[Hiyono]

I can video an unbox it from a pelican case -.-.  My friend unboxed it for me and put it into it.  I thought It would be more exciting but just two pieces of foam holding the Dave and a few wires.

maybe you could do an unboxing of a chord DAVE on here.

 

[Sonic77]

I'll be receiving my DAVE Dac on Tuesday

 

[Mython]

...and a few thousand people stopping by the Chord booth, at CES, for a listen to Mojo & DAVE - which means there should soon be an avalanche of impressions regarding DAVE - good news for those of us who have little option but to experience this DAC in a vicarious manner, until such time as we can afford one!

 

[estreeter]

Not sure what all the sticker shock is here - prior to the Qute/Hugo, Chord's sticker prices were all eye-watering. No small irony that those of us who did buy the Hugo copped an earful from people who'd never even heard it. We're slowly being condition to accept that 'serious' headphones cost $1500+ and the components needed to drive them at least that much again. I'm not trying to start a class war, simply telling it as I see it : the headphone end of the insane hobby known as 'high end audio' was definitely the cheap route to good sound when I joined this board but I'm no longer so sure that's the case when we buy 5 of everything year in and year out while the guy with the speaker rig steadily updates one piece at a time over a period of several years. Some might suggest that DAVE (or Gumby/DACute/Berkeley Reference/whatever) is the 'last DAC you'll ever need' but most of us have been here long enough to recognise that as a great marketing spiel and little else. 
 
(I dont have to look at the price of high-end DACs to know where this is heading : I only need to look at what audiophiles are willing to pay for tonearms, cartridges, phono and line stages to know that boutique audio companies have their market right where they want them. By the short and curlies   )

 

[Mython]

I don't know if the above was aimed at me, or not.
 
 
Just for the record, I personally take no issue with DAVEs pricing. It is a cutting-edge product, & the fruit of one man's research, over several decades. It looks set to favourably compete with products costing double, triple, quadruple as much (forthcoming professional reviews will certainly be interesting, as the industry has never before witnessed DAVEs technical level of performance, in a number of important areas of digital processing)
 
I merely cannot afford it, at this point in time.
 
For those who can - more power to you and I wish you much enjoyment.

 

[Shini44]

btw people is the DAVE powerful enough (no external amp) to drive the HE-6 without me being in a need for external amp ?
 
i mean can the DAVE get the best out of it? and without help ofc.
 
 
Quote:

 
I can video an unbox it from a pelican case -.-.  My friend unboxed it for me and put it into it.  I thought It would be more exciting but just two pieces of foam holding the Dave and a few wires.

 

  I'll be receiving my DAVE Dac on Tuesday

oh can't wait for the impressions of "out of the box" and the later impressions

 

[Beolab]

oh can't wait for the impressions of "out of the box" and the later impressions

Yes the DAVE can drive them, but i would not think to 100% and it also depending on how high you want to listen.

So a good powerfull amp is not a bad thing to have as a extra tool when you want to listen with more power

This is just my estimation if i look at the power on DAVE vs HE-6 sensitivity spec.

 

[Shini44]

Yes the DAVE can drive them, but i would not think to 100% and it also depending on how high you want to listen.

So a good powerfull amp is not a bad thing to have as a extra tool when you want to listen with more power

This is just my estimation if i look at the power on DAVE vs HE-6 sensitivity spec.

no DAVE owner here have tryed the combo? O-o''  
 
i hope someone did  

 

[ecwl]

I see you have the Chord Hugo TT. Did that drive the HE6 to your satisfaction? It should give 320mW into 56 ohms. I think Chord DAVE can get you 6.8V and about 750mW so you'll get even more juice. But as Beolab says, it all depends on how loud you listen. So just because someone else in the forum says they've tried the HE6 with the DAVE and it is great doesn't mean it will work for you because the other person may just prefer listening at lower volumes. I find I generally listen at 6-15dB lower volume than most people I know.

 

[Shini44]

I see you have the Chord Hugo TT. Did that drive the HE6 to your satisfaction? It should give 320mW into 56 ohms. I think Chord DAVE can get you 6.8V and about 750mW so you'll get even more juice. But as Beolab says, it all depends on how loud you listen. So just because someone else in the forum says they've tried the HE6 with the DAVE and it is great doesn't mean it will work for you because the other person may just prefer listening at lower volumes. I find I generally listen at 6-15dB lower volume than most people I know.

didn't buy the HE6 yet, thats why i am asking around
 
i assume i will get me some vintage speaker amp and hook it to the Hugo TT later and enjoy the combo before i upgrade to a better speaker amp.
 
 
 
on how loud i listen, hmm on the TT + LCD2 i get the volume up till the color is white or purple , depend on the track still sound smooth , not harsh. 
 
but mostly purple or blue, this is loud? or normal?  if this is normal then the TT or DAVE will be good for my preference? 

 

[ecwl]

That sounds loud to me. Considering LCD2 has a sensitivity of 101dB and HE6 84dB. I usually listen in the red with my Mojo with headphones of similar sensitivity as the LCD2. I'm now more sceptical that the Chord Dave (or Hugo TT) would drive the HE6 adequately for you. But then you never know till you try. At least you know what to ask for when someone on the forum does have a DAVE and HE6.

 

[Beolab]

didn't buy the HE6 yet, thats why i am asking around

i assume i will get me some vintage speaker amp and hook it to the Hugo TT later and enjoy the combo before i upgrade to a better speaker amp.



on how loud i listen, hmm on the TT + LCD2 i get the volume up till the color is white or purple , depend on the track still sound smooth , not harsh. 

but mostly purple or blue, this is loud? or normal?  if this is normal then the TT or DAVE will be good for my preference? 

I think your ears are like mine, you dont like to listen at high volume, but you feeling the need to higher the level until you hear the individual FQ-bands are more equal.

Often on a less powerfull amp you need to higher the volume before you feel satisfied with the sound performance, and on a more powerfull amp you dont need to have so high volume. This is my findings so far in the Amp jungle

And i think Chord Hugo / TT have a great drive , but gets a little thinner in the mids.

So i say maybe its a match with Dave.

 

[Shini44]

I think your ears are like mine, you dont like to listen high but you higher the volume a little untill you hear the individual bands are equal.

Often on a less powerfull amp you need to higher the volume before you feel satisfyed with tje sound performance, and on a more powerfull amp you dont need to have so high volume. Tis my findings.

And i think Chord Hugo / TT have a great drive , but gets a little thinner in the mids.

So i say maybe its a match with Dave.

i am going with Dave anyway  
 
thanks for the info ^^ lets hope i won't need a big speaker amp  

 

[Beolab]

i am going with Dave anyway  

thanks for the info ^^ lets hope i won't need a big speaker amp  

Please come back with your impressions when you have received the DAVE how it works out with the HE-6 can be very good to know other HeadFi:ers .

Are you going to order the Silver or Black Ed ?

 

[romaz]

Zero jitter means in almost that you can use a BlueSound Node / Iphone with camera kit or a High End Aurender / CAD , end the sound should end up almost the same!

This is huge Rob!

I had a DAVE on home loan back in November and I connected it to my CAD CAT via Curious USB/USB Regen and it sounded glorious.  Because Rob had told me optical should sound almost as good as USB and had mentioned the DAVE was immune to source jitter, I compared the CAD CAT on USB against my Mac Pro on optical and with the identical bit-perfect file, I could not distinguish a difference.  With my TotalDac d1-monobloc, the difference was obvious and the CAD CAT was clearly superior.  
 

 
At CES this past week, I paid the DAVE a visit again.  As you can see in the photo, the DAVE was connected to a very basic Windows laptop using a cheap non-audiophile USB cable.  To add to the audacity, cheap 18g computer-grade power cables were used on both the DAVE and laptop and amazingly, the sound was as good as I remember, the best sound I have heard on headphones.
 

 

 
Here are some further insights from Rob when I asked him about the benefits of using a very expensive high-end source like the Aurender W20:
 
"Its a bit more complex than that. Sure jitter is eliminated, and that's true of all my current DAC's. But there is more too it; RF and correlated noise from the source can have an influence too. For Dave, Hugo, TT and 2 Qute the DAC is insensitive to it - but the source noise can affect the rest of the system to a smaller degree.
 
But we are talking third order effects here, I can't hear a difference between a very noisy PC and a very low power source in my system. So no I wouldn't bother spending much on the transport - absolutely not from the sound quality POV."
 
Regarding MQA, this was the the buzzword at CES this year, more so than Roon Ready.  Bob Stuart was there to promote MQA exclusively and it seemed MQA banners were everywhere with many vendors proudly proclaiming support for it.  Having sat through the demo and given the opportunity to A/B an MQA file using a Mytek Brooklyn DAC that had an MQA decoder built in that could be flipped on and off, it was impressive in the sense that with MQA on, the soundstage depth and the air around the notes increased in a similar way that you hear from the DAVE although with the DAVE, the magnitude of improvement was considerably greater.  It leaves me to wonder whether MQA is necessary with the DAVE or whether MQA could perhaps enhance the DAVE.  
 
In case anyone is interested, here is the DAVE in black at CES, my preferred color.