I have one of their ultima amps and the power supply built into that is also unusual. I use dave in dac mode into a chord ultima pre and it drives it to silly levels of volume. Exchanged emqils with chord recently when my remote was controlling multiple utems (they sent a new metal remote out for free) and they conformed dave into pre shpuld be in dac mode. May be different for different chord davs and other pre amps i suppose
DAVE should be in dac mode rather than pre mode when connected to an Ultima pre?
If so, that would explain why I daren’t mute via the remote control!
Why would you run DAVE in pre mode when you are using a preamp ? It’s only functioning as a DAC, volume control will be via preamp.
I run my Dave in pre mode into a 552, Dave volume is set to -13db, to my ears this is the best setting.
Interesting, so you prefer using DAVE for volume control over the 552 ?
Volume is controlled on the 552, Dave I leave set at -13db. I’ve tried the Dave many times in DAC mode but always return to -13db.
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I don’t use a pre so have never tried this, how common is this approach ?
Some people do, because they want more range on the volume control on the preamp or because they think it sounds better. As I say, chord were very clear that with an ultima pre amp it should be in dac mode. My volume control rarely goes above 9am on the dial
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Rob Watts has mentioned a few times on the Chord Head- Fi forum the digital pre on Dave in any setting has no bearing on the sound quality, all DAC mode does is fix set to -3db.
I dont care what people think, its how it sounds best on my setup.
I find the ergonomics of DAVE and MScaler to be so awful that I’m just hugely relieved when I find a combination of settings that works at all!
Fine tuning them? You must be having a laugh 
. There’s no way I will ever reach such levels of deciphering.
Phew, confession over.
Best regards,
An incompetent BF
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As long as it works for you is the main thing. In my set up they are either off or on, no fine tuning required. Thanks for the explanation.
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Correct. However, there is no decimation occurring. I.e. there is zero loss in bit-depth and it has no effect on SQ. Driving a preamp’s input at 1v/2v/3v will necessarily sound different at each setting and that is where I think the sound difference is coming from.
The math that is occurring to attenuate the signal is occurring inside the FPGA, where Rob is doing math equivalent to 300+ dB of dynamic range (per Rob Watts) inside the FPGA.
I think it’s important to understand the most optimal gain staging of each system and to cater to what sounds best for each use case. The FPGA-DSP volume attenuation is a handy tool to find what works best. 
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It’s not all about “what people think”. There are facts involved as well. You are decreasing the DAVE’s voltage output to your preamp which is also decreasing the signal to noise ratio.
Interesting thing to do to a transformer!
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Yep, Im aware of the technical aspects, end of the day its the the music replay that comes out of my speakers that counts. Dave remains at -13db 
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I give up with the iPad auto corrupt.
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Yes that’s a much better name for it!
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I am trying the 3v output this weekend and will report back. Thank you for the info. My first investigation had been short, and gave me the impression something was clipping, so will try a wider range of music this time.
Well I have heard the DAVE can clip ever so slightly when on line out… I never use it like that. I found it did sound like it was slightly clipping when connecting to my 252 and 552.
I always use attenuated now.
Why would an engineer at the level of Rob Watts send out a clipped signal when used in fixed mode? It’s not as if he was incompetent and didn’t know. Most people are buying the DAVE to use as a DAC and not a preamp. It seems like a ridiculous notion.
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