I am very interested in your thoughts about this combination. Please let us know
DaVa FC-A1 a field coil contender
- Thread starter christensenleif@msn.com
- Start date
Hi Guys,
Well it took me a little while to get the DaVa optimised on the Bergmann and I am sure I will continue to improve its performance with minor tweaking. What tripped me up initially was needing to increase the air flow to the air bearing of the arm to be able to get perfect tracking of its 26g mass + the additional mass of the Shun Mook counterweight that I fabricated. I also discovered that the cart is super sensitive to VTA so that requires a little fettling. Anyway - I am all up and running now and can track anything successfully now. The cart has only had about an hour or 2 now so clearly will change a little as things burn in and settle.
As a recap my current reference is the Red Sparrow that is a much lighter cart and very well suited to the Bergmann LT arm. Darius wasn’t sure I would ever manage to get the Bergmann arm to comply with the DaVa. His personal faves are Grays and Ortofon vintage arms. Anyway - I did manage to make it work and the performance is really quite beguiling and wonderful in many ways.
Attributes that I would ascribe to DaVa is life, flow, speed, and micro dynamics. It has a tonal beauty with a density of note that is very rare in the cart world. Each note has a kind of weight and harmonic structure that is usually absent from most carts. I find this wonderfully charming and exciting. The DaVa is actually very high resolution and it easily differentiates and discriminates pressings and recordings. When we had the RCA 801 in the Mayer line stage, the combination produced a very deep and tonally colourful orchestra. Each section demonstrating great fidelity of the natural instrument. I also noticed DaVa having a density and body to each and every piano note that I find more realistic than other carts.
How does it compare to Red Sparrow? Well clearly such juxtapositions are fraught with confounding due to whether the arm suits one more than the other. At a guess I think Red Sparrow is optimised for Bergmann arm and DaVa would be even better with a heavier pivoted arm per Darius’s suggestion. That said, the Red Sparrow was more airy and finely nuanced, the DaVa has more body, and density of note. DaVa has bigger and deeper bass. Red Sparrow slightly exceeds DaVa in finely nuanced treble.
The 2 carts really are effectively chalk and cheese and in some ways gives me a unique perspective on my cherished recordings. I am so pleased to now own DaVa and wish to think Darius for his superlative service and friendliness. The value of the DaVa is obscenely good and it is without question in the upper most echelon. I heartily recommend adding it to your armamentarium of transducers and it will give you a uniquely musical and beguiling perspective on your recordings with no fatigue. Expect to have long sessions with your chosen spinner.
Well it took me a little while to get the DaVa optimised on the Bergmann and I am sure I will continue to improve its performance with minor tweaking. What tripped me up initially was needing to increase the air flow to the air bearing of the arm to be able to get perfect tracking of its 26g mass + the additional mass of the Shun Mook counterweight that I fabricated. I also discovered that the cart is super sensitive to VTA so that requires a little fettling. Anyway - I am all up and running now and can track anything successfully now. The cart has only had about an hour or 2 now so clearly will change a little as things burn in and settle.
As a recap my current reference is the Red Sparrow that is a much lighter cart and very well suited to the Bergmann LT arm. Darius wasn’t sure I would ever manage to get the Bergmann arm to comply with the DaVa. His personal faves are Grays and Ortofon vintage arms. Anyway - I did manage to make it work and the performance is really quite beguiling and wonderful in many ways.
Attributes that I would ascribe to DaVa is life, flow, speed, and micro dynamics. It has a tonal beauty with a density of note that is very rare in the cart world. Each note has a kind of weight and harmonic structure that is usually absent from most carts. I find this wonderfully charming and exciting. The DaVa is actually very high resolution and it easily differentiates and discriminates pressings and recordings. When we had the RCA 801 in the Mayer line stage, the combination produced a very deep and tonally colourful orchestra. Each section demonstrating great fidelity of the natural instrument. I also noticed DaVa having a density and body to each and every piano note that I find more realistic than other carts.
How does it compare to Red Sparrow? Well clearly such juxtapositions are fraught with confounding due to whether the arm suits one more than the other. At a guess I think Red Sparrow is optimised for Bergmann arm and DaVa would be even better with a heavier pivoted arm per Darius’s suggestion. That said, the Red Sparrow was more airy and finely nuanced, the DaVa has more body, and density of note. DaVa has bigger and deeper bass. Red Sparrow slightly exceeds DaVa in finely nuanced treble.
The 2 carts really are effectively chalk and cheese and in some ways gives me a unique perspective on my cherished recordings. I am so pleased to now own DaVa and wish to think Darius for his superlative service and friendliness. The value of the DaVa is obscenely good and it is without question in the upper most echelon. I heartily recommend adding it to your armamentarium of transducers and it will give you a uniquely musical and beguiling perspective on your recordings with no fatigue. Expect to have long sessions with your chosen spinner.
hi
very interesting, since I´ve been pushing this cart so hard
since my Airtangent is down for the time being
I haven´t tried it there yet, but I have another magnesium assy which is on the heavier side compared to my carbon assy and the Airtangent works on 3 bar at the bearing so it will have no problem with the mass
anyway, will be interesting so hear how you feel it develops.....run it at 3,5g spot on and in 50hrs or so it´l loosen up in the highs
btw I hear things with the DaVa SUT that The Head doesn´t
it needs a few more hours as well....maybe up to 3 so far....
best
Leif
very interesting, since I´ve been pushing this cart so hard
since my Airtangent is down for the time being
I haven´t tried it there yet, but I have another magnesium assy which is on the heavier side compared to my carbon assy and the Airtangent works on 3 bar at the bearing so it will have no problem with the mass
anyway, will be interesting so hear how you feel it develops.....run it at 3,5g spot on and in 50hrs or so it´l loosen up in the highs
btw I hear things with the DaVa SUT that The Head doesn´t
it needs a few more hours as well....maybe up to 3 so far....
best
Leif
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Thought I'd post a little comment here after having listened to Bill's DaVa yesterday. I feel it was a big reason why the day swung by so entertainingly in addition to the new horns.
The DaVa seems a little earthier and fleshed out than the previous Red Sparrow. The latter seemed a little too ethereal and lacked "groundeness" for my tastes. The DaVa had a lovely amalgam of lushness and agility.
Track after track layered amazingly, but the whole was palpable with real flesh and blood. I'll freely admit I've lost a little bit of this with my "cooler" Straingauge cart.
Only a couple of times did the DaVa veer towards being too warm for my liking, but after more than a dozen cuts and three hours hugely engaging listening, this was only a hint, and I know Bill needs to dial it in further.
Along with the Aidas Panzerholz I heard at Z Axis Paul's system, this is the most fun engaging cart experienced in many a year.
The DaVa seems a little earthier and fleshed out than the previous Red Sparrow. The latter seemed a little too ethereal and lacked "groundeness" for my tastes. The DaVa had a lovely amalgam of lushness and agility.
Track after track layered amazingly, but the whole was palpable with real flesh and blood. I'll freely admit I've lost a little bit of this with my "cooler" Straingauge cart.
Only a couple of times did the DaVa veer towards being too warm for my liking, but after more than a dozen cuts and three hours hugely engaging listening, this was only a hint, and I know Bill needs to dial it in further.
Along with the Aidas Panzerholz I heard at Z Axis Paul's system, this is the most fun engaging cart experienced in many a year.
Leif, my journey has been via mainly carts on the "cool/incisive" end of the spectrum...Roksan Shiraz, Lyra Skala, Transfiguration Temper Supreme and Orpheus, Zu- and Midas-modded Denon 103, and now Soundsmith Straingauge w bespoke LPS.
I never got on w "warm/euphonic" Koetsus wherever I heard them. However I loved the Lyra Parnassus when I ran that for a few months, this was not "cool/incisive" and a lot of that lush goodness I heard in the DaVa yesterday, especially tonally saturated color.
I never got on w "warm/euphonic" Koetsus wherever I heard them. However I loved the Lyra Parnassus when I ran that for a few months, this was not "cool/incisive" and a lot of that lush goodness I heard in the DaVa yesterday, especially tonally saturated color.
my horn system loves some organic from the sources...never liked Twiggy sound
my shot at a Stefano inspired Gerrardzilla is the closes vinyl combo I´ve heard that remotely resembles Studer A80 sound
my shot at a Stefano inspired Gerrardzilla is the closes vinyl combo I´ve heard that remotely resembles Studer A80 sound
I agree having not liked Garrard before, I couldn't make out any worthwhile difference of Leif's Garrard with the studer and continued listening to the Garrard. This was the first Garrard that really impressed. Earlier in the day we had visited another audiophile whose system was compromised in drive and midbass, and there the studer made a massive difference to the various analog gear, filling up the gaps
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Unfortunately Leif, the DaVa is too heavy for my Trans Fi Audio Terminator T3Pro air bearing LT arm...a friend of mine has taken things as far as he can with his 15g Clearaudio Goldfinger. Another 50% weight ain't gonna work.
In the beginning the DAVA is very sensitive indeed to VTA, it becomes a lot less so after 100 hours or so!
Well, that was in my case anyway.
Just ordered the tube PSU, just too curious how far this cartridge can keep impressing me!
breadboard hooked up and playing despite the voltage went down compared to with dummy load, which signifies that coil R is higher than 100R dummy load instead of 90R
unless I loose some in the shitty hookups
even so it sounds brilliant already; more organic and relaxed w/o sacrifising anything...
to be continued
unless I loose some in the shitty hookups
even so it sounds brilliant already; more organic and relaxed w/o sacrifising anything...
to be continued
I will start with the standard psu.
Have you tried a lighter arm? This is the suggestion from Darius...
“i am recommend 15 gram shell and 10 gramm tonearm tube. 20 grams efectyv mass tonearm with 15 gr shell works perfect.”
no....I´m about to test The Peak from Stefano....just need some new armboards...trying to get some CNC´d from B90 copper bronze in China..got price in Norway, but was crazy expensive
I will try it on 3010R, Fr-64fx, GMII Ti, and Simplicity II.
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