CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Rob Watts]

Setting 1 is about 1 dB boost from DC to 1 kHz; 2 is 1.5 dB, 3 is about 1.9 dB. The LF change is a requirement in order to give the correct time delays for each ear.
 
I am confident that the change you are hearing is down to the EQ and not a reduction in transparency because the depth perception improves; with DSP if there is a problem in transparency you hear it with depth getting worse as DSP's problem is small signal non-linearity. But with cross-feed on, depth gets much better.
 
Rob

 

[ray-dude]

Just received my Chord Dave this morning (thank you @Modwright01!)
 
Going through my audition playlist, enjoying the heck out of this thing.  The layers of detail are pretty breathtaking.  So immersive and engaging (this is a horrible DAC to have in the office  It will take a little while to stop running around the candy store and really settle in on this one.
 
Can't wait to wire it into my 2 channel setup tonight and really take it for a spin.
 
(as an aside, if this is baseline, I literally can't imagine what the mscaler will do to get it to that next level, but can't wait to hear it!)

 

[Peter Hyatt]

  Just received my Chord Dave this morning (thank you @Modwright01!)
 
Going through my audition playlist, enjoying the heck out of this thing.  The layers of detail are pretty breathtaking.  Some immersive and engaging (this is a horrible DAC to have in the office  It will take a little while to stop running around the candy store and really settle in on this one.
 
Can't wait to wire it into my 2 channel setup tonight and really take it for a spin.
 
(as an aside, if this is baseline, I literally can't imagine what the mscaler will do to get it to that next level, but can't wait to hear it!)

Congratulations!  this is fun to read.  

 

[miketlse]

  Just received my Chord Dave this morning (thank you @Modwright01!)
 
Going through my audition playlist, enjoying the heck out of this thing.  The layers of detail are pretty breathtaking.  So immersive and engaging (this is a horrible DAC to have in the office  It will take a little while to stop running around the candy store and really settle in on this one.
 
Can't wait to wire it into my 2 channel setup tonight and really take it for a spin.
 
(as an aside, if this is baseline, I literally can't imagine what the mscaler will do to get it to that next level, but can't wait to hear it!)

Enjoy DAVE for a few months, and then Rob will announce the Ultra HD version of Mscalar, giving you 4 million taps - here's hoping anyway. 

 

[ray-dude]

  Enjoy DAVE for a few months, and then Rob will announce the Ultra HD version of Mscalar, giving you 4 million taps - here's hoping anyway. 

 
My hope is that Rob can get to 4M then 8M taps in time for my vintage hearing to still hear the difference!
As a freshly minted DAVE owner, it's the digital amp I both can't wait for and am nervous about (the mscaler is nothing but goodness in all scenarios!)  

 

[miketlse]

   
My hope is that Rob can get to 4M then 8M taps in time for my vintage hearing to still hear the difference!
As a freshly minted DAVE owner, it's the digital amp I both can't wait for and am nervous about (the mscaler is nothing but goodness in all scenarios!)  

 
I hope that your hearing stays sharp.
At the current rate of change, all predictions about how fast Rob will push the hifi boundaries, seem to be too pessimistic.

 

[ray-dude]

   
I hope that your hearing stays sharp.
At the current rate of change, all predictions about how fast Rob will push the hifi boundaries, seem to be too pessimistic.

I was actually talking to a friend this morning about how the pace of FPGA innovation (better than Moore's law) is 2-3x faster than high end DAC life cycles.  Hugo2 level performance should be pretty phenomenal, and it will be interesting to see how H2+mscaler compares to DAVE+mscaler.  With Davina to drive closed loop development/optimization, the pace of innovation will be amazing.

 

[jlbrach]

   
My hope is that Rob can get to 4M then 8M taps in time for my vintage hearing to still hear the difference!
As a freshly minted DAVE owner, it's the digital amp I both can't wait for and am nervous about (the mscaler is nothing but goodness in all scenarios!)  

the question is when do we reach the point of diminishing returns....I can buy a car that can go 220 mph but cant use it anywhere....if human hearing cannot truly appreciate the improvements then what?....

 

[miketlse]

  the question is when do we reach the point of diminishing returns....I can buy a car that can go 220 mph but cant use it anywhere....if human hearing cannot truly appreciate the improvements then what?....

You can create mathematical models based on theory, that predict that the point of diminishing returns starts at x.
All models are an abstraction of reality, but they are not reality itself.
The only way to prove/disprove if the model is realistic, is to build the physical device, and test it. 

 

[esimms86]

My hope is that Rob can get to 4M then 8M taps in time for my vintage hearing to still hear the difference!

As a freshly minted DAVE owner, it's the digital amp I both can't wait for and am nervous about (the mscaler is nothing but goodness in all scenarios!)  

With Davina Rob plans to test the limits to see whether or not it will prove to be beneficial to go beyond 1M taps. Who knows, maybe he'll find out that you need to 10M taps or 100M taps to make a significant enough audible difference. In the meantime, we lose high frequency hearing as we get older(and if we're not careful) but we shouldn't lose the ability to hear improvements timing or soundstage.

 

[Beolab]

The cross-feed function includes EQ to compensate for the head shadowing effect; this means that LF's are boosted by 1.5dB and this would account for the warmer balance.

Since I have been using Hugo 2 a lot on my travels, I find the cross-feed is absolutely essential to get good depth. I was listening music that had some bells, and it spookily sounded like the bells were in the aircraft; I was so stunned by it I took the headphones off, and realized it was on the recording! But with cross-feed off that "out of your head" illusion completely collapsed.

Rob

Its funny you mention this, because in my setup with my open planar Abyss headphones with DHC cables connected to DAVE, i get much more "out of the head experience" with it set to OFF, than with the cross feed ON. The resolution and micro timing gets affected, and a slight more lush bass.
It feels a little dull in my favorite setup, but with other headphones i got like HD650 / HD800 and Ultrasone Ed 12 , Stax SR-009 ( with sep. Amp )i feel the cross feed function do a little better work, but my liking is to have it set to off most of the time, for the best spacious and out of the head feeling.

 

[dguitarnut]

I don't wanna get flamed but you haven't heard what Dave can do until you listen to it on a high quality speaker system.
There, i said it.

 

[Beolab]

If you where directing that to me i have one DAVE installed in our store to our 67.000 € high end speakers, and its sounds very nice, as good as my headphones i would say, but diffrent vs headspeakers ( Abyss Phi ) .

 

[ray-dude]

I don't wanna get flamed but you haven't heard what Dave can do until you listen to it on a high quality speaker system.
There, i said it.

First impressions:
 
With headphones, I was astonished at the musicality and magic that the DAVE brought to the table.  It was a continuous smile as I jumped around favorite tracks.  Every thing was just better and more engaging/pleasing/emotional
 
I dropped it into my 2 channel system last night, and did not have the "wow" that I had with headphones.  The marginal lift was there, but not the leap I had heard with headphones.
 
That being said, I hear gaps with the 2 channel system better.  There is a lot of room for tuning (and I knew I had a lot of room tuning to do), but the tuning opportunities are more vivid now.  Looking forward to squeezing the 2 channel set up and seeing how far DAVE helps me push it

 

[theveterans]

 
First impressions:
 
With headphones, I was astonished at the musicality and magic that the DAVE brought to the table.  It was a continuous smile as I jumped around favorite tracks.  Every thing was just better and more engaging/pleasing/emotional
 
I dropped it into my 2 channel system last night, and did not have the "wow" that I had with headphones.  The marginal lift was there, but not the leap I had heard with headphones.
 
That being said, I hear gaps with the 2 channel system better.  There is a lot of room for tuning (and I knew I had a lot of room tuning to do), but the tuning opportunities are more vivid now.  Looking forward to squeezing the 2 channel set up and seeing how far DAVE helps me push it

 
You just need the room treatment then DAVE should give the same magic that you get with headphones