CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Crgreen]

I can't access the setup functions using the remote even with no headphones. Are there some magic words one has to speak?

 

[paulkwan]

I can't access the setup functions using the remote even with no headphones. Are there some magic words one has to speak?

Me too.
MENU button (for setup) not work, mine has POWER button fail too, so can never go stand by.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Given the speed and dynamics, improved transient correctness and additional detail that DAVE delivers, it is not surprising to me that top-end headphone users were among the first and most numerous of audiophiles proclaiming DAVE as a meaningful step up in musical presentation. As top end headphones tend to knock 90+% of speakers out of the ball park I have been investigating types of speaker which could perhaps do justice to DAVE's attributes. Electrostatics spring to mind but my experience of electrostatics is that, whilst very detailed and fast they lack the weight (palpability) of the percussive nature of instruments and voices. A dome tweeter/cone mid combination has no such problem but lacks the speed of an electrostatic, so some of the detail is lost. I just wondered if anyone here has tried mating a pair of Piega Coax speakers to DAVE?

I haven't yet tried this combination but the attributes of a coax ribbon tweeter/mid combination covering down to 400hz before the woofers kick in would seem to me (based upon what I have read) to be potentially a good match for DAVE, given the speed and detail generally inherent in ribbon tweeters. I hadn't even heard of Piega until a couple of weeks ago when they announced an intention to come to the UK tbh.

Anyway, if anyone has tried out a Piega Coax/Dave combination I would be very interested to hear your impressions.

 

[pkcpga]

Given the speed and dynamics, improved transient correctness and additional detail that DAVE delivers, it is not surprising to me that top-end headphone users were among the first and most numerous of audiophiles proclaiming DAVE as a meaningful step up in musical presentation. As top end headphones tend to knock 90+% of speakers out of the ball park I have been investigating types of speaker which could perhaps do justice to DAVE's attributes. Electrostatics spring to mind but my experience of electrostatics is that, whilst very detailed and fast they lack the weight (palpability) of the percussive nature of instruments and voices. A dome tweeter/cone mid combination has no such problem but lacks the speed of an electrostatic, so some of the detail is lost. I just wondered if anyone here has tried mating a pair of Piega Coax speakers to DAVE?

I haven't yet tried this combination but the attributes of a coax ribbon tweeter/mid combination covering down to 400hz before the woofers kick in would seem to me (based upon what I have read) to be potentially a good match for DAVE, given the speed and detail generally inherent in ribbon tweeters. I hadn't even heard of Piega until a couple of weeks ago when they announced an intention to come to the UK tbh.

Anyway, if anyone has tried out a Piega Coax/Dave combination I would be very interested to hear your impressions.

There are very few dealers that carry piega still, I've only heard the master line 2 speaker, which was a nice airy sounding speaker with great detail but lacked some of the fullness in sound of my nautilus speakers. I know in Switzerland and Germany they have a large showrooms but it seems many other countries your lucky if a dealer has a few low end products and one of their master series.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

Thanks pkcpga

I think they say they deal in 38 countries on the website. From some of the reviews they obviously have an EU presence having sold more than 100,000 speakers according to one review I read. If so someone must have a pair!

 

[Hubert H]

Paulkwan, Crgreen,
 
My remote works fine, I think it's actually a re-branded Arcam remote...
 
Anyway, make sure that the 'hifi' button is pressed first. I can then access the set-up options via the menu button and cycle/change settings using the volume and line buttons. Can't change the PCM/DSD setting though despite it being highlighted on the DAC. Muting and putting Dave into standby also works as well as waking it up again. I can only confirm this without headphones although I assume there to be no difference with headphones plugged in.
 
As far as screen blanking goes, it's always a number of seconds after a change of state with the DAC, volume or input etc, as it then writes current settings to memory.
 
H.

 

[Hubert H]

Anyway, if anyone has tried out a Piega Coax/Dave combination I would be very interested to hear your impressions.

Have you listened to Wilson Benesch? I've found them to be as true to source as any speaker I've heard, absence of the sound of the cabinet and a bass that's not over emphasised/exaggerated/laggy, minimal crossover (mid-range connected directly) and reasonably discreet.
 
Further improved in the new Geometry series.
 
Not cheap though...
 
H.

 

[Hubert H]

  Paulkwan, Crgreen,
 
My remote works fine, I think it's actually a re-branded Arcam remote...

Just tried with a my phone headset, using an adaptor

, and the remote works in headphone mode too. Also, the menu button returns to the last highlighted option so switching between values is fairly easy.
 
The memory writing (screen blanking) does kick one out of the menu though...
 
H.

 

[analogmusic]

Hello Rob
 
Which laptop do you use when you play music on your own Dave?
 
I guess you use it while on battery power (I recall reading?)
 
Which software player do you use?
 
Thanks

 

[Rob Watts]

It depends. At the office and on planes I use a HP pavilion - its low power, but also does HD video natively. Whilst on the road in hotel rooms it is my design lap-top which is a MSI 17 inch i7 machine with 16GB. For the main system its the HP and run in battery mode.
 
I use J River 21, I need to update to 22. With Mojo ASIO seems to be a bit better rather than WASAPI; actually I intend to do a test with Dave of ASIO against WASAPI later this week.
 
Rob

 

[AndrewOld]

  It depends. At the office and on planes I use a HP pavilion - its low power, but also does HD video natively. Whilst on the road in hotel rooms it is my design lap-top which is a MSI 17 inch i7 machine with 16GB. For the main system its the HP and run in battery mode.
 
I use J River 21, I need to update to 22. With Mojo ASIO seems to be a bit better rather than WASAPI; actually I intend to do a test with Dave of ASIO against WASAPI later this week.
 
Rob

Interested to hear the results of your test of ASIO vs WASAPI with DAVE and JRiver, I've just left mine on ASIO to use the Chord driver .. though I have to say that my DAVE is so involving that I find it quite hard to critically detach myself from the music to do comparisons - all I want to do is listen to the music! But if you are fiddling with JRiver you might also want to play with the "Play files from memory instead of disc" and the new "Load files to memory at the start of playback" features ... though tbh I would hope that none of these things made the slightest difference.

 

[pkcpga]

Have you listened to Wilson Benesch? I've found them to be as true to source as any speaker I've heard, absence of the sound of the cabinet and a bass that's not over emphasised/exaggerated/laggy, minimal crossover (mid-range connected directly) and reasonably discreet.

Further improved in the new Geometry series.

Not cheap though...

H.

Which one did you listen to? I listened to the ACT one evolution P1 and it's very high on my list of possible replacements for my older nautilus speakers. The carbon fiber look isn't my favorite and they're a bit picky with powering and are power hungry. But they do sound very impressive for their price, they are expensive but not insane.

 

[pkcpga]

If you have no budget restraints my favorite speaker so far was the lansche No 7 but it's into the 6 figures. It has a very impressive plasma tweeter with two voice drivers per speaker. Most life like speaker I've heard including any similar priced electrostatic.

 

[EVOLVIST]

This Chord DAVE we've been talking about? It's really, really good. Sometimes I can't believe what I'm hearing.

So, I purchased this thing called a SonicTransport i5, and this microRendu thingy. There supposed to send it to me in the mail. I've heard some people say that it's the best transport system, period. Period?

 

[Hubert H]

I have not listened to the Geometry series because I prefer to remain in ignorance sometimes

 
I currently have the ACT, had the original ACT 1 and then the ACT 2, so over 15 years of Benesch speakers with each iteration being a clear improvement. The ACT One Evolution's look to be a good speaker for for relatively small room such as mine though. They do need a bit of oomph to drive well but the later ones are an easier load, it's still a case of quality over quantity though.
 
I feel a yearning coming on, especially as the Dave has allowed me to re-focus on the connected electronics.
 
H.