CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[romaz]

  Dave has entered the building.. for the 3rd time. This one I've paid for, so just as well I'm getting on fine with it.
 
I won't bore you with my second round of burn-in impressions (because not much to say), but I will bore you with cable talk:
 
Firstly, I've proven again to myself that my TQ balanced cables to my fully balanced BHSE sound significantly better than my more expensive Transparent SE cables.
The Transparents have served me well over the years, but I no longer need their slightly softening/dulling effect. Transparency and openness is now king for me - my system is good enough not have to tone down harsher recordings. The conclusion I think is that, whatever the theoretical advantages of Dave's SE output, this is more than cancelled out by the input design of the amp, or by the quality of the cable itself.
 
Secondly, based on others recommendations, I've just had delivery of the Mapleshade optical cable. to compare with my still-on-loan AQ Diamond and Dave's stock optical. 
Last time round, I thought that the AQ sounded better than a low cost optical cable (not Dave's), but that was only brief impressions, so in the next week or two I'll be able to do a more conclusive comparison.
And hopefully the Mapleshade will confirm its promise and save me lots of money compared to the AQ.     

Congratulations!  I'm sure no one has to tell you that if it sounds better, than it is better.  Whether it's the cable or perhaps because the BHSE sounds better balanced, I guess it doesn't matter.
 
Hopefully, the Mapleshades work out for you.  

 

[romaz]

  I recently received a pair of High Fidelity Cables MC-0.5 Magnetic Wave Guides in the mail. The purchase price was 549.00 USD plus shipping. I first plugged both Wave Guides into my PS Audio Power Plant 5 power conditioner and then went off to dinner. I should state this particular setup is in my family room with a Sony XBR 1080p flat screen, Motorola cable box and OPPO BDP 103D attached. From the music side I have a Marantz PM KI integrated receiver being fed by a Geek Pulse Signature Edition DAC, with music data input from an Auralic Aries LE. I use DAVE exclusively for headphone listening in a different room.
 
After dinner my wife and I sat down to watch television. The video quality was astounding. I thought that I had traded up to a higher resolution television. I'm not saying that the picture was 4K quality but it was immediately and remarkably better than the already high quality Sony XBR 1080p without the Wave Guides in place. We next resumed watching "The Jewel In the Crown" through the OPPO. The picture from this DVD is grainy in keeping with its origins as a circa 1984 television production. With the Wave Guides in place there was still a grainy picture(you can only get so much improvement from an old video, after all) but again noticeably much less so.
 
The next day I listened to a variety of music, obviously through the music portion of the same system. I was again immediately impressed. The key aspects were the increase in detail and soundstage, the improved transients, the noticeable natural slow decay of music at song's end and the very silent background. The strings and bass guitar were also better integrated into the whole on listening to the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus," for instance. The timbre of the bass was more subtle and lifelike on listening to Piltch and Davis' "Take One." Instruments were both better isolated and yet better integrated into the whole, and the interplay between musicians became more apparent and enjoyable. In sum, the delta in performance between the Geek Pulse SE(which is certainly no slouch) and DAVE had clearly narrowed, at least for the moment.
 
And then I tried the Wave Guides with DAVE. Everything I said about the sound with the Geek Pulse SE was again true with DAVE in place, however, the "magnitude"(pun intended) was so much greater. This was money clearly well spent. At this point, I am looking to purchasing another pair of Wave Guides in order to have them available in each system. I am also beginning to put money aside for an HFC CT-1 power cable(2000 USD) and MC-6 Hemisphere power conditioner(2800 USD) to connect to DAVE. The HFC magnetic RCA adapters(549.00 USD) are also on the horizon for pairing DAVE with my Blue Hawaii amplifier. Of course, I'd prefer the HFC XLR interconnects but they are prohibitively expensive at 4400.00 USD, I believe for one(!) if I'm not mistaken. I could also use CT-1 RCA connectors but, again, that would be an expense that I'm not willing or ready to incur(an additional 1600.00 USD) for an already very expensive headphone setup. I know there is no such thing as "end game" in this hobby but, with this setup, I think I could much more than "make do" very nicely.
 
Thanks to Romaz for introducing me to High Fidelity Cables. As they say around here, "welcome to HeadFi. I'm sorry for your wallet."
 
Esau

Thanks for the report, Esau.  Most things are system dependent so you never know for sure what will sound good in your own system.  Some things can actually disrupt the balance we each have worked hard to achieve but I have found, as you have, that High Fidelity Cables seem to enhance anything that receives power or passes along a signal, from audio equipment to televisions.  You do have to be careful, though, because this magnetic conduction technology seems to scale so well the higher you go up HF's chain that most of us will run out of money well before we reach the top of HF's mountain.  
 
On the High Fidelity thread on the Audiogon forum, you'll find a bunch of crazy guys on there that are so addicted to this technology that they look for creative ways to add more and more MC-0.5s to their circuit.  Some of them have even brought in an electrician to add more outlets to their circuit or they've bought an MC-6 power conditioner (with 6 receptacles) just so they can load it up with MC-0.5s and connect it to the line and many of these guys have a dozen or more of these MC-0.5s in their system.  Some have suggested you can mimic a higher level High Fidelity mains cable just by adding more magnets and so this may be a relatively inexpensive way of moving up the High Fidelity chain.  The advantage of this method is you can add more MC-0.5s at your preferred pace and as your finances allow without having to sink a ton of cash on a mains cable at one time but I will say that the impact of a HF mains cable or the Hemisphere is considerably more prominent.  What you'll be surprised to know is that the impact of those adapters will continue to grow in the coming weeks because it takes time to magnetize a whole system with just a couple of magnets, probably at least a month.  You will also find that as you remove the magnets, your components will remain magnetized for a while, sometimes a few hours, which makes it challenging to A/B quickly.  
 
Magnetizing your power line tends to have a broader impact on all your components and you will especially see this with the MC-6 Hemisphere since it can supply 6 of your components.  This is for sure a high "bang for the buck" item as far as HF gear goes.  Even if you load the Hemisphere with components that have noisy switching power supplies, I'm finding it almost doesn't matter.  Many have said that taking care of power is the "ounce of prevention" part of Benjamin Franklin's famous quote and that addressing the signal is the "pound of cure" suggesting that if you take care of power first, you don't have to work as hard having to fix the signal later.  While I believe this to be true in principle for most things, in my system, with the HF Cables, I am finding even more impact by magnetizing the analog signal.  If you listen mainly to speakers, the cabling can get pretty expensive but if you use RCA interconnects, the RCA adapters are a good place to start without breaking the bank.  Even better, if you are into headphones, just wait for HF's headphone device to be released.  For not much money (hopefully about $300 as a starting point), your headphones and the DAVE will elevate to another level completely. 

 

[esimms86]

Roy, thanks for reminding me of the HFC headphone device. For a headphone setup the headphone device plus 2 MC-0.5's for under 900 USD sounds like potentially the best bang for the buck. The problem as I see it with HFC and DAVE is DAVE's price. That is, it's not difficult to justify spending money at HFC's entry level(or even the CT-1 series level) when trying to optimize your listening experience with a DAC that sells for 13,300 USD. Speaking as someone trying to get away from GAS, it reminds of the line in "The Godfather Part 3":  "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Is there an approximate timeline for the HF headphone device? I suppose it will be about the same time my DAVE arrives at this pace!

This has been a very interesting read thus far. Thank you, Roy.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Ha!  I stand corrected!  I just got a call from my dealer and my DAVE should be there tomorrow!!  Guess what I'm doing this weekend?!

 

[Crgreen]

I've been using Dave with balanced outputs since I got it just over a week ago. I've also connected the SE outputs to a different input on my preamp. I've not really done any proper comparisons - the difference between output levels makes that rather difficult - and any difference could be attributable to the fact that I'm using different cables for each output. The balanced outputs sound fine. I'll try not to let theory get in the way of listening to music.

An additional point is that my power amp only has balanced inputs. Therefore, the conversion from SE to balanced will have to take place at some point. Initially, I've taken the view that it's better it occur in the Dave than my pre-amp.

 

[rkt31]

that magnetic guiding tech HF has to be something special otherwise anyone can simply put two or three cheaply available neodymium magnetic tablets around the cable and get some effect. I have not tried but I think ferrite core may too have same effect to some extent. these ferrite chokes are though effective for removing noise from digital data transmission and power transmission but can have negative impact on analog line. on headphone the ferrite chokes simply robbed too much of finer Treble details also even on digital line using more than one ferrite choke closely causes some kind of softness and modulation sort of thing which is subtle but noticeable. I wonder using too much magnet on analog line can have negative impact too.

 

[romaz]

that magnetic guiding tech HF has to be something special otherwise anyone can simply put two or three cheaply available neodymium magnetic tablets around the cable and get some effect. I have not tried but I think ferrite core may too have same effect to some extent. these ferrite chokes are though effective for removing noise from digital data transmission and power transmission but can have negative impact on analog line. on headphone the ferrite chokes simply robbed too much of finer Treble details also even on digital line using more than one ferrite choke closely causes some kind of softness and modulation sort of thing which is subtle but noticeable. I wonder using too much magnet on analog line can have negative impact too.

I don't know how magnetism is applied with HF cables except that the technology is patented and so it can't be as simple as adhering magnets to the cable.  With the cables (as opposed to the adapters), there's also the matter of the proprietary conductor that is used which is some form of coaxial alloy.  As you know, traditional cables based on traditional metallurgy (copper, silver, etc.) operate on the principle that the less EMI in the line, the better and so technology is put into place (ie ferrite chokes) to reject or dissipate EMI.  In other words, magnetism is the enemy.  With HF cables, it's exactly the opposite and these cables are trying to apply as much magnetism to the line as possible but in a very controlled and purposeful fashion.  This is why I have come to believe that any other cable that operates on traditional principles can never fully impart the same qualities as HF cables.
 
Yes, I believe too much line conditioning based on traditional methods can rob music of its energy.  Sometimes, too much smoothness can be undesirable because it can be at the expense of resolution, especially in the treble region.  What I am finding with HF's magnetic conduction technology is the more, the better.  

 

[Articnoise]

  I don't know how magnetism is applied with HF cables except that the technology is patented and so it can't be as simple as adhering magnets to the cable.  With the cables (as opposed to the adapters), there's also the matter of the proprietary conductor that is used which is some form of coaxial alloy.  As you know, traditional cables based on traditional metallurgy (copper, silver, etc.) operate on the principle that the less EMI in the line, the better and so technology is put into place (ie ferrite chokes) to reject or dissipate EMI.  In other words, magnetism is the enemy.  With HF cables, it's exactly the opposite and these cables are trying to apply as much magnetism to the line as possible but in a very controlled and purposeful fashion.  This is why I have come to believe that any other cable that operates on traditional principles can never fully impart the same qualities as HF cables.
 
Yes, I believe too much line conditioning based on traditional methods can rob music of its energy.  Sometimes, too much smoothness can be undesirable because it can be at the expense of resolution, especially in the treble region.  What I am finding with HF's magnetic conduction technology is the more, the better.  

 

Mad Scientist cables like in their Heretical Analog PLUS use carbon fibers as a signal conductor. This for reduce skin effects. It use copper only as a passive foil screen. Another way of dealing with the problem metal conductors can create. Another difference to more normal cables is that its SPDIF cables are only 37 ohms instead of 75.

 

http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/mad-scientist-hac-and-hac-plus-best-interlinks-for-ec-designs-mosaic-dac/ 

 

[JaZZ]

  I don't know how magnetism is applied with HF cables except that the technology is patented and so it can't be as simple as adhering magnets to the cable.  With the cables (as opposed to the adapters), there's also the matter of the proprietary conductor that is used which is some form of coaxial alloy.  As you know, traditional cables based on traditional metallurgy (copper, silver, etc.) operate on the principle that the less EMI in the line, the better and so technology is put into place (ie ferrite chokes) to reject or dissipate EMI.  In other words, magnetism is the enemy.  With HF cables, it's exactly the opposite and these cables are trying to apply as much magnetism to the line as possible but in a very controlled and purposeful fashion.  This is why I have come to believe that any other cable that operates on traditional principles can never fully impart the same qualities as HF cables.
 
Yes, I believe too much line conditioning based on traditional methods can rob music of its energy.  Sometimes, too much smoothness can be undesirable because it can be at the expense of resolution, especially in the treble region.  What I am finding with HF's magnetic conduction technology is the more, the better.  

 
I also would like to know the geometry of the magnet arrays to try it myself. But as long as no insider information is leaking, there's probably no hope to get any insight. Maybe some of the users of HF cables can get an idea from the looks of them?
 
I don't think magnetism is harmful for high frequencies. The phenomenon causing high-frequency loss is called inductance, and responsible for it is the AC induced alternating magnetic field. So it's not the same as a magnetic field from permanent magnets such as neodymium magnets.

 

[Beolab]

HF are using ferrite magnets in 360 degrees formation in the adapters from what i understand, but what are the using for the leading material ?

 

[JaZZ]

I've just begun reading their patent, it looks like it's not just a matter of equipping conventional cables with magnet rings or tubes, so trying to copy their cables is a fruitless undertaking. The conductors are said to consist of ferromagnetic material and are connected to the magnets.

 

[rkt31]

any plan of chord making multi channel processor based on Hugo/dave technology for home cinema use. I wonder what will be the realism in movies if chord makes such processor because even in two channel Hugo does wonders. planning to buy more blu rays in future. I was really impressed with soundtrack recent action movies of marvel series.

 

[Beolab]

  I've just begun reading their patent, it looks like it's not just a matter of equipping conventional cables with magnet rings or tubes, so trying to copy their cables is a fruitless undertaking. The conductors are said to consist of ferromagnetic material and are connected to the magnets.

Interesting info JaZZ !
 
Thanks for the link.
 
I will most likely place an order on a HF RCA / XLR cable or the HF box, what is your recommendation on the most bang @romaz ?

 

[Jalo]

If someone uses a power conditioner let say the MC-6 hemisphere at the wall outlet, wouldn't the whole system connected to it be magnetised? Why will it need any magnetised rca interconnect, digital, or speaker cable?