CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[DaveRedRef-III]

I guessed it would be something like that. Thanks for the feedback guys. When I used to record I used the industry standard Beyer DT100 for desk monitoring and musician monitoring. They sounded sh#t (very dead) but they had industry leading isolation properties. If you could get a captivating mix out of them it would pretty much fly well on most systems.

 

[GryphonGuy]

 
I think that has to do more with measuring artifact.  In practice, the treble on the Utopia is more than adequate.  In fact, some think the Utopia is a bit treble heavy.  I don't, but others have commented that way.
 
I think the Utopia is the king of resolution though.  I've never heard a head phone resolve the way this one does--super detailed but very natural as well. 

​I played the Yim Hok-Man album "Master of Chinese Percussion" last night. The first track of the many drums is totally awesome. Love it. The 2nd track is called "Duck's Quarrel" and is largely Chinese cymbals and other metallic percussive instruments. It was so real (and irritating just like in real life) that instead of walking away like I do at Chinese New Year parades, I changed tracks after about 1 minute. I marvelled at the DAVE+Utopia accuracy but cringed at the sound those instruments truly make. Track 3 was wooden percussion instruments and the closely microphoned recording sounded like the guy (presumably) was banging the wooden stick about 150mm (6 inches) from my ear and I suitably winced at that too just like I would in real life. So DAVE+Utopia is reality and for this ripped CD album, just a little too life-like for my comfortable and relaxing listening. But love the apparent accuracy of DAVE+Utopia.

 

[ecwl]

Great. The album is available on Tidal. Will have a listen when I get home!

 

[ecwl]

Wow, if there ever is an audiophile album. Had to turn down the volume to not annoy my neighbor. Also not sure where the line between music and cacophony instrumental sound blurs. But growing up in Hong Kong, the instruments were darn realistic coming off the DAVE. But being Chinese did not prevent me from finding the album a little too cacophonic for me. It's very interesting but not my kind of music.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I'm excited to hear this album now after what guys are saying abojt it. Might be able to pull some test tracks off it for when I A/B headphones. Not to mention I love drums!

 

[strangecargo]

Hahaha. "Listen to this! It's sounds awful!"

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I got to listening to the "Master of Chinese percussion" and i like it! ha BUT some of the stick thwacks are pretty sharp on the Utopia. Listen with caution gang. It does seem to be excellently recorded, and may I say it around this group..... Transparent? lol

 

[lovethatsound]

Just got my focal utopia,I've been looking forward to these headphones for a while,will they be better than my hd800?only time will tell.

 

[ubs28]

Thanks Jazz. Wow that top end fall off is startling. Is that normal for top line over ear hifi cans? Perhaps something to do with the close proximity?

The Focal Utopia has better treble extension than the HD 800 if that says something.

For me the treble is extremely good. Especially with classical music.

 

[rkt31]

somewhere in this thread I remember someone planning to use Dave with benchmark ahb2 . any impressions ?

 

[ray-dude]

somewhere in this thread I remember someone planning to use Dave with benchmark ahb2 . any impressions ?

I'm about 6 hours into auditioning an AHB2 with DAVE and B&W 802d3's (vs Classe CT-2300 amp + Oppo HA-1)
 
I'm still jumping back and forth between various configs, but obviously A/B testing is challenging when you have to swap cables around between takes.  I have only recently swapped out my Oppo HA-1 for a DAVE, so there is that untangling I'm doing at the same time.
 
Initial impressions.  AHB2 has no issues driving the 802's either 2 channel or bridged (I had to cover my ears in both modes to get to clipping).  Initially, something sounded "off", but slowly started to sound right after a couple hours (similar to the experience I had when I first got my Mojo).
 
Music was sounding a bit more capped out than I was expecting (dynamics didn't have the punch I was hoping for).  Based on some posts in this thread re the current the DAVE can drive single ended vs balanced, I switched from balanced out on the DAVE to single ended out, and seemed to recover some of what seemed to be missing.
 
The current hypothesis I'm testing is that the strict 100W regulation of the AHB2 may be capping out some of the more aggressive transients (vs the Classe).  Switching back and forth between running the AHB2 in stereo (single speaker only) and bridged mono (SPL matched, etc), on some tracks I'm hearing a clear difference, but I haven't been able to isolate what may be causing it.  I suspect it may be related to the output regulation combined with the particular load dynamics of my 802d3's.  As always, it is about amp/speaker synergy with the specific music you're playing, so your mileage will vary.
 
Switching back to the Classe, the level of additional detail and speed and noise floor of the AHB2 were all apparent with the DAVE, but not as much with the Oppo HA-1 (if I hadn't heard them with the DAVE, I wouldn't have noticed them with the Oppo).  The Classe seems to have a more musical flavor to it, but the AHB2 seems more neutral and transparent.
 
Lot more listening and auditioning to do to sharpen up my impressions and make a decision.  As of now, my bias is leaning towards running the DAVE single ended directly into a pair of bridged AHB2s
 
Benchmark has a very generous 30 day trial program, and shipping of the beast is only $20-30 (shockingly small and light amp).  If you have any curiousity about the amp, I highly recommend giving it an extensive audition yourself and sharing what you hear in your system.

 

[rkt31]

I already own it and feed it by hugo in low gain mode . I run kef r300 with foam bungs and a sub .

 

[rkt31]

@ray-dude, thanks for the detailed reply.

 

[EVOLVIST]

I have an AHB2, as well. At first I thought I wasn't getting enough headroom out of the amp, but then I compared it to a 400 wpc amp, and yeah, plenty of headroom. This is going single-ended out of the DAVE.

It really is quite "transparent," as far as I can tell. Granted, I'm still working on room treatment with my speakers, yet I don't think that's holding me back from gauging the response I'm getting from them. In fact, I think I would redline the DAVE's preamp before I would get anywhere close to clipping the AHB2.

There's still one amp I want to pit it against before I'm done, but as of right now the AHB2 seems to be a keeper, unless the end results of my room treatment reveals something I don't like. The idea is to let the DAC sing. Okay, it seems to do that quite well.

 

[ecwl]

My dealer recently brought in a Krell Duo 300 to pair with his Chord DAVE and Wilson Sasha 2 speakers for demo. We also A/B'd the Krell amp against the Sanders Magtech Amp. That said, it's possible the Krell is still burning in. I'm not hearing any significant difference in transparency between the two amplifiers. The Magtech sometimes sound a little more (artificially?) detailed, but also drier and harsher, so I wonder if that's subtle noise floor modulation from the amp or just some low level high frequency/RF noise. But Krell sometimes creates an artificially wider or warmer soundstage which I was able to verify by listening to the same pieces of music back home using Focal Utopia headphones. This maybe due to Krell's 3rd harmonic distortion? Not sure. With complex symphonic works, I do feel like I'm hearing a little less through the Krell. It was hard to compare my dealer's system with mine, other than different setup and speakers, my dealer used some extra power conditioning products, like Nordost Qv2 and Qx4 which I didn't find great synergy with my computer system/Magtech amp.
 
A friend recently bought a Bryston 4B3 and he has a Chord 2Qute and Marantz AV8801 processor that he is using as a preamp with the 2Qute. I was quite shocked by the transparency of the Bryston 4B3. I presume Bryston is not relying on harmonic distortions to sweeten up or to warm up the sound as their previous amplifiers never did that. 
 
If I have the time, and Rob Watts weren't designing a digital amplifier, and I didn't commit my money to Blu Mk 2 already, I probably would look into Bryston 4B3 and Benchmark AHB2 amplifiers as an amplifier upgrade. But one only has so many resources... Like I was listening to DAVE playing Janacek's From the House of the Dead conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras while typing this.