[bhobba]

Hi Guys and Rob

Just ordered both the TT2 and M Scaler. My normal dealer didn't handle Chord so I went to an old acquaintance that runs a Hi Fi store and yes he could get it in so ordered it. But my dealer is building me a really high end pair of speakers I head for the first time in close to final form. OMG is all I have to say. But he pointed out it will be best with a special stand he is designing and as my finances are not unlimited had to cancel the Chord. But very fortuitously my normal dealer found a way he could be a Chord dealer and is getting one in so It will be happening. In fact after reading about it, he will be designing some speakers specially for it using the Seas Exotic Drivers. This raises a few questions I was wondering if Rob could answer

1 The cables my dealer uses is ones he makes that have a slightly higher capacitance than normal. It usually isn't an issue but my Grandinote Amp has trouble so I use other cables for that amp. Any issues with the output of the TT2?

2. The designer of the speakers usually lines them with steel, sometimes the more expensive option of copper. He electrically joins them together to form like a Faraday cage. Claims there is a small, but noticeable improvement. Would there be any harm in checking if connecting that 'cage' to the earth on the XLR output makes a difference

3. Can the normal rca plugs at the back be simultaneously connect to an active sub-woofer. I am pretty sure it can but just wanted to check.

In the interim he will be building a special cable to see how it sounds with the most sensitive speakers he currently makes at 89db which should work OK.

Will be very interesting to see how it goes against the other DAC's I have available like the Grandinote.

Thanks
Bill

 

[Rob Watts]

Hi Guys and Rob

Just ordered both the TT2 and M Scaler. My normal dealer didn't handle Chord so I went to an old acquaintance that runs a Hi Fi store and yes he could get it in so ordered it. But my dealer is building me a really high end pair of speakers I head for the first time in close to final form. OMG is all I have to say. But he pointed out it will be best with a special stand he is designing and as my finances are not unlimited had to cancel the Chord. But very fortuitously my normal dealer found a way he could be a Chord dealer and is getting one in so It will be happening. In fact after reading about it, he will be designing some speakers specially for it using the Seas Exotic Drivers. This raises a few questions I was wondering if Rob could answer

1 The cables my dealer uses is ones he makes that have a slightly higher capacitance than normal. It usually isn't an issue but my Grandinote Amp has trouble so I use other cables for that amp. Any issues with the output of the TT2?

2. The designer of the speakers usually lines them with steel, sometimes the more expensive option of copper. He electrically joins them together to form like a Faraday cage. Claims there is a small, but noticeable improvement. Would there be any harm in checking if connecting that 'cage' to the earth on the XLR output makes a difference

3. Can the normal rca plugs at the back be simultaneously connect to an active sub-woofer. I am pretty sure it can but just wanted to check.

In the interim he will be building a special cable to see how it sounds with the most sensitive speakers he currently makes at 89db which should work OK.

Will be very interesting to see how it goes against the other DAC's I have available like the Grandinote.

Thanks
Bill

1. No capacitive loads are fine.

2. Earthing it to TT2 sounds like a good idea too me.

3. Sure; the phonos will only get disconnected if a headphone jack is inserted.

 

[csglinux]

1. No capacitive loads are fine.

2. Earthing it to TT2 sounds like a good idea too me.

3. Sure; the phonos will only get disconnected if a headphone jack is inserted.

Item 1 looks interestingly ambiguous there Rob
Reminds me of the Panda joke:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"Well, I'm a panda," he says. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

 

[bhobba]

Item 1 looks interestingly ambiguous there Rob

I am pretty sure he means Low capacitance loads are fine. The cables are low but not really low - all cables will have some capacitance - the reason these are a bit higher is they are ribbons. A couple of amps I owned had trouble - a very high bandwidth FET amp I had at one time called the Naquadria went into oscillation using them (I had to sell it despite being a nice amp) and my Gradinote simply shuts down - I use other cables with that.

Anyway we will soon know.

I am getting excited.

Thanks
Bill

 

[Rob Watts]

I guess I should have written a comma after the no...

Yes TT2 will drive all capacitive loads from 0 pF to 1uF...

 

[csglinux]

I guess I should have written a comma after the no...

Yes TT2 will drive all capacitive loads from 0 pF to 1uF...

No worries - thanks for clarifying

 

[Chester Rockwell]

Morning Rob

It’s been 3 or so years since you designed the DAVE. Given you are always trying and learning new things, if you were to design DAVE today with the knowledge acquired in the past 3 years, what would you do differently?

 

[Rob Watts]

Most projects you know that improvements can be made, and how the next version would be done better.

Not so with Dave - and there was so much effort put into it (2 and a half full time years) that I did everything I wanted to do, and I have not worked out how I will fundamentally beat it.

 

[Mikey99]

Dave is the best Hi-Fi equipment I have ever bought. I am sitting here listening to Jazz with my Abyss Phi / Formula S, it is amazing.



The only wish I might have is power output similar to the TT2.

 

[Chester Rockwell]

Most projects you know that improvements can be made, and how the next version would be done better.

Not so with Dave - and there was so much effort put into it (2 and a half full time years) that I did everything I wanted to do, and I have not worked out how I will fundamentally beat it.

Thanks. That must be reassuring for DAVE owners, to have a product that has had that much effort and passion go into it. Quite rare these days I imagine.

Nice looking setup @Mikey99

 

[Mikey99]

Thanks! The price of the stand is a little crazy, but it makes me feel good everytime I look at it.

 

[AndrewOld]

Dave is the best Hi-Fi equipment I have ever bought. I am sitting here listening to Jazz with my Abyss Phi / Formula S, it is amazing.



The only wish I might have is power output similar to the TT2.

Looks magnificent!

 

[JaZZ]

Dave is the best Hi-Fi equipment I have ever bought.

I absolutely agree!

 

[Chester Rockwell]

I have a question, but before I ask it I just want to be clear that the answer will no doubt be very subjective and not something that can likely be answered definitively. Please consider it more of a light hearted thought experiment.

Given the advent of Mscaler technology, along with the technology employed within DAVE, could the war between which technically sounds better: vinyl vs digital soon be coming to an end?

Although there will always be fans and champions of both, the main evidence put forward from the vinyl camp (in my experience) has often centred around Mastering, Digital harshness and the ability to recreate realistic instrument sounds. While the digital camp has pushed the benefits of clarity, detail and resolution.

If for the sake of this experiment we assume that both a vinyl recording and digital recording were mastered to the same standard and were as much as is possible equal, would the digital recording played via an Mscaler and DAVE sound technically closer to the original recording than the vinyl equivalent, given the inherent weaknesses of vinyl?

Now, I know I know, what’s the definition of ‘technically closer’ and it might depend on the equipment used to play the vinyl etc but I just thought it was an interesting question given some of Chords developments in recent years and the science behind them.

Again, I stress this is meant to be a bit of fun and interesting hypothetical debate around the advancement of digital rather than a scientific study. Interested in people’s thoughts.

 

[JaZZ]

An interesting topic.

I know at least one Head-Fier – about to go for an M Scaler – who swears by the sound of the DAVE/HMS combo (still without owning a DAVE) for classical music but still likes the sound of vinyl better – or at least perceives it as more realistic. Now I wouldn't say DAVE/HMS already sound perfect, but the combo is as close to perfection as I heard it. You always have to take into account that there's no recording that was done with a perfect A/D conversion, since Davina only exists as a prototype and apparently has to be reworked after a first unsatisfying version. However, there's not much sense in speculating about future developments in the context of this discussion, it can only be about personal experiences with existing products.

Most likely it isn't possible to declare one format superior over the other, as there are too many variables and criteria leading to individual weighting patterns. First of all the equipment. With vinyl it's impossible to set a standard, every turntable configuration sounds fundamentally different, add to this the preamps. But even when we suppose a sufficient experience with high-end turntable systems to form an opinion on the potential of vinyl recordings as a format, the tonal weaknesses are so different that every individual will decide for him-/herself what's more important – or more tolerable, respectively – to him/her.

Personally I have decided quite a while ago that I can't live with the crackles, pops and surface noise of vinyl records anymore. And even if I would ignore this fundamental weakness, I've found LPs to sound less clear and to have a poorer transient reproduction than really good digital sources – maybe apart from the extreme treble. Interestingly vinyl records based on digital recordings can sound more organic and lifelike nonetheless, which is a great discrepancy if you equate realism with fidelity – note that manufacturing a vinyl record implicates a complex detour with two electromechanical sound transducing processes, so how can a copy made this way sound more «true to the original» than the direct path to a DAC!

The only adequate and practicable way of comparing the two formats is by using magnetic tape as a basis anyway. Which sets a slight advantage in favor of vinyl, since the greatest strength of the best digital sources is outstanding transparency, not least due to a high S/N ratio and a high dynamic range.

My personal view on the matter is that today's digital state of the art – in the form of DAVE/HMS – provides the objectively most honest reproduction, clearly more so than vinyl. On the other hand, the lack of ultimate transparency, combined with (and/or in the form of) an inevitably high level of harmonic distortion and colorations from tonearm, pickup and the vinyl itself, may provide enough masking effects towards digital artifacts (let's say as long as the A/D process isn't on the level of DAVE/HMS) and other objective flaws in the recording equipment (including microphones!) to make for a more satisfying, more organic sound to people who are more sensitive in this respect than to the typical tracking noise of vinyl records.