CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Raika]

            Trying to move this thread more and get info.
my point is even if you know your way , also the others have their ways to make dacs sound better . so mr : Rob talks about how awesome his dacs are ? but in reality still there is better dac and cost
less one of them is iggy  .. we should respect other methods .
we shall wait and see and better for dave to be the best dac ever or that means other things . you disagree with me mr : Rob .

 

[OK-Guy]

instead of trolling Rob for a answer perhaps a modicum of respect would be in order... I don't see many arguing against his technical post that are enlightening Head-Fi'ers generally... if you prefer lamb best not buy beef, simples.

 

[analogmusic]

+1
 
Nobody on this forum has the knowledge to challenge on technical grounds with Rob. So please show some respect.

 

[Raika]

  instead of trolling Rob for a answer perhaps a modicum of respect would be in order... I don't see many arguing against his technical post that are enlightening Head-Fi'ers generally... if you prefer lamb best not buy beef, simples.

I respect mr : Rob and sorry ,I own hugo and love the sound , I'm just asking a question ? feel free to answer .
Is the Dave greatest dac ever made ?? For me technically yes but the real question should be
Is it the best sounding dac ???? hard to say since the japanese guy prefer nagara hd + msb  over dave .

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Raika
You mentioned MSB which is another respected DAC maker. The Japanese reviewer preferred Nagra HD DAC + MPS battery pack (not MSB) and this was if the choice were at the same price point, which it isn't as the Nagra is double the price I believe and then their is almost £10k for their Nagra Pre-Amp.

Your question regarding the 76 being richer than HUGO is a valid one but as others have said please take care to show respect to Rob. I think he deserves that having afforded so much time to our questions. He is passionate about what he does as many in this business are. However Rob is a cut above most because he goes that extra mile to listen and investigate what is actually going on whereas that is not true of all designers. Equally there are many people out there who will a-b two products in their setup and proclaim one is better than the other. This is not a scientific way of doing things but if it suits them that is all that matters to them. The problem comes when they go on to proclaim something publicly that has not been scientifically established. For instance I could take a TT and put it up against a competitor and conclude the competitor is better but I will lay money the noise floor in my listening room is not currently as good as it could be. What gremlins are being masked by this I wonder and would I change my mind with a lower noise floor. This is why we wait for professional reviewers to do their job. Regarding DAVE I am not convinced the Japanese reviewer wasn't just making a subjective assessment from room to room at the show because I wasn't aware Chord had released any pre-production units for appraisal. Either way if the assessment is valid I would buy Chord over the Nagra every time if the sound results are so close and the price comparison so wide.

 

[ChordElectronics]

Hi all, I just wanted to address the confusion regarding the US pricing. Currently the US pricing has not been finalised with the dealers and a direct conversion is not standard procedure. Rest assured that once I have an accurate figure I will point you in the right direction.

 

[JaZZ]

Raika
You mentioned MSB which is another respected DAC maker. The Japanese reviewer preferred Nagra HD DAC + MPS battery pack (not MSB) and this was if the choice were at the same price point, which it isn't as the Nagra is double the price I believe and then their is almost £10k for their Nagra Pre-Amp.

Your question regarding the 76 being richer than HUGO is a valid one but as others have said please take care to show respect to Rob. I think he deserves that having afforded so much time to our questions. He is passionate about what he does as many in this business are. However Rob is a cut above most because he goes that extra mile to listen and investigate what is actually going on whereas that is not true of all designers. Equally there are many people out there who will a-b two products in their setup and proclaim one is better than the other. This is not a scientific way of doing things but if it suits them that is all that matters to them. The problem comes when they go on to proclaim something publicly that has not been scientifically established. For instance I could take a TT and put it up against a competitor and conclude the competitor is better but I will lay money the noise floor in my listening room is not currently as good as it could be. What gremlins are being masked by this I wonder and would I change my mind with a lower noise floor. This is why we wait for professional reviewers to do their job. Regarding DAVE I am not convinced the Japanese reviewer wasn't just making a subjective assessment from room to room at the show because I wasn't aware Chord had released any pre-production units for appraisal. Either way if the assessment is valid I would buy Chord over the Nagra every time if the sound results are so close and the price comparison so wide.

I agree. Not to forget the DAVE's headphone output à la Hugo, without additional amplification stage, a guarantee for superior accuracy in this respect. The Nagra uses a tube amp for that, so if its DAC is really objectively superior (questionable), this advantage is gambled away here.

 

[agisthos]

  I'm sorry to say there is many high end dac sound way better than hugo tt and QBD76 dac .
one Q : why hugo 26 k taps isn't as rich sound as QBD76 HDSD 18 k taps ?

 
 
Because TAPS are not everything. There is the output stage, there is the power supply, all these things have an large impact on final sound quality. Hugo was built for portability and low power usage. Many design compromises would have been made to get such a small form factor.

 

[audionewbi]

Because TAPS are not everything. There is the output stage, there is the power supply, all these things have an large impact on final sound quality. Hugo was built for portability and low power usage. Many design compromises would have been made to get such a small form factor.

If I remember correctly hugo is not really designed to be compromised. As Mr Watt said before thanks to the new technology hugo is the size it is now, to achieve the current hugo using older technology required car battery size power (or something along those lines)

On the other hand hugo TT design is questionable as it is a hugo with different usb inputs and etc. It is still hugo in core so I am not sure where the change in sounds coming from.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Totally agree agisthos.

 

[agisthos]

Audionewbi what Rob Watts meant is that onchip processing capability now allows a small Spartan Xilinx to be run by li-ion batteries. This opened the door to portability and a product like Hugo.
 
Years ago, to get a similar TAPS processing power onchip would have required 20x the power, and probably many FPGA chips paralleled.

 

[Kakki]

  Kakki
I wonder is there any more feedback you can provide from that Japanese review? Fully understand if you haven't the time but we are scratching around for as much feedback as we can get right now!

 
Actually, the review is way too long and complex for I to do the translation... please kindly forgive my laziness for not doing further translation!!
But I can tell you that the last sentence in the review is saying "Chord Dave is the world best DAC as far as I know".
 
I definitely agree with the reviewer as I heard the actual Dave sound in the hifi show in Tokyo. The sound was more "real" than any DAC I heard in the past.
 
Just 1 more month and you will have chances to listen to real Dave.
A listening to the real sound is better than thousand words

 

[Beolab]

I may be slow, but just to confirm, what type of clock are Chord using?

I cant find Rob answered to my question.
Is it a Crystal or Quarts type or?

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Kakki 
Fully understand your time constraints and appreciate the feedback you have already provided.
 
The closing proclamation of the Japanese reviewer that "Chord Dave is the world best DAC as far as I know" is interesting when set against his earlier statement that if the price were level with Nagra HD DAC he would choose Nagra. Perhaps he just prefers tubes.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Kakki
Would you say the images DAVE produces are well focussed? I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this aspect of its abilities.