Your view could change if you read broader. As stated in my original post, the prevailing views on the Roon and ACR forums for instance is that streamer don’t really makes a difference to sound quality. This is also my view going from an Auralic Aries to now a RP4.
Pricing wise its very modest. But I do prefer it to the Chord Hugo that I had before.
And following your logic, the Burr Brown chips are not that expensive either - then logically the DACs that use these chips can’t sound good either?
Happy to be corrected/educated if you have come across reviews that show the usb output of an expensive streamer being superior to that of a cheap raspberry pi
This makes it sound as of you think of Dave as entry level, when it is very much state of the art! (Though of course there may be a few other DACs similarly good.)
I presume you were asking for views of others who have gone from entry level DACs to Dave…. In my case entry level was ND5XS, and going from that to Dave was in two steps, going via Chord Hugo. That first step alone was a marked improvement, giving a distinctly more natural sound than the ND5. Then from to Dave was a real Wow moment - literally so just two bars or so into the first piece of music at the audition as my cellist son sitting next to me said “wow!” Under his breath but just audible to me, echoing my own reaction.
That audition was using a Mac Mini (headless) running Audirvana rendering software (fully optimised) feeding Dave via USB. At the audition a brief comparison of that source with Melco N1A showed no immediately evident difference. It may well be that changing the renderer, and/or adding an MScaler might improve the sound, but I don’t ever want to part from Dave!
Ok… it does depend on which USB… but if using USB 3 it works in some ways like Ethernet… the key areas to look for for are common mode noise and frequency modulation artefacts in the in the serial USB transport clocks. However for max performance I would be tempted to steer clear of USB directly into DACs… and would use a layer of decoupling and feed with SPDIF.
I have several raspberry Pi’s and have used them for basic server duties… when using them as an Ethernet based server with the current Naim streamer transports they work fine with no audible effects… although I do decouple my transport from my DAC using SPDIF.
However on the first gen streamers I could hear disadvantages of the compared to certain other platforms, due to greater inter frame timing consistency… this was what I measured as a difference that I could deterministically relate to SQ from my system using a first ten Naim streamer transport. I shared my findings with Naim at the time whilst the current streamers were in development. In transport mode I hear no audible signature from inter frame timing consistency now.
I would argue that inter frame timing consistency may potentially affect DACs using USB audio… I have not measured this… further I have not yet seen a Hi-Fi periodical review look at these sort of considerations…
No, he’s happy with Chord Dave DAC but wants to know if anyone has moved from an entry level streamer to a more advanced one. DAC and Streamer being separate items.
Ok I get you now! I was conflating streamer and DAC. I went from streamer to streamer’s renderer into Hugo DAC, to Audirvana renderer (on Mac Mini) into Hugo, to Audirvana into Dave, so wasn’t thinking straight in terms of separating streamers and DACs.
It would be… I wouldn’t consider the UltraRendu an entry level streamer, especially if it is paired with a high end LPS. Like the NDX2 / ND555, the Rendu’s do improve greatly with better power supplies. I would imagine the MicroRendu is the entry level and the UltraRendu a mid to high-mid with a very good LPS, USB etc.
@thijazi is using an Uptone LPS 1.2 which is a very good LPS… but it is bettered by the JS-2 and of course Sean Jacobs offerings. The thing is though, it’s easier to demo an Innuos Zenith etc compared to one of the Rendu’s and various LPS.
If space is not an issue, I think a Zenith Mk3 plus Phoenix USB would be an interesting demo when combined with the Dave. Lots of options.
In my set ups, both Sonore’s own power supply and a TP power supply somewhat bettered the LPS 1.2, though it is a good power supply. I would be interested to hear a comparison of the opticalRendu (with an opticalModule) against the ND555 or NDX2. All I know is that my oR (preceded by a pair of oM’s) into my V1 have exceeded my expectations of what this fairly inexpensive kit can do (comparatively to much of what has been discussed on here) . I think a lot of criticism of the V1’s capabilities are due to not feeding it a good enough source - big difference between a PC and a purpose built audiophile streamer esp when fed via USB.
I like the LPS 1.2… good quality LPS but I now use it on the StarTech FMC and it will be moved to the opticalModule Deluxe once they’re back in stock. I used a Keces P3 with the OpticalRendu for a while, it was good but easily bettered by the JS-2.
By the time you add an oM with LPS 1.2 and an oR with a JS-2 you are best way towards spending £3k on a streamer but still small fry in terms of cost compared to the NDX2 and of course ND555. As you say, it would be interesting to hear how the three compare into something like a TT2 / Dave.
Your renderer (the term streamer more often seems to denote library /playing software + renderer plus DAC) I think lies somewhat above entry level, reputedly very capable when set up well. I’m not sure how many people have compared it (nor with what power supply etc) directly against other stand-alone renderers or more conventional streamers, If I recall correctly @MrUnderhill is one of those who dabbled with it at one time.
I use my 1.2 for the first oM (which is fed via fiber from a Cisco 2960), TP 7v for the second oM and the Sonore Power Supply for the oR. I wouldn’t discount the Sonore Power Supply at almost half the price compared to the JS-2. Of course the JS-2 is a doubled supply, but I’ve read anecdotally that the LPS 1.2 is actually better sounding for some devices, and the Sonore is better sounding than the 1.2 (at least when comparing on my oR).
And yeah, it all adds up, but still not nearly the cost of an NDX2. Though of course one also needs a USB DAC to render to.
@thijazi I have the Auralic Aries G1 into Mscaler into Chord Qutest, soon to be Hugo TT2.
Anyway when I first got the Qutest I was using a Sonos as a streamer, ok but not great, tried BS Node 2i not much if any better, kind of surprised.
Got the Aries G1 . Vast improvement in every way! If I had a Dave no question I’d try the: Aries G2.1 > USB> Mscaler > Dual BNC> Dave> Balanced out to preamp
