CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[jlbrach]

Brand name sells. Find me another sigma delta dac that’s single ended with an off the shelf opamp output stage and an OEM SMP that sells for as much as Dave.



I would pay less for modded gear unless it’s modded by the manufacturer or the designer.

the dave is a great product, I love the fact that you can adjust the volume you output to an amp without loss of signal...great amp

 

[Meridian7]

Brand name sells. Find me another sigma delta dac that’s single ended with an off the shelf opamp output stage and an OEM SMP that sells for as much as Dave.

You forgot to mention that the plastic around the mains lead is also just mormal plastic, what a rip off

 

[drmcgown]

Question concerning the DAVE remote. The rubber mute button just fell off my remote, the bubble switch inside the remote is OK. Any ideas on the best way to reattach the button. Superglue on the center nub? Thanks.

Very interesting about the battery supply for the DAVE. This looks to be a doable project, using a conventional electronics chassis instead of the beautifully machined chassis by Reactcore. Thanks for documenting the experiments!

 

[icnaiwhimor1975]

Question concerning the DAVE remote. The rubber mute button just fell off my remote, the bubble switch inside the remote is OK. Any ideas on the best way to reattach the button. Superglue on the center nub? Thanks.

you can just buy a separate remote for dave\hugo2\tt2 and any chord product - chord+dave+remote+control+buy

 

[Reactcore]

Very interesting about the battery supply for the DAVE. This looks to be a doable project, using a conventional electronics chassis instead of the beautifully machined chassis by Reactcore. Thanks for documenting the experiments!

I must update the PCB picture still to the produced version. And the end values of components. Also if you havent done cap mods, youll need to replace Dave's LC filter caps to 25v ones as the stock 16v caps cant take the raw 17,5V of the battery's analog section feed. Or put regulators in, but that will cost drive power and dynamics.

Btw. I took the LC filter out of my Dave as i dont need it without RF and omg.. it got even more control, so yes, the filter is needed with a mains PSU but it does have a cost on drive authority.

Just got my battery meter working nicely on a test pcb, now i can design the pcb for the Choral housing

Happy DIY'ing

 

[Godbluffer]

I made it easy - the Hugo M scaler has a pass through mode (with filter gain equalised) so it's dead easy to hear it; the switch is labelled OP SR, and red is pass through, green is 176.4/192, (1/4 M taps) blue is 352.8/384 (1/2 M taps) and white is the full 705.6/768 1M taps.

Edit: only white enables the dual data mode, all the others are single data mode with one BNC active and the other disabled.

Digging up this older comment , to which I’d like to ask if that means that bypass mode utilizes *no* taps in the M-Scaler, while the *only* thing that’s changing is the loudness, which is 2.7 dB quieter?

 

[Reactcore]

Digging up this older comment , to which I’d like to ask if that means that bypass mode utilizes *no* taps in the M-Scaler, while the *only* thing that’s changing is the loudness, which is 2.7 dB quieter?

Yep, same as input samplerate but with volume attenuation. All other aspects are the same as higher samplerate setting.

 

[Godbluffer]

Yep, same as input samplerate but with volume attenuation. All other aspects are the same as higher samplerate setting.

Good to know! As you know, I now have the demo M-Scaler on loan from Headphone Auditions Amsterdam, connected to my Resolute headphone amplifier that is especially made for HAA. It is a ‘dumb’ EUR 3.000,00 amplifier that only does one thing well, amplification. It has no volume button, only a low gain (+12 dB amplification) and a high gain (+20 dB amplification) setting, so the volume must be attenuated by putting my Chord DAVE in pre-amp mode. My headphone is the Raal 1995 Immanis, and what I’m now discovering is that the Resolute, even in low gain mode, seems to overcook the higher frequencies a bit, becoming just a bit too bright (high gain is a no-go, because just too bright). And now comes the interesting part. I found out that I actually do not like what upscaling does to the signal. To my ears, things like sound stage and timbre are not improved. It just places things a little more at a distance, without better separation. In fact, I feel separation takes a bit of a hit, and timbre is not quite natural anymore; instead, it just makes things sound a little bright. On the other hand, what I LOVE, in bypass mode, with the M-Scaler’s -2.7 dB attenuation, is that the treble through the Resolute amplifier now sounds completely relaxed! Not dull, but just genuinely relaxed and natural, which also causes overall timbre to fall pretty much perfectly in place, for my tastes. So I guess I’ll have to ask Stefan to order a special version of the Resolute with +9 dB amplification, and I’ll be a happy man.

 

[Reactcore]

Good to know! As you know, I now have the demo M-Scaler on loan from Headphone Auditions Amsterdam, connected to my Resolute headphone amplifier that is especially made for HAA. It is a ‘dumb’ EUR 3.000,00 amplifier that only does one thing well, amplification. It has no volume button, only a low gain (+12 dB amplification) and a high gain (+20 dB amplification) setting, so the volume must be attenuated by putting my Chord DAVE in pre-amp mode. My headphone is the Raal 1995 Immanis, and what I’m now discovering is that the Resolute, even in low gain mode, seems to overcook the higher frequencies a bit, becoming just a bit too bright (high gain is a no-go, because just too bright). And now comes the interesting part. I found out that I actually do not like what upscaling does to the signal. To my ears, things like sound stage and timbre are not improved. It just places things a little more at a distance, without better separation. In fact, I feel separation takes a bit of a hit, and timbre is not quite natural anymore; instead, it just makes things sound a little bright. On the other hand, what I LOVE, in bypass mode, with the M-Scaler’s -2.7 dB attenuation, is that the treble through the Resolute amplifier now sounds completely relaxed! Not dull, but just genuinely relaxed and natural, which also causes overall timbre to fall pretty much perfectly in place, for my tastes. So I guess I’ll have to ask Stefan to order a special version of the Resolute with +9 dB amplification, and I’ll be a happy man.

You could also pay me a visit and hear what a decently modded MDave off the grid is capable of directly feeding a headphone
You wont want an amp anymore

 

[Godbluffer]

You could also pay me a visit and hear what a decently modded MDave off the grid is capable of directly feeding a headphone
You wont want an amp anymore

Well, I might do both.

 

[Jawed]

Good to know! As you know, I now have the demo M-Scaler on loan from Headphone Auditions Amsterdam, connected to my Resolute headphone amplifier that is especially made for HAA. It is a ‘dumb’ EUR 3.000,00 amplifier that only does one thing well, amplification. It has no volume button, only a low gain (+12 dB amplification) and a high gain (+20 dB amplification) setting, so the volume must be attenuated by putting my Chord DAVE in pre-amp mode. My headphone is the Raal 1995 Immanis, and what I’m now discovering is that the Resolute, even in low gain mode, seems to overcook the higher frequencies a bit, becoming just a bit too bright (high gain is a no-go, because just too bright). And now comes the interesting part. I found out that I actually do not like what upscaling does to the signal. To my ears, things like sound stage and timbre are not improved. It just places things a little more at a distance, without better separation. In fact, I feel separation takes a bit of a hit, and timbre is not quite natural anymore; instead, it just makes things sound a little bright. On the other hand, what I LOVE, in bypass mode, with the M-Scaler’s -2.7 dB attenuation, is that the treble through the Resolute amplifier now sounds completely relaxed! Not dull, but just genuinely relaxed and natural, which also causes overall timbre to fall pretty much perfectly in place, for my tastes. So I guess I’ll have to ask Stefan to order a special version of the Resolute with +9 dB amplification, and I’ll be a happy man.

As I understand it, your headphones come supplied with a "convertor" that isolates the ultra-low impedance of the headphones from the amplifier. This means a "normal" amplifier can be used to drive your headphones, despite their impedance.

Potentially stupid question: can you connect DAVE directly instead of going via the Resolute?

 

[Reactcore]

As I understand it, your headphones come supplied with a "convertor" that isolates the ultra-low impedance of the headphones from the amplifier. This means a "normal" amplifier can be used to drive your headphones, despite their impedance.

Potentially stupid question: can you connect DAVE directly instead of going via the Resolute?

He can.
Ive tried Immanis on my Dave direct with both the 8 and 32 ohm trafo.

But i would see to find and try a high current amp that can feed Immanis without the transformer in between. I know theres some out there. I actually dont like transformers in the analog audio path. They tend to saturate on ultra sub (near DC) frequencies.

 

[SteveHulk]

He can.
Ive tried Immanis on my Dave direct with both the 8 and 32 ohm trafo.

But i would see to find and try a high current amp that can feed Immanis without the transformer in between. I know theres some out there. I actually dont like transformers in the analog audio path. They tend to saturate on ultra sub (near DC) frequencies.

Why don't you just build an amp? If I can do it I'm sure you can!

 

[icnaiwhimor1975]

try a high current amp that can feed Immanis without the transformer in between. I know theres some out there

maybe you know some affordable solutions?)
I would also try

 

[miketlse]

Why don't you just build an amp? If I can do it I'm sure you can!

you have proposed the challenge. will he accept?