CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Reactcore]

Today visited the Dutch audio event and ofcourse the Chord booth to have a chat and get my ears on the new Ultima. They played on Sonus Fabers

I noticed the Mscaler was connected but hidden from display..

For what its worth.. the guy from Chord could say the new scaler will be priced around the €10k mark. But still awaiting production parts..

Also went to the headspace corner to try out the new Yamaha YH5000SE among others on Dave (stock)

Boy this thing sings ..im certainly going to try it in a silent room on my modded one

Also compared this to DCS Lina + clock with a open mind ..but sorry.. not for me, it is really clean and powerful but i cant help to miss that space awareness and natural timbre Dave has.

 

[Playtron]

Today visited the Dutch audio event and ofcourse the Chord booth to have a chat and get my ears on the new Ultima. They played on Sonus Fabers

I noticed the Mscaler was connected but hidden from display..

For what its worth.. the guy from Chord could say the new scaler will be priced around the €10k mark. But still awaiting production parts..







Also went to the headspace corner to try out the new Yamaha YH5000SE among others on Dave (stock)

Boy this thing sings ..im certainly going to try it in a silent room on my modded one



Also compared this to DCS Lina + clock with a open mind ..but sorry.. not for me, it is really clean and powerful but i cant help to miss that space awareness and natural timbre Dave has.

chord getting their ass handed to them by folks like GRIMM etc... getting rid of my Mscaler.... scaler 2 2x the price and you need to squint harder to tell the difference. robs best days seem to be behind him. We have already seen the Dave lift with proper power... Chord way behind here. Dave 2 will prob be double but take lessons from farad and Jacobs but charge double for it with little improvement to the underlying DAC. Bullish on the new kids... less so on the old guard.

 

[MvRBE10]

Today visited the Dutch audio event and ofcourse the Chord booth to have a chat and get my ears on the new Ultima. They played on Sonus Fabers

I noticed the Mscaler was connected but hidden from display..

For what its worth.. the guy from Chord could say the new scaler will be priced around the €10k mark. But still awaiting production parts..







Also went to the headspace corner to try out the new Yamaha YH5000SE among others on Dave (stock)

Boy this thing sings ..im certainly going to try it in a silent room on my modded one



Also compared this to DCS Lina + clock with a open mind ..but sorry.. not for me, it is really clean and powerful but i cant help to miss that space awareness and natural timbre Dave has.

How did you find the sound at chord. Can you give us an idea on your findings.

 

[Reactcore]

chord getting their ass handed to them by folks like GRIMM etc...

Im also not too much a fan of their power amp signature. Its really clear and fast but less organic to my ears than say my Denon S10 UHC mono's.

I heard the Grimm and their active speakers.
It was a good and nice balanced sound but imho i missed the depth and reality of its stage..

 

[thePhones]

If the competition is starting to ask the right questions maybe they will catch up with the mojo in ten years
Maybe I am different, but I don’t actually care how “old” a product is, I only care if it is really doing anything better. It does not feel like Dave is from 2015. It’s more like a 2040 product or everyone else is just being ignorant and slow. I would buy Dave today if it was 30 years old as there is nothing like it.
I still have the same hype about this machine I had 2020 when I bought it. Forever honeymoon phase, this device is incredible

 

[Playtron]

If the competition is starting to ask the right questions maybe they will catch up with the mojo in ten years
Maybe I am different, but I don’t actually care how “old” a product is, I only care if it is really doing anything better. It does not feel like Dave is from 2015. It’s more like a 2040 product or everyone else is just being ignorant and slow. I would buy Dave today if it was 30 years old as there is nothing like it.
I still have the same hype about this machine I had 2020 when I bought it. Forever honeymoon phase, this device is incredible

Dave is great... building the chain around it helps immensely.... HOWEVER let me be clear.... the DAVE headphone out is like a 90s walkman once you compare the stack feeding the wa33 elite. I just did a quick swap from my wa33elite with U22 fed the Farad Dave/Grimm to the HP socket on the Dave.... sounded like a cat scratching nails.

Anyone that says this is close is indeed deaf. There is simply no comparison. NONE. I swear to god... anyone here that had the 33elite at home fed by a farad Dave would not even think about dropping the $$ to buy one. No one... any buyers remorse disappears once you hear it.... let me be clear... you need to do this at home... shows do not count... I don't think the nervous system process sound in the same way when you are at a conf or not at home.

The lift is astonishing.... for the 1st time since getting into this hobby I feel like... yes..THIS is what an endgame should sound like. I would challenge any other stack to get close. I don't think the electro stat can match the body. Without that the music is dead.

Sell what you need guys and get a 33 elite. used they are better but very few available. Again farad Dave/Sean Jacobs Dave out of the HP jack on Dave is a clown car VS a 33E. Sell your car if you need to... get an e-bike.

 

[Meridian7]

I have found DAVE can make a bit of a bang if music is playing while you switch off at the rear. It’s quiet if no sound is output. However I found the streamer I was using had a bug where it was outputting “something” that I couldn’t hear under certain scenarios and that would also cause a pop if switching off at the rear.

This quote is from #11543 but could not find much about 'pop when switching off'.

I always have a bang pop on the headphone or line-out gear when switching off on the back, just like 1 second after flipping the switch off so it's not a spark on the switch itself, even when nothing plays, anyone familiar? Should I be concerned?

Pulling out AC mains is no pop.

 

[Reactcore]

Again farad Dave/Sean Jacobs Dave out of the HP jack on Dave is a clown car

I understand fully.

I invite you to come here and listen to my Dave's internal modified amp stage.
Once the power reserve is applied on the right place ..AFTER Daves PCB PSU inlet and 1st filter youll hear what the internal OP is capable of.

Remember with the 33 you are listening to exactly the same circuit of Dave but without drawing much current out of it..

 

[Reactcore]

This quote is from #11543 but could not find much about 'pop when switching off'.

I always have a bang pop when switching off on the back, as if it might have created a spark or something, headphone or line out, even when nothing plays, anyone familiar? Should I be concerned?

Pulling out AC mains is no pop.

Chord has a solution for this older Dave's problem by adding this capacitor. All newer revisions have it.

Its put on the 3v3 line to keep the FPGA running a second longer when mains powering off. So the Line relay switches first isolating the output.

 

[Meridian7]

Chord has a solution for this older Dave's problem by adding this capacitor

Wow, great, thanks.
Are there details about value of the cap and exact pin contacts to add please?

I better pull mains plug (no pop then) until that's fixed.

 

[Reactcore]

Wow, great, thanks.
Are there details about value of the cap and exact pin contacts to add please?

I better pull mains plug (no pop then) until that's fixed.

Dave cannot damage cause of the pop which is just a last hiccup from the FPGA which is going through the OP. But it is annoying i agree.

The 6800uf/v16 cap is soldered with the plus pin on C8 and negative on a ground isle of the header SMA2 on the picture.

But i think Chord will correct this for free even if your unit is out of warranty.

 

[Reactcore]

How did you find the sound at chord. Can you give us an idea on your findings.

I listened only for 15 mins.

I was not wowed by first impression.
It sounded very fast and clean as it should..
lots of power but kind of cold, not organic and hugging wamth mixed with fast transients as i get from Dave alone or via my amps.

I also missed the depth but that was mainly the track choice i think which were modern recordings that wouldve sound better without Mscaler in the chain imho.

The scaler is too picky for recording types and mastering to shine. Hence why i use 2 toslink inputs on my Dave depending on track
..raw out of my server or via scaler.

People shouldnt let themselves be fooled by red bypass filter choice on the scaler cause thats not the same as harware bypass.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

chord getting their ass handed to them by folks like GRIMM etc... getting rid of my Mscaler.... scaler 2 2x the price and you need to squint harder to tell the difference. robs best days seem to be behind him. We have already seen the Dave lift with proper power... Chord way behind here. Dave 2 will prob be double but take lessons from farad and Jacobs but charge double for it with little improvement to the underlying DAC. Bullish on the new kids... less so on the old guard.

That's just your opinion, just like many others that's told me Holo Audio May KTE trashed Chord and all that nonsense, then I went and heard it and to me it was mediocre at best. When you hear music live, other DACs sound nothing like it. Last night I went to hear the Boston symphony, Chord gets me close to that. Others, not at all.

 

[thePhones]

When you hear music live, other DACs sound nothing like it. Last night I went to hear the Boston symphony, Chord gets me close to that. Others, not at all.

Same.
A few years ago, I think it was 2016 when I did not know about Chord, I was at a Hifi-show here in Hamburg. There was only one room with a speaker setup that sounded like real music. It was the Audio Physic Cardeas. But since they were far too expensive I forgot about them. A year later I heard them again and they sounded mediocre like every other room. I could not make sense of it… until I bought Hugo, then I remembered that in the year before it was the only room that was using a Chord Dave.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Same.
A few years ago, I think it was 2016 when I did not know about Chord, I was at a Hifi-show here in Hamburg. There was only one room with a speaker setup that sounded like real music. It was the Audio Physic Cardeas. But since they were far too expensive I forgot about them. A year later I heard them again and they sounded mediocre like every other room. I could not make sense of it… until I bought Hugo, then I remembered that in the year before it was the only room that was using a Chord Dave.

Fantastic, thanks for sharing.