[dmance]

FYI, a PSAudio DirectStream DAC (RedCloud 131) when fully burned in comes awfully close to a BluDave. No, i don't have both in-house for AB comparison but I own a DS and have heard BluDave at length to make a reasonable judgement. Others here have posted similar comments. And the DS is readily available and has a US street price of about $3k. Oh, and the DS is firmware up-gradable in the field. [EDIT: and I should add that the latency is so low that you can watch YouTube music videos without any noticeable lip sync issues]

 

[Triode User]

FYI, a PSAudio DirectStream DAC (RedCloud 131) when fully burned in comes awfully close to a BluDave. No, i don't have both in-house for AB comparison but I own a DS and have heard BluDave at length to make a reasonable judgement. Others here have posted similar comments. And the DS is readily available and has a US street price of about $3k. Oh, and the DS is firmware up-gradable in the field. [EDIT: and I should add that the latency is so low that you can watch YouTube music videos without any noticeable lip sync issues]

In the uk the directstream dac is £5,500. The 3k usd price quoted is therefore irrelevant to those of us on the east side of the pond.

In my opinion the ps audio directstream with redcloud and with the ps audio CD player is good but not in the same league as Dave and Blu2. I say that having listened extensively to both through the same system. I would accept though that others may reach a different conclusion depending on what they look for with the reproduction.

 

[Sonic77]

FYI, a PSAudio DirectStream DAC (RedCloud 131) when fully burned in comes awfully close to a BluDave. No, i don't have both in-house for AB comparison but I own a DS and have heard BluDave at length to make a reasonable judgement. Others here have posted similar comments. And the DS is readily available and has a US street price of about $3k. Oh, and the DS is firmware up-gradable in the field. [EDIT: and I should add that the latency is so low that you can watch YouTube music videos without any noticeable lip sync issues]

I have both and prefer PSA with Redcloud.

 

[jlbrach]

FYI, a PSAudio DirectStream DAC (RedCloud 131) when fully burned in comes awfully close to a BluDave. No, i don't have both in-house for AB comparison but I own a DS and have heard BluDave at length to make a reasonable judgement. Others here have posted similar comments. And the DS is readily available and has a US street price of about $3k. Oh, and the DS is firmware up-gradable in the field. [EDIT: and I should add that the latency is so low that you can watch YouTube music videos without any noticeable lip sync issues]

I own both and love both but the dave/blu2 combo is better

 

[lojay]

It would be very helpful if those who own or tested extensively side by side the BluDave and PS Audio Directstream set out:
(a) the type and genre of music they used to compare the two DACs; and
(b) the speakers / headphones being used.
That would be more conducive to a comparison especially to those like me who are considering acquiring a Directstream in a second rig.

 

[Sonic77]

I own both and love both but the PSA DS Dac is better.

 

[GryphonGuy]

Chord Blu CD Transport £ 6499.00, Chord Blu 2 £ £7995.00.
Difference between the two one cheaper without the Mscaler by £1496.00 so I deduce that the Mscaler part is around £1500.00.
Its a starting point as the difference is the Mscaler Tech.

Well reasoned. First of all cost plays no part in market pricing (except that the price has to be larger than all costs if the company wants to stay in business). However the price of a product will be as high as the market will bear. I believe Chord Electronics comes to market with a pricing formula (at least they have said that in the past). The WORTH (or value to the market) of a full sized and technology stretching platform called MScaler would be way more than the difference in a cd transport and the current Blu2 platform. I can only remember one person on this forum saying that he would not buy the Mscaler with a CD transport in it, so the forum members here are prepared to pay for the MScaler and CD Transport at the current prices even if some of them have declared they did not want a CD Transport in at as well.

So nice try but the MScaler-only box for partnering with DAVE will not be a mere 1500 pounds. But if they scale down the performance for Hugo or Mojo lines then various price points for various performance levels might be achievable. We already know that 500k taps sound pretty good (according to Chord people) but 1M taps is so much better and not subtle. So there you have two possible product levels and price points for the future.

Any Mscaler model and price will be what Chord deems able to receive from the market (us!).

Regards
GG

 

[ray-dude]

For those so inclined, head to digikey and buy a Xilinx XC7A200T FPGA for US$256 (quantity 1):

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/xilinx-inc/XC7A200T-2FBG484I/122-1866-ND/3925800

and program it up with a 1M tap filter! That's as cheap as it gets right now.

In the meantime, I'll be over here jamming to Mangue Sylia and the All-Star Drummers of Guinea's off the charts "Dunnun Kan" album on my BluDAVE (wow!)

 

[jlbrach]

I own both and love both but the PSA DS Dac is better.

Imagine that,I own both as well and although I LOVE the PS Audio and think it is wonderful for the price it isnt in the same league as Dave/Blu2 nor should it seeing as it is 25% of the cost!

 

[Sonic77]

Imagine that,I own both as well and although I LOVE the PS Audio and think it is wonderful for the price it isnt in the same league as Dave/Blu2 nor should it seeing as it is 25% of the cost!

You have your opinion, I have mine.

 

[Triode User]

Imagine that,I own both as well and although I LOVE the PS Audio and think it is wonderful for the price it isnt in the same league as Dave/Blu2 nor should it seeing as it is 25% of the cost!

If the ps audio directsteam dac is 3000usd in USA as reported in an earlier post and with it being 5500 UKP over here maybe we should have similar pricing for Chord products (but obviously the other way round). That seems fair to me.

 

[Clive101]

So nice try but the MScaler-only box for partnering with DAVE will not be a mere 1500 pounds

Thank you for reply, I only said it was a starting point. I do agree with everything else you said

The WORTH (or value to the market) of a full sized and technology stretching platform called MScaler would be way more than the difference in a cd transport and the current Blu2 platform

Market Worth would be what we are prepared to pay my price point would be around 4k for others it would be different more or less perhaps..?

If the cost is reasonable it would probably lead to more sales of Dave or Hugo 2 more sales for Chord, which may be Chord stratagey once sales start to slow of the Blu2 or perhaps more connections or redesign of the mscaler platform..?

 

[MaggotBrain]

I think one of my teachers told me once that there is no such thing as a stupid question, so let me see if I can prove him wrong.

The two best purchases I have made are the Chord DAVE (as a DAC for my Abyss), and Kii Three speakers (which are used for a home theater). The Chord DAVE left with the auditory equivalent of post Thanksgiving gut-busting belt-unbuckling type feeling of tryptophan-induced contentment. I know it may be a rare sentiment in these quarters, but the Dave-Abyss combo leaves me really wanting nothing more - I just use a MacBook with a Wyred for Sound Recovery USB conditioner and I don't think it gets much better. Now it may be true that my audiophile palette may akin to my elementary school taste of thinking that nothing can really be better than a corn dog, but hey, corn dogs are pretty awesome, right? Since that time, I've had steaks in Florence and sushi in Ginza that's taught me that, yeah, it does get better at the right price. So my ears are catching up to my gut and wondering if there is better stuff out there.

So the question I have for you auditory connoisseurs out there is - would there be any double edged benefit in adding a Chord Blu Mk II? To the headphone rig - the answer I think is pretty clear - it would definitely would improve upon the source material (truth be told, I mostly stream Tidal). Would there be anything to be gained in adding a BluDave or even just the Blu to the KII three side of the docket.(Kii threes being active speakers with phenomenal DAC inside).
The reason I ask is that on the surface it seems pretty intuitive - add a great signal to a great output and you'd think it would sound great. But, is this like a pickles and ice cream phenomenon - individually great but together doesn't makes sense (unless you're pregnant, I suppose). Does the up sampling not work well with something like the Kii Three?
Would my money best be spent on upgrading the source for the Kii like a streamer? Right now I just use the Apple TV to stream Tidal and Qello and its incredible - but hooking up the Macbook to the USB requires burning calories and resetting factory settings which causes me to lose the little hair I have left. Any input from the enlightened patrons of this forum would be most helpful.

 

[innocentblood]

Clive if you like acoustic music another excellent CD by which to showcase Blu MkII is ‘Time (the Revelator)’ by Gillian Welch. It is about as good as recordings get at this time imo (pre-Davina that is!)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Revel...&qid=1523003622&sr=1-4&keywords=gillian+welch

thank you very much for posting about this album

 

[rayl]

I think one of my teachers told me once that there is no such thing as a stupid question, so let me see if I can prove him wrong.

The two best purchases I have made are the Chord DAVE (as a DAC for my Abyss), and Kii Three speakers (which are used for a home theater). The Chord DAVE left with the auditory equivalent of post Thanksgiving gut-busting belt-unbuckling type feeling of tryptophan-induced contentment. I know it may be a rare sentiment in these quarters, but the Dave-Abyss combo leaves me really wanting nothing more - I just use a MacBook with a Wyred for Sound Recovery USB conditioner and I don't think it gets much better. Now it may be true that my audiophile palette may akin to my elementary school taste of thinking that nothing can really be better than a corn dog, but hey, corn dogs are pretty awesome, right? Since that time, I've had steaks in Florence and sushi in Ginza that's taught me that, yeah, it does get better at the right price. So my ears are catching up to my gut and wondering if there is better stuff out there.

So the question I have for you auditory connoisseurs out there is - would there be any double edged benefit in adding a Chord Blu Mk II? To the headphone rig - the answer I think is pretty clear - it would definitely would improve upon the source material (truth be told, I mostly stream Tidal). Would there be anything to be gained in adding a BluDave or even just the Blu to the KII three side of the docket.(Kii threes being active speakers with phenomenal DAC inside).
The reason I ask is that on the surface it seems pretty intuitive - add a great signal to a great output and you'd think it would sound great. But, is this like a pickles and ice cream phenomenon - individually great but together doesn't makes sense (unless you're pregnant, I suppose). Does the up sampling not work well with something like the Kii Three?
Would my money best be spent on upgrading the source for the Kii like a streamer? Right now I just use the Apple TV to stream Tidal and Qello and its incredible - but hooking up the Macbook to the USB requires burning calories and resetting factory settings which causes me to lose the little hair I have left. Any input from the enlightened patrons of this forum would be most helpful.

I believe the Kii is limited to 192kHz, so I am in the skeptical camp as any upsampling beyond 192 is for naught. It also uses class D amplification, which some have mentioned is an impediment to M scaler.