS-200Ultra on it's own but didn't give a reason.
Getting the tX-USBUltra first would allow a natural upgrade path in the future.
I would assume having both sMS-200Ultra and tX-USBUltra in the chain would be best but I feel the law of diminishing returns would probably be enforced.
That being the case, where would one find a USB cable without a power line?

I currently have a microRendu powered by an LPS-1 but I am thinking of getting the sMS-200 Ultra when it becomes available.  I am expecting the sMS-200 Ultra to be a significant improvement over the mR on its own but I am not clear whether I should expect a further improvement by putting something like the new ISO Regen (powered by LPS-1 and using the new USPCB A>B Adapter) between it and my Chord DAVE dac.  @romaz has been presenting some very convincing evidence of the benefits to be gained by sequential improvement of clocks, which leaves me wondering whether the introduction of an ISO Regen as described would negate some of the sMS-200 Ultra's benefits, even while introducing some its own.  I guess it can only be speculation until the ISO regen is out and people get chance to try it, but grateful for any thoughts.  Thanks.

 

[elviscaprice]

  Here's the thing you should know about this DAC, however.  Some of us actually use this DAC's native signal to directly drive dynamic speakers.  Because of the DAVE's ultra low output impedance (0.055 ohms) and because it can output 2 of the most information-laden watts at 8 ohms that any dynamic speaker will ever see, with DAVE directly driving my high-efficiency Omega Alnicos, my speaker setup is the most transparent in the world and this is not a statement I make lightly.  
 
 
While I don't expect others to do as I have, it gives me a real sense of what is to come which will be more applicable to others.  Later this year, Chord (Rob Watts) is expecting to release their new digital amps that will pair with DAVE via digital (and not analog) BNC cables.  These amps will start off as 20-watt amps (or 70-watt monoblocks) and will eventually scale to 200 watts and greater.  Unlike any other amplifier in the world including the very fine amps that I'm sure you own, these amps will be invisible (transparent), meaning all that you will hear is the DAC in much the same way as my current setup but with much more power.  Understand that this will be unprecedented.
 

 
I decided on the Omega Super 8XRS, a newer release with 98dB Sensitivity.  Thanks for your input. 
This new digital Chord amp is interesting.  Not sure I'm following how it works.  Somehow it's inputting or reinforcing the DAC amp, or bypassing the DAC amp?  Will this work with the 2Qute BNC input?
 
 
 

 

 
Just like with music servers, behind any good DAC is a good power supply and some DACs have better power supplies than others.  Perhaps the best there is are the dual power bases used on the MSB Select II.  Could the DAVE use a better power supply?  If I am to be honest, this could be an area where the DAVE could be better.  I don't know this yet for a fact but I hope to find out as I have been in talks with Paul Hynes to develop a better PSU for my DAVE.  Custom PSUs he has built for other DACs including a Berkeley Reference and a TotalDac have further transformed those DACs and so I won't be surprised if one of his PSUs further improves my DAVE.  
 

 
The 2Qute is a great example of a DAC that Mr. Watts said could not be improved upon for it's power supply, only to be shown it overwhelmingly could.  I suspect the DAVE, although much better PSU, could also be improved upon.

 

[DocSkeekmo]

Romaz - we are of the same belief. Of course I am aware of each dealers motivations. I NEVER pre judge anything, as my Empirical Audio OverDrive DAC is a total unknown and the SE variant was only $8k'ish and has easily trounced every DAC that has stood against it including some $30k DAC's. I love underdogs! I give every DAC 500 hours to burn in before listening at all. And then i listen myself and with a variety of friends to get my own opinions and then feedback from others I trust. It's been a blast!! And I ONLY audition in my own room. I beg, borrow or buy every DAC I audition. And it's always a comparison between the several DAC's I have in at that time. I have high hopes for the DAVE considering the raves I have heard and read. But the Light Harmonic was the first DAC that took what Steve's ODSX does and improved upon it; not just a little bit, but significantly! Very similar tonal qualities, but like driving a McLaren MP4-12C and then getting into a 650! Wow!!!!

I'll keep you posted. Thanks!!

Power supply quality is 100% agreed with.

 

[DocSkeekmo]

As an aside, we have a 1920s Steinway that my daughter grew up playing.  I spent hours lost in the tone and emotion that came from that instrument.  She's in college now and that piano is in storage waiting for her, so I haven't heard it for several years.

Cookie Marenco (Blue Coast Records) also has a vintage Steinway in her studio that she uses in her recordings.  Listening to Blue Coast recordings with my DAVE has been tremendously emotional: I am hearing my daughter's piano again.  I had never had that experience prior to the DAVE, even though I had listened to those albums countless time (it was and is startling actually...completely unexpected)

Can I put a finger on what combination of timing and voodoo and whatever took a piece of well known recorded music and turned it into an emotional time machine?  I can't, but I am enormously grateful to feel that presence again.

Ray-Dude nailed it!! Everyone needs to read his post. The point of any stereo component is to recreate the music and the emotion. To those few of us who can be emotionally moved by a piece of music (and that capacity is a blessing not everyone has), that is the end goal. To be able to emotionally connect with the reproduction says more then all the audiophile technobabble that you can find in Stereophile and Absolute Sound combined! My oldest son plays piano (we have a Yamaha C2S), French horn and trumpet and I frequently look for those of so familiar tones and textures that I recognize first hand. I have several good recordings of his performances that I was at, live. Ray-Dude, to say that the DAVE reconnected you to that audiotory memory says SO much! Best review of the DAVE I ever read! I look forward to seeing if mine does the same for me!

 

[Articnoise]

Ray-Dude nailed it!! Everyone needs to read his post. The point of any stereo component is to recreate the music and the emotion. To those few of us who can be emotionally moved by a piece of music (and that capacity is a blessing not everyone has), that is the end goal. To be able to emotionally connect with the reproduction says more then all the audiophile technobabble that you can find in Stereophile and Absolute Sound combined! My oldest son plays piano (we have a Yamaha C2S), French horn and trumpet and I frequently look for those of so familiar tones and textures that I recognize first hand. I have several good recordings of his performances that I was at, live. Ray-Dude, to say that the DAVE reconnected you to that audiotory memory says SO much! Best review of the DAVE I ever read! I look forward to seeing if mine does the same for me!

 

I believe many can be emotionally moved by a piece of music, and most doesn’t even need SOTA gear for it.

 

Lol, in that way are your audiophile wording different to that I can find in Stereophile and Absolute Sound?