[flipper2gv]

  There's been a great deal of negativity about the pricing of Dave.I find this strange given that no one knows how it sounds.If it's a bit better than Hugo,then it is overpriced,but,if as I assume,it's revelatory,it's priced accordingly.My perception of Chord over the years is that they make top notch products which come at a price,the Hugo was pretty much the first "affordable" product from the Chord stable.I quite fancy a Porsche Targa,there's no way I can afford one,but I'm certainly not going to moan about it's price.

 
It`s the kind of product that the purpose is more to be talked about, to have some people dream about it, thinking about the brand more than anything else. The look with the stand really solidifies this point of view. It might be damn good in the end, but the point is to get people to buy mainly the other products the company produces and getting a bigger reputation in the audiophile world. Still, like many others, I much prefer the Schiit approach of building the best product they can and not putting money in fancy housing and whatnot that doesn't affect the sound quality. Also, I'm pretty sure Schiit margin is much less than most.

 

[kzhtoo]

There's been a great deal of negativity about the pricing of Dave.I find this strange given that no one knows how it sounds.If it's a bit better than Hugo,then it is overpriced,but,if as I assume,it's revelatory,it's priced accordingly.My perception of Chord over the years is that they make top notch products which come at a price,the Hugo was pretty much the first "affordable" product from the Chord stable.I quite fancy a Porsche Targa,there's no way I can afford one,but I'm certainly not going to moan about it's price.

The negativity on the pricing, the way I see is, mostly stems from people that who has been waiting and targeting Dave as an upgrade path from Hugo or QBD, the people who like Chord sound and want a little more from the current offerings. But the actual Dave price tag puts a lot of such people out of reach. For most other casual observers on the sideline, they simply shrug at the price tag and move on (it's not the first time we are seeing a DAC with 5-figure price tag). It alienates loyal Chord fan base more than anything else. People are expecting, rightfully or not, the price will be along the line of QBD and maybe a little more in £6500 or $10000 range, which IMO probably would have had much less negativity. People are willing to pay more or work harder to get the Chord's top of the line but Chord should also make it a little easier, not a lot but enough.

And Ferrari/Porsche analogy may not really apply here. Say..if I'm driving a BMW X5 and looking to upgrade it, I couldn't care less how much a new Ferrari costs, but I would definitely have something to say if BMW X6 is double the price of a X5.

Personally, I think QBD is a bit overpriced already, esp. more so in the recent years than 3-4 years ago, given the success of Qute and Hugo. But for Dave to be more than the double of Hugo TT, you can't really expect to not hear a moan or two or three.

But..I'm saying all these completely acknowledging the fact that it's not my place or anyone else's to say how much Chord should charge. They can do whatever the hell they want. Charge more to sell fewer units or charge a little less to sell more units, entirely up to them.

As a side note though, I for one glad to see the new volume control option (although if it can compete with a good pre-amp is still up in the air) and line-out option to use with a pre/pro, something like HT by-pass (someone mentioned it but not sure if it's true). I'm also curious if both XLR and RCA outputs can be driven simultaneously as I like to drive my subs with one set of the outputs.

 

[Quest88]

The DAVE pre amp working in the digital domain, so i cant see how your CPA-5000 can puch the SQ even further than DAVE outputs, its more if the CPA-5000 have a SQ colorisation signature, but i don't think so, so you can sell it, if you dont like to look at it unplugged. =)

PS

What country are you from?

 
I agree with yours and JaZZ's comments, and I'd happily sell off my pre if that were true. It means I will actually earn money from changing to the Chord DAVE. haha

However, I also think most people generally underestimate how big a difference a good pre-amp makes when your system transparency is high - something that has happened more so recently since the resolution of DACs have gone up. I remember being shocked the first time I heard a high end pre-amp at home.
 
It's kind of similar to how big an impact camera lens makes nowadays since camera sensors have become so resolving.. the limitation shifts to somewhere else in the chain.
 
I'm from Singapore.

 

[analogmusic]

We tried a very expensive and hi end source - the mighty  Linn Klimax DS direct into active speakers
 
then with a analog Preamp into the same speakers
 
Now sure how or why, but to my ears it sounded better with the analog preamp.

 

[JaZZ]

  We tried a very expensive and hi end source - the mighty  Linn Klimax DS direct into active speakers
 
then with a analog Preamp into the same speakers
 
Now sure how or why, but to my ears it sounded better with the analog preamp.

 
I know this effect. However, «better» isn't the same as more true to the original signal. It may take time to get used to the unvarnished truth.

 

[OK-Guy]

   
I know this effect. However, «better» isn't the same as more true to the original signal. It may take time to get used to the unvarnished truth.

 
in the old days, that's when a bit of bass & treble adjustment came in handy, you could get things tuned to how 'you' wanted to hear them... audiophiles killed music enjoyment...

 

 

[magiccabbage]

I would like to see a price for a DAC only version of the DAVE - I am happy enough with my WA5. 
 
I wonder if Chord will offer a tap upgrade for qbd76 owners and how much this would be? 
It might be worth while buying a second hand qbd76 for cheaper and asking chord can they bring the tap length to 168,000 

 

[LFC_SL]

The negativity on the pricing, the way I see is, mostly stems from people that who has been waiting and targeting Dave as an upgrade path from Hugo or QBD, the people who like Chord sound and want a little more from the current offerings. But the actual Dave price tag puts a lot of such people out of reach.

You have described the Hugo TT

 

[Rob Watts]

  If Rob ever reads this, I'd like his opinion about the volume control aspect around the Hugo and Dave, and how he thinks it can integrate the best in a speaker system.
 
I own a chord pre-amp and chord monoblocks, and was wondering if with the design methodology on the Chord Dave whether I should remove the pre-amp and just connect the Dave directly to the monoblocks - even when the pre-amp is something good like the Chord CPA-5000.

Yes.
 
Even the best pre-amp in the World would degrade transparency, so no pre-amp is the most transparent!
 
Rob 

 

[JaZZ]

  Yes.
 
Even the best pre-amp in the World would degrade transparency, so no pre-amp is the most transparent!
 
Rob 

 
Well said! A word to the headphone «amp» in this context? Do line out and headphone out share the same path, as in the Hugo?

 

[kzhtoo]

The negativity on the pricing, the way I see is, mostly stems from people that who has been waiting and targeting Dave as an upgrade path from Hugo or QBD, the people who like Chord sound and want a little more from the current offerings. But the actual Dave price tag puts a lot of such people out of reach.

You have described the Hugo TT

Uh...no

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

  Yes.
 
Even the best pre-amp in the World would degrade transparency, so no pre-amp is the most transparent!
 
Rob 

+A1 

 

[Beolab]

Yes.

Even the best pre-amp in the World would degrade transparency, so no pre-amp is the most transparent!

Rob 

Rob;

I use my Iphone with lightning to the micro USB input to my Hugo, but according to Matthew on your product department, he was not serten that you could connect your iphone/ipad through the isolated USB style B input because it need separate power with USB - B style, and the Iphone doesn't have a powered output sadly.

Can you confirm this?

Then i use a Apple TV ith optical out for streaming with Airplay to my QBD76HDSD that going to be upgraded to a DAVE.
I have tryed the most of the stremers like Arcam AirDAC, BlueSound, SONOS , NAD Aeris with digital output and i think the Apple TV are the most neutral but it convert the samplingrate to 48Khz, så the 16bit 44.1 airplay signal are not native. This may have a big impact on the conversation for the DAVE on the final result, ot whats you opinion?

Best regards

Fredrik

 

[kzhtoo]

My experience mirrors Quest and analogmusic. Tried Lumin A1 direct to the amp, but preferred with a Pass pre-amp in between.

 

[coolhand]

I can't help noticing discussion here questioning Dave's price, mostly due to the rather limited perspective of what it is most precisely capable of...
Instead perhaps more questions should be asked.
 
It only takes a brief moment to peruse its extraordinary specifications, which suggest that is not merely 'another FPGA dac with volume control' in more ways than may presently be imagined.
Likewise neither it is a simple update of the QBD76 HDSD :
 
Chord DAVE DAC Specification:

1. Inputs:
2. USB B-style 44 kHz to 768 kHz
3. DXD and Quad DSD
4. 2x optical 44kHz to 192kHz
5. 1 x AES 44kHz to 192kHz
6. 4 x Coax 44kHz to 384kHz
7. Dual-data mode available
8. Outputs digital:
9. 2x ultra-high-speed coax 768kHz dual-data mode (for use with future-unannounced Chord Electronics products)
10. Maximum output voltage: 6 volts RMS
11. THD and noise at 2.5 volts: RMS 0.000015 %
12. THD and noise at 2.5 volts: 127dBA Awt (124dBA into 33 ohms)
13. Dynamic range at -60 dBFS 1kHz -127 dBA A wt
14. (No measurable noise floor modulation, no a harmonic distortion)
15. (Analogue distortion characteristic: no distortion for small signals)
16. Power requirements: mains power 80 volts to 260 volts; AC 20 watts