[jlbrach]

I find I do need the ability to take music with me that I can access on the road in case I cant access wifi or it is poor....I also find listening to roon with my hard drive full of music to be quicker and snappier than using streaming services...thats me..I do not know what the future holds so I want to own my music

 

[MacedonianHero]

I find I do need the ability to take music with me that I can access on the road in case I cant access wifi or it is poor....I also find listening to roon with my hard drive full of music to be quicker and snappier than using streaming services...thats me

I'm still debating...I've collected my CDs for years and I'd hate to move on, but I gotta admit, they do take up a lot of space.

 

[jlbrach]

if you do choose to move on make sure you downloaded them to a hard drive

 

[MacedonianHero]

if you do choose to move on make sure you downloaded them to a hard drive

I have done that...but I love the artwork and liner notes. Then again, Roon has them now too. We're old school. I remember spending many a night at the record store on the weekends spending my hard earned money.

As you used to live in Toronto, Sam the Record Man was my favourite by Yonge / Dundas.

 

[iDesign]

With the ability to download from Tidal and Qobuz, I'm not sure if I still need them?

The disadvantages are in the endless problems with USB audio, the questionable provenance/modifications to the recordings, and the stability of platforms like TIDAL and Qobuz given their bleak financial outlook. The Blu Mk II removes all of those variables.

 

[jlbrach]

I have done that...but I love the artwork and liner notes. Then again, Roon has them now too. We're old school. I remember spending many a night at the record store on the weekends spending my hard earned money.

As you used to live in Toronto, Sam the Record Man was my favourite by Yonge / Dundas.

I spent tons of time at sam the record man and always was annoyed that CD's cost so much more than in the US lol

 

[MacedonianHero]

The disadvantages are in the endless problems with USB audio, the questionable provenance/modifications to the recordings, and the stability of platforms like TIDAL and Qobuz given their bleak financial outlook. The Blu Mk II removes all of those variables.

USB is brilliant with the DAVE and you can download albums on to your device for when streaming isn’t positive. Plus I don’t think streaming services are going anywhere. That said, I do like the idea of owning my favourite music.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I spent tons of time at sam the record man and always was annoyed that CD's cost so much more than in the US lol

I lived in that store through my teenage years (80s) and shopped right until sadly it closed. Bought my fist LP there and it’s really too bad my kids won’t know what that experience was like.

 

[CRITICALSHOT]

Normally it should be on.
But with Blu 2 it sounds better off.
Don't ask me why, as it is too complicated to explain; but in short it was lessons learned when the HF filter was improving the SQ with 44.1 kHz, when it should have had no change to the SQ.
Rob

Bump

 

[sm60]

I’m a new owner of a Chord Blu Mk2 transport with the Dave DAC. So far, I regret my experience of owning this costly digital front end has not been positive. I’ve owned many state of the art digital systems over the past two decades (dCS, Esoteric etc.). Chord seems to have more software bugs than I’ve encountered in this price category. The biggest problem is that I’m getting a persistent distortion through the Dave when I use the recommended two BNC connectors. I can get the units to work properly with some trail and error, but if I switch them off, the problem recurs on restart. I’m using the stock BNC cables. I’m using a Roon ROCK Intel NUC server hooked up directly to the Blu through USB. The distortion occurs through both CD playback on the Blu and through USB. When it’s working, it does indeed sound fine. But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable. I see a lot of Chord Dave’s being sold. Are folks generally happy with their units? It concerns me greatly that for a primarily software driven product, there are no updates possible. I’ve worked in the software industry my whole life as a PhD educated researcher. There’s no such thing as bug free software. I suspect the large codebase in the Blu and Dave has lots of bugs. With no updates possible, this worries me.

 

[iDesign]

I’m a new owner of a Chord Blu Mk2 transport with the Dave DAC. So far, I regret my experience of owning this costly digital front end has not been positive. I’ve owned many state of the art digital systems over the past two decades (dCS, Esoteric etc.). Chord seems to have more software bugs than I’ve encountered in this price category. The biggest problem is that I’m getting a persistent distortion through the Dave when I use the recommended two BNC connectors. I can get the units to work properly with some trail and error, but if I switch them off, the problem recurs on restart. I’m using the stock BNC cables. I’m using a Roon ROCK Intel NUC server hooked up directly to the Blu through USB. The distortion occurs through both CD playback on the Blu and through USB. When it’s working, it does indeed sound fine. But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable. I see a lot of Chord Dave’s being sold. Are folks generally happy with their units? It concerns me greatly that for a primarily software driven product, there are no updates possible. I’ve worked in the software industry my whole life as a PhD educated researcher. There’s no such thing as bug free software. I suspect the large codebase in the Blu and Dave has lots of bugs. With no updates possible, this worries me.

First, I am extremely happy with my Blu Mk II and have written quite a bit about why I have embraced it as the single source of truth and reference. The Blu Mk II is probably the most important piece of audio equipment I own today. As for your issues, are you sure you’ve connected the BNC cables to the right inputs/outputs? You should then test using BNC 3+4 vs 1+2 on the DAVE to see if that resolves the issue.

 

[HeeBroG]

I’m a new owner of a Chord Blu Mk2 transport with the Dave DAC. So far, I regret my experience of owning this costly digital front end has not been positive. I’ve owned many state of the art digital systems over the past two decades (dCS, Esoteric etc.). Chord seems to have more software bugs than I’ve encountered in this price category. The biggest problem is that I’m getting a persistent distortion through the Dave when I use the recommended two BNC connectors. I can get the units to work properly with some trail and error, but if I switch them off, the problem recurs on restart. I’m using the stock BNC cables. I’m using a Roon ROCK Intel NUC server hooked up directly to the Blu through USB. The distortion occurs through both CD playback on the Blu and through USB. When it’s working, it does indeed sound fine. But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable. I see a lot of Chord Dave’s being sold. Are folks generally happy with their units? It concerns me greatly that for a primarily software driven product, there are no updates possible. I’ve worked in the software industry my whole life as a PhD educated researcher. There’s no such thing as bug free software. I suspect the large codebase in the Blu and Dave has lots of bugs. With no updates possible, this worries me.

I don't think it's a software issue.
The supplied BNC cables can be a little loose fitting so can cause dropouts.
There can be sync issues as well so trying Inputs 3/4 may work better.

Geoff

 

[Triode User]

I’m a new owner of a Chord Blu Mk2 transport with the Dave DAC. So far, I regret my experience of owning this costly digital front end has not been positive. I’ve owned many state of the art digital systems over the past two decades (dCS, Esoteric etc.). Chord seems to have more software bugs than I’ve encountered in this price category. The biggest problem is that I’m getting a persistent distortion through the Dave when I use the recommended two BNC connectors. I can get the units to work properly with some trail and error, but if I switch them off, the problem recurs on restart. I’m using the stock BNC cables. I’m using a Roon ROCK Intel NUC server hooked up directly to the Blu through USB. The distortion occurs through both CD playback on the Blu and through USB. When it’s working, it does indeed sound fine. But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable. I see a lot of Chord Dave’s being sold. Are folks generally happy with their units? It concerns me greatly that for a primarily software driven product, there are no updates possible. I’ve worked in the software industry my whole life as a PhD educated researcher. There’s no such thing as bug free software. I suspect the large codebase in the Blu and Dave has lots of bugs. With no updates possible, this worries me.

I think you are talking about the distorted signal when the Dave fails to lock on properly to the Blu2. I would only get this when I had been changing things around and had restarted some gear or unplugged / plugged in without powering down the Dave/Blu2 first. The Hugo Mscaler can be fooled in the same way if one is not careful. My suggestion is to leave everything powered up when it is working properly.

"But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable." I found Blu2 to be rock solid over a number of years and it should be the same with you. I was VERY happy with my Blu2.

By the way, did you buy new or second hand?

 

[6aardvark9]

I’m a new owner of a Chord Blu Mk2 transport with the Dave DAC. So far, I regret my experience of owning this costly digital front end has not been positive. I’ve owned many state of the art digital systems over the past two decades (dCS, Esoteric etc.). Chord seems to have more software bugs than I’ve encountered in this price category. The biggest problem is that I’m getting a persistent distortion through the Dave when I use the recommended two BNC connectors. I can get the units to work properly with some trail and error, but if I switch them off, the problem recurs on restart. I’m using the stock BNC cables. I’m using a Roon ROCK Intel NUC server hooked up directly to the Blu through USB. The distortion occurs through both CD playback on the Blu and through USB. When it’s working, it does indeed sound fine. But I’m concerned whether this front end is reliable. I see a lot of Chord Dave’s being sold. Are folks generally happy with their units? It concerns me greatly that for a primarily software driven product, there are no updates possible. I’ve worked in the software industry my whole life as a PhD educated researcher. There’s no such thing as bug free software. I suspect the large codebase in the Blu and Dave has lots of bugs. With no updates possible, this worries me.

I had huge problems with the dual BNC connection between BluMK2 and Dave, with regular dropouts using BNC 3+4, and using BNC 1+2 I couldn't even get the Dave to recognise a dual BNC connection. My Dave was an early model with the domed glass display. I contacted Chord and was told I'd have to return it for repair (fortunately under warranty)... they changed the entire motherboard (and replaced the display with a flat glass screen), since then it has operated problem free using either combinations of dual BNC inputs.
However, even when I had these initial connection problems, playing CDs was never an issue, because the signal from the BLU when playing CDs (I believe) does not require both BNC connections (dropouts generally occur when Dave can't synchronise the two separate signal inputs), only one. Since you have the same issue with both streaming and playing CD's, it's not the same issue I have suffered... it sounds like there may be a problem with the Blu, or the BNC cables perhaps?

 

[jrfmd]

I had huge problems with the dual BNC connection between BluMK2 and Dave, with regular dropouts using BNC 3+4, and using BNC 1+2 I couldn't even get the Dave to recognise a dual BNC connection. My Dave was an early model with the domed glass display. I contacted Chord and was told I'd have to return it for repair (fortunately under warranty)... they changed the entire motherboard (and replaced the display with a flat glass screen), since then it has operated problem free using either combinations of dual BNC inputs.
However, even when I had these initial connection problems, playing CDs was never an issue, because the signal from the BLU when playing CDs (I believe) does not require both BNC connections (dropouts generally occur when Dave can't synchronise the two separate signal inputs), only one. Since you have the same issue with both streaming and playing CD's, it's not the same issue I have suffered... it sounds like there may be a problem with the Blu, or the BNC cables perhaps?

Does anyone know where I can get service for my non-functional Blu2 ? mine quit a month or so ago and I am unable to get a place willing to repair it / ANy help would be appreciated USA would be best for me
Jeff