CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[rkt31]

This $13k dac was a regular feature in Dave thread and does not better even $100 khadas tone board. Can't believe. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...and-measurements-of-totaldac-d1-six-dac.8192/

 

[bidn]

This $13k dac was a regular feature in Dave thread and does not better even $100 khadas tone board. Can't believe. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...and-measurements-of-totaldac-d1-six-dac.8192/

Hold on, there is much stronger!
The TotalDAC Live Power power supply: cost = €1200.
What's inside?:
a mere transformer ( cost = maybe a few dozen euros), connected internally (with the cheapest and most unsafe and outdated kind of internal connectors) to the output, and believe it or not!, not even a diode bridge rectifier nor any filtering, regulation = with those missing, this thing is actually not even a power supply, by definition... but a mere transformer component ...!

You can check this pic on the TotalDAC site itself:

... = € 1200...!!! Unbelievable but true, I guess if the pic is on the TotalDAC site, then the TotalDAC customers may not have much clue about the pricing of what they are buying...

Be happy to get instead top performance and quality engineering and quality components with Chord !

 

[rkt31]

Hold on, there is much stronger!
The TotalDAC Live Power power supply: cost = €1200.
What's inside?:
a mere transformer ( cost maybe a few dozen euros), connected internally (with the cheapest and most unsafe outdated kind of connectors) to the output, and believe it or not!, not even a diode bridge rectifier nor any filtering, regulation = with those missing, this thing is actually not even a power supply, by definition... but a mere transformer component ...!

You can check this pic on the TotalDAC site itself:

... = € 1200...!!! Unbelievable but true, I guess if the pic is on the TotalDAC site, then the TotalDAC customers may not have much clue about the pricing of what they are buying...

Be happy to get instead top performance and quality engineering and quality components with Chord !

Unbelievable ! It all boils down to professional honesty and confidence. In case of Dave rob is confident of his tech so he is not hesitant about discussing the tech openly. He has the backing of measurement done by himself.

 

[musickid]

We live in a jungle and i must be like a jaguar....... Seriously....research things thoroughly before hand.

 

[kerisabe]

Is there any gryphon diablo 300 owners here ? Im still running qutest now w the diablo 300. Wondering if any of you had ever compared the optional diablo 300 dac and the dac running with the diablo 300. Thanks!

 

[ecwl]

Is there any gryphon diablo 300 owners here ? Im still running qutest now w the diablo 300. Wondering if any of you had ever compared the optional diablo 300 dac and the dac running with the diablo 300. Thanks!

No Diablo 300 here. But I did notice on the Diablo 300 specs, the input sensitivity is listed as 0.617V which seems odd and a little low but moreover, the DAC module for Diablo 300 is listed to have an output level on the balanced line as 2.15V which probably is to accomodate for the Diablo 300's input sensitivity. If these measurements are true, you may have to set your Qutest to output to 1V and not 2V/3V to ensure that the Qutest does not clip your Diablo 300 to get the optimal sound from Diablo 300. Not sure because manufacturers measure the same thing differently.

 

[kerisabe]

No Diablo 300 here. But I did notice on the Diablo 300 specs, the input sensitivity is listed as 0.617V which seems odd and a little low but moreover, the DAC module for Diablo 300 is listed to have an output level on the balanced line as 2.15V which probably is to accomodate for the Diablo 300's input sensitivity. If these measurements are true, you may have to set your Qutest to output to 1V and not 2V/3V to ensure that the Qutest does not clip your Diablo 300 to get the optimal sound from Diablo 300. Not sure because manufacturers measure the same thing differently.

thanks for the suggestion of the qutest output voltage which yes I did set at 1v, the sound clips when i set it above 1v. I hope there are more people replying to my question regarding the dave vs the diablo 300 optional dac. Ive also just read the combination of dave/mscaler beats the dcs bartok hands down. Is it true?

 

[x RELIC x]

thanks for the suggestion of the qutest output voltage which yes I did set at 1v, the sound clips when i set it above 1v. I hope there are more people replying to my question regarding the dave vs the diablo 300 optional dac. Ive also just read the combination of dave/mscaler beats the dcs bartok hands down. Is it true?

I haven’t heard the diablo 300 optional DAC, but I noticed it’s based on the ESS9018 DAC chip. Now, DAC implementation is very important and I don’t know how the diablo 300 optional DAC implementation sounds, but I have heard a few ESS9018 DACS in the past. On average they sounded bright, brittle, ‘smeared’, and lacking depth in comparison to the DAVE. The one ESS9018 implementation I heard that was warmer also sounded softer with less impact.

You have to understand that what Rob Watts has invented with his Pulse Array DAC and using his WTA filters is very different from anything else on the market and far superior to off-the-shelf DACs like the ESS9018 with regard to accurate transient timing, depth, and re-creating the original analogue performance (depending on the recording method for the track). You may subjectively prefer one implementation over the other but the only way to tell is to audition, but technically the DAVE is far superior.

I have no comment on the DCS Bartok as I haven’t heard it.

 

[xxx1313]

The only ESS9018 implementation that I ever liked was Sennheiser's HE 1. Nevertheless I think that DAVE + HMS is even more capable.

 

[kerisabe]

Thanks for the inputs guys. From what ive heard the optional diablo 300 is the “economic” downgraded version of the gryphon kalliope dac (70-80%) with a fraction of the price with a more direct connection (less cables etc) cause its installed internally in the amp.

anyone else has any experience with these items???

 

[dac64]

the optional diablo 300 is the “economic” downgraded version of the gryphon kalliope dac (70-80%) with a fraction of the price with a more direct connection (less cables etc) cause its installed internally in the amp.

Good buy!

 

[supabayes]

The only ESS9018 implementation that I ever liked was Sennheiser's HE 1. Nevertheless I think that DAVE + HMS is even more capable.

Yes. The built in DAC of HE1 is not even close to Dave.

 

[supabayes]

thanks for the suggestion of the qutest output voltage which yes I did set at 1v, the sound clips when i set it above 1v. I hope there are more people replying to my question regarding the dave vs the diablo 300 optional dac. Ive also just read the combination of dave/mscaler beats the dcs bartok hands down. Is it true?

i have the diablo300 with dave+hms and it is excellent combination for driving both speakers and headphones. my dave is in dac mode and the diablo has never clipped. going to try with my qutest to see if changing the voltage will matter.

i have never seen the need to consider the optional gryphon dac because i wasn’t impressed with the built in dac of the HE1. it was lacking the clarity and detail of dave.

the only advantage with optional gryphon dac space saving and doing away with external dac. if space is not a constrain, personally i think that as qutest owner, you will enjoy adding hms to pair with the qutest if you haven’t done so yet. and it is easy to upgrade further by replacing the qutest with tt2 or dave. to me, dave+hms is end game. go this direction if you like what the qutest+hms is giving over the qutest alone.

i heard the dcs bartok couple of times at show condition. it is no doubt a great dac/headphone amp.

 

[kerisabe]

Thanks for sharing. Which source are you feeding the mscaler with? Im still kind if against the idea of the millions mod when adding mscaler. Also the power cable upgrade for dave, the psu for mscaler, upgraded bnc, optodx?

but im pretty sure music is amazing in your setup w the dave/mscaler combo feeding diablo 300, audio nirvana i wish im close by so i can experience it in person.

i have the diablo300 with dave+hms and it is excellent combination for driving both speakers and headphones. my dave is in dac mode and the diablo has never clipped. going to try with my qutest to see if changing the voltage will matter.

i have never seen the need to consider the optional gryphon dac because i wasn’t impressed with the built in dac of the HE1. it was lacking the clarity and detail of dave.

the only advantage with optional gryphon dac space saving and doing away with external dac. if space is not a constrain, personally i think that as qutest owner, you will enjoy adding hms to pair with the qutest if you haven’t done so yet. and it is easy to upgrade further by replacing the qutest with tt2 or dave. to me, dave+hms is end game. go this direction if you like what the qutest+hms is giving over the qutest alone.

i heard the dcs bartok couple of times at show condition. it is no doubt a great dac/headphone amp.

 

[supabayes]

Thanks for sharing. Which source are you feeding the mscaler with? Im still kind if against the idea of the millions mod when adding mscaler. Also the power cable upgrade for dave, the psu for mscaler, upgraded bnc, optodx?

but im pretty sure music is amazing in your setup w the dave/mscaler combo feeding diablo 300, audio nirvana i wish im close by so i can experience it in person.

yes, it is a little work to optimise connection/power/cables. that’s the fun part to get the ultimate sound.

my source is roon to trinnov amethyst and then hms+dave. trinnov amethyst is roon end point and more importantly for digital room optimisation to clean up excessive bass due to room mode standing waves. it also does frequency and phase correction for my speaker. the effect is mind blowing despite my speaker set up being in a room with treatment including PSI active bass traps. this probably sounds like too much trouble if you are avoiding the hms.