CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[SteveHulk]

I am not against taking time to release a right product.
But I am not cool about my local Chord dealer telling me that a new DAVE coming out in the next couple of months, based on the info from the company.
That was two years ago.

I guess that's something you could take up with your dealer.

To the best of my knowledge, Chord themselves have never announced a Dave II or whatever.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Nah, valves are tremendously transparent and extremely linear. It’s often the transformers that we’re hearing as the added warmth. Plenty of valve amps are as clean and clear as solid state, but have the advantage of magnificent holography and stage depth, (I think) complementing what Rob’s DACs are capable of. I’m not a fan of thicker, warmer valve amps though.

+1. Exactly this. I've done extensive testing and transparent amps, even tube amps, do not lose the transparency of the Dave. I don't think anyone here would pass a double blind test with really transparent amps behind the Dave. Also, it would just be inherently awful design and business practice to design a product that degrades considerably with an added amp when most people are using them for 2 channel systems. Will certainly acknowledge that really warm amps absolutely do take away from the base transparency, which the original post is mostly speaking to. I'm addressing it and the constant purist views related to it.

Also, I do not care at all what a manufacturer thinks about how I use their product I paid for, any hobby or use case lol

I am not against taking time to release a right product.
But I am not cool about my local Chord dealer telling me that a new DAVE coming out in the next couple of months, based on the info from the company.
That was two years ago.

Yea, I think Chord has been really consistent in saying that no new Dave (any time soon) or DAC has been in the works, much less anywhere near actual release. That's probably just bad dealer info. I do understand your original point to a degree though on age of the Dave and the Quartet. Hopefully it's valuable and relevant to future Chord products as well.

 

[JTbbb]

+1. Exactly this. I've done extensive testing and transparent amps, even tube amps, do not lose the transparency of the Dave. I don't think anyone here would pass a double blind test with really transparent amps behind the Dave. Also, it would just be inherently awful design and business practice to design a product that degrades considerably with an added amp when most people are using them for 2 channel systems. Will certainly acknowledge that really warm amps absolutely do take away from the base transparency, which the original post is mostly speaking to. I'm addressing it and the constant purist views related to it.

Also, I do not care at all what a manufacturer thinks about how I use their product I paid for, any hobby or use case lol



Yea, I think Chord has been really consistent in saying that no new Dave (any time soon) or DAC has been in the works, much less anywhere near actual release. That's probably just bad dealer info. I do understand your original point to a degree though on age of the Dave and the Quartet. Hopefully it's valuable and relevant to future Chord products as well.

I suppose the Quartet will put Dave on another level…this will indeed be Dave II?

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I listened to the DAVE and the TT-2 on headphones and then with my speakers and amp, to me my amp blows away the Chord amps including their headphones amps, so yes, I'll listen the way I listen and to me there is zero transparency loss with my amp, it takes Chord to another level and my music enjoyment soars.

 

[Hummer25]

I listened to the DAVE and the TT-2 on headphones and then with my speakers and amp, to me my amp blows away the Chord amps including their headphones amps, so yes, I'll listen the way I listen and to me there is zero transparency loss with my amp, it takes Chord to another level and my music enjoyment soars.

Which amp are you using?

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Which amp are you using?

Parasound JC-5.

 

[Reactcore]

I suppose the Quartet will put Dave on another level…this will indeed be Dave II?

That will be Dave III in my case as my mods gave me Dave II already

 

[number1sixerfan]

I suppose the Quartet will put Dave on another level…this will indeed be Dave II?

I think that's a good point, if it indeed does uplevel the Dave by a significant margin.

 

[Meridian7]

Dave II aka DaveZilla
With quarted supposedly that on steroids

 

[Jawed]

Well there's bound to be an Ultima Scaler to go with the Ultima DAC, so those looking for improvements upon DAVE have plenty to look forward to.

 

[ecwl]

Well there's bound to be an Ultima Scaler to go with the Ultima DAC, so those looking for improvements upon DAVE have plenty to look forward to.

My gut feeling is that Quartet Scaler was either going into the Blu/DAVE/Etude form factor or the Ultima form factor. Except it just sounds better when the power supply is in another box. Since it wouldn’t make sense to have the power supply in one Ultima box and the Scaler in another Ultima box, that’s probably why Quartet Scaler is in the DAVE form factor.

I presume Ultima DAC would be in the Ultima form factor with DAC and power supply in the same box (though you never know). And I doubt anything better than Quarter Scaler is in the horizon at this time since one product at a time. After Ultima DAC, there is still the “digital” power amp and the ADC Rob Watts want to develop/release. I suspect an Ultima Scaler is very far down the roadmap.

 

[Reactcore]

My gut feeling is that Quartet Scaler was either going into the Blu/DAVE/Etude form factor or the Ultima form factor. Except it just sounds better when the power supply is in another box. Since it wouldn’t make sense to have the power supply in one Ultima box and the Scaler in another Ultima box, that’s probably why Quartet Scaler is in the DAVE form factor.

I presume Ultima DAC would be in the Ultima form factor with DAC and power supply in the same box (though you never know). And I doubt anything better than Quarter Scaler is in the horizon at this time since one product at a time. After Ultima DAC, there is still the “digital” power amp and the ADC Rob Watts want to develop/release. I suspect an Ultima Scaler is very far down the roadmap.

I believe ive heard Rob saying in his Singapore interview the Ultima DAC will be a 3-piece unit:

• PSU
• DAC
• Either Scaler or separate Pulsearray from FPGA section

 

[Jawed]

My gut feeling is that Quartet Scaler was either going into the Blu/DAVE/Etude form factor or the Ultima form factor. Except it just sounds better when the power supply is in another box. Since it wouldn’t make sense to have the power supply in one Ultima box and the Scaler in another Ultima box, that’s probably why Quartet Scaler is in the DAVE form factor.

I presume Ultima DAC would be in the Ultima form factor with DAC and power supply in the same box (though you never know). And I doubt anything better than Quarter Scaler is in the horizon at this time since one product at a time. After Ultima DAC, there is still the “digital” power amp and the ADC Rob Watts want to develop/release. I suspect an Ultima Scaler is very far down the roadmap.

And after all that, DAVE 2. Oh, maybe TT3 and Hugo 3 will be before that too.

 

[Currawong]

Sounds to me like a questionable business strategy to hype up a product years ahead of release.
Especially if it is meant to be paired with a 10-years old DAC.

Well, a completely new product that doesn't supersede any of their existing models isn't an issue. You may have noticed that, for example, the Mojo 2 and TT2 weren't pre-announced.

And that 10 year old DAC still holds up 10 years later!

I am not against taking time to release a right product.
But I am not cool about my local Chord dealer telling me that a new DAVE coming out in the next couple of months, based on the info from the company.
That was two years ago.

I don't think your dealer was telling the truth about where the info came from. Could have been via the distributor, who was responsible for that. But either way, people who DO know about up-coming releases are forbidden, in their contract/NDA, from talking about it until release.

 

[The Jester]

I think Rob has got actual D-A conversion sorted with his pulse array design, improvements now centred on filtering, noise shaping and power supply isolation, makes sense to concentrate on feeding the DAC a better input.