CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Beolab]

Well to be fair, in principle, it's not like it's any different than the filters that exist on the ESS9018 for example, or many R2R OS algorithms that don't get upgrades. I really don't see many people wanting to send in those other DACs for a filter upgrade, even if it were possible. For example, Audio-GD just released a new NOS line for their PCM1704 DACs and any existing units need to be sent back for the upgrade.

It's not just a simple simple SW update for the Chord DACs, it's basically the core functionality programmed in to the FPGA and I imagine if something goes wrong it would be very bad. I trust that Rob has put enough in to the DAVE at this point to not really want an incremental upgrade (when I eventually get a DAVE that is). I for one am very happy just knowing that there is even the possibility of an upgrade for the DAVE if he does find any significant improvements. Sure, if it could be done by USB that would be great but it seems that it's just not that easy.

Yes i am very well aware of the procedure from the QBD76 days, and why its most likely not possible to make a SW upgrade, but nevertheless i stand by my opinion.

Hoping for MQA implementation support that day if the new code arrive in the same upgrade.

When we are on the subject MQA,
BlueSound released MQA support the last night and it works really well with the small amount of titles that are download able from the 2L page. Would have bin fun with something else than classical music, but i think Paul Bråtelund who i know personally, and are in charge of Tidal waiting for more titles to be released in a not so distant time before pulling the trigger wink.gif

This is going to release a new "MP3 age" from what i can hear from the 10 tracks i got to date, yes it is better than CD if i compare the same track 1-1, more separation and timing / clarity, not so muddy buttery fat and hide the high resolution that a 16/44.1 recording can be in some occasions.
Does it sound better than a 24/192 or DSD 128 file, its hard to tell because the BlueSound streamer decode and then send out the MQA signal in 24/192k/bit PCM so it is hard to make a real comparison here, but i feel it is less sterile and more musical rich with a slight greater timing than usual 24/192 recordings.

This is promising, but it is sad that i have to do the conversation inside the Streamer and not inside the DAVE for max output as i mentioned.

Hope Chord can smoke a friendly cigar with the Meridian camp anytime soon like the Auralic Chinese guys did in Las Vegas at CES.

 

[x RELIC x]

Yes i am very well aware of the procedure from the QBD76 days, and why its most likely not possible to make a SW upgrade, but nevertheless i stand by my opinion.

Hoping for MQA implementation support that day if the new code arrive in the same upgrade.

When we are on the subject MQA,
BlueSound released MQA support the last night and it works really well with the small amount of titles that are download able from the 2L page. Would have bin fun with something else than classical music, but i think Paul Bråtelund who i know personally, and are in charge of Tidal waiting for more titles to be released in a not so distant time before pulling the trigger wink.gif

This is going to release a new "MP3 age" from what i can hear from the 10 tracks i got to date, yes it is better than CD if i compare the same track 1-1, more separation and timing / clarity, not so muddy buttery fat and hide the high resolution that a 16/44.1 recording can be in some occasions.
Does it sound better than a 24/192 or DSD 128 file, its hard to tell because the BlueSound streamer decode and then send out the MQA signal in 24/192k/bit PCM so it is hard to make a real comparison here, but i feel it is less sterile and more musical rich with a slight greater timing than usual 24/192 recordings.

This is promising, but it is sad that i have to do the conversation inside the Streamer and not inside the DAVE for max output as i mentioned.

Hope Chord can smoke a friendly cigar with the Meridian camp anytime soon like the Auralic Chinese guys did in Las Vegas at CES.

Interesting observations on MQA. I'm reserving judgment and waiting to see how it pans out, especially after reading articles like this:

http://archimago.blogspot.ca/2016/01/measurements-mqa-master-quality.html

 

[Rob Watts]

I assume code upgrade would be possible through USB then, or do we all have to send it in to England (Chord) for the upgrade Rob?

It will need to be back to Chord, or trained distributors. But it is a simple process.
 
Rob

 

[Paul Bjernklo]

Beautiful system, and with a room to match - thanks for the pictures and congratulations on the new arrival!

Yes, very nice, what turntable is the one to the left!

 

[shuttlepod]

Yes, very nice, what turntable is the one to the left!

The TT on the left is a Rega RP-8. I've dedicated that TT to mono playback and it is fitted with a Miyajima Spirit mono cartridge. I don't have a huge mono collection (close to 100 albums) but they are really fun to listen to. I've been able to find some really good used mono records here in Seattle. After cleaning, some of these records sound practically new. Groove noise is much less of an issue with a mono cart.
 
My primary TT is the TW Acustic Raven on the right. Also fitted with a Miyajima cart, the Shilabe. Very pleased with it. 

 

[Beolab]

Unpacked a new DAVE tonight with 1680 numbers in btw the serial numbers from my old 500h burned in DAVE, and compared it to my new 2 h warmed up new DAVE..

Any diffrence everyone ask!!??




Drums please....








Not a single difference at all as a mather of fact, it is sounding exactly equal as my 500 houers DAVE , so the burn-in are in our brains.

The brain do tricks to our minds every second more or less, but i cant hear any difference.

( I got very sensible hearing )

The test is dun with:

MQA extreme quality





One of my most detailed / velvety headphones Ultrasone Edition 12 , and sounds almost as my Stax SR-009 in the upper highs.

 

[106099]

One of my most detailed / velvety headphones Ultrasone Edition 12 , and sounds almost as my Stax SR-009 in the upper highs.

 
i love my ED10 too.  Creamy with Nagra and a tad more dynamic with DAVE.
 
Paul

 

[Beolab]

i love my ED10 too.  Creamy with Nagra and a tad more dynamic with DAVE.



Paul

Very underrated headphones, but they need the right equipment to sound real good.
They do not have a sledgehammer of bass, but the midrange and the velvety upper highs got the very much the same signature as my Abyss and SR-009 = very high resolution , clarity / 3D depth and great fast transients..,

 

[106099]

Very underrated headphones, but they need the right equipment to sound real good.
They do not have a sledgehammer of bass, but the midrange and the velvety upper highs got the very much the same signature as my Abyss and SR-009 = very high resolution , clarity / 3D depth and great fast transients..,

 
Yes, the ED10 is hard to drive.  It does not sound good with the Hugo, or any of the SS head-amps I have including the Grace M line or a current 430 HAD.  With tubes, it sings.  Especially with Western Electric 300B or the current Takatsuki TA300B.
 
Another benefit of the ED10 is the ultra low EMI output from the drivers.  The lowest measured levels among my headphones.
 
(The Chord DAVE is the lowest EMI emitting DAC/head-amp which I have)
Whether this has any effects on sound is above my paygrade.
 
Paul
 
 

 

[mtoc]

Rob, tell us somethin' about the Chord ADC...

 

[Rob Watts]

Soon I will be talking about the Davina ADC - schematics are almost finished, and board layout is about 75% done now. I plan to do a blog post once Gerber files are released to Chord.
 
Here is a screen shot of the layout so far:
 

 
The three DIP switches (bottom left) will allow me to switch on/off all 11 analogue integrators.
 
Rob

 

[rkt31]

@rob , can you please tell, when we will get a sample flac file created by Davina ?

 

[romaz]

 
I'm just waiting for a proper response to the double and quad rate DSD drop-out issue on OS X (no, I've not tried to address you directly on it, been working through dealers, which is proving to be completely fruitless).
 
As I understand it, the issue is a combination of a change in OS X and USB handling coupled with the way the Chord DACs handle DoP "faults".  But since other DACs (I've tested the Auralic Vega and the PS Audio units for example), have no such issues with quad-rate DSD from OS X this is not a problem that I'm willing to ascribe solely to Apple's current OS release.  Also, the issue exists when driven from an Auralic Aries as well, which removes the Mac/OS X from the equation completely.
 
Any thoughts?  Solutions?

I forget which digital source you're using but even with the latest El Capitan update on my Mac Pro (10.11.5) or when using a sonicTransporter (which has a very weak Celeron CPU) feeding my microRendu and then feeding the DAVE via DoP, I can play DSD256 files smoothly.  There is the rare drop-out with DSD256 but mostly, all DSD is now playing smoothly with my DAVE and so the DAVE is not the sole culprit here.
 

 
This came about only after Andrew Gillis updated the firmware on the microRendu and after Roon came out with its latest patch.  For whatever reason, neither Roon nor the microRendu was recognizing the DAVE as capable of 768kHz sampling and so Roon was going out its way to unnecessarily transcode DSD128 and DSD256 to PCM at various bitrates (as low as 352.8kHz) that turned out to be very CPU intensive and resulted in not just dropouts but outright stalls.  Since the fix, the following is what I now get when I play a DSD file --> no more transcoding!
 

 
 
Now, immediately after this software fix, I continued to get a few dropouts here and there.  Andrew suggested the problem is with my network.  The first thing I did was upgrade to a more robust (newer) router and this resulted in improvement.  If you are using a NAS or server that is located remotely, consider moving it as close to the router as possible and without any intervening switches or hubs.  If there is a way to give priority to the port that your NAS or server is connected to, you should probably do so.  My sonicTransporter had been located in my home theater closet at the other end of my house (about 35 feet from my router) and after I moved it and directly connected it to my router with a 1 foot CAT6A cable, my dropouts have virtually all disappeared.  I still get the rare dropout with DSD256 files and I suspect if I moved my router (which currently sits about 50 feet from my microRendu and my DAVE) back into my listening room and immediately adjacent to my microRendu + DAVE, these dropouts would probably disappear altogether but as of right now, I am quite pleased.  

 

[Rob Watts]

I have a history of always being late on projects - even when I double the time it takes from my estimates... This is very true for cutting edge work, which has an element of research to it. So take what I say with a pinch of salt - so the PCB will be finished this month. Then it will probably be September before I get the prototypes. Then how long to get it working? I won't do test recordings till its perfect, so we are looking at the end of the year when tracks will get published - at the earliest. I am currently thinking of things to record, and the mic and equipment I need to do this. 
 
Rob

 

[romaz]

Hoping for MQA implementation support that day if the new code arrive in the same upgrade.

Hope Chord can smoke a friendly cigar with the Meridian camp anytime soon like the Auralic Chinese guys did in Las Vegas at CES.

I used to belong to the camp that believed MQA was a win-win for all but once you understand how it works and how it must take charge of the DAC for it to function optimally, it becomes clearer that this is not a good solution for all DACs.  With respect to the DAVE and the rest of Rob's DACs, to implement MQA would mean that the DAVE would have to stop oversampling for its own purposes and instead oversample for MQA's purposes meaning you can't have both.  
 
As for other DAC companies lining up to support MQA, there seems to be quite a lack of enthusiasm, don't you think?  Despite all of the traveling demonstrations over the past year and all the press at CES in January, nearly 6 months later, we still have only 3 DAC companies supporting MQA (2 if you don't count Meridian).  First of all, MQA won't work well on R2R DACs because of their inability to oversample to high levels so don't count on the likes of MSB or TotalDac signing up.  PS Audio has already come out saying MQA files actually sound worse on their FPGA DACs and so they have no plans to support it at all:
 
http://www.audiostream.com/content/ps-audios-paul-mcgowan-weighs-mqa#3FESB5qPGG90RqSM.97
 
Schiit has already come out saying they won't be supporting MQA either:
 
http://www.audiostream.com/content/schiit-audio-why-we-wont-be-supporting-mqa#zrBZQwdPcVMVCh2k.97
 
As for the friendly cigar Meridian smoked with Auralic, this deal appears dead because Meridian has decided their technology is best implemented at the DAC and not the server:
 
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/withdrawal-of-mqa-support/6730
 
As for MQA sounding better than standard 16/44, I would agree there is an improvement in the files I've heard using a Mytek Brooklyn DAC but the improvement in no way rivals what I hear with standard 16/44 on the DAVE.  Here is a review that came out earlier today by Michael Lavorgna that I find to be more balanced than the overly effusive praise thrown onto MQA by Robert Harley:
 
http://www.audiostream.com/content/mqa-reviewed#QhkzkSDLvM9cPKU2.97 
 
Perhaps the biggest reason you will never see (or care to see) MQA support on a Chord DAC:  DAVINA