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.