CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE
Nov 28, 2021 at 5:01 PM Post #18,391 of 25,754
For this reason I wouldn’t recommend the duo to anyone but a crazy audiophile willing to live on the bleeding edge.
The all-in-one convenience factor is making me lean Bartok. Once I get an mScaler with the Dave, the price isn't much different anymore.
Agreed, one thing tipping the scale in Chord's favor is discounts available will make it cheaper than the Bartok while also sounding better. However, if you do eventually go down the crazy custom PSU route a lot of people are going... at this point i'm throwing my hands in the air and saying i've had enough :) I don't care if it does sound better than the Vivaldi stack as people claim, I'd rather live with a worse sounding Bartok.
It's best to be realistic though : if you do go down the Bartok route you'll also probably add the Rossini clock later as it's the only upgrade path available. Not as easy to tinker with that.
 
Nov 28, 2021 at 5:26 PM Post #18,393 of 25,754
The need for garden hose sized coax cables strikes me like this is entirely a crazy solution!
Indeed it is. Especially when the guy manufacturing and advocating those cables now does not actually use the M Scaler for replaying non-streamed music.

Fourlegs aka Triode User aka Wave Audio says:

"I also retain the mscaler (with a dedicated DC4) in my system for streaming but i much prefer 32bit PGGB files to go direct to DC4 Dave by usb rather than to take them through the mscaler."


https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...ew-of-math-and-magic/page/26/#comment-1140829
 
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Nov 28, 2021 at 5:57 PM Post #18,394 of 25,754
The all-in-one convenience factor is making me lean Bartok. Once I get an mScaler with the Dave, the price isn't much different anymore.
Have you compared the Bartok and a properly setup Dave / MScaler in the same system? I compared a Dave with the Vivaldi and couldn't believe how much better the Dave was in all respects. I immediately purchased the Dave. Please see my previous posts about the comparison. Unfortunately Dave and the Mscaler are not perfect, but they are still better than the competition. Hopefully the new Mscaler and Dave 2 when it arrives will address the issues that can be tweaked out of the original combo.
 
Nov 28, 2021 at 6:08 PM Post #18,395 of 25,754
Amen to that. One lesson owning the Chord duo has taught me is that the M-scaler upscaling game is not worth the candle. The need for garden hose sized coax cables strikes me like this is entirely a crazy solution! My duo is extremely sensitive to RF noise. For this reason I wouldn’t recommend the duo to anyone but a crazy audiophile willing to live on the bleeding edge.
The Opto-DX is a much better solution. It has so many other advantages too.
 
Nov 28, 2021 at 6:59 PM Post #18,396 of 25,754
Have you compared the Bartok and a properly setup Dave / MScaler in the same system? I compared a Dave with the Vivaldi and couldn't believe how much better the Dave was in all respects. I immediately purchased the Dave. Please see my previous posts about the comparison. Unfortunately Dave and the Mscaler are not perfect, but they are still better than the competition. Hopefully the new Mscaler and Dave 2 when it arrives will address the issues that can be tweaked out of the original combo.
Do we know when those new pieces are coming out? 👀
 
Nov 28, 2021 at 7:10 PM Post #18,397 of 25,754
Do we know when those new pieces are coming out? 👀
Dave 2 isn't confirmed so i think that's just wishful thinking, however the new M-scaler might be out next year as it has been confirmed to be in the works. Since it will match Dave in appearance i wouldn't count on a Dave 2 soon.
 
Nov 28, 2021 at 7:47 PM Post #18,399 of 25,754
Have you compared the Bartok and a properly setup Dave / MScaler in the same system? I compared a Dave with the Vivaldi and couldn't believe how much better the Dave was in all respects. I immediately purchased the Dave. Please see my previous posts about the comparison. Unfortunately Dave and the Mscaler are not perfect, but they are still better than the competition. Hopefully the new Mscaler and Dave 2 when it arrives will address the issues that can be tweaked out of the original combo.
I haven't figured out how to audition them yet. The pandemic has made things very complicated. Outside of spending a lot of money in used gear and reselling the one I like less, I dunno. I'll keep trying to hunt down audio stores I guess. No clue, sadly.
 
Nov 29, 2021 at 12:54 AM Post #18,400 of 25,754
Are you using it with the Opto dx on batteries or LPSUs?
FWIW, I use an Uptone LPS-1.2 on the TX side and a PowerAdd battery on the RX side...
 
Nov 29, 2021 at 2:08 AM Post #18,401 of 25,754
Are you using it with the Opto dx on batteries or LPSUs?
I have a Farad Super3 for the Opto-DX R and an IFI ipower for the Opto-DX T. I initially used a 12 volt AGM 34Ah battery to power the Opto-DX R. The battery would last weeks, but it was a nuisance charging it and not knowing the soc. I am considering getting a second Farad Super3 for the Opto-DX T, but they are relatively expensive for probably no improvement in sound quality.
 
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Nov 29, 2021 at 8:39 AM Post #18,402 of 25,754
Well i agree if we're talking about 2 channel recordings, obviously this would have to be considered from the recording process itself. I don't mean playing stereo music on a multi channel system. As good as software would be, it will still sound terrible.
I'm using a Sennheiser GSX soundcard for gaming, which is the best virtual surround i've heard. The reason why it's so good is because it takes real 7.1 surround and uses a proprietary engine to mix it into 2 channels. It's very convincing because the original information is there from all 7 channels, however it isn't up to a real 7.1 system standard.
It's a 2ch music device, Dave thread.
 
Nov 29, 2021 at 10:37 AM Post #18,403 of 25,754
I have a Farad Super3 for the Opto-DX R and an IFI ipower for the Opto-DX T. I initially used a 12 volt AGM 34Ah battery to power the Opto-DX R. The battery would last weeks, but it was a nuisance charging it and not knowing the soc. I am considering getting a second Farad Super3 for the Opto-DX T, but they are relatively expensive for probably no improvement in sound quality.
I'm not a big fan of IFI, but this does look a lot more cost effective than the Farad :
https://ifi-audio.com/products/ipower-elite/
Also skeptical regarding how much the psu could improve the performance of the Opto-Dx or M-scaler. When i tried the Farad Super 3 with the M-scaler i found it worse than the stock brick. There was clearly more RF. So i stuck to the battery.
 
Nov 30, 2021 at 7:05 AM Post #18,404 of 25,754
I'm not a big fan of IFI, but this does look a lot more cost effective than the Farad :
https://ifi-audio.com/products/ipower-elite/
Also skeptical regarding how much the psu could improve the performance of the Opto-Dx or M-scaler. When i tried the Farad Super 3 with the M-scaler i found it worse than the stock brick. There was clearly more RF. So i stuck to the battery.
My experience with iFi has been positive
With a Qutest the iFi was better sounding than the wall wart and an MCRU was better yet. I’m planning on using an iFi for a optical to Ethernet converter Probably a good match for the opto dx and other low power devices. I’ve got a friend on a budget so he is using an iFi for his Qutest usb from a Mac book pro and a silver dragon usb cable, sounds really nice well above its price point.
 
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