For someone “addicted to fun and learning” you sure missed the mark.
I read ASR. There are both idiots and bullies. There are also very intelligent individuals whose posts are worth reading. Hence why I read the reviews. There is no content control to keep personal attacks minimal. Being called a shill and snake oil salesman will never garner respect or interest in any thread by respected audio engineers.
You also attack the designer not the builder. Rob doesn’t price his products. He doesn’t design the casework. He just designs the electronic portions. Chord does the rest. Hate the pricing? Go complain to John Franks.
What nonsense. Watts is the marketing mouthpiece for Chord—his post I responded to is a stark example of that. I am not speaking on behalf of the folks at ASR—I’m speaking on behalf of myself after having been an unwitting victim of these prices before I had the evidence required to make an informed purchase.
There is nothing innovative whatsoever about a brand that charges Cadillac prices yet still utilizes obsolete tech like micro-USB connectors, primitive green LCD screens that can barely be viewed up close and that lack balanced headphone connectors in 2022—these are just a few of the lazy features Chord still sells while far cheaper brands sound just as good and include the latest industry standards. I’m not arguing about the respective benefits of these features, but if I’m going to pay these prices I should surely have the ultimate in options.
Ask yourself what is informing that $14,000 price point for the DAVE, an eight year old product that has long since recouped its pre-market investments? How is it that brands like Gustard can profit from producing a product that performs as least as well on the bench and is priced at literally 1/20th of the DAVE right from launch?
We can quibble over the value of measurements in headphones and amps, but not for DACs. It is true that the differences between Chord products and the superior performance of ES-9038pro-based DACs are beyond the range of human hearing. This latest offering from Chord achieved benchmarks that passed as recommended on ASR, as have all of Chord’s offerings on there, in case you haven’t actually read them. But for $6500+ dollars, this product should be showing the industry how it’s done, and it simply isn’t.
Which is the case for all of Chord’s offerings—they sound great, if you don’t mind missing features like balanced connectors or analog bass enhancers or readable screens, and you’re prepared to need exorbitantly priced add ons like an M-Scaler that for the cost should be integrated into the DAC itself or a proprietary streamer that costs as much as the DAC/AMP you’re pairing it with. I mind these things, especially when I can achieve the same end result at a fraction of the price.
You’re evidently someone who paid until it hurts for one of these products, as I did once, and it makes sense why you would fiercely defend the company you’re held captive to by your wallet. But I’m sorry, when the “designer” of the product I shelled out a fortune to commands me to ignore the measurements or the constructive criticisms of unbiased reviewers, and doesn’t provide me with any compelling information to refute their claims other than the soothing words of his mum to not worry, I’m calling him out.
He’s doing just fine, and as long as you stay loyal he’ll take your sycophantic efforts to defend him. But sorry, I work too hard for the money I part with to bring music into my home, and if I’m going to pay the price of a vehicle for a portable DAC/Amp, I need to see the math behind the sticker price. When that is forthcoming, we can talk. Peace.
but this is just not to every time connect and disconnect the rca from one amp to the other…
