CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Crgreen]

Tesco bamboo chopping boards are even cheaper - I have one under my Dave, with Russ Andrews' wooden cone feet.

Interested in those washing machine dampeners. Could solve the problems I have with my SME 20 being stood on my washing machine

 

[Mojo ideas]

DAVE arrived at my home here in Seattle a few days ago and is now firmly ensconced in my system. Here are some photos:

Have you thought about getting the chord stand I think it'll help make the display easier to see.

 

[shuttlepod]

  Just to continue the kitchen-fi theme for a moment, I have some cheapo damping pads on their way, designed to reduce washing machine vibrations. On another thread, MusicMan rates these pads as better than his TOTL Stillpoints Ultra 6's - in certain locations, as the Stillpoints do indeed seem to vary considerably depending on the type of surface they're on.
 
As they're cheap, I ordered a set of pads for fun, and will try them first under DAVE. Probably won't be as attractive as that Acoustic Revive plinth that was mentioned recently, but hey, if it doesn't work out, I can always put them under my washing machine ) 

Kitchen-fi -- I love it. I'm all for exploring cheap, practical tweaks, especially applications that have been used outside of traditional high end audio. Looking forward to your report on the pads. 

 

[TheAttorney]

Tesco bamboo chopping boards are even cheaper - I have one under my Dave, with Russ Andrews' wooden cone feet.

Ikea also do cheaper versions, but only this particular thicker model has the cross-directional sandwich design that a mainstream reviewer went nuts over a while back. That's not to say the Tesco ones can't also be great, I'm just not inclined to try a comparison.
 

Have you thought about getting the chord stand I think it'll help make the display easier to see.

Let me get this straight: You're suggesting that people should try the stand that was carefully and lovingly designed as a perfect match for the DAVE? Now that's just being silly! When we have all these weird and wacky things to try first.
 
Actually, the dedicated stand is not for me, because it considerably increases DAVE's height and footprint, so wouldn't work in my cramped location, and I like DAVE's small, discrete look as is. I may change my mind though if I saw a stand in the flesh. From the photos, it's hard to judge the impact this would have on DAVE's aesthetics. Would probably make it much more imposing.

 

[Crgreen]

Well, in my neck of the woods, IKEA no longer supply the thicker cross-directional boards. Apparently they've been discontinued but I assume they'll be replaced with something similar. Therefore, I went for the Tesco board, with a view to "upgrading" to IKEA when I'm able.

In addition, having just dropped something just short of 8k on a Dave (and I don't begrudge it for a moment) I am what economists call "skint" and therefore my hi-fi purchase are limited to kitchenware.

It's fridge magnets next, which I hope will do wonders for my cables!

 

[Crgreen]

Perhaps I should add that there is a serious hi-fi use for fridge magnets. If you have one of those top-loading CD players with a puck to stabilise the CD, after a year or so the CDs can start to skip as the magnet in the puck loses its magnetism. The solution is to remagnestise the puck by leaving it attached to a fridge magnet overnight. Normal play will then be resumed.

Of course, most people on this forum won't have such players, but it could be worth passing on.

And then there was all that putting your cables in the freezer stuff.

 

[Ampus]

Hi guys and gals,

New to this very informative forum. I am contemplating about purchasing the DAVE; however, I am holding off the purchase as Rob Watts indicated in one of his previous posts that he may update the code on DAVE. I don't want to get the DAVE now, even with a 3 - 4 weeks waiting time, and have to send it back for code update. Just wonder if Rob has had a chance to do further testing on DAVE and make a decision regarding code update yet?

With regards to Crgreen's post, just wonder if the CD player with magnetic puck sounds relevatory compared to CD players without as "Magnetic" (not meaning to imply anything about Hi Fidelity magnetic products) seems to be the catch phase now a day .

 

[Rob Watts]

Wow if you wait for a sound quality code update you may wait for a long time!
 
Its not entirely clear that one will be needed, and I am only thinking about possible improvements when its coupled with a Davina, so optimising Dave to work with 768 kHz. So we are talking about 2017 at the earliest, and if optimizing at 768k gives no SQ improvement then not at all.
 
Rob 

 

[Torq]

  Wow if you wait for a sound quality code update you may wait for a long time!
 
Its not entirely clear that one will be needed, and I am only thinking about possible improvements when its coupled with a Davina, so optimising Dave to work with 768 kHz. So we are talking about 2017 at the earliest, and if optimizing at 768k gives no SQ improvement then not at all.
 
Rob 

I'm just waiting for a proper response to the double and quad rate DSD drop-out issue on OS X (no, I've not tried to address you directly on it, been working through dealers, which is proving to be completely fruitless).
 
As I understand it, the issue is a combination of a change in OS X and USB handling coupled with the way the Chord DACs handle DoP "faults".  But since other DACs (I've tested the Auralic Vega and the PS Audio units for example), have no such issues with quad-rate DSD from OS X this is not a problem that I'm willing to ascribe solely to Apple's current OS release.  Also, the issue exists when driven from an Auralic Aries as well, which removes the Mac/OS X from the equation completely.
 
Any thoughts?  Solutions?

 

[Ampus]

Thanks Rob. I will ask my dealer to proceed with the order. Perhaps you could incorporate double-grade rare earth magnets into Davina's circuit to enhance the animal magnetism of the unit or to levitate the unit to the next level

 

[Crgreen]

Hi guys and gals,

With regards to Crgreen's post, just wonder if the CD player with magnetic puck sounds relevatory compared to CD players without as "Magnetic" (not meaning to imply anything about Hi Fidelity magnetic products) seems to be the catch phase now a day .

I was mightily relieved, thinking that I'd have to return my Audio Research CD5 due to a faulty mechanism. A lovely player with a gorgeous sound, and eight valves inside which meant it ran very hot. If CDs were the only game in town, I'd probably have kept it, but there was no digital input. Very different from the Dave. Once you've experienced that Hugo/Dave presentation and tonal quality, there's no going back.

Reaching 600 hours of play on my Dave. There seem to have been small improvements over the last week, but it could be that I'm just getting more used to it. It's funny, I've been listening to a lot of piano music and am even more aware of differences in location acoustic, piano quality and microphone placement. Even some soft buzzing as a foot is raised from a pedal which would probably have led to a retake, except I imagine that the producer and pianist probably didn't hear it on the playback equipment used! And this is at moderate volume over speakers.

Colin

 

[Beolab]

Wow if you wait for a sound quality code update you may wait for a long time!

Its not entirely clear that one will be needed, and I am only thinking about possible improvements when its coupled with a Davina, so optimising Dave to work with 768 kHz. So we are talking about 2017 at the earliest, and if optimizing at 768k gives no SQ improvement then not at all.

Rob 

I assume code upgrade would be possible through USB then, or do we all have to send it in to England (Chord) for the upgrade Rob?

 

[x RELIC x]

I assume code upgrade would be possible through USB then, or do we all have to send it in to England (Chord) for the upgrade then?

Code updates (if needed) will need a return to a trained distributor or Chord. I won't do it for a minor change.

The new Dave turned up on Friday, but I am away on holiday for the school half term this week. Should be able to listen to it next week.

Rob

 

[Beolab]

-//-

 

[x RELIC x]

Yes i remember i read that now, but it is a small pitty knowing that the Dave are not so SW upgrade friendly, when you have to replace the hole chipset like on the QBD76 days.

Well to be fair, in principle, it's not like it's any different than the filters that exist on the ESS9018 for example, or many R2R OS algorithms that don't get upgrades. I really don't see many people wanting to send in those other DACs for a filter upgrade, even if it were possible. For example, Audio-GD just released a new NOS line for their PCM1704 DACs and any existing units need to be sent back for the upgrade.

It's not just a simple simple SW update for the Chord DACs, it's basically the core functionality programmed in to the FPGA and I imagine if something goes wrong it would be very bad. I trust that Rob has put enough in to the DAVE at this point to not really want an incremental upgrade (when I eventually get a DAVE that is). I for one am very happy just knowing that there is even the possibility of an upgrade for the DAVE if he does find any significant improvements. Sure, if it could be done by USB that would be great but it seems that it's just not that easy.