CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[pichler]

More or less 3 weeks ago I changed the USB cables with 2 Sablon Evo (wow), and also thanks to the holiday period (so very few disturbances from the electricity network), a simple laptop with Audirvana, Innuos Phoenix USB, Dave, 2 Etudes in mono, they allowed me to have a listening Sunday that I won't soon forget. I was really amazed at what these objects are capable of doing if the conditions are right. Free-ranging, fast, detailed, fun, very fun sound. It had everything I like and was looking for. then working Monday arrives, at certain times of the day I don't even listen; absolute degradation. Over time I've tried a power cable for the Dave with NFC, the Puritan 156 with Ultimate cables, but without success.
I began to think that an SJ DC4 power supply could not only improve the Dave's already remarkable capabilities, but also filter out mains noise a lot. What do you think? also because I understood that often the filtering solutions almost always have "side effects".

 

[azvargulis]

More or less 3 weeks ago I changed the USB cables with 2 Sablon Evo (wow), and also thanks to the holiday period (so very few disturbances from the electricity network), a simple laptop with Audirvana, Innuos Phoenix USB, Dave, 2 Etudes in mono, they allowed me to have a listening Sunday that I won't soon forget. I was really amazed at what these objects are capable of doing if the conditions are right. Free-ranging, fast, detailed, fun, very fun sound. It had everything I like and was looking for. then working Monday arrives, at certain times of the day I don't even listen; absolute degradation. Over time I've tried a power cable for the Dave with NFC, the Puritan 156 with Ultimate cables, but without success.
I began to think that an SJ DC4 power supply could not only improve the Dave's already remarkable capabilities, but also filter out mains noise a lot. What do you think? also because I understood that often the filtering solutions almost always have "side effects".

I cannot recommend PS Audio's power regenerators enough. They solve the "side effects" of many power conditioners, that filter noise by increasing impedance (which hurts dynamics), by not only filtering noise, but also providing near instant, low impedance power. They do this by taking in your "dirty" AC, converting to DC and filtering, and converting back to squeaky clean AC. I have actually A/B compared a PS Audio Power Plant 3 to an AudioQuest Niagara 3000 (using high-end Audioquest cables, as they recommend - Hurricane), and the PowerPlant was pretty clearly more dynamic with a lower noise floor. Upgraded power cables (my favorite higher end one is the Common Ground Whisper, and a more moderately priced option is the Kimber PK 10 Ascent) also make a meaningful difference, even with the power regenerator.

I would actually consider my power products to be the biggest non-component (e.g. DAC, Amp) upgrades in my system - even over analogue interconnects, digital interconnects, and vibration isolation (though those do all help - just not as much as the power products).

 

[griff500]

More or less 3 weeks ago I changed the USB cables with 2 Sablon Evo (wow), and also thanks to the holiday period (so very few disturbances from the electricity network), a simple laptop with Audirvana, Innuos Phoenix USB, Dave, 2 Etudes in mono, they allowed me to have a listening Sunday that I won't soon forget. I was really amazed at what these objects are capable of doing if the conditions are right. Free-ranging, fast, detailed, fun, very fun sound. It had everything I like and was looking for. then working Monday arrives, at certain times of the day I don't even listen; absolute degradation. Over time I've tried a power cable for the Dave with NFC, the Puritan 156 with Ultimate cables, but without success.
I began to think that an SJ DC4 power supply could not only improve the Dave's already remarkable capabilities, but also filter out mains noise a lot. What do you think? also because I understood that often the filtering solutions almost always have "side effects".

Ansuz power distribution is rather good.

 

[ZappaMan]

Anyone tried Audiolab dc block for Dave or etude ?

 

[Jawed]

I'm using iFi DC blocker and ground defender on my DAVE. No complaints.

I feel that this has reduced the variations in overall system performance: where sometimes the system seems slightly "off" some days. Those occurrences seem to happen less often, maybe 1 day a month?

I know that my sense of hearing has off days too, anyway. Something that can be ascertained from naturally occurring sounds, not those produced by a hi-fi. So those days aren't counted in my overall impressions.

It's my understanding that SMPSs are not immune to DC offset: there is nothing to protect the mains side of the high frequency transformer from a DC offset. But I've not been able to find a detailed investigation of this specifically with regard to SMPSs.

Maybe most of the benefit I've enjoyed, apparently, has come from the ground defender. I bought them together and I'm not interested in conducting many-months-long evaluations to determine what they each do.

One thing I've noticed, before I bought these, is that the "tingle" from the HMS case varies over time. I interpret the degree of tingle as being correlated with DC offset. I have no evidence for this, just a suspicion.

I got bored trying to find a correlation in the amount of tingle from the HMS case and system performance, but I think there was some. I decided to buy the iFi devices, since they're cheap, and a long term yay or nay is the only meaningful thing here, since mains quality varies over long time scales.

I noticed with an SMPS charger for my tablet, that the tingle also varied over time. When I reversed the polarity of the mains cable, the tingle disappeared for good. There was no corresponding effect when reversing the polarity of the HMS SMPS. I don't know what design aspect of the tablet SMPS would lead to this behaviour, but there it is. Some SMPSs use a tiny bypass capacitor on both halves of the high frequency switching transformer, while others only use one. I believe CE certification requires at least one, so there won't be an SMPS without at least one, in general.

So, maybe the configuration of the bypass capacitors is relevant to tingle and sensitivity to DC offset?

 

[Reactcore]

One thing I've noticed, before I bought these, is that the "tingle" from the HMS case varies over time. I interpret the degree of tingle as being correlated with DC offset. I have no evidence for this, just a suspicion.

With placing over the SMPS of my Dave in an external box i took the mains earth off Dave's casing which was connected via the SMPS PCB screws.

Since then touching it, it gives the same 'tingle' as HMS. It means its isolated and can have a voltage potential difference with myself depending on humidity conditions.

But i see it as a good thing and heard sound improvent by not having ground (earth) loops picking up mains RF.

 

[thePhones]

Since the dx amps seem to be in the distant future, I would like to have some recommendations on amplifiers going class a up to lets say around 15-30 watts which keep the transparency of the Dave (mostly) intact. I don’t want added warmth, brightnes, punchiness or softness but simply a louder Dave. I think my AVM monoblocks are not that bad in that regard but I am not sure right now how to close that massive gap (musicality wise) between my speaker and headphone experience. Maybe it is my budget B&W also lacking resolution... was thinking about Focal sopra no2. Happy for any suggestions

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Since the dx amps seem to be in the distant future, I would like to have some recommendations on amplifiers going class a up to lets say around 15-30 watts which keep the transparency of the Dave (mostly) intact. I don’t want added warmth, brightnes, punchiness or softness but simply a louder Dave. I think my AVM monoblocks are not that bad in that regard but I am not sure right now how to close that massive gap (musicality wise) between my speaker and headphone experience. Maybe it is my budget B&W also lacking resolution... was thinking about Focal sopra no2. Happy for any suggestions

You need to go to a Dealer with your DAVE and try different amps, I prefer the Parasound JC-5 stereo amp, or the JC-1 monos, you don't know what you want until you hear it. To me, Parasound perfectly matches Chord, the JC-5 goes up to 15 watts in class A and then switches to AB for the 400 Watts into 8ohms and 600 Watts into 4ohms. Amazing amps.

 

[Reactcore]

Since the dx amps seem to be in the distant future, I would like to have some recommendations on amplifiers going class a up to lets say around 15-30 watts which keep the transparency of the Dave (mostly) intact. I don’t want added warmth, brightnes, punchiness or softness but simply a louder Dave. I think my AVM monoblocks are not that bad in that regard but I am not sure right now how to close that massive gap (musicality wise) between my speaker and headphone experience. Maybe it is my budget B&W also lacking resolution... was thinking about Focal sopra no2. Happy for any suggestions

You could even get a TT2 for driving speakers directly with max 18watt (keep Dave for headphone listening)

Using two TT2's you can even make a dual mono setup feeding each one with Mscaler or Dave's L and R DX output. (TT2 could potentially put one digital channel in mono to its L and R output making 36watt feeding a bi-wired speaker)

Only the volume would be a challenge unless with remote and them stacked.

 

[miketlse]

Since the dx amps seem to be in the distant future, I would like to have some recommendations on amplifiers going class a up to lets say around 15-30 watts which keep the transparency of the Dave (mostly) intact. I don’t want added warmth, brightnes, punchiness or softness but simply a louder Dave. I think my AVM monoblocks are not that bad in that regard but I am not sure right now how to close that massive gap (musicality wise) between my speaker and headphone experience. Maybe it is my budget B&W also lacking resolution... was thinking about Focal sopra no2. Happy for any suggestions

If you wanted to stick with the Chord brand, you can demo the Etude (0.05% distortion) now, and hopefully the Bertii (0.008% distortion) in the near future (it was projected to be available for review in September).

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

I would like to have some recommendations on amplifiers going class a up to lets say around 15-30 watts

Why class a?

 

[miketlse]

Why class a?

I have been reading a lot of old articles during the last 3 weeks, about amplifier design and distortion reduction (from the Wireless World and Electronics World archives). It does get pointed out that designers market class A/B amplifiers because of increased efficiency, but most of the time they are operating at lower output power levels (ie class A), so are effectively achieving only close to class A efficiency overall in the real world.

 

[chesebert]

Implementation/circuit >>>>> amplification classes. Class A means nothing other than it will run hot as hell without massive heatsink fins.

 

[miketlse]

Implementation/circuit >>>>> amplification classes. Class A means nothing other than it will run hot as hell without massive heatsink fins.

Really?
You obviously haven't explored amplifier design theory.

 

[Playtron]

hi. I see a few that have Dave and DC4 are selling. I am curious what they are getting in to? It would seem even with the DC4 upgrade they have found something better? The upgrade did not deliver the sonic lift they were hoping for? thanks for any insight