CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Progisus]

Some say there is radiated noise as well. They suggest separating it a few meters from other equipment. I haven’t noticed this but did see an improvement with the Wave cables.

 

[Reactcore]

Some say there is radiated noise as well. They suggest separating it a few meters from other equipment. I haven’t noticed this but did see an improvement with the Wave cables.

2Ghz is easily transmitted through the air.. and imo its from the coax cables.. not so much the metal housing.. hence my dualdata link using fiber straight out the housing

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I listened to a new Sabre-based "high end" DAC recently and it was so soft, sounded pleasant but lacked all the attack and impact that Rob talks about, seems like it wasn't retrieving all the transients. Rob is right again, can't have all this overly-liquidity stuff, I went home and fired the Chord DAC with M Scaler and the difference was striking.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Since you guys keep worrying about RF noise, what does it really sound like when it's present in your system?

 

[SteveHulk]

Since you guys keep worrying about RF noise, what does it really sound like when it's present in your system?

When I've listened to systems before and after rf noise suppression measures I've noticed three things in particular:

Gross blasts of rf (eg from fridges starting and stopping) will cause a DAC to lose lock on the digital signal which causes audio dropouts in the time taken to relock;

More subtle rf lends a nasty hardness or edginess to the upper mid and treble, among other things destroying the timbre of vocals especially soprano;

rf also subtly destabilises the bass leading to a loss of definition of bass lines - a wandering and unfocused effect. This is particularly noticeable on organ music with its frequent sustained low notes.

Attention to rf noise reduces all of these unpleasant effects.

Similarly, acoustic vibration isolation also reduces the second and third effects. But that's another story

 

[GuiltyRocker]

When I've listened to systems before and after rf noise suppression measures I've noticed three things in particular:

Gross blasts of rf (eg from fridges starting and stopping) will cause a DAC to lose lock on the digital signal which causes audio dropouts in the time taken to relock;

More subtle rf lends a nasty hardness or edginess to the upper mid and treble, among other things destroying the timbre of vocals especially soprano;

rf also subtly destabilises the bass leading to a loss of definition of bass lines - a wandering and unfocused effect. This is particularly noticeable on organ music with its frequent sustained low notes.

Attention to rf noise reduces all of these unpleasant effects.

Similarly, acoustic vibration isolation also reduces the second and third effects. But that's another story

Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it.

 

[Yatharth]

Does Chord Dave offer way better sound quality with MacBook Air/Pro (using Roon 2.0) than Hugo 2?

 

[jlbrach]

the dave is far superior to the hugo 2..I have both but the hugo 2 is outstanding for the price and portability

 

[zen87192]

Happy New Year to all on HeadFi! May 2023 bring you Good Health Good Fortune and very Happy Listening

 

[Icenine2]

What are the Green wave hole LED's? I came home, DAVE on and LED's were Red. Switched off then on and back to green. Seems like running fine. All I can think is somehow it overheate and shut down?

 

[Reactcore]

What are the Green wave hole LED's? I came home, DAVE on and LED's were Red. Switched off then on and back to green. Seems like running fine. All I can think is somehow it overheate and shut down?

They are internal status led's.

Chord can use these for troubledshooting startup sequence etc. when opened.
I believe there are 3 of them at different circuit sections.

I use to peek at it between the display from front to see if Dave's gone in standby after pressing off on remote.

 

[Triode User]

2Ghz is easily transmitted through the air..

Yes and hence why it is used for WiFi (with frequencies of 2.4GHz and 5GHz) and is also why I try to avoid hifi devices which use wifi because it seems counterproductive to actually install a RF wifi transmitter inside the hifi device.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

the dave is far superior to the hugo 2..I have both but the hugo 2 is outstanding for the price and portability

I would agree with this.

 

[alekc]

the dave is far superior to the hugo 2..I have both but the hugo 2 is outstanding for the price and portability

Let me concur a bit this point of view as with introduction of Mojo 2 the whole Chord product matrix got very complex and complicated. For me it is the Mojo 2 that gives you a lot for this price point making Hugo 2 with limited features set and more than 3x price a bit questionable. Just my 2 cents... Dave is brilliant for critical listening but for musicality and enjoyment TT2 is the way to go for me.

 

[Yatharth]

Let me concur a bit this point of view as with introduction of Mojo 2 the whole Chord product matrix got very complex and complicated. For me it is the Mojo 2 that gives you a lot for this price point making Hugo 2 with limited features set and more than 3x price a bit questionable. Just my 2 cents... Dave is brilliant for critical listening but for musicality and enjoyment TT2 is the way to go for me.

Mojo 2 looks like a kid’s toy Hugo 2 looks like alien technology