[ecwl]

This may be a little "off-topic" for the more recent posts on this thread, but I'm curious to know where in the US have people been purchasing their DAVEs. I have the impression that the DAVE is not widely available (or not at all) through on-line retailers. Although I'm sure there are some local Chord dealers in the US around that have DAVEs in stock, they seem to be difficult to locate (at least through web searches) and even then, these shops may be very difficult for people to visit who live at some distance from them.

In theory, you can go to Bluebird Music website (US distributor) and ask for your nearby dealers. In practice, even though I know where most Canadian Chord dealers are, most of them are not stocking demo units of Chord DAVE or the demo unit gets sold so quickly that it takes a long time for them to re-stock. I think unfortunately, with higher priced products and dwindling number of brick and mortar dealers, it becomes harder and harder to find these products for a proper audition.

 

[ray-dude]

In theory, you can go to Bluebird Music website (US distributor) and ask for your nearby dealers. In practice, even though I know where most Canadian Chord dealers are, most of them are not stocking demo units of Chord DAVE or the demo unit gets sold so quickly that it takes a long time for them to re-stock. I think unfortunately, with higher priced products and dwindling number of brick and mortar dealers, it becomes harder and harder to find these products for a proper audition.

Alas, Bluebird is less than useless for US info: no meaningful information available online, completely non-responsive to inquiries on where dealers are, etc. Every indication is that Chord is a stellar company that is stuck with a useless distributor in the US (hopefully that contract expires soon)

Your best bet is is to google Chord and your zip code and look for a dealer site that is near you. Alternatively, poke around here and find a member that lives near you.

 

[twsmith]

Your best bet is is to google Chord and your zip code and look for a dealer site that is near you. Alternatively, poke around here and find a member that lives near you.

Yup -- I've done that and the closest dealer is in NYC which is 4 hours away -- go figure!! It seems like the lower priced Chord gear (Hugo, etc) is much easier to come by. I can hardly wait for a new US distributor.

 

[ecwl]

Yup -- I've done that and the closest dealer is in NYC which is 4 hours away -- go figure!! It seems like the lower priced Chord gear (Hugo, etc) is much easier to come by. I can hardly wait for a new US distributor.

I don't understand how this is a distributor problem. I may not be the biggest fan of Bluebird but the issue of not having a Chord DAVE nearby for auditioning is purely based on cost. It is my understanding that most brick and mortar stores have to pay say 60-70% of the full price of the product to order most audio components. There may be special demo pricing for some products (but not all) where the demo price is say 50% of the full price. So for a product like Chord DAVE, unless you're willing to buy the product regardless, you're asking a dealer to commit to $5000-$7000 to purchasing a unit from the distributor and then hoping that some local customer would buy it. If after letting the unit sit in the store for a couple of years, nobody wants to buy it, the dealer will have to sell it at a discount and hope that he can recover the cost he paid.
Obviously, cheaper units like Hugo and Mojo are easier to come by because the amount a dealer has to commit to stock the product is lower and the likelihood of a random customer being able to afford a Hugo and Mojo is much greater than a random customer walking into the store and being able to afford the Chord DAVE.

 

[miketlse]

I don't understand how this is a distributor problem. I may not be the biggest fan of Bluebird but the issue of not having a Chord DAVE nearby for auditioning is purely based on cost. It is my understanding that most brick and mortar stores have to pay say 60-70% of the full price of the product to order most audio components. There may be special demo pricing for some products (but not all) where the demo price is say 50% of the full price. So for a product like Chord DAVE, unless you're willing to buy the product regardless, you're asking a dealer to commit to $5000-$7000 to purchasing a unit from the distributor and then hoping that some local customer would buy it. If after letting the unit sit in the store for a couple of years, nobody wants to buy it, the dealer will have to sell it at a discount and hope that he can recover the cost he paid.
Obviously, cheaper units like Hugo and Mojo are easier to come by because the amount a dealer has to commit to stock the product is lower and the likelihood of a random customer being able to afford a Hugo and Mojo is much greater than a random customer walking into the store and being able to afford the Chord DAVE.

The Mojo had sold close to 50,000 units, the last time John Franks mentioned a figure (the current serial numbers also seem to start 5xxxx, which supports what JF quoted), so any dealer knows that if he stocks the Mojo, he has a good chance of selling them quickly.

The more expensive Chord products, like DAVE and Blu2 are built to order - this does reduce the business risk for Chord, of having unsold equipment in stock. There do seem to be quite a lot of posters on Head-Fi, mentioning that they have recently bought a DAVE, so my instinct is that sales of DAVE are still healthy, and I believe that any dealer who ordered a DAVE would sell it reasonably quickly.
In the early days of the Mojo, there were plenty of posts, from owners who said that they went to their dealers intending to buy a much cheaper DAC, but as soon as they heard the Mojo they got their credit card out straight away. Quite a few of the DAVE posts, currently give me the same impression - people have heard the DAVE at a show, and instantly ordered one on the spot (and sometimes a Blu2 to partner with it), because the DAVE made such an impression on them.
Ultimately it is a chicken and egg situation - I think dealers would easily sell any DAVES in stock, as soon as they were demoed, but the dealers will not get a DAVE in stock in case it is not ordered.

 

[twsmith]

The Mojo had sold close to 50,000 units, the last time John Franks mentioned a figure (the current serial numbers also seem to start 5xxxx, which supports what JF quoted), so any dealer knows that if he stocks the Mojo, he has a good chance of selling them quickly.

The more expensive Chord products, like DAVE and Blu2 are built to order - this does reduce the business risk for Chord, of having unsold equipment in stock. There do seem to be quite a lot of posters on Head-Fi, mentioning that they have recently bought a DAVE, so my instinct is that sales of DAVE are still healthy, and I believe that any dealer who ordered a DAVE would sell it reasonably quickly.
In the early days of the Mojo, there were plenty of posts, from owners who said that they went to their dealers intending to buy a much cheaper DAC, but as soon as they heard the Mojo they got their credit card out straight away. Quite a few of the DAVE posts, currently give me the same impression - people have heard the DAVE at a show, and instantly ordered one on the spot (and sometimes a Blu2 to partner with it), because the DAVE made such an impression on them.
Ultimately it is a chicken and egg situation - I think dealers would easily sell any DAVES in stock, as soon as they were demoed, but the dealers will not get a DAVE in stock in case it is not ordered.

I think my original question was not so much whether an audio dealer stocks (or doesn't) a DAVE and how many are sold, but rather where to find these dealers, and more importantly whether they can sell "remotely" without one having to physically come to the store. If a manufacturer or distributor actually says that you must walk into a retail store and have a live interaction/demo from a salesperson before allowing a sale, then that is a clear "no-go" on my list. I don't think I'm the only person who has ever purchased high-end audio equipment based mainly on user comments, reviews or just "word of mouth". Virtually all of the audio equipment I have was purchased on line. These products were available either by direct sale from the manufacturer's website or from a retailer that does a lot of business via the internet. By analogy, how much business do photographic retailers such as Adorama, B&H, etc. do on their website vs in the store itself? These stores go out of their way to welcome online sales (which can include some very expensive items). How many brick-and-mortar camera stores do you see these days (and that applies to audio shops too)? I see no reason why Chord or any other "high-end" audio manufacturer for that matter cannot do the same -- unless of course they purposely intend to restrict or control the sale of these products to the people who want to buy them. That fine with me, but just count me out as a possible purchaser of a Chord DAVE.

 

[miketlse]

I was not arguing against you, merely trying to point out my belief that dealers will sell more units if they get them in stock.
I did read a Facebook post during the last few days, that showed a map of the US, and explained that 50% of the population lived in maybe a couple of hundred counties.
This info was quite a surprise to me, but maybe it is a factor in the small number of dealers of chord equipment in the US - if you are a dealer near one of these centres of population, then you have a good chance of selling any gear that you demo, but if you are located 5 hours drive from a centre of population, then you may be very reticent to order in any chord gear, with the consequence that you sell little chord gear, and then believe that it is unpopular.

 

[Crgreen]

You can always order and pay over the 'phone, which is what I did. But you will have to speak to someone.

 

[miketlse]

You can always order and pay over the 'phone, which is what I did. But you will have to speak to someone.

Yes, but doesn't solve the problem for anyone who wants to hear the gear before deciding to buy.

 

[Crgreen]

Yes, but doesn't solve the problem for anyone who wants to hear the gear before deciding to buy.

My point was directed to twsmith, who wants to order without visiting the store and speaking to sales guys and is aggrieved that he can't order online. I think it follows as night follows day that in those circumstances, you don't actually hear the gear. Of course, if you don't even want to speak to someone on the 'phone, you could do the whole thing by email

 

[ray-dude]

Yes, but doesn't solve the problem for anyone who wants to hear the gear before deciding to buy.

One thing to consider (and what I did). I purchased my DAVE used, unheard. My rationale was that I appreciated the Chord sound (I own a Mojo), and that I was looking for a significant upgrade.

Based on my Mojo experience, I also was pretty sure that a quick demo wouldn't be enough to really appreciate what the DAVE could do (took a couple weeks for me to really hear what my Mojo could do). I figured if I bought used at market price, I could I always resell at market price and eat the PayPal fees + shipping. That $250ish risk (roughly) was tolerable for me for a purchase at this level.

Needless to say, I was (and continue) to be shocked by what the DAVE is able to do with some of my recordings, and I'm over the moon delighted with the purchase.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Yes, but doesn't solve the problem for anyone who wants to hear the gear before deciding to buy.

Honestly, in store auditions are not a good way to evaluate; it's ripe with variables. Sometimes you have to inhale and leap... Best of luck.

 

[strangecargo]

This may be a little "off-topic" for the more recent posts on this thread, but I'm curious to know where in the US have people been purchasing their DAVEs. I have the impression that the DAVE is not widely available (or not at all) through on-line retailers. Although I'm sure there are some local Chord dealers in the US around that have DAVEs in stock, they seem to be difficult to locate (at least through web searches) and even then, these shops may be very difficult for people to visit who live at some distance from them.

I bought mine in person from a local Chord dealer here in San Francisco, Audio Vision SF. It took about a week after purchase for my unit to arrive.

 

[strangecargo]

Honestly, in store auditions are not a good way to evaluate; it's ripe with variables. Sometimes you have to inhale and leap... Best of luck.

I brought my own headphone amp, headphones, music, and interconnects in to demo the DAVE and Hugo TT. The dealer gave me a few hours to just sit in a room and listen. I think the impression of the DAVE I got was pretty close to what I got once I took it home.

 

[Malcyg]

Can you not purchase, try it at home and return for a refund if not delighted? That's what I always do, but I am in UK and we have 14 days to return items, you my not be so lucky.

I rarely return items since I do a lot of reasearch first, but there has been the odd item that hasn't impressed me as much as I'd expected.