CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Sampajanna]

Oh I see the Cd slot now Yes, I heard the Nagra once,. It is very nice indeed and should be much better, of course.

 

[118900]

It’s not the Dream DAC it’s the Dream Transport
The DAC is the amazing Nagra HD DAC X and is miles away in a good way from Dave

Deleted

 

[BassicScience]

This product has elicited a range of opinions, from enthusiasm to snake oil criticism. John Atkinson of Stereophile found a subjective improvement but his measurements showed almost no difference.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/audioquest-jitterbug-usb-noise-filter-measurements
Interesting that he liked it precisely for the reason I find plain old redbook CDs on a top notch transport to decisively stomp over any material played back on Roon through the Dave M-scaled through USB. In his description he uses the word “ethereal” to describe the sonic signature of streaming playback from his Mac mini. Using the jitterbug restored some of the realism of the playback from his Mark Levinson 31 CD transport. My sentiments precisely. Even though I’m dubious, I’ll have to try the jitterbug. It’s around $70, so not too pricey for a tweak. If it can make my Roon playback sound even half as good as my CDs do through my CEC TL0 transport, I’d be delighted.

Sounds like you potentially have a configuration issue with Roon. I started using it a couple months back and just recently noticed that it had defaulted to using a generic Windows 10 USB driver on my home built server. I discovered this when trying to isolate some sonic artifacts that sounded like a parasitic buzzing snare on deep bass notes. When I switched Roon to use the custom driver supplied with my DAC, this went away and the entire sonic picture really came into much better focus. You might check other Roon settings like oversampling, EQ, etc. FWIW.

 

[gnomen]

Yes, you do need to be careful with Roon. I had a problem last month when I realised I had thoughtlessly activated a Roon connection to my dCS Network Bridge via Airplay instead of Ethernet. Quality drop was painful!
Because I had activated the NB in Roon over both ethernet and airplay, it was not obvious from the remote control that the wrong one had been selected, other than the little coloured circle indicating signal path quality was green rather than white. What a relief that the problem was simple to fix. I went back to the Roon setup page and de-activated the airplay route to the NB. Wont be doing that again!

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Has anyone tried comparing different BNC inputs on the Dave with M scaler in DBNC mode?
I mean 1&2 vs 3&4 ? Any thoughts/observations ?

 

[ekfc63]

Has anyone tried comparing different BNC inputs on the Dave with M scaler in DBNC mode?
I mean 1&2 vs 3&4 ? Any thoughts/observations ?

I recall that 3&4 are thought to sound the best.

 

[PhenixS1970]

If it would be of interest I have a Chord SPM 603 3 channel amplifier for sale (silver, no integra legs). Can be used for 2 channel as well (deactivate center channel with a button on the front). Used it for about 8 years in my home theatre and it has been serviced by Chord end of 2018. It’s in mint condition and original box available. Willing to let go for a steal price (List price was 5000 EUR) EU and UK buyers only. Drop me a PM for pictures or more info. Thanks, Stef

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

I recall that 3&4 are thought to sound the best.

Hah, yes I didn't want to open the pandora box. But that's also mine finding.
3&4 seems to have calmer sound signature and also smoother. Not darker but just calmer and smoother, oh and also I hear decay more easily.
Anyone having similar experience ?

 

[MatW]

Thank you ! The fact that the DAVE has no hiss for 18s which has 9 ohms impedance is impressive !

I am currently listening to the DAVE with U18T and I do hear some noise on the right side. I did not with the Legend X, when I owned it. It is a little annoying but I still enjoy the pairing, because you only hear it during quiet parts of songs.

 

[Sampajanna]

I like 3&4 better too. Nick said this may because they are further from the analogue outs.... Also, I would like to disagree with some comments in this thread which suggest the Chord stand for the Dave does not provide isolation. Mine came with my Dave free. Whether it is worth the high price is a whole other discussion. I did with/without tests and it clearly works like other isolation platforms--it literally hangs the dac in the air and spreads the pressure out to 4 legs, each with 3 thick/tall rubber feet... Whether cheaper isolation alternative would work as well or better is another matter as well. But it does work.

 

[iDesign]

I am currently listening to the DAVE with U18T and I do hear some noise on the right side. I did not with the Legend X, when I owned it. It is a little annoying but I still enjoy the pairing, because you only hear it during very quiet parts of songs.

Probably more of reflection of the maligned U18T design which doesn't have LID than the DAVE itself. The A18S has no hiss whatsoever with the DAVE.

 

[sm60]

Yes, you do need to be careful with Roon. I had a problem last month when I realised I had thoughtlessly activated a Roon connection to my dCS Network Bridge via Airplay instead of Ethernet. Quality drop was painful!
Because I had activated the NB in Roon over both ethernet and airplay, it was not obvious from the remote control that the wrong one had been selected, other than the little coloured circle indicating signal path quality was green rather than white. What a relief that the problem was simple to fix. I went back to the Roon setup page and de-activated the airplay route to the NB. Wont be doing that again!

Roon 1.8 is a huge improvement in terms of overall stability on iOS and Android devices as well as on the Roon Core. The interface is a bit snazzier. But the previous 1.7 was very unstable for me and all the glitches seem to have been ironed out. I complained loudly and vociferously on the Roon forum and hopefully my input and other similar gripes have had positive effect, I’d like to believe. Roon 1.8 seems to sound better as well, which could be due to better management of the audio drivers. Will still need to try the jitterbug to see if that helps.

 

[MatW]

Probably more of reflection of the maligned U18T design which doesn't have LID than the DAVE itself. The A18S has no hiss whatsoever with the DAVE.

Possibly. I'll try with the Nio, which does have LID, and report back.

 

[audio_1]

Roon 1.8 is a huge improvement in terms of overall stability on iOS and Android devices as well as on the Roon Core. The interface is a bit snazzier. But the previous 1.7 was very unstable for me and all the glitches seem to have been ironed out. I complained loudly and vociferously on the Roon forum and hopefully my input and other similar gripes have had positive effect, I’d like to believe. Roon 1.8 seems to sound better as well, which could be due to better management of the audio drivers. Will still need to try the jitterbug to see if that helps.

The Android Roon Remote App is very slow to open, and sometimes will not open on my Samsung S7. Version 1.7 was ok. Does it open as fast as 1.7 on your android devices?

 

[BassicScience]

The Android Roon Remote App is very slow to open, and sometimes will not open on my Samsung S7. Version 1.7 was ok. Does it open as fast as 1.7 on your android devices?

1.8 Remote App seems to be working fine on my Galaxy S10.