[adrianm]

Maybe DCS loves the magazine What Hi-Fi? Does it also mean that I have to like it too ?

Does a manufacturer need to like the magazine to use their review in advertising?

It's kind of sketchy how they don't to any comparisons between products and then said products promote said review.

 

[radnor]

I auditioned the mDave combo against the Bartok and MSB premire. I put up the comparison in the Chord threads. The short version is that I preferred the MSB AND Bartok over the mDave and Dave. I found that the mDave brought a bit of a harsh edge to the sound in the treble area. I prefer the Dave without the mScaler.

This might also come down to the speakers and headphones that you have. I have Abyss TC and magic speakers that are both detailed and very transparent. With warmer sounding transducers your mileage might vary.

This guys is saying the exact opposite of you and in his case the mDave beat the Rossini and clock.... really sounds system dependent and what you like... I have heard others prefer mDave over Bartok and vice versa... seems like mDave requires a little more tweaking... ie streamer etc... but there is no clear winner... I plan to audition side by side at home soon : “ For the above test i also had on loan a set of ATC SCM50ASL active speakers and Shunyata power cables and block. Firstly on the ATC's, well breathtaking is how i would describe them. If your thing is recreation of a concert then these are for you, ive run passive 40's for some years but the active 50's are just spectacular.

Adding in the Shunyata power cords just adds a further dimension to them, but the two standouts were how quiet the background became and how the speakers disappeared with them. Anyone who suggests power cords do not make a difference should hear this setup.

Anyway the ATC's were a little to real for me to be honest, the Shunyata's i will definitely be trying in my system once compete.

So back to the dCs vs Chord setup. I only had a few days with the dCs and probably have not tried enough comparisons to say how this performs in anything other than the context here. But to my ears in the ATC setup i found the dCs too fatiguing. This was used streaming directly from NAS server. Don't get me wrong it was extremely detailed and hifi sounding but too bright for me. Adding in the clock was subtle to say the least, and for me was a matter of preference rather than adding anything. The pairing look beautiful and extremely well put together, but I constantly turned the volume down which for me is a sure sign something is not right.

One area this setup did excel at was soundstage, it was huge.

Plugging in the Chord DAVE/HMScaler, running from Aurender N10 brought things much more to my liking, much darker than the dCs setup but no less detailed although as mentioned above slightly reduced soundstage.

In another system im sure the dCs would be great, and being a single box has real benefits. Ultimately my three box, multiple cable setup will be staying.

Just to add the dCs can be fully controlled from iPad, including volume which was great.

As stated i have hardly given the dCs pairing a thorough workout but really did not find a reason to do so. dCs upgrade their systems through software which i always find concerning, whilst Chord do so through box changing. For me box changing whilst more costly i feel has its benefits, YMMV.”

 

[Articnoise]

It's kind of sketchy how they don't to any comparisons between products and then said products promote said review.

Say what??

 

[adrianm]

This guys is saying the exact opposite of you and in his case the mDave beat the Rossini and clock.... really sounds system dependent and what you like... I have heard others prefer mDave over Bartok and vice versa... seems like mDave requires a little more tweaking... ie streamer etc... but there is no clear winner... I plan to audition side by side at home soon : “ For the above test i also had on loan a set of ATC SCM50ASL active speakers and Shunyata power cables and block. Firstly on the ATC's, well breathtaking is how i would describe them. If your thing is recreation of a concert then these are for you, ive run passive 40's for some years but the active 50's are just spectacular.

Adding in the Shunyata power cords just adds a further dimension to them, but the two standouts were how quiet the background became and how the speakers disappeared with them. Anyone who suggests power cords do not make a difference should hear this setup.

Anyway the ATC's were a little to real for me to be honest, the Shunyata's i will definitely be trying in my system once compete.

So back to the dCs vs Chord setup. I only had a few days with the dCs and probably have not tried enough comparisons to say how this performs in anything other than the context here. But to my ears in the ATC setup i found the dCs too fatiguing. This was used streaming directly from NAS server. Don't get me wrong it was extremely detailed and hifi sounding but too bright for me. Adding in the clock was subtle to say the least, and for me was a matter of preference rather than adding anything. The pairing look beautiful and extremely well put together, but I constantly turned the volume down which for me is a sure sign something is not right.

One area this setup did excel at was soundstage, it was huge.

Plugging in the Chord DAVE/HMScaler, running from Aurender N10 brought things much more to my liking, much darker than the dCs setup but no less detailed although as mentioned above slightly reduced soundstage.

In another system im sure the dCs would be great, and being a single box has real benefits. Ultimately my three box, multiple cable setup will be staying.

Just to add the dCs can be fully controlled from iPad, including volume which was great.

As stated i have hardly given the dCs pairing a thorough workout but really did not find a reason to do so. dCs upgrade their systems through software which i always find concerning, whilst Chord do so through box changing. For me box changing whilst more costly i feel has its benefits, YMMV.”

Yeah, i've also heard others mirror his opinion. It's all down to taste. It's extreme nitpicking territory either way. You won't be disappointed with either.
I'd just go for bang for buck. For me the discount my dealer gave me on the DAVE made the Bartok a moot point since i'm sure the DCS dealer (who i've never had any contact with) won't give me a 50% discount. So why bother even auditioning it since i loved the DAVE with my Z1R (warm sounding headphones). I also don't believe in the streamer gimmick. Tested it myself with Dave and found a minimal difference between a 30k and a 300 euro streamer. And that was probably because of coax vs usb.

 

[adrianm]

Say what??

I find most reviewers to be more "promoters " than anything else. Especially What Hi-Fi, Darko , etc.

 

[radnor]

I find most reviewers to be more "promoters " than anything else. Especially What Hi-Fi, Darko , etc.

I agree.... I think reviewers should pick a clear winner for their tastes.... just put a flag in the ground! Darko is political... wants to say nice things about everyone so the gear keeps coming.... good strategy!

 

[adrianm]

I agree.... I think reviewers should pick a clear winner for their tastes.... just put a flag in the ground! Darko is political... wants to say nice things about everyone so the gear keeps coming.... good strategy!

He's also a sneaky person, did you see his " review" of the Dave + Lcd4? I thought huh..he's actually doing a review...midway through... PLOT TWIST : goes on to say *whatever cable* actually makes as much of a difference as the Dac .

 

[llamaluv]

Does a manufacturer need to like the magazine to use their review in advertising?

Yea and if anything, the more bland, predictable, and milquetoast the rag, the greater the incentive for a manufacturer to get it reviewed there. Which is why these publications are -- almost without exception -- bland, predictable, and milquetoast.

Also, you gotta love the level of insight on offer here:

 

[radnor]

He's also a sneaky person, did you see his " review" of the Dave + Lcd4? I thought huh..he's actually doing a review...midway through... PLOT TWIST : goes on to say *whatever cable* actually makes as much of a difference as the Dac .

I did a/b with Livra brand and stock lcd4z cable. Livra was defo better. More transparent... stock cable was dark. You can notice the difference... didn’t require super ears.

 

[adrianm]

I did a/b with Livra brand and stock lcd4z cable. Livra was defo better. More transparent... stock cable was dark. You can notice the difference... didn’t require super ears.

True, cables do sound different , but comparing them to a dac is taking it to a whole new level.

 

[radnor]

True, cables do sound different , but comparing them to a dac is taking it to a whole new level.

Agree.... cable delta is maby 2 to 3% max... it’s small. Dac is anywhere from 20 to 75%... I’d say mTT2 is 25 to 30% better than Hugo2go. 75% better than mojopoly. H2go 50% better than mojopoly. Rough approximations..

 

[Focux]

Agree.... cable delta is maby 2 to 3% max... it’s small. Dac is anywhere from 20 to 75%... I’d say mTT2 is 25 to 30% better than Hugo2go. 75% better than mojopoly. H2go 50% better than mojopoly. Rough approximations..

don't mind could u elaborate further what the improvements are?

of this 25-30%, what aspects are better significantly or otherwise

thank you!

 

[CreditingKarma]

This guys is saying the exact opposite of you and in his case the mDave beat the Rossini and clock.... really sounds system dependent and what you like... I have heard others prefer mDave over Bartok and vice versa... seems like mDave requires a little more tweaking... ie streamer etc... but there is no clear winner... I plan to audition side by side at home soon : “ For the above test i also had on loan a set of ATC SCM50ASL active speakers and Shunyata power cables and block. Firstly on the ATC's, well breathtaking is how i would describe them. If your thing is recreation of a concert then these are for you, ive run passive 40's for some years but the active 50's are just spectacular.

Adding in the Shunyata power cords just adds a further dimension to them, but the two standouts were how quiet the background became and how the speakers disappeared with them. Anyone who suggests power cords do not make a difference should hear this setup.

Anyway the ATC's were a little to real for me to be honest, the Shunyata's i will definitely be trying in my system once compete.

So back to the dCs vs Chord setup. I only had a few days with the dCs and probably have not tried enough comparisons to say how this performs in anything other than the context here. But to my ears in the ATC setup i found the dCs too fatiguing. This was used streaming directly from NAS server. Don't get me wrong it was extremely detailed and hifi sounding but too bright for me. Adding in the clock was subtle to say the least, and for me was a matter of preference rather than adding anything. The pairing look beautiful and extremely well put together, but I constantly turned the volume down which for me is a sure sign something is not right.

One area this setup did excel at was soundstage, it was huge.

Plugging in the Chord DAVE/HMScaler, running from Aurender N10 brought things much more to my liking, much darker than the dCs setup but no less detailed although as mentioned above slightly reduced soundstage.

In another system im sure the dCs would be great, and being a single box has real benefits. Ultimately my three box, multiple cable setup will be staying.

Just to add the dCs can be fully controlled from iPad, including volume which was great.

As stated i have hardly given the dCs pairing a thorough workout but really did not find a reason to do so. dCs upgrade their systems through software which i always find concerning, whilst Chord do so through box changing. For me box changing whilst more costly i feel has its benefits, YMMV.”

I agree 100% on the soundstage. The group of us that did the listening test all found that the Bartok presented a larger stage with more realistic imaging of the instruments within the stage. I am surprised that you found the Bartok brighter than the mDave. Like I said it is down to system and preference. It could also have been the filter setting on the bartok as well. At the end of the day I am sure that most of us would be happy with either the Dave or Bartok.

 

[Jon L]

I am curious how the Bartok would compare to a Gold Note DS-10, it seems like the closest competitor as far as streaming dacs are concerned. They only compare it to the Rossini here :
https://www.stereophile.com/content/gold-note-ds-10-da-processor

Looking at Gold Note's measurements, it seems to me that the good sound quality reported likely has much to do with the bulletproof analogue output stage.
They need to update the digital stage from the AK4493 to AK4499 to interest me personally at that price level.

 

[CreditingKarma]

I am curious how the Bartok would compare to a Gold Note DS-10, it seems like the closest competitor as far as streaming dacs are concerned. They only compare it to the Rossini here :
https://www.stereophile.com/content/gold-note-ds-10-da-processor

I am not sure that the gold note is 8n the same class as Bartok and certainly not the Rossini. Maybe it is more in line with the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan.