CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[nwavesailor]

Wave Storm cables... SQ is a component-level upgrade.

NICE!

I went from Stream to Storm and found them both quite good. Not day and night difference for me since the Streams were no slouch but a very nice upgrade.

 

[Sampajanna]

I also have had no problem with my Wavestorm cables and love them.

 

[iDesign]

I disagree. I find it does [rovide vibration isolation. How could it not? It has good feet and pads for the dac which no hangs off the rack. My A/B showed benefits YMMV

The feet were not specifically engineered to reduce vibration and Chord simply describes them as, “non-slip rubber feet.” They go on to state:

"Your Choral system deserves to be appreciated. Each and every component has been meticulously designed from the ground up with unrivalled build quality, flexibility, and aesthetics in mind so why not display your system in style with the Ensemble Stand system.​

​

Whether you have a single component, or a partial or full Choral system, we’ve created the Ensemble stand to be a modular affair and, stereotypically Chord, tank proof. Simply place your Dave, Blue, or whatever it may be, within the slanted guide for a secure friction fit. Likewise, there’s no worrying about whether the height of the Ensemble Stand will work for your system, because when you place your order we will custom fix the height to your requirements, and there’s a range of colour options available"​

The stands are cosmetic and it’s obvious they were never designed with vibration in mind. Fasinating you "A/B" tested that.

 

[Triode User]

As for damaging Dave with ferrited cables. Never heard of anything like that. I'm using Wave Storms for quite some time without any problems at all.

The only thing that I could think of it's their weight. And that can potentially damage connector if you are not careful enough.

Thanks.

It is perfectly possible to damage the bnc inputs on any dac if one is ham fisted in the way cables are inserted, no matter what make of cable. This damage is usually achieved by inserting the cable at a slight angle rather than being perfectly straight.

Once properly inserted and screwed on, the bnc socket / plug combination is very robust (indeed that is the whole point of the locking design) and the centre connector is very effectively isolated from any external forces.

I always emphasise the importance of inserting the bnc cables absolutely straight and not to use any force at all to push the cable into the socket. They should just slide in without any force. If the cables do not slide on easily then stop, take the cable out and start again making sure they are perfectly straight. If any damage is to occur it will almost certainly be during the process of inserting the cables rather than after they are connected and can easily happen to any make of cable if insufficient care is taken.

Also if any bnc cable is forced into the chassis socket at a slight angle it might bend the centre pin on the bnc cable. If this bent pin is not noticed it will likely damage the centre part of the bnc socket the next time the cable is plugged into a socket.

People do all sorts of stupid things and then try to blame it on someone else. Mind you, there are also some pretty badly made bnc cable connectors around.

I don't see how adding common mode inductance to a cable helps with cleaning RF inside any dac. RF on the cable shielding will be grounded at the input. Adding high level of inductance to a cable will make rounded corner square waves (like they are even square to begin with).

I think better built BNC cable is way more effective than putting bunch of ferrites on a mediocre cable.

RF noise is the bane of many DACs, not just Chord. Matters are not helped by the plethora of RF emitting devices in most domestic settings. Even a small amount of RF noise getting into the analogue stage of a DAC can cause easily heard inter modulation distortion. Rob Watts has many times posted on here advocating using ferrites to mitigate this, first with clip on ferrites for use with the Blu Mk2 and then using solid core cylindrical ferrites with the Mscaler. It is precisely because it is common mode node noise that the ferrites work. Obviously one needs to use ferrites that stay well away from the digital signal frequency but that target frequency can be achieved and fine tuned by the choice of the ferrites and also by the spacing and number of ferrites. Head Fi members have achieved good results with DIY versions but as RW points out in his experience the clip on ferrites do not seem to work well with the Mscaler and instead he recommends using solid core ones.

A typical post from Rob Watts discussing this is in this link.

Chord is recommending ferrites on BNC cables for their dacs? I didn’t know that. I will remember to ask them when I see them at shows.

I honestly don’t know any other dac manufacturer recommending the same thing.

Perhaps not Chord but certainly the designer of their digital products. However this is certainly not a matter of him saying that ferrites are required for the DAC to work properly, far from it because all of Rob’s DACs sound amazing in stock form with no tinkering or ferrites required. Rather it is a matter of, in Rob’s words, 'the icing on the cake'. But then sometimes the icing on the cake contributes to that final layer of enjoyment.

I am guessing that you are just having a bit of fun stirring things up but there is a small chance of misinformation being taken in by others hence wanting to put the record straight. By the way, I cannot see on your profile which Chord DAC you own. Is it a Dave? If so I am surprised you have not picked up on the other icing on the Dave cake which is to replace its smps with either a Sean Jacobs LPS or the recently announced Farad. Mind you that icing on the cake is definitely not endorsed by Rob Watts despite its popularity with Dave owners!

Edit. 11 May 2022. Users should also beware of some bnc cables which have a larger than normal centre pin diameter. If used these can enlarge the centre connection in the socket and then if cables are subsequently used with the correct diameter centre pin the connection will often be faulty with multiple drop outs. In these circumstances it is the correct cable which will appear to be the faulty one because of the drop outs whereas in reality is is the out of spec cable which has caused the problem. Reinserting the out of spec cable will sometimes confuse matters because the problem will appear to go away.

 

[griff500]

I am guessing that you are just having a bit of fun stirring things up but there is a small chance of misinformation being taken in by others hence wanting to put the record straight. By the way, I cannot see on your profile which Chord DAC you own. Is it a Dave?

He doesn't own one and, apparently, doesn't even like it (no idea if he's heard it though). That leaves only one reason for bothering to post in the Dave forum... For some people this sort of behaviour passes for entertainment.

 

[griff500]

The feet were not specifically engineered to reduce vibration and Chord simply describes them as, “non-slip rubber feet.” They go on to state:

"Your Choral system deserves to be appreciated. Each and every component has been meticulously designed from the ground up with unrivalled build quality, flexibility, and aesthetics in mind so why not display your system in style with the Ensemble Stand system.​

​

Whether you have a single component, or a partial or full Choral system, we’ve created the Ensemble stand to be a modular affair and, stereotypically Chord, tank proof. Simply place your Dave, Blue, or whatever it may be, within the slanted guide for a secure friction fit. Likewise, there’s no worrying about whether the height of the Ensemble Stand will work for your system, because when you place your order we will custom fix the height to your requirements, and there’s a range of colour options available"​

The stands are cosmetic and it’s obvious they were never designed with vibration in mind. Fasinating you "A/B" tested that.

Not being designed to do something does not mean it cannot have some benefits. IKEA happen to make some good vibration reducing products... That is fascinating.

 

[Sampajanna]

The feet were not specifically engineered to reduce vibration and Chord simply describes them as, “non-slip rubber feet.” They go on to state:

"Your Choral system deserves to be appreciated. Each and every component has been meticulously designed from the ground up with unrivalled build quality, flexibility, and aesthetics in mind so why not display your system in style with the Ensemble Stand system.​

​

Whether you have a single component, or a partial or full Choral system, we’ve created the Ensemble stand to be a modular affair and, stereotypically Chord, tank proof. Simply place your Dave, Blue, or whatever it may be, within the slanted guide for a secure friction fit. Likewise, there’s no worrying about whether the height of the Ensemble Stand will work for your system, because when you place your order we will custom fix the height to your requirements, and there’s a range of colour options available"​

The stands are cosmetic and it’s obvious they were never designed with vibration in mind. Fasinating you "A/B" tested that.

Yes, I knew that, but useful info. I am sure other specifically-designed products would isolate better, but it does isolate. I added isoacoustics to mine as well

 

[NYanakiev]

Has anyone tried the new Abyss Diana TC with their DAVE? Wondering if it will be a good pairing without an external amp.
I tried the Diana Phi with DAVE and thought it sounded nothing short of excellent. Cheers.

 

[ZappaMan]

Latest blow in, I’m playing from mscaler to Dave, dual Bnc from
Mscaler to ports 1,2, but the sample rate is slurring or the music is slowing down then going faster again , is there a way to configure so that it doesn’t do this?

 

[Triode User]

Latest blow in, I’m playing from mscaler to Dave, dual Bnc from
Mscaler to ports 1,2, but the sample rate is slurring or the music is slowing down then going faster again , is there a way to configure so that it doesn’t do this?

Sorry, I haven't come across that. Is the world slowing down on its axis of spin and then speeding up? Are you sure you are not in a Sci-Fi film?

Or try the usual, power everything down and then back on again? But you have probably done that. Change the BNC inouts on the Dave to 3 and 4 just to see (but it shouldn't make any difference). After that I'm stumped.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Latest blow in, I’m playing from mscaler to Dave, dual Bnc from
Mscaler to ports 1,2, but the sample rate is slurring or the music is slowing down then going faster again , is there a way to configure so that it doesn’t do this?

I'm not sure if I understand that one, could you explain more?

I'm experiencing slowing down of the music or it's getting faster at the beginning of the track when there is change of sample rate.
I'm using optical hence when jumping through different tracks with different sample rates I'm experiencing this. But it's only like 1 second of the track at the beginning.

 

[ZappaMan]

Sorry, I haven't come across that. Is the world slowing down on its axis of spin and then speeding up? Are you sure you are not in a Sci-Fi film?

Or try the usual, power everything down and then back on again? But you have probably done that. Change the BNC inouts on the Dave to 3 and 4 just to see (but it shouldn't make any difference). After that I'm stumped.

Thanks, I had a loose optical connection coming out of my matrix spdif2…. Im surprised it can be loose…

 

[ZappaMan]

I'm not sure if I understand that one, could you explain more?

I'm experiencing slowing down of the music or it's getting faster at the beginning of the track when there is change of sample rate.
I'm using optical hence when jumping through different tracks with different sample rates I'm experiencing this. But it's only like 1 second of the track at the beginning.

It was similar to that issue but can happen through out the track.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

It was similar to that issue but can happen through out the track.

Hmm how is m scaler connected to your pc/streamer/source?
Toslink?

 

[ZappaMan]

Hmm how is m scaler connected to your pc/streamer/source?
Toslink?

Pc -> usb -> matrix spdif2 (ddc) -> optical -> mscaler

Dave does have more of everything lol, but def has deeper bass, nearly jumped out of my seat when the bass came in. But lots of spaciousness coming through in my ether 2.

Feels like everything’s turned up to 11 lol