the review I read of recent trendy dac rather told the story of spdif/toslink being handled by an old receiver-chip and sounding worse than the USB/I2S inputs using the latest all-singing receiver-chip that correct problems and is able to run upsampling to 1.536MHz.
If you like the toslink input on the Dave, use it. Maybe the designer of the Dave just liked the isolation you get and put some extra effort on that input.
Isolation from MScaler RFI via the BNC cables
Rob Watts has been on the record numerous times stating that optical input has the highest sound quality on all his DACs.
My recollection is that back when I got my Dave (2016), its designer preferred the USB input himself, though that was with a battery powered computer source, with ground plane modulation via the mains not a factor. With mains powered source he found the Jitterbug to be beneficial in blocking additional RF. It was only later after more assessment that he concluded that optical was in fact the better input.
That tells me that things are not clearcut!
That’s exactly right, but only in theory. In practice you are going to have either an M-Scaler or an HQPlayer up sampling everything to 16x.
If i can find an optical cable that can go above 24/96 I suspect my in innuos phoenix usb will be surplus to requirements
@dayjay - you are correct!
There is a talk on youtube by Rob Watts from Chord - he’s the guy behind DAVE,right?
The talk is about digital cables/connections and Rob Watts is actually saying toslink is the best digital connection.
The poor spec that is quoted for toslink is based on poor quality equipment and poor quality cable up to 15m long.
I’m using Van den hull optocoupler 750mm long (cost £75) between Primare NP5 and ndac. Works perfectly at 24/192.
Not all toslink cables are of equal quality.
He says what arranges his business too. For linear ps, he won’t say that adding a high quality linear ps will upgrade the Dave. But it’s apparently the case, as several owners have bought a Sean Jacobs ps to replace the internal one.
The rumour on the chord forum is Rob Watts uses a kabeldirekt toslink cable, these apparently support 192khz, also cheap as chips from Amazon.
he said a good toslink cable should handle 192, then it was a good cable (he didnt say to run toslink at 192).
He also recommended basic certified USB cables, audiophile cables mostly let HF-noise through that caused distortion which audiophiles heard as details or even called transparent.
He talked about his research and so on. I never listened to him before, never liked DAVE, but this guy knew his stuff and was serious not just some salesman like tha MQA-people.
He didnt say that, he said many linear PS was not linear enough and they were not suitable for DACs or switches. But they are ok with phonoamps where they are not required to handle HF-noise.
He is not alone in saying that. The guys at the alpha-audio site says the same on their site right now. They liked the new cheap LHY power supplies so I like alpha-audio right now 
I already discovered the combination of Netgear GS108 and the LHY.
Some people just believe that linear has to be best. The only way for such people to tell for sure would be to compare blind - but even then, with a DAC RF modulation via the mains can modify the sound, and a linear might not necessarily block that as well as might a switched mode. And even then, with listening, it is down to preference as, quoting the example I have mentioned before, RF modulation apparently can make the sound falsely “brighter”, which for some people in some systems might be preferred, others not.
The Sean Jacobs DC7 is considered among the best of the best. It’s linear and several use it to uplift the Dave.
it’s a bit of a waste of money to use another PSU with the Dave… It was designed to use an SPMS which comes inside Dave… the real upgrade for a DAVE is an Mscaler
How many people open up their Linn streamers and Amplifiers and use a Linear PSU?
Out thinking the engineer who designed the Kit, whether Rob Watts, or Naim or Linn, is not in the remit of the consumer.
I had an mscaler when I bought my Dave but I preferred the latter without it
From my reading on this forum it seems some people find m-scaler makes a positive difference, others not, and that it may depend on the source feeding it, though it would take some research to find if there is any consistency between preference with particular sources.
I have only dabbled with usb on DAVE. I use TOSLINK and SP/DIF on DAVE, I find both very good.
My Naim streamer uses S/PDIF only and I use a Gotham S/PDIF connector … I prefer it over my DC1 … in terms of resultant audio… not entirely sure why… perhaps because the Gotham lead is shorter and lighter and makes better connection?
On the topic of mscaler… I bought it and really tried to like it… and used with various Chord DACs… nope in the end it wasn’t for me, nearly always initially impressive hifi sounding but seemingly after extended listening it became tiresome and I noticed it sounding un natural and unbalanced and so sat on my hifi table disconnected. I traded it in for a N50 
Hi Simon, yes I understand what you’re saying it’s funny how we hear things differently?
I love my Dynaudio speakers, but some didn’t like the sound, I think the 552 is Naim’s second best product (the other being the S1 Preamp), but some sold their 552.
I think the Mscaler is the best Hi-Fi product I own, but many sold their MScalers. I do like the Nait amplifiers, and had a great time with my Nait XS 15 years ago, but I like the Naim Pre-Power amps a lot more. Some Naim folks eventually settled on a Nait 50.
I absolutely love my 282, but I know not everyone thinks it is that good. I heard one 552 next to a 282, the 552 absolutely bettered it and showed it clear pair of heels.
I guess we hear things differently, and that’s why there are so many brands to cater to different ears and preferences?
Toslink is SPDIF,no?
