[bozebuttons]

Yes, it had an effect but not as great as the Entreq Poseidon with Apollo or Atlantis cables on my DAC or Server. I was hoping it would have some effect on my subwoofer (to get rid of the hum) and the chassis of my power supply but I noticed no benefit so I returned it. As an aside, I plugged my subwoofer into a Son of Q balanced power supply by Equi=Tech which is basically an isolation transformer + RF filter and the hum is now gone and the bass has tightened up. This has now replaced my Audience aR6 line conditioner and is a lot cheaper.

Good to Know.

 

[vert]

Romaz, have you tried grounding the orbiter?

 

[romaz]

  Romaz, have you tried grounding the orbiter?

I haven't tried it yet but my situation has changed.  With the TotalDac server, which used the Cubox cpu just like the Sonicorbiter, it made a big difference, either because it generates a fair amount of RF or is just very sensitive to RF and so with the Sonicorbiter, it may make a difference as well with most systems.  With the DAVE, however, it seems to be so well insulated against RF from components that precede it (like the music server) that I haven't noticed any benefit with Entreq, either with an Aurender or my Oppo CD player.  

 

[vert]

  I haven't tried it yet but my situation has changed.  With the TotalDac server, which used the Cubox cpu just like the Sonicorbiter, it made a big difference, either because it generates a fair amount of RF or is just very sensitive to RF and so with the Sonicorbiter, it may make a difference as well with most systems.  With the DAVE, however, it seems to be so well insulated against RF from components that precede it (like the music server) that I haven't noticed any benefit with Entreq, either with an Aurender or my Oppo CD player.  

 
Do you stream Tidal via Roon with the orbiter? How do you find the sound quality?

 

[romaz]

   
Do you stream Tidal via Roon with the orbiter? How do you find the sound quality?

With my optical network and on the DAVE, I literally can't tell the difference between 16/44 streaming via Tidal + Sonicorbiter, 16/44 streaming from NAS with the Sonicorbiter or CD playback with my Oppo.  

 

[vert]

Well that's a ringing endorsement. I'll have to try it.

 

[REXNFX]

  With my optical network and on the DAVE, I literally can't tell the difference between 16/44 streaming via Tidal + Sonicorbiter, 16/44 streaming from NAS with the Sonicorbiter or CD playback with my Oppo.  

So DAVE sounds the same no matter what transport feeds it and input used? I take it it sounds great, any comparisons to other competing DAC's? Cheers!

 

[paul79]

Above question is good! You have had the Totaldac Monobloc and CAD server....
 
Romaz....... To take the Q further, was the Totaldac Monobloc with the CAD at the level of the DAVE? Differences in the sonics?
 
This is to get a perspective on DAC performance in comparison to a much more expensive DAC..... To realize more than that you can use any source.
 
Thanks

 

[romaz]

The DAVE is a game changer that I never anticipated encountering.  To say it caught me by surprise would be correct.  I had solidified my views about good audio setup and tuning some time ago based on the helpful opinions of many here on head-fi, @paul79 included, and after many many hours of careful listening and comparing.  During my time with Tyll Hertsens at Big Sound 2015, my concluding statement was "find the headphone you love first, everything else comes second."  If you read my review of the 5 servers at the beginning of this thread, then you know my philosophy has changed somewhat.  Having had the opportunity to listen to and compare a lot of gear over the past year (headphones, amps, DACs and music servers), it became clear to me that if it's not right at the source, than it won't be right at the headphone (or speakers) and so I revised my philosophy to "find the best digital source that you can find and it will benefit every piece of gear you place after it."  
 
Well, this is where the DAVE is a game changer because once again, my philosophy has changed.  Having settled into my recent purchase of my TotalDac d1-monobloc last summer and having been utterly captivated by its holographic qualities, especially with my headphones connected directly to the DAC's signal via a customized set of DHC cables with XLR connectors, I had considered it the best headphone DAC in the world, even better than the d1-twelve or anything MSB, Nagra or most any other DAC manufacturer had to offer because with those other DACs, you are forced to use an outboard amp and any amp -- tube or transistor, compared to the pure unadulterated signal of the DAC will amount to a veil that will rob you of transparency.  Those of you who have heard the full bandwidth signal of your DAC with your headphones this way know what I'm talking about.  Because this method of headphone listening is so transparent, the quality of the source becomes all the more important and indeed, with the TotalDac d1-monobloc (and every DAC I had experienced before it), the source absolutely matters.  Furthermore, not only does the source matter but it helps to coddle the source by adorning it like a prima donna with expensive mains cables, line conditioners, digital interconnects, anti-vibration footers, grounding cables, expensive fuses and tweaks like a USB Regen or AQ Jitterbug.  By the time I had figured out how to make my TotalDac sound as good as possible, I felt like I had earned myself a PhD in audio setup.
 
This is where the DAVE is different.  This DAC contains no DAC chip or resistor.  It is an FPGA DAC, essentially a computer with thousands of lines of code written by a single person, Rob Watts.  I was not a fan of Chord in the past.  Having had access to a Hugo for a full summer, I never found myself impressed because I always found my Bricasti sounding better and my portable Sony ZX2 being more convenient.  I auditioned the TT and it was better but I never found myself wanting to grab for my wallet.  When I was invited to listen to the DAVE, I expected to hear the Hugo on steroids and in my mind there was no way this thing could even come close to a TotalDac, the finest DAC I had ever heard.  Well, within the first track, I found myself utterly dumbfounded at what I was hearing.  Enough so that I convinced my dealer to allow me to take this unit home so that I could compare it in my system and against my TotalDac.
 
From the TotalDac d1-dual to the d1-monobloc, the key difference to me was the d1-monobloc presented more air.  It was more dimensional and music through this DAC was allowed to breath.  It was so refreshing that it was worth the price difference.  With the DAVE, after careful comparison, I found that it was everything the d1-monobloc was and then some.  It's 6.35mm headphone jack was directly tapping the DAC signal just like the d1-monobloc and so the immediacy, lightning speed against the blackest of backgrounds and clarity were all there.  In comparison, however, where the DAVE sounds fluid, the d1-monobloc sounds drier.  With the DAVE, the music sounded more alive and more real.  The depth it presented was uncanny and not in any artificial way, like increasing reverb with an EQ, but in a very "you are there" way.  People use that term all the time and with any TotalDac, this descriptor is very appropriate but again, with the DAVE, it just takes it up another notch.  I'm not suggesting the DAVE wipes the floor with the d1-monobloc because it doesn't.  In my mind, the d1-monobloc remains the 2nd best headphone DAC in the world but without question, to my ears and IMHO, the DAVE is better.
 
Even more amazing, during my comparison, when I concluded that the DAVE was outperforming my TotalDac, the DAVE was connected via a simple optical SPDIF cable to my "dirty" Mac Pro which was plugged directly into the wall using a cheap 18g mains cable.  The d1-monobloc was connected to my mighty CAD CAT via Curious USB cable/USB Regen and the CAD CAT was connected to my Entreq Poseidon grounding box via Atlantis grounding cable and to my Audience aR6 line conditioner with Furutech GTX-D(gold) receptacles and Audience AU24SE mains cable.    Despite this huge disadvantage, the DAVE still sounded better.
 
When my DAVE finally arrived a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure what to make of my previous finding.  How could the source truly not matter even though Rob Watts had insisted that it wouldn't matter?  He stated he had figured out a way to make the DAVE immune to source jitter and to any RF noise coming from the source.  In effect, what he was saying was that you could plug any old laptop into the wall with a cheap power cable and no special line conditioning or grounding and using a cheap $10 USB cable, it would perform equally to a CAD CAT or an $8,000 Aurender N10 with the DAVE.  Rob insisted that all the DAVE needs is to be fed a bit-perfect file.  If you are interested to read the results of my recent blind testing against a variety of sources including the mighty Aurender, here it is:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/1800#post_12379613

 

[Articnoise]

  The DAVE is a game changer that I never anticipated encountering.  To say it caught me by surprise would be correct.  I had solidified my views about good audio setup and tuning some time ago based on the helpful opinions of many here on head-fi, @paul79 included, and after many many hours of careful listening and comparing.  During my time with Tyll Hertsens at Big Sound 2015, my concluding statement was "find the headphone you love first, everything else comes second."  If you read my review of the 5 servers at the beginning of this thread, then you know my philosophy has changed somewhat.  Having had the opportunity to listen to and compare a lot of gear over the past year (headphones, amps, DACs and music servers), it became clear to me that if it's not right at the source, than it won't be right at the headphone (or speakers) and so I revised my philosophy to "find the best digital source that you can find and it will benefit every piece of gear you place after it."  
 
Well, this is where the DAVE is a game changer because once again, my philosophy has changed.  Having settled into my recent purchase of my TotalDac d1-monobloc last summer and having been utterly captivated by its holographic qualities, especially with my headphones connected directly to the DAC's signal via a customized set of DHC cables with XLR connectors, I had considered it the best headphone DAC in the world, even better than the d1-twelve or anything MSB, Nagra or most any other DAC manufacturer had to offer because with those other DACs, you are forced to use an outboard amp and any amp -- tube or transistor, compared to the pure unadulterated signal of the DAC will amount to a veil that will rob you of transparency.  Those of you who have heard the full bandwidth signal of your DAC with your headphones this way know what I'm talking about.  Because this method of headphone listening is so transparent, the quality of the source becomes all the more important and indeed, with the TotalDac d1-monobloc (and every DAC I had experienced before it), the source absolutely matters.  Furthermore, not only does the source matter but it helps to coddle the source by adorning it like a prima donna with expensive mains cables, line conditioners, digital interconnects, anti-vibration footers, grounding cables, expensive fuses and tweaks like a USB Regen or AQ Jitterbug.  By the time I had figured out how to make my TotalDac sound as good as possible, I felt like I had earned myself a PhD in audio setup.
 
This is where the DAVE is different.  This DAC contains no DAC chip or resistor.  It is an FPGA DAC, essentially a computer with thousands of lines of code written by a single person, Rob Watts.  I was not a fan of Chord in the past.  Having had access to a Hugo for a full summer, I never found myself impressed because I always found my Bricasti sounding better and my portable Sony ZX2 being more convenient.  I auditioned the TT and it was better but I never found myself wanting to grab for my wallet.  When I was invited to listen to the DAVE, I expected to hear the Hugo on steroids and in my mind there was no way this thing could even come close to a TotalDac, the finest DAC I had ever heard.  Well, within the first track, I found myself utterly dumbfounded at what I was hearing.  Enough so that I convinced my dealer to allow me to take this unit home so that I could compare it in my system and against my TotalDac.
 
From the TotalDac d1-dual to the d1-monobloc, the key difference to me was the d1-monobloc presented more air.  It was more dimensional and music through this DAC was allowed to breath.  It was so refreshing that it was worth the price difference.  With the DAVE, after careful comparison, I found that it was everything the d1-monobloc was and then some.  It's 6.35mm headphone jack was directly tapping the DAC signal just like the d1-monobloc and so the immediacy, lightning speed against the blackest of backgrounds and clarity were all there.  In comparison, however, where the DAVE sounds fluid, the d1-monobloc sounds drier.  With the DAVE, the music sounded more alive and more real.  The depth it presented was uncanny and not in any artificial way, like increasing reverb with an EQ, but in a very "you are there" way.  People use that term all the time and with any TotalDac, this descriptor is very appropriate but again, with the DAVE, it just takes it up another notch.  I'm not suggesting the DAVE wipes the floor with the d1-monobloc because it doesn't.  In my mind, the d1-monobloc remains the 2nd best headphone DAC in the world but without question, to my ears and IMHO, the DAVE is better.
 
Even more amazing, during my comparison, when I concluded that the DAVE was outperforming my TotalDac, the DAVE was connected via a simple optical SPDIF cable to my "dirty" Mac Pro which was plugged directly into the wall using a cheap 18g mains cable.  The d1-monobloc was connected to my mighty CAD CAT via Curious USB cable/USB Regen and the CAD CAT was connected to my Entreq Poseidon grounding box via Atlantis grounding cable and to my Audience aR6 line conditioner with Furutech GTX-D(gold) receptacles and Audience AU24SE mains cable.    Despite this huge disadvantage, the DAVE still sounded better.
 
When my DAVE finally arrived a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure what to make of my previous finding.  How could the source truly not matter even though Rob Watts had insisted that it wouldn't matter?  He stated he had figured out a way to make the DAVE immune to source jitter and to any RF noise coming from the source.  In effect, what he was saying was that you could plug any old laptop into the wall with a cheap power cable and no special line conditioning or grounding and using a cheap $10 USB cable, it would perform equally to a CAD CAT or an $8,000 Aurender N10 with the DAVE.  Rob insisted that all the DAVE needs is to be fed a bit-perfect file.  If you are interested to read the results of my recent blind testing against a variety of sources including the mighty Aurender, here it is:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/1800#post_12379613

 

Agree on the importance of good gear right at the source for digital and would say that’s true for analogue too.

 

Then you write anything MSB, does it mean that you have compared the DAVE against MSB Select as well? According to a man from MSB the Select can be used to drive headphones too. This is naturally of little practical importance as the Select is way too expansive for me, but still interested to know as the Select sounded very good then I heard it together with Marten Coltrane 3 and some other SOTA gear. I didn’t have the chance to hear any another DAC in this setup to compare with. What the Select did was to sound both really good technical and at the same time so very natural, in a way I have never heard from a setup with digital gear before. If the Dave can do the same for much less I guess I need to get me one. 

 

[romaz]

   

Agree on the importance of good gear right at the source for digital and would say that’s true for analogue too.

 

Then you write anything MSB, does it mean that you have compared the DAVE against MSB Select as well? According to a man from MSB the Select can be used to drive headphones too. This is naturally of little practical importance as the Select is way too expansive for me, but still interested to know as the Select sounded very good then I heard it together with Marten Coltrane 3 and some other SOTA gear. I didn’t have the chance to hear any another DAC in this setup to compare with. What the Select did was to sound both really good technical and at the same time so very natural, in a way I have never heard from a setup with digital gear before. If the Dave can do the same for much less I guess I need to get me one. 

I don't mean to discredit any other DAC manufacturer, including MSB or otherwise.  MSB makes very fine products and I hold them in high regard.  When I made that statement, it was meant to reflect my opinion that if you value transparency, then "direct to DAC" is the best way to achieve it and so in this regard, I would choose even the TotalDac d1-single (direct to DAC) over just about any other DAC where you have to use a headphone amplifier.
 
You can stack digital components and potentially not impact transparency but the more components you stack in your analog chain, transparency will be impacted.  Even the lowest impedance interconnect will add its signature to the sound.  Same thing goes for speaker or headphone cables, crossovers and transducers and so the less parts in the analog chain, the better is the rule.  Those who think their amp is transparent is fooling themselves.  Look at the bandwidth, noise floor, dynamic range, THD, etc of the finest amplifier and it will pale in comparison to the identical characteristics of a great DAC and I have felt strongly about this for a while now, even when I owned my TotalDac.
 
Regarding the Select II, I am aware of MSBs statement that it can be adapted for "direct to DAC" connection with certain headphones and hopefully, they develop this feature fully.  I'm not sure if MSB themselves are aware of how good a "direct to DAC" connection can sound because they cater more to 2-channel then headphone use.  Because the output impedance of the Select II is high (about 75 ohms if I recall correctly), it will work well for something like the LCD-4 or HD800 but no so well for lower impedance planars like my HE-1000.  That is what is unique about the TotalDac and the DAVE, their output impedance is low enough to drive just about any headphone or IEM.  The main limitation is gain.  For some who prefer headbanging volume levels with their Abyss or HE-6, neither the DAVE nor TotalDac may have enough gain but having heard the Abyss on the DAVE, I will say that this direct connection to the DAVE is the best that I have ever heard the Abyss.
 
I am presently using a Sonore Sonicorbiter SE as my source because it is inexpensive ($300), small, runs Roon smoothly and it gets the job done but in truth, with the DAVE, almost any source will get the job done as long as it can deliver a bit-perfect file.  Even a basic Aries Mini, cheap $50 CD player, Sonos, Chromecast or Roku box has the potential to sound as good as an Aurender W20 or $20,000 Esoteric CD player with the DAVE.  I am unaware of any other DAC that can make that claim.  I don't know how prevalent the DAVE will become in head-fi.  It is, after all, a $13K DAC but this piece of equipment has the potential to completely transform how most of us think about system setup and tuning.

 

[paul79]

  The DAVE is a game changer that I never anticipated encountering.  To say it caught me by surprise would be correct.  I had solidified my views about good audio setup and tuning some time ago based on the helpful opinions of many here on head-fi, @paul79 included, and after many many hours of careful listening and comparing.  During my time with Tyll Hertsens at Big Sound 2015, my concluding statement was "find the headphone you love first, everything else comes second."  If you read my review of the 5 servers at the beginning of this thread, then you know my philosophy has changed somewhat.  Having had the opportunity to listen to and compare a lot of gear over the past year (headphones, amps, DACs and music servers), it became clear to me that if it's not right at the source, than it won't be right at the headphone (or speakers) and so I revised my philosophy to "find the best digital source that you can find and it will benefit every piece of gear you place after it."  
 
Well, this is where the DAVE is a game changer because once again, my philosophy has changed.  Having settled into my recent purchase of my TotalDac d1-monobloc last summer and having been utterly captivated by its holographic qualities, especially with my headphones connected directly to the DAC's signal via a customized set of DHC cables with XLR connectors, I had considered it the best headphone DAC in the world, even better than the d1-twelve or anything MSB, Nagra or most any other DAC manufacturer had to offer because with those other DACs, you are forced to use an outboard amp and any amp -- tube or transistor, compared to the pure unadulterated signal of the DAC will amount to a veil that will rob you of transparency.  Those of you who have heard the full bandwidth signal of your DAC with your headphones this way know what I'm talking about.  Because this method of headphone listening is so transparent, the quality of the source becomes all the more important and indeed, with the TotalDac d1-monobloc (and every DAC I had experienced before it), the source absolutely matters.  Furthermore, not only does the source matter but it helps to coddle the source by adorning it like a prima donna with expensive mains cables, line conditioners, digital interconnects, anti-vibration footers, grounding cables, expensive fuses and tweaks like a USB Regen or AQ Jitterbug.  By the time I had figured out how to make my TotalDac sound as good as possible, I felt like I had earned myself a PhD in audio setup.
 
This is where the DAVE is different.  This DAC contains no DAC chip or resistor.  It is an FPGA DAC, essentially a computer with thousands of lines of code written by a single person, Rob Watts.  I was not a fan of Chord in the past.  Having had access to a Hugo for a full summer, I never found myself impressed because I always found my Bricasti sounding better and my portable Sony ZX2 being more convenient.  I auditioned the TT and it was better but I never found myself wanting to grab for my wallet.  When I was invited to listen to the DAVE, I expected to hear the Hugo on steroids and in my mind there was no way this thing could even come close to a TotalDac, the finest DAC I had ever heard.  Well, within the first track, I found myself utterly dumbfounded at what I was hearing.  Enough so that I convinced my dealer to allow me to take this unit home so that I could compare it in my system and against my TotalDac.
 
From the TotalDac d1-dual to the d1-monobloc, the key difference to me was the d1-monobloc presented more air.  It was more dimensional and music through this DAC was allowed to breath.  It was so refreshing that it was worth the price difference.  With the DAVE, after careful comparison, I found that it was everything the d1-monobloc was and then some.  It's 6.35mm headphone jack was directly tapping the DAC signal just like the d1-monobloc and so the immediacy, lightning speed against the blackest of backgrounds and clarity were all there.  In comparison, however, where the DAVE sounds fluid, the d1-monobloc sounds drier.  With the DAVE, the music sounded more alive and more real.  The depth it presented was uncanny and not in any artificial way, like increasing reverb with an EQ, but in a very "you are there" way.  People use that term all the time and with any TotalDac, this descriptor is very appropriate but again, with the DAVE, it just takes it up another notch.  I'm not suggesting the DAVE wipes the floor with the d1-monobloc because it doesn't.  In my mind, the d1-monobloc remains the 2nd best headphone DAC in the world but without question, to my ears and IMHO, the DAVE is better.
 
Even more amazing, during my comparison, when I concluded that the DAVE was outperforming my TotalDac, the DAVE was connected via a simple optical SPDIF cable to my "dirty" Mac Pro which was plugged directly into the wall using a cheap 18g mains cable.  The d1-monobloc was connected to my mighty CAD CAT via Curious USB cable/USB Regen and the CAD CAT was connected to my Entreq Poseidon grounding box via Atlantis grounding cable and to my Audience aR6 line conditioner with Furutech GTX-D(gold) receptacles and Audience AU24SE mains cable.    Despite this huge disadvantage, the DAVE still sounded better.
 
When my DAVE finally arrived a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure what to make of my previous finding.  How could the source truly not matter even though Rob Watts had insisted that it wouldn't matter?  He stated he had figured out a way to make the DAVE immune to source jitter and to any RF noise coming from the source.  In effect, what he was saying was that you could plug any old laptop into the wall with a cheap power cable and no special line conditioning or grounding and using a cheap $10 USB cable, it would perform equally to a CAD CAT or an $8,000 Aurender N10 with the DAVE.  Rob insisted that all the DAVE needs is to be fed a bit-perfect file.  If you are interested to read the results of my recent blind testing against a variety of sources including the mighty Aurender, here it is:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-electronics-dave/1800#post_12379613

Thanks Roy.
 
I would love to compare this to the Twelve, as the sonic descriptors vs. the Monobloc ring allot of bells with me regarding the differences in the Monobloc and the Twelve, with one exception... Mostly recording dependent, but for the most part, "They are here" with the Twelve. Full bodied holographic images. An unplugged intimate performance, with perfect texture, and the soundstage depth is unbelievable.
 
If the DAVE is a half price alternative to the Twelve, that is really something! 
 
I wish more DAVE's were in world class 2/ch speaker systems. Don't seem to be allot of people running them this way.

 

[romaz]

 
Thanks Roy.
 
I would love to compare this to the Twelve, as the sonic descriptors vs. the Monobloc ring allot of bells with me regarding the differences in the Monobloc and the Twelve, with one exception... Mostly recording dependent, but for the most part, "They are here" with the Twelve. Full bodied holographic images. An unplugged intimate performance, with perfect texture, and the soundstage depth is unbelievable.
 
If the DAVE is a half price alternative to the Twelve, that is really something! 
 
I wish more DAVE's were in world class 2/ch speaker systems. Don't seem to be allot of people running them this way.

The DAVE doesn't look imposing like a 4 box d1-twelve, DCS stack or the giant Select II or Light Harmonics Sire nor does the DAVE have their price tag and so some might find it hard to take it seriously but I think in time, the word will get out.  
 
The back of the DAVE has 2 digital BNC ports that are ultra high speed dual data ports capable of 768kHz transfers via coax.  I used to wonder what this is for and now I know.  Rob Watts is designing a new amp that may change the face of 2-channel if it turns out as good as theory suggests.  Later this year (hopefully), Chord will come out with a 20-watt and 70-watt monoblock (with more amps to follow) that will connect to the DAVE via these digital outputs (and not analog).  These new amps will have no sonic imprint, meaning they will be completely transparent, as transparent as plugging in a headphone to the DAVE's headphone port.  While 20 watts doesn't sound like much, for those with high efficiency speakers who are currently using SET tube amps to drive them, this new amp could be revolutionary.  If you think you're in the room now with the artist, you could be in for a big surprise.  
 
Rob is also developing a new ADC called DAVINA that will reportedly address all the issues that current ADCs have and will match the dynamic and noise floor characteristics of the DAVE.  It will be capable of Redbook all the way to 32/768kHz recordings.  While the ADC will be targeted to professional recording studios and could be Chord's more effective response to MQA, Chord is considering a consumer model that will allow playback of vinyl through the ADC and then through the DAVE at 768kHz that in theory could outdo the finest vinyl setup for those that wish to hang on to vinyl.  There are many that believe now, however, that DAVE has already surpassed vinyl's capability especially as the newer recordings are being recorded to digital straight away at bit and sampling rates that are superior to vinyl using DXD recorders.  Obviously, the vinyl aficionados out there will be the judge of this.

 

[REXNFX]

  The DAVE doesn't look imposing like a 4 box d1-twelve, DCS stack or the giant Select II or Light Harmonics Sire nor does the DAVE have their price tag and so some might find it hard to take it seriously but I think in time, the word will get out.  
 
The back of the DAVE has 2 digital BNC ports that are ultra high speed dual data ports capable of 768kHz transfers via coax.  I used to wonder what this is for and now I know.  Rob Watts is designing a new amp that may change the face of 2-channel if it turns out as good as theory suggests.  Later this year (hopefully), Chord will come out with a 20-watt and 70-watt monoblock (with more amps to follow) that will connect to the DAVE via these digital outputs (and not analog).  These new amps will have no sonic imprint, meaning they will be completely transparent, as transparent as plugging in a headphone to the DAVE's headphone port.  While 20 watts doesn't sound like much, for those with high efficiency speakers who are currently using SET tube amps to drive them, this new amp could be revolutionary.  If you think you're in the room now with the artist, you could be in for a big surprise.  
 
Rob is also developing a new ADC called DAVINA that will reportedly address all the issues that current ADCs have and will match the dynamic and noise floor characteristics of the DAVE.  It will be capable of Redbook all the way to 32/768kHz recordings.  While the ADC will be targeted to professional recording studios and could be Chord's more effective response to MQA, Chord is considering a consumer model that will allow playback of vinyl through the ADC and then through the DAVE at 768kHz that in theory could outdo the finest vinyl setup for those that wish to hang on to vinyl.  There are many that believe now, however, that DAVE has already surpassed vinyl's capability especially as the newer recordings are being recorded to digital straight away at bit and sampling rates that are superior to vinyl using DXD recorders.  Obviously, the vinyl aficionados out there will be the judge of this.

Many thanks for your insights, the poor quality of digital recordings/remasterings is a major issue for me, I'm hoping MQA can help, have you tried it?

 

[romaz]

  Many thanks for your insights, the poor quality of digital recordings/remasterings is a major issue for me, I'm hoping MQA can help, have you tried it?

Yes, I sat through the MQA demo in Las Vegas at CES in January and it was impressive.  More than serving as a compact wrapper to allow streaming of hi-res files, it attempts to compensate for the ringing artifacts caused by the ADC but it's becoming clear that decoding has to occur at the DAC and not the server for this technology to work its best.  It is also not as simple as a firmware upgrade for the DAC and so widespread adoption of this technology is not a given.  I was initially quite optimistic that this technology will be the future, now my optimism is more guarded.  
 
Moreover, while MQA attempts to correct for the sins of various ADCs, it seems to me that it is a band-aid approach and that creating a better ADC so that the DAC doesn't have to try and compensate for it would be the better solution and this is what Chord's DAVINA project is attempting to do.  Given how successful Rob has been with the DAVE, I am more optimistic about this solution.  Its key to success will be how widely it is adopted but if the benefits are heard with all DACs (of course, the DAVE will benefit the most), then it may be the better solution.  
 
If you are interested in hearing how the different bitrates of the same recording sounds in your system, from MQA to 16/44 to 32/352 to DSD256, here's a link you might be interested in.  With the DAVE, since the music server no longer seems to matter, the focus now shifts to the quality of the digital file.
 
http://www.2l.no/hires/