CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[romaz]

As some of you are aware, while at AXPONA in Chicago a few weeks ago, with DAVE in tow, I made a few discoveries that were surprising but none more surprising than what I heard in the Devialet room.  It was in this room that I had my first opportunity to hear a music source (Aurender N10) connected to my DAVE via AES/EBU.  Using a Nordost Valhalla AES/EBU cable and compared against my Curious USB cable, USB sounded more compressed or "closed in."  It led me to wonder whether the USB output of that Aurender was somehow faulty or whether AES/EBU is just potentially better on the DAVE with the right source and the right cable.  I was unable to test this theory in a different room the following day with an Aurender W20 because that dealer didn't have an AES/EBU cable on hand but that significant difference has continued to haunt me.
 

 
 
I requested an N10 for evaluation in my home once again and it arrived last week.  In the photo above, you will notice my tiny Sonicorbiter SE sitting on top of the Aurender.  I have thought about ECWL's comments that perhaps having both AES/EBU and USB cables plugged into the DAVE at the same time might have allowed RF to creep into the DAVE via the AES/EBU cable and pollute the USB output and so in my evaluation, I made sure only one cable was connected at a time.  I also ordered a trial of what may be one of the finest AES/EBU cables in existence, the new High Fidelity Ultimate Reference ($10,000 list price) which is based on High Fidelity's magnetic conduction technology, a technology I have come to regard very highly.  Because I had found the Clarity "Natural" USB cable that I heard at AXPONA to be superior to my Curious USB cable, I requested this USB cable also for evaluation.  Unfortunately, the "Natural" (MSRP $1,200) wasn't available but the dealer went ahead and sent me the "Natural's" baby brother, the "Organic" USB cable (MSRP $500).
 
The verdict?  Happily, I can tell you that as I go from one connection to the other, I am hearing no compression with the USB output.  In fact, even with the High Fidelity AES/EBU cable, I am hearing no difference between either input.  They both sound excellent.  Is this because at AXPONA, I had both USB and AES/EBU cable plugged in simultaneously?  I'm not sure so I decided to plug both cables in at the same time and it didn't seem to make a difference although this may be due to the excellent characteristics of the High Fidelity AES/EBU cable.  Could this be due to something the Devialets were doing?  Again, I'm not sure but in my system, AES/EBU carries no advantage.  Because of its disadvantages (max throughput of 24/192 PCM), it would appear to me that USB is the way to go.
 
Now how about Aurender N10 vs Sonicorbiter?  At AXPONA, it was clear to me and two other people that its more expensive brother, the W20 edged my Windows laptop by about 10-15% in terms of clarity and more open soundstage while the Clarity "Natural" USB cable added another 5-7% improvement over my Curious USB cable.  Against the Sonicorbiter, the Aurender N10 once again represented an improvement by about 10%.  There is a bit better clarity and the layering of detail is subtlety but clearly better.  The Clarity "Organic" cable bested my Curious USB cable by about 5-7%.  Small improvements for sure but consistent and readily identifiable.  Is the improvement that comes with the Aurender N10 worth its $8,000 asking price.  I will leave that for others to decide but for me, it is not.  I am impressed enough, however, with the improvement I am seeing with the $500 Clarity Organic USB cable to pursue this issue further.  I have requested the Organic's bigger brother, the Natural ($1200), to be sent to me once it is available next week.  I also have on order a Transparent Premium USB cable ($600) and Audience AU24SE USB cable ($850) coming in for comparison.  As I am now fully committed to USB and the microRendu, I am motivated to get the best USB cable I can find.  On an even more exciting note, I will have available for testing a USB prototype device from High Fidelity in the coming month.  This will be an "in-series" device that I can plug my USB cable into (similar to a USB Regen) that will incorporate High Fidelity's magnetic conduction therapy.  If this brings about any of the benefits I have heard from Rick Schultz's other High Fidelity cables, it will be exciting times for USB for sure.

 

[shuttlepod]

Thanks, Roy, as always, for your thoughtful and detailed comparisons. As you know, a good number of folks around here rely on you for doing gear comparisons that we may not be able to do. I, for one, am happy that you found no sonic advantage to AES/EBU in your system. I'd rather stick with USB. 
 
I am less happy that the Aurender N10 gives an audible improvement, but I can forego the relatively small improvement and save $8k. I will look forward to hearing your impressions of various USB cables (and the intriguing High Fidelity USB option), especially in combination with the Sonore products. I'm still waiting for my DAVE to arrive -- should be another two to three weeks.

 

[romaz]

  Thanks, Roy, as always, for your thoughtful and detailed comparisons. As you know, a good number of folks around here rely on you for doing gear comparisons that we may not be able to do. I, for one, am happy that you found no sonic advantage to AES/EBU in your system. I'd rather stick with USB. 
 
I am less happy that the Aurender N10 gives an audible improvement, but I can forego the relatively small improvement and save $8k. I will look forward to hearing your impressions of various USB cables (and the intriguing High Fidelity USB option), especially in combination with the Sonore products. I'm still waiting for my DAVE to arrive -- should be another two to three weeks.

Thanks, Jon.  What I am hoping is that the microRendu, for a relatively small investment, will provide the same uptick in SQ as the Aurenders.  Based on the thoughtfulness of its design, I don't see why it won't.  It is my expectation that it will be the finest USB digital source you can buy regardless of cost.  I hope I am not disappointed.  In case you haven't seen it, Chris Connaker at CA recently reviewed it.  He had previously indicated the W20 was the finest digital source he had heard and now he is suggesting the microRendu is:
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/698-sonore-microrendu-review-part-1/

 

[shuttlepod]

Exactly my thoughts, Roy. I would pay the microRendu price for a nice uptick in SQ. Given that the Aurender N10 is an improvement, I would expect the little microRendu to also be an improvement. All indications are that the power supply matters. If there is an improvement, it will be interesting to see where the seriously diminishing returns come in with various power supplies. Ultimately, that may come down to budget and perceived SQ improvements. And yes, Connaker gave us quite the tease with his "Part 1," didn't he?

 

[yamuling]

Any $500-1500 powercable suggest for DAVE？

 

[106099]

  Any $500-1500 powercable suggest for DAVE？

 
Give the old 14 or 16 gauge stock cable a try. many have said fancy cords really doesn't improve that much with the Dave.  If after a few weeks, you want to explore try dealers that offer loaners.
Some of these could be Audience, AQ, Shunyata, or one of the catalog 9 gauge fat cords.
 
Paul

 

[106099]

Waited all day for my Dave to arrive and this:
 

[tr] [th]Location[/th] [th]Date[/th] [th]Local Time[/th] [th]Activity[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] [/td] [td]05/03/2016[/td] [td]10:30 P.M.[/td] [td]Severe weather conditions have delayed delivery. / We’re working to deliver your package as soon as possible.[/td] [/tr]

 
i hope it is not floating inside some UPS truck in the Carolinas.

 

[shuttlepod]

  Any $500-1500 powercable suggest for DAVE？

The LP version of the Audience AU24 SE cable worked well for me during my two-week audition of the DAVE. $1080 for six feet but you can often find them as show demos or on the used market. Audience power cables generally aren't in the upper tier in terms of cost but compete there in terms of quality.

 

[rkt31]

I use KEF new Ref. One which is just suit my small listening room.

great, i use kef r300 with foam bungs and monitor audio rs12w sub. i like the kef sound specially concentric drivers which helps in improving the imaging !

 

[yamuling]

Thanks all. I tried some quite expensive powercords but found DAVE quite like cable with comfortable and mild characteristic. Happily with Naim cheap cable but deciding change to what.

 

[romaz]

  Any $500-1500 powercable suggest for DAVE？

It's funny you should ask because for the past week, I've been testing and comparing power chords with the DAVE.  
 

 
As it has been suggested, if you're mains power is reasonably clean, you may not notice a huge improvement from the stock mains cable compared to a much more expensive "audiophile" cable.  Indeed, when I first had the DAVE in my home for audition last November, the dealer sent me home with a $10,000 Nordost Odin mains cable hoping that he could sell me this cable.  What I found was that compared to the stock mains cable as well as one of my Audience AU24SE cables, I was unable to tell much difference, at least not significant enough to ever consider something like the Nordost Odin and so in my mind and in my system where I have a dedicated 15 amp line with fairly clean power, I had convinced myself that the power chord doesn't matter much.
 
With more experience, my opinion has changed somewhat.  I still believe the DAVE is pretty well isolated against bad power, probably as good as the best audio components I've owned over the years.  Rob had inidicated that he isolated the DAVE well even against the deleterious effects of its own switching power supply and this is a claim that's easy to believe once you hear the midnight black background and electrifying dynamics of the DAVE even when connected to it's stock "Made in China" 18g mains cable.  Upon further questioning, however, Rob indicated that if I was going to target a better power chord that would make a difference with the DAVE, it should be a power chord that specifically addressed RF.  Here is what Rob had to say recently about RF:
 
"But RF noise is a pesky thing - it's like a fungal infection, impossible to get rid of completely."
 
And so I have come to the conclusion that if something is going to affect the DAVE adversely, it's not going to be jitter (I have thoroughly convinced myself of this), it's going to be RF, either from the source or from the AC line and so I decided recently to revisit power chords and target those that specifically were designed to target RF.  As starters, some of you already know that I incorporate in my system a Son of Q balanced power supply by Equi=Tech which is basically a transformer-based line conditioner that does a nice job of keeping my entire system quiet.  For this series of tests, I decided to test chords without the Son of Q to see how well these chords would stand on their own (plugged directly into the wall).  Even without the Son of Q, I will re-iterate that my AC line is of pretty good quality and so if you're AC line is dirtier than mine, your findings may be different.  Here are my unblinded findings:
 
1)  Stock mains cable -- as above, if this is the only cable you ever heard with the DAVE, you would probably already assume the DAVE was connected to an expensive mains cable because it sounds just fine with this cable.
 
2)  TG Audio SLVR ($550) -- this is my old stand by and I will never sell it.  It was made by the late Bob Crump, a no-nonsense cable builder.  It is a wonderful general purpose audiophile cable that can fit in capably in a pinch just about anywhere.  It used to be my go-to cable for a lot of gear over the years.  Compared to the stock mains cable, I can detect no difference.
 
3)  Audience AU24SE LP and MP ($1080-1175) -- this has been my go-to cable over the past year for my digital gear and I own several.  They have no special RF filtering abilities but they do everything well and was the first cable I felt comfortable replacing my TG Audio SLVR with.  They utilize OHNO continuous cast (OCC) grade copper.  With my previous TotalDac system, I was unable to find a better mains cable than this.  With the DAVE and compared against the stock mains cable, there is a more relaxed quality to the presentation, slightly smoother but I will admit that the improvement is subtle.  Is it worth spending $1k for this cable over the stock cable?  I don't think I would do it if I was starting from scratch.
 
4)  JPS Digital AC ($400) -- this is the first "digital" cable I bought years ago and is designed specifically for digital front ends like DACs, CD players and music servers.  It has a ferrite shield designed to minimize RF.  This cable was upgraded to the AC-X years ago and so the technology in this cable has been improved upon.  For the price asked, it did a nice job with my CD player over the years.  On the DAVE and compared against the stock mains cable, there is a slightly smoother quality to the presentation, along the lines of what I get from the Audience AU24SE.  For the money, this isn't a bad choice but the improvement is subtle.
 
5)  Digital Dynamics Challenger AE15 ($3,500) -- this is a cable specifically designed for digital front ends.  It is designed to handle no more than about 60 watts.  It incorporates a battery-operated RF shield and with the shield powered on, the music becomes slightly more "forward" sounding.  Some prefer the more laid back sound with the shield turned off.  I prefer it with the shield on.  This chord has a slightly blacker background and punchier dynamics compared to the stock cable.  Is it worth $3,500 with the DAVE?  No, but I found a used one for 1/3 the price so I bought it.  It has been my reference mains cable with the DAVE until now.
 
6)  Shunyata Sigma Digital ($2,138)  -- this is another cable that is specifically designed for digital front ends and incorporates a variety of novel techniques designed by Caelin Gabriel to fight RF.  It has been billed as a power cable with a power conditioner built in and I would agree with this description.  Compared against the stock mains cable and against every other mains cable here, it has the smoothest presentation, very pleasant and airy, however, upon closer scrutiny, this comes at the expense of resolution compared against the Challenger AE15.  For those looking for a pleasant laid-back presentation as you relax by the fireplace, I can't think of a better sounding chord.  If you have a "bright"component that you would like to tame, this is probably the chord for you.  If you have horrible line noise and plan to use no additional line conditioner, this chord will probably do a better job than most chords including the Challenger AE15.
 
7)  High Fidelity CT-1 ($2,000) -- those that read about my adventures at AXPONA recently know that I was introduced to a set of RCA adapters made by High Fidelity Cables that utterly transformed my system to another level.  The impact of these adapters, based on magnetic conduction technology patented by Rick Schultz, was so otherworldly that I knew I needed to explore their products further.  When you look at this chord, the first thing you notice are the three white jacketed conductors (positive, negative and ground) that separate the two large magnetic ends.  Unlike traditional mains cables that have copper or silver conductors, the CT-1 power chord utilizes a proprietary alloy with a specific resistance designed to facilitate the transfer of electrical energy by using a controlled magnetic field.  It incorporates a dual shielded coaxial design with extremely high rejection capability and when combined with its patented Magnetic Conduction ability, it results in superior filtering of both RF and stray magnetic fields.  Equally important, if I have understood Rick Schultz properly, what is happening with his technology is it concentrates the electrons to the inner most core of the cable and away from the outer edges which minimizes "skin" effects that would negatively impact phase and timing. 
 
So how does it sound?  In the past, I have categorized chords as being capable of either producing a very transparent sound resulting in speed, resolution, tight bass and extended highs OR a fuller, more musical sound with a rich midrange.  Usually going in one direction takes you away from the other.  With the CT-1, you get both.  This is the most transparent, most resolving, most dynamic, quietest yet most musical power chord I have yet to hear and it elevates the DAVE to a higher level of realism.  During this evaluation, I also had the opportunity to test this chord along with the High Fidelity MC6-Hemisphere ($2,800), a non current-limiting line conditioner based on the exact same magnetic conduction technology and when combined with any of the above power chords, it resulted in a very noticeable increase in the weight and clarity of the sound but when combined with the CT-1, it is simply breathtaking.  If you are looking for a pleasant and laid back presentation as you relax by the fireplace, I still believe your best bet is the Shunyata but if you are looking to experience that "artist in the room" presentation, I have yet to hear anything that even remotely comes close to the combination of the CT-1 and MC6-Hemisphere.

 

[106099]

Roy,
 
Just adding 2 bits to your wonderful power-cable piece.
The sound from the Shunyata Sigma Analog (2495 1.75m) is better in terms of resolution versus the digital when using with my MSB Platinum DAC 4, Nagra HD DAC and Simaudio 430 HAD.  I suspect this maybe the same with the Chord Dave.
Why an analog power cord for a DAC versus the digital version?  I was told by a few top level Shunyata representatives, Caelin and their Sales manager that many dealers and customers prefer the analog cable sound over the digital cable when using with DAC's.
They said :"We recommend the Sigma Analog because the DAC, although digital, is analog out."
 
I heard the same with the Chord dealer who sold me the Dave.
 
Of course, I confirmed it with my own ears.
I now have 6 of the Shunyata Sigma Analog power cables.  And a single Shunyata Sigma Digital version for my server.
 
The other bit is that I am surprised the Dave came with an 18 gauge wire.  Ouch.
 
Paul

 

[romaz]

  Roy,
 
Just adding 2 bits to your wonderful power-cable piece.
The sound from the Shunyata Sigma Analog (2495 1.75m) is better in terms of resolution versus the digital when using with my MSB Platinum DAC 4, Nagra HD DAC and Simaudio 430 HAD.  I suspect this maybe the same with the Chord Dave.
Why an analog power cord for a DAC versus the digital version?  I was told by a few top level Shunyata representatives, Caelin and their Sales manager that many dealers and customers prefer the analog cable sound over the digital cable when using with DAC's.
They said :"We recommend the Sigma Analog because the DAC, although digital, is analog out."
 
I heard the same with the Chord dealer who sold me the Dave.
 
Of course, I confirmed it with my own ears.
I now have 6 of the Shunyata Sigma Analog power cables.  And a single Shunyata Sigma Digital version for my server.
 
The other bit is that I am surprised the Dave came with an 18 gauge wire.  Ouch.
 
Paul

Thanks, Paul.  I will defer to your expertise when it comes to the Shunyata.

 

[rkt31]

furutech one of the few companies making occ copper cable and supplies to other brands . readymade cable brands simply put a jacket most of the times. I am using their base occ power cable made from bulk cable. with plugs it costed me about $300 and it did make a lot of difference. the sound of my amp is now much smoother and airy. IMHO their totl bulk cable with furutech plugs can beat much more expensive power chords.

 

[JaZZ]

  Waited all day for my Dave to arrive and this:
 

[tr] [th]Location[/th] [th]Date[/th] [th]Local Time[/th] [th]Activity[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] [/td] [td]05/03/2016[/td] [td]10:30 P.M.[/td] [td]Severe weather conditions have delayed delivery. / We’re working to deliver your package as soon as possible.[/td] [/tr]

 
i hope it is not floating inside some UPS truck in the Carolinas.

 
Sorry for you, Paul!

But in the end all will be good.