CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Reactcore]

Does made you think about the reason Rob made the MScaler for the TT and not for the DAVE doesn’t it…

At the time of the development of Mscaler the Choral line had the Blu MKII which has the same code. Chord had a scaler product for the TT line on their roadmap i think. Not that theye specially matched other than the aesthetics.

But im curious as everyone to what will be released as second generation

 

[MvRBE10]

Does made you think about the reason Rob made the MScaler for the TT and not for the DAVE doesn’t it…

Exactly on the spot with that thought.

 

[Mr X]

At the time of the development of Mscaler the Choral line had the Blu MKII which has the same code. Chord had a scaler product for the TT line on their roadmap i think. Not that theye specially matched other than the aesthetics.

I think this thought is exactly spot on.

 

[Jawed]

I Have compared my scaler's performance with 20m fiber to another room vs placed on Dave and couldnt notice a difference anymore
while before on coax it was a bit harsch and edgy sounding.. The RF effect is the opposite as what im discribing now.

I think it's worthwhile to remember that RF noise is not only heard as a "harsh or edgy" problem. There are other sound quality problems it causes.

Anyway, now that you've heard something new with your A/B tests, you should repeat your tests with physical separation. Good luck!

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I do hear this too and the scaler's effect is genuine but its also adding a bit blurryness sometimes.

Like without scaler i see a image zoomed in a bit and totally sharply in focus.. then with scaler it get zoomed out and i see more of the scene.. also more pixel resolution but slightly out of focus. This 'out of focus' translates to the blanket between me and speakers

This happends with most tracks with actually standard studio processing/eq treatment.
And very audible on speaker setup and Dave made more energetic cause of a cap mod (or external PSU for that matter) giving it rock stable voltage.

You need to take the scaler totally out to hear this .. not use bypass on scaler (red)

But then again.. with headphones i still enjoy the extra reverb en roomy/holographic sound alot.. but it doesnt take away the scaler do has a tradeoff which amount is track quality dependent

I do think Rob's WTA is the right approach but it needs an unaltered pure mic'ed and ADC'ed signal to fully work.. if it doesnt get this.. it blurrs the sound a bit compared to Dave alone

As Rob Watts has said many times, you must just prefer the more distorted sound.

I get what you mean though. On certain tracks sometimes I prefer the slightly more aggressive, harsher sound. The same way I love to overdrive analog tape sometimes when recording.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I see what you mean, but with all the modifications you have done I wonder if you have done something to alter the M Scaler. I don't know.

That's a very good point. It's hard to argue he really has an M-Scaler anymore.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I had several on my table to compare and my scaler sounds the same.. ofc optical link removed the RF component giving its benefits.

This doesn't make any sense. How can your scaler sound the same but also have "benefits"?

 

[Reactcore]

This doesn't make any sense. How can your scaler sound the same but also have "benefits"?

I can still use it with coax output instead of dual optical. My scaler PCB has not changed only added the optic option.
This i have tested next to an unopened unit.

Ofc when used optically it gives benefits

Here i was comparing optical vs Coax

 

[esmit]

As Rob Watts has said many times, you must just prefer the more distorted sound.

I get what you mean though. On certain tracks sometimes I prefer the slightly more aggressive, harsher sound. The same way I love to overdrive analog tape sometimes when recording.

To me, as the owner of Reactcore s external optical solution, between mscaler and TT2, it really does not sound more aggressive or harsher. It sounds more resolving and balanced, better soundstaging. Compared to Wave Storm.
I do believe Reactcore and MvRie when they say the power modified Dave sounds better without mscaler than with. To me optical mscaler to Tt2 sounds a lot closer to Dave, but I can see Dave still is better...

I guess one day, when I can afford it, I will listen to a modified Dave and sell all the rest....

 

[GuiltyRocker]

To me, as the owner of Reactcore s external optical solution, between mscaler and TT2, it really does not sound more aggressive or harsher. It sounds more resolving and balanced, better soundstaging. Compared to Wave Storm.

Hhhmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Reactcore]

To me, as the owner of Reactcore s external optical solution, between mscaler and TT2, it really does not sound more aggressive or harsher. It sounds more resolving and balanced, better soundstaging. Compared to Wave Storm.
I do believe Reactcore and MvRie when they say the power modified Dave sounds better without mscaler than with. To me optical mscaler to Tt2 sounds a lot closer to Dave, but I can see Dave still is better...

I guess one day, when I can afford it, I will listen to a modified Dave and sell all the rest....

I Guess @FunkyBassMan meant a Dave on its own sounds more aggressive or distorted (?)

I think Dave alone handles most extensive (re)mixed/noise suppressed tracks better than Mscaler does.. simply cause the WTA cant good enough recreate the missing sample information out of messed up captured sound. And Dave is less excessive processing it vs Mscaler.

Mscaled i then hear a hint of better transient and space but it get smeared also.. on a good speaker system and better powered Dave this gets more obvious.

But then again if the source is pure, like non altered mike'd music MDave can move me to tears.. its just Real sounding in those cases
Its why im absolutely holding on to my scaler

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I Guess @FunkyBassMan meant a Dave on its own sounds more aggressive or distorted (?)

I think Dave alone handles most extensive (re)mixed/noise suppressed tracks better than Mscaler does.. simply cause the WTA cant good enough recreate the missing sample information out of messed up captured sound. And Dave is less excessive processing it vs Mscaler.

Mscaled i then hear a hint of better transient and space but it get smeared also.. on a good speaker system and better powered Dave this gets more obvious.

But then again if the source is pure, like non altered mike'd music MDave can move me to tears.. its just Real sounding in those cases
Its why im absolutely holding on to my scaler

Well to me M-Dave sounds miles better than Dave. But I know that's just my ears, and they could be wrong. "Better" is just individual taste. The real reason I believe it really does sound at least more accurate is because of what Rob Watts says about the technical side of it and that preferring no MScaler is simply all about preferring a brighter, more distorted sound.

 

[Christer]

It was and certainly is perfect giving what was/is possible with the technology at the time. This does not mean things can't advance as the FPGA technology and Mr. Watt's research moves forward.

Hmm, you obviously have your very own definition of the term perfect?
Very good yes and imho essential with the acoustic music I personally mainly listen to
But if a product is perfect by definition that means that it is so good that it can NOT be improved upon.

Cheers Christer

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Well to me M-Dave sounds miles better than Dave. But I know that's just my ears, and they could be wrong. "Better" is just individual taste. The real reason I believe it really does sound at least more accurate is because of what Rob Watts says about the technical side of it and that preferring no MScaler is simply all about preferring a brighter, more distorted sound.

To me as well, I would even say DAVE without M Scaler really isn't worth it, but that's just me.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

To me as well, I would even say DAVE without M Scaler really isn't worth it, but that's just me.

Interesting.

One thing that really amazes me about M-Dave is a ton of old recordings that to me have always sounded crappy now sound not just listenable, but in some cases really great. Listening to the Everly Brothers now and I can hear the old class A mic pre's and the softness of the tube mics.