[hieukm]

Has anyone with a DAVE compared it to the Denafrips terminator? This guy below who has heard many dacs ranked it above the DAVE.



https://www.whatsbestforum.com/show...-comparison-test-result-My-Subjective-Opinion

This cant be true. This guy cant be hearing correctly. Chord is da best. This is madness!!!

 

[smodtactical]

This cant be true. This guy cant be hearing correctly. Chord is da best. This is madness!!!

Considering the terminator is about 1/3 the price or less, its impressive it turns out to be true.

 

[hieukm]

Considering the terminator is about 1/3 the price or less, its impressive it turns out to be true.

You must be kidding. My Chord Dave is immune to Source, power cable and USB cable. Its eliteness overshadow digital source relevance (according to a elite cable maker)

Whats this non-sense that the top DAC need a separate PSU?

 

[rayl]

You must be kidding. My Chord Dave is immune to Source, power cable and USB cable. Its eliteness overshadow digital source relevance (according to a elite cable maker)

Whats this non-sense that the top DAC need a separate PSU?

I’ve been looking for an honest msb select 2 vs mscaler/dave comparison for ages. I don’t know that I would trust this impressions post... ~100k Usd vs ~18k usd. I’ve become an R2R skeptic but never heard the msb. Not even their 20k usd model which is more price aligned.

 

[ecwl]

Why the Focal Clear over the Utopia?

I personally prefer Utopia over Clear. I’ve read reviews criticizing that Utopia has a slight 6kHz peak and that Clear is more natural. However, Utopia has better transients, dynamics, clarity and transparency.
But since the question was Clear vs Aeon Flow Open vs HD650, I answered Clear >Aeon>HD650. Moreover, if the person hasn’t listened to the HD650 much, I think Utopia would be quite a splurge for rarely used headphones.
I also don’t use my headphones that often. Clear didn’t exist when I got Utopia. If I don’t own the Utopia now, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t just get the Clear instead and save myself some money, even knowing I prefer Utopia.

 

[hieukm]

I’ve been looking for an honest msb select 2 vs mscaler/dave comparison for ages. I don’t know that I would trust this impressions post... ~100k Usd vs ~18k usd. I’ve become an R2R skeptic but never heard the msb. Not even their 20k usd model which is more price aligned.

Be careful of what you are in doubting. Chord comrades cant tolerate a member who is in doubt.

 

[xxx1313]

I agree with GryphonGuy's impressions about Focal Utopia and DAVE. Almost all of my listening is classical and jazz and this combination has been incredibly accurate, musical and revealing. My prior top headphone was an HD800, which I still own, and the Utopia is so much better, at least for me. With used Utopias now available at significant savings over new I would put these at the top of my list.

I agree, there is a special synergy between DAVE and the best Focal headphones, especially Utopia. HD800(S) has absolutely no chance in this setup. Clear is no slouch either, the best headphone at its price range, imo. While I still prefer Utopia by some margin (faster, even better resolution), Clear is a great headphone too, without any material weaknesses, and it offers a slighly larger soundstage than Utopia. So you might even prefer Clear (over Utopia) for listening to classical music (maybe also for Jazz, but probably not for other music genres, imo). You cannot go much wrong with Clear, imo.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Considering the terminator is about 1/3 the price or less, its impressive it turns out to be true.

I doubt this would be true.
A few of the impressions of the Terminator said bass was emphasized & it had a slightly dark signature.
I also got the impressions that the soundstage was very average as well.

Just from that, I don't think it would touch the Dave.

 

[theveterans]

Considering the terminator is about 1/3 the price or less, its impressive it turns out to be true.

If you read that thread, anything delta sigma and anything non discrete r2r would be considered inferior to their exotic DACs. I wouldn’t really consider that as an objective matter

 

[smodtactical]

If you read that thread, anything delta sigma and anything non discrete r2r would be considered inferior to their exotic DACs. I wouldn’t really consider that as an objective matter

Ok well just curious if anyone hear has heard both and if they can comment.

 

[smodtactical]

I doubt this would be true.
A few of the impressions of the Terminator said bass was emphasized & it had a slightly dark signature.
I also got the impressions that the soundstage was very average as well.

Just from that, I don't think it would touch the Dave.

Can you link to where people said it had average soundstage ?

 

[timeslip]

I personally prefer Utopia over Clear. I’ve read reviews criticizing that Utopia has a slight 6kHz peak and that Clear is more natural. However, Utopia has better transients, dynamics, clarity and transparency.
But since the question was Clear vs Aeon Flow Open vs HD650, I answered Clear >Aeon>HD650. Moreover, if the person hasn’t listened to the HD650 much, I think Utopia would be quite a splurge for rarely used headphones.
I also don’t use my headphones that often. Clear didn’t exist when I got Utopia. If I don’t own the Utopia now, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t just get the Clear instead and save myself some money, even knowing I prefer Utopia.

Aaaah ok, totally makes sense. I just misunderstood and probably read your response out of context. I’m not one that loves headphones (sweaty ears, feeling of the band on my head). But the utopia has been the first headphone that I absolutely love and use it exclusively at home. It’s what convinced me to go splurge on the Dave too.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Can you link to where people said it had average soundstage ?

I remember a few impressions saying the soundstage equals the Yggdrasil, which imo was very average.

 

[smodtactical]

I remember a few impressions saying the soundstage equals the Yggdrasil, which imo was very average.

Ok fair.

 

[smodtactical]

Anyone compare DAVE to R2R 7HE ?