It is my stand on the picturer and i kow you can order it in black color, but chord only produce it by order and the do not have any picture on it. The pris for the new modular chord stand i got is $3000 inc. VAT for one chord coral unit, incl the base.
Just as an aside to my comments above regarding isolation:
When I bought my VertexAQ Kinabalu platforms 10 years ago each came with these 3 pucks to put under the unit.
It is the spiked one that was most important as it stabilised the unit with the granite surface once isolated. That is the same principle I am using my Stillpoints for. First isolate, then anchor for stability. That has provided the best results for me over the years.
At least theoretically such measures could have an effect on music reproduction when listening to speakers. But what about headphone listening?
My own DAVE just sits on the surface of a (now unused) McCormack UDP-1. I can't imagine that I would hear a difference with spikes, a stand or a cradle. I'm just asking out of theoretical interest, as I certainly won't enter this field of upgraditis, and I'm perfectly happy with how my DAVE sounds.
At least theoretically such measures could have an effect on music reproduction when listening to speakers. But what about headphone listening?
My own DAVE just sits on the surface of a (now unused) McCormack UDP-1. I can't imagine that I would hear a difference with spikes, a stand or a cradle. I'm just asking out of theoretical interest, as I certainly won't enter this field of upgraditis, and I'm perfectly happy with how my DAVE sounds.
Thanks Jazz! I'm super excited I have to say. I, like Dave, listen mainly via speakers and I have a Headphone rig upstairs. My intention is to have DAVE performing DAC duties in my main speaker rig but I do wonder if I'll end up moving or selling my headphone rig...
Congrats on you decision! Right color, right device. You can't take your money to your grave anyway.
Thanks Jazz! I'm super excited I have to say. I, like Dave, listen mainly via speakers and I have a Headphone rig upstairs. My intention is to have DAVE performing DAC duties in my main speaker rig but I do wonder if I'll end up moving or selling my headphone rig...
The latter would be a pity. DAVE's headphone out represents a direct connection of DAC and headphone voice-coil. There are not much other devices which offer that. An approach to the direct connection between recording and brain.
The latter would be a pity. DAVE's headphone out represents a direct connection of DAC and headphone voice-coil. There are not much other devices which offer that. An approach to the direct connection between recording and brain. :basshead:
Agreed-what I meant was selling my can amps and getting a moveable chair into my listening room to allow me to do my headphone listening downstairs rather than hoagies where it is
Hoagies? *upstairs*
DAVE has entered the building! Well, at least for a weekend loan.
But first, let's go back to earlier in the day with the dealer's demo system for Round 1. This was yesterday, but weekend life has got in the way of me posting. Anyway, I had a couple of hours with the following:
Aurender W20 -> Chord Sarum (posh £1k USB cable, no relation) -> CAD DAC mk2 or DAVE -> Stax SRM 006T-> Stax SR 407 (I think).
All powered via Power Plant 10 and various audiophile power chords and interconnects. CAD to Stax was via SE RCA, and DAVE via balanced XLR. I resolutely didn't swap around different connections - I get easily confused with too many parameters.
One crucial parameter was that I had expected the brand new DAVE to have arrived at least 1 week earlier, but it didn't, so it only had 2-3 days of burn-in, which I feel wasn't nearly enough, but we are where we are. So, with a room all to myself, comfy sofa, cup of coffee and a box full of expensive toys, life can get hard, but someone's got to do it!
I started with the CAD to get a benchmark for sound signature of the whole system, as the Stax pairing was several notches lower compared to back home. In short, it sounded pretty good. Clear, detailed presentation albeit in a thinner, less full bodied, less expansive way than I'm used to.
Then, after an hour or so casually swapping between CAD and DAVE, the conclusion I had at the end was much the same as in the first few minutes. There can only be one winner in any shoot out - or can there? Let's find out...
[size=11pt]Yep, you've guessed it , it was a draw. More or less. Give or take. The CAD was a touch warmer, the DAVE a bit more precise, detailed and dynamic, but with a touch of unwelcome brightness. These were incremental differences, nothing was night and day. In overall presentation, it was a bit like analogue vs digital, tube vs solid state, there's no right or wrong.[/size]
[size=11pt] [/size]
[size=11pt]All else being equal, if pushed I'd probably go for the CAD, if only for it's more seductive presentation, e.g. of female vocals. But all else isn't equal because, for much the same price, the CAD is a one-trick pony, minimalist USB-only DAC, whereas DAVE is an all singing and dancing , multi-purpose music system in a small, self contained box. And further burn-in may (or may not) remove that touch of brightness.[/size]
[size=11pt] [/size]
[size=11pt]As a reminder to never take any single listening session as conclusive proof of anything, my perception of Dave's sound signature changed considerably when I tried it at home, just a few hours later. Getting interesting now. But that's another post for later this weekend because life's getting in the way again.[/size]
@TheAttorney , sorry to bug you but we are still waiting for your further impressions of Dave, now that you have it at home among more familiar equipment.
@TheAttorney , sorry to bug you but we are still waiting for your further impressions of Dave, now that you have it at home among more familiar equipment.
I've been going through a bit of a purchase frenzy, and in addition to the DAVE I have also received an old Sony cdp103 and a Philips cd202 but also a Rega Isis which I've just plugged in. Not as analytic as my Bryston bcd1byt by golly it makes your foot tap. Very musical indeed. This is the same sensation as I got from my first listen to Dave. It has a 75ohm coax too so will be a better interim measure as transport
I've been going through a bit of a purchase frenzy, and in addition to the DAVE I have also received an old Sony cdp103 and a Philips cd202 but also a Rega Isis which I've just plugged in. Not as analytic as my Bryston bcd1byt by golly it makes your foot tap. Very musical indeed. This is the same sensation as I got from my first listen to Dave. It has a 75ohm coax too so will be a better interim measure as transport [/quote
You won the lottery then?
I've been going through a bit of a purchase frenzy, and in addition to the DAVE I have also received an old Sony cdp103 and a Philips cd202 but also a Rega Isis which I've just plugged in. Not as analytic as my Bryston bcd1byt by golly it makes your foot tap. Very musical indeed. This is the same sensation as I got from my first listen to Dave. It has a 75ohm coax too so will be a better interim measure as transport
If you buy a Coax RCA 1-2 BNC Y-split cable adapter in to the DAVE you double the sampling length to 88.2khz .
This work also if you have a 1-2 Toslink repeter splitter box.
But if you can hear any diffrence is another question, you should not in theory, but different DACś sounds a little different depending on the input sampling length
If you buy a Coax RCA 1-2 BNC Y-split cable adapter in to the DAVE you double the sampling length to 88.2khz .
This work also if you have a 1-2 Toslink repeter splitter box.
But if you can hear any diffrence is another question, you should not but in theory, but different DACś sounds a little different in some cases depending on the sampling length
@TheAttorney , sorry to bug you but we are still waiting for your further impressions of Dave, now that you have it at home among more familiar equipment.
It got complicated and I got busy and still am, so I'll skip my more elaborate jokey reviews and get to the bottom line(s):
I felt DAVE was better than Yggy. They shared the same neutral sound signature, but DAVE did everything better. But then it started getting complicated, because the difference was not that big and definitely not big enough to justify the huge price increase. And the digital interconnect was CRUCIAL in this comparison. I used a loan Audioquest Vodka toslink cable for my Nagra CDC -> DAVE for the whole weekend. When I went back to the NAGRA ->Yggy at the end, using my incumbent Monoprice toslink, the Yggy sounded rather unpleasant in comparison, in a slightly glassy, digital way - not a way I had previously considered it.
At that point I was ready to write out a cheque for DAVE. But then I noticed that I had accidentally set the wrong input on the Yggy and I was in fact listening to my Monoprice RCA coax (which I had previously found to be weaker than toslink in this combination). When I switched Yggy to toslink, the sound immediately improved and was closer (but still not equal) to DAVE. Then I switched in the Vodka toslink and wow, my Yggy sounded really close to the DAVE (from an hour ago memory).
I then ran out of time and had to pack up the DAVE (or buy it). On this evidence, I couldn't possibly justify the extra cost of the DAVE. However, I really like it as a package, i.e. all those functions inside such a small footprint. And I have no reason to disbelieve the rave reviews in this thread. So I'll give it the following benefits of doubt: The burn-in time was 5-6 days which is probably still not nearly enough time for it to fully blossom; it was perched on a cardboard box alongside my main stack; I used DAVE's stock power chord connected to wall socket, whereas YGGY had an audiophile power chord connected to my posh Audience conditioner.
I'd have hoped that a truly great component could rise above such background limitations, but maybe I was being unfair. So I'm thinking of getting it on a longer loan period after the dealer has further burned it in. This time I'll keep it for a couple of weeks so I don't have to rush it like last weekend.
Oh, and I'll be trying the TOTL Audioquest Diamond toslink as well. I can't believe how sensitive my Nagra->Yggy is to the digital interconnect. I've yet to determine if the same applies to DAVE.
So, at least for the moment, DAVE has left the building.
Being fairly new to USB audio a couple of years ago when I got my Hugo, I tried a bunch of USB cables from Audioquest, Wireworld (not their top version to be honest), and a couple of others, not knowing what to expect, a bit skeptical. But sure enough, as soon as I heard the AQ diamond, I heard a huge difference (basically refinement, liquidity, and that sense of analog continuity). So I kept the AQ Diamond and never looked back. Now with the Hugo TT, it sounds glorious. (Just my 2 cents here since it was mentioned.)
It got complicated and I got busy and still am, so I'll skip my more elaborate jokey reviews and get to the bottom line(s):
I felt DAVE was better than Yggy. They shared the same neutral sound signature, but DAVE did everything better. But then it started getting complicated, because the difference was not that big and definitely not big enough to justify the huge price increase. And the digital interconnect was CRUCIAL in this comparison. I used a loan Audioquest Vodka toslink cable for my Nagra CDC -> DAVE for the whole weekend. When I went back to the NAGRA ->Yggy at the end, using my incumbent Monoprice toslink, the Yggy sounded rather unpleasant in comparison, in a slightly glassy, digital way - not a way I had previously considered it.
At that point I was ready to write out a cheque for DAVE. But then I noticed that I had accidentally set the wrong input on the Yggy and I was in fact listening to my Monoprice RCA coax (which I had previously found to be weaker than toslink in this combination). When I switched Yggy to toslink, the sound immediately improved and was closer (but still not equal) to DAVE. Then I switched in the Vodka toslink and wow, my Yggy sounded really close to the DAVE (from an hour ago memory).
I then ran out of time and had to pack up the DAVE (or buy it). On this evidence, I couldn't possibly justify the extra cost of the DAVE. However, I really like it as a package, i.e. all those functions inside such a small footprint. And I have no reason to disbelieve the rave reviews in this thread. So I'll give it the following benefits of doubt: The burn-in time was 5-6 days which is probably still not nearly enough time for it to fully blossom; it was perched on a cardboard box alongside my main stack; I used DAVE's stock power chord connected to wall socket, whereas YGGY had an audiophile power chord connected to my posh Audience conditioner.
I'd have hoped that a truly great component could rise above such background limitations, but maybe I was being unfair. So I'm thinking of getting it on a longer loan period after the dealer has further burned it in. This time I'll keep it for a couple of weeks so I don't have to rush it like last weekend.
Oh, and I'll be trying the TOTL Audioquest Diamond toslink as well. I can't believe how sensitive my Nagra->Yggy is to the digital interconnect. I've yet to determine if the same applies to DAVE.
So, at least for the moment, DAVE has left the building.
No shadow on you, but some points i have to mention about your review/impressions:
Your the first of all you are the first person who claims that it is not any diffrence all almost, and it is nothing wrong with that att all, but you don't hear everything in all headphones either or if you dont have a triend ear.
I can understand that you had a hard time to hear the difference if it was 1 hour in btw the listenings of Yggy and DAVE, because the human brain does not have any good listening-hearing memory at all, so it is very easy to be tricked buy your self when you
A + B testing a device where it is just subtle diffrence in btw if you go through a separate pre-amp that works as a filter and cut off the greatness in transparency and detail / dept. So in the end a Mono priced DAC can sound as good as a High End priced DAC for example.
So im sorry, but i think your honest reveiw just confuse people here to give them hope that a $4 grand DAC play almost in the same leauge which maybe is true in your setup, but i am sure you had not felt this in a TOTL rig without separate preamp.
Then cables...
Cables, cables, cables...
I have tested this to the maximum for many years, and i can only say that analog interconnects and in some cases speaker cables can give alternative sound signstures yes, but i have a $1 Toslink / USB / Coax / AES up to AQ Diamond cables, and every level in btw laying around, and i can honestly tell that if just the cable can transport all information as the the production standard demands , then it is almost impossible to hear any diffrence.
But i have also tested poorly digital Toslink cables that are poorly made and faulty, even AQ / Wire World and Monopticed cables.
Monopiced cables are falty in a much highe degree than high end priced versions.
Why do i then spend money of high cost cables, if i cant here any diffrence you may ask yourself?
It is only because of the ensurance of reliability, where a low cost cable have a much higher risk to be a faulty one. So i can just rest my mind of the interconnects and focus on the the music insted.
Here is a funny cheap fraud from AudioQuest for exsmple:
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You can't take your money to your grave anyway.
