An exploration of Chord DAVE, MScaler, Qutest, and Holo May, HQPlayer
Sep 4, 2021 at 10:11 PM Post #601 of 1,481
Take this opinion for whatever it is worth, as words and my opinion will never replace what you hear. I have owned the Dave since 2018, and it was both my DAC & AMP for quite a while. I used it with the utopia, zmf VC, HD820, and susvara. I took the plunge on the may, after reading all the reviews and talking with some friends about it. Initially it was really hard to decide between the two, but I eventually went with the may. I find the dave to be a bit more harsh and analytical for my tastes, but I did not realize it until I got used to the may sound.

Another way to think about it... The may is cheaper and probably easy to resell if you decide you don't like it due to the shipping times from time of order.
I think another way to look at this is the amount of budget you have with "tweaking" your setup. I've gone down the rabbit hole deep with Chord products, starting with the Qutest, and deciding I really like the sound signature and decided to throw the kitchen sink at it to get to the top of ladder sound signature I like.

Funny as I was going up the ladder from TT2 to Dave, it's GoldenOne's glowing review of the Dave which makes me take the plunge. It's also GoldenOne's review of Qutest which makes me jump into the Chord train in the first place. :beyersmile:

The May review at the time hasn't been released yet, suffice to say I wasn't too enthusiastic about that video when it drops as I just got the Dave, but also I'm well aware of what Chord's sound signature is, but the sound signature of Holo is an unknown to me.

Anyway fast forward couple months, I'm knee deep with tweaking the best possible digital source, input, and power (Antipodes server, more $ than I want to spend on power cables, Wave Storm BNCs) for the Dave, plus including the M-Scaler. Would my journey be different and I'd be happy if I decided to go with May, I think I would be, but given the budget I'm prepared to allocate to this hobby, I would also be constantly, I think constantly curious as to what the Dave setup would have been. Where currently, I am content with the Dave and there isn't any itch to scratch as to "what would May sound like", rightly or wrongly that may be.

Another thing as well to consider would be, Dave is showing it's age a bit now, and the second hand market price is closer to the May KTE + a bit, so cost of ownership between the two isn't as wide as the RRP suggests. However, be aware that if you jump into the Dave boat, Dave standalone might not be enough, and like most, you would end up tweaking the surrounding setup further still.
 
Sep 4, 2021 at 11:06 PM Post #603 of 1,481
They’re trying to sell the powerman and the wa33 with JPS wires. It’s really that simple. You could sit down with most the amps on their list and be totally satisfied.
There is another video where they do rate/spruik the gsx mini quite strongly for bang for buck
 
Sep 4, 2021 at 11:11 PM Post #604 of 1,481
I wonder how many DAVEs were sold already because of Holo May. Honestly speaking, before auditioning it I had a strong bias in favor of Rob’s DAC and did not expect that Chinese R2R would be even close. And now I’m listening to my very own May.
I think there is plenty more Dave sold because of Bartok / Tambaqui but that's probably getting bit off topic. :beyersmile:
 
Sep 4, 2021 at 11:16 PM Post #605 of 1,481
I think another way to look at this is the amount of budget you have with "tweaking" your setup. I've gone down the rabbit hole deep with Chord products, starting with the Qutest, and deciding I really like the sound signature and decided to throw the kitchen sink at it to get to the top of ladder sound signature I like.

Funny as I was going up the ladder from TT2 to Dave, it's GoldenOne's glowing review of the Dave which makes me take the plunge. It's also GoldenOne's review of Qutest which makes me jump into the Chord train in the first place. :beyersmile:

The May review at the time hasn't been released yet, suffice to say I wasn't too enthusiastic about that video when it drops as I just got the Dave, but also I'm well aware of what Chord's sound signature is, but the sound signature of Holo is an unknown to me.

Anyway fast forward couple months, I'm knee deep with tweaking the best possible digital source, input, and power (Antipodes server, more $ than I want to spend on power cables, Wave Storm BNCs) for the Dave, plus including the M-Scaler. Would my journey be different and I'd be happy if I decided to go with May, I think I would be, but given the budget I'm prepared to allocate to this hobby, I would also be constantly, I think constantly curious as to what the Dave setup would have been. Where currently, I am content with the Dave and there isn't any itch to scratch as to "what would May sound like", rightly or wrongly that may be.

Another thing as well to consider would be, Dave is showing it's age a bit now, and the second hand market price is closer to the May KTE + a bit, so cost of ownership between the two isn't as wide as the RRP suggests. However, be aware that if you jump into the Dave boat, Dave standalone might not be enough, and like most, you would end up tweaking the surrounding setup further still.
I agree re once you/(really) I buy a dave i would keep thinking about the mscaler and i am hesitant to go that way as the cost of a 2nd hand dave is already extending me past my stretched budget.

i am seeing, here in Australia, that costly components are hard to sell here secondhand.

the dave rrp is $18000 aud.
someone has been tryiing to sell a 3 year old unit for $10k for now over a month.

even with the matrix xsabre pro (non mqa) i had to sell mine for 60% off the rrp of the mqa unit that replaced the non MQA at the same price after it not selling for over a month.

A couple of dacs that seem to always sell and are always up for sale (whatever that is worth) is the rme adi2 and qutest

it’s easy to get stuck with units down under or have to cop a substantial loss

i think something like the holo may, that is flavour of the month, would sell after a little while but you’d probably have to cop a 20-25% loss if you sold it within a year, if that
 
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Sep 5, 2021 at 7:09 PM Post #606 of 1,481
Thank you Currawong, I find your reviews on all things audio to be exceptional. But alas, I just went with the Holo May KTE. If I feel that something is missing or off, I'll probably sell it and put the funds towards a Dave. Are you planning on doing a KTE review anytime soon?

Best,
Tubewin
Tuewin,

I'm not sure if you've sold your Holo May KTE yet, but if you haven't I would say, hold off. It gets better at around 150-400 hours of burn-in. I own both and they both are strong. But the strength of the DAVE is its transparency. The strength of the Holo May KTE is its depth and tonal density. DAVE sounds "thinner" comparatively speaking.
 

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Sep 6, 2021 at 1:07 AM Post #607 of 1,481
Tuewin,

I'm not sure if you've sold your Holo May KTE yet, but if you haven't I would say, hold off. It gets better at around 150-400 hours of burn-in. I own both and they both are strong. But the strength of the DAVE is its transparency. The strength of the Holo May KTE is its depth and tonal density. DAVE sounds "thinner" comparatively speaking.
No, I haven't received it yet. It will probably arrive at the end of the month or early next month.
 
Sep 6, 2021 at 11:55 AM Post #608 of 1,481
Tuewin,

I'm not sure if you've sold your Holo May KTE yet, but if you haven't I would say, hold off. It gets better at around 150-400 hours of burn-in. I own both and they both are strong. But the strength of the DAVE is its transparency. The strength of the Holo May KTE is its depth and tonal density. DAVE sounds "thinner" comparatively speaking.
I recognise that setup :wink:
 
Sep 6, 2021 at 2:23 PM Post #609 of 1,481
Tuewin,

I'm not sure if you've sold your Holo May KTE yet, but if you haven't I would say, hold off. It gets better at around 150-400 hours of burn-in. I own both and they both are strong. But the strength of the DAVE is its transparency. The strength of the Holo May KTE is its depth and tonal density. DAVE sounds "thinner" comparatively speaking.
If you could only have one, which would you pick?
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 1:16 PM Post #610 of 1,481
My May DAC is officially paid, now will have to wait a bit for it to get in stock. Excitement is gonna kill me, but if it's the 2-4 weeks (The earliest 2 weeks) then at least I know we've got all this holiday season here in Israel :D
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 3:49 PM Post #614 of 1,481
Just be prepared because it won’t sound amazing upon first use. Mine took weeks to get to a point where I’d say it’s as good or better than my chord Dave and mscaler.
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 5:14 PM Post #615 of 1,481
Just be prepared because it won’t sound amazing upon first use. Mine took weeks to get to a point where I’d say it’s as good or better than my chord Dave and mscaler.
This was my selling point "Sold!"
Because of all the hype the Dave and MScaler get and me hearing it through Pursuit Perfect System youtube videos at least the Qutest and MScaler, and suddenly comes a person that this (Holo Audio May DAC) sounds even better than Dave and MScaler? Come on....
Also my first try for R2R DACs, I know that R2R DACs are not like Delta Sigma's and are much smoother. I'm using a decent DAC right now and also one that gets a fair bit of hype around here (LKS MH-DA004) but I feel like there's a ton more place where this could go both in better Soundstaging/Imaging, and Smoothness with even better detail.
Some parts of music sound like they are just dirty and not in specially mastered way, as if I'm getting data coming through really awkward to my DAC, cause I don't have any gear between my DAC and my PC. And Holo Audio May supposedly already has all the features of the extra devices.

I'll probably need some help with figuring out what all the HQPlayer filters and settings are all about though even though I'm not sure I want this as my main player because it doesn't look good, only offers better sound quality.
 

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