[normie610]

Alex from RAAL has been saying that Solaja Audio's upcoming 300B and other Summit-Fi tube headamps like the Trafomatic Primavera, with the adapter box, can equal or beat the VM1a with the ribbon HPs. If that turns out to be true, it could be a great solution for you. You could sell your pre, CFA3, primaluna, etc., which would probably net you about enough for the Solaja or Trafomatic.

I think he posted as much if I recall correctly, and sounds promising. I definitely, ultimately want a one box solution for my dynamic system. And anything 300b from my experience has my attention automatically.

Well I’m still using my 300B pre in front of Primavera, and the CA sounds absolutely incredible

 

[Hiker816]

Well I’m still using my 300B pre in front of Primavera, and the CA sounds absolutely incredible

Wow, that's a lot of tooby goodness. Too much tooby goodness, perhaps? Naw, no such thing . . .

 

[normie610]

Wow, that's a lot of tooby goodness. Too much tooby goodness, perhaps? Naw, no such thing . . .

No such thing indeed

 

[Ciggavelli]

There actually can be too much tubey goodness. I threw my old 3ES Elite (300b) as a pre to my WA33 EE JPS (2A3) and it was too many tubes. I didn't notice any difference putting the 3ES and a pre to my WA33. There were just too many tubes. I imagine if I had all 300B it could be good though. I know @paradoxper has done that. But mixing 300B with 2A3 didn't do anything for me. It could be the WA33 though, as it is a solid state sounding tube amp (at least when not used as a pre)

 

[paradoxper]

There actually can be too much tubey goodness. I threw my old 3ES Elite (300b) as a pre to my WA33 EE JPS (2A3) and it was too many tubes. I didn't notice any difference putting the 3ES and a pre to my WA33. There were just too many tubes. I imagine if I had all 300B it could be good though. I know @paradoxper has done that. But mixing 300B with 2A3 didn't do anything for me. It could be the WA33 though, as it is a solid state sounding tube amp (at least when not used as a pre)

You definitely need to try other pairings. Just be considerate if all 300B.

I'd also encourage exploration in 45, PX.

 

[Chronos]

So why do audiophiles feel the need to bash on Holo May? It seems to occur with a lot of Chord DAVE owners and at first I thought it was jealousy because many reviewers pick the May over the DAVE. At the same time, calling the DAVE cold and lifeless is also insulting.

After listening to both the May and Wavedream (similar style of separation like DAVE IIRC) at home, I can understand where both sides are coming from. They are polar opposites of music presentation. The DAVE and Wavedream separate out the music, never get jumbled, are dynamic, and sound reference / analytical. They are TOTL sounds. The May is the opposite, with a lush, emotional, laid back sound. It is intimate and real, feels like singer is here singing for you. It is still very detailed with great soundstage, bass, etc.

They are all top tier, have strengths and weaknesses, just depends on the flavor you desire. Any thoughts?

 

[theveterans]

I prefer somewhere in between May and Wavedream/DAVE which Yggdrasil More is Better fills that role nicely. It's TOTL in some ways but I can see uber DACs beating it handily. Also, Black background issues with Yggdrasil is eliminated with the MIB analog boards which puts this DAC to me as a step up in sheer technicality over prior Yggdrasil versions

 

[SolarCetacean]

Apparently, a cult has formed around Chord, and some folks here have alluded to "Chord stans" who are fanatical in their devotion to Chord sound. So maybe the May bashing comes from these fans.

I find some Chord product designs vaguely cute, like the volume marble on the Hugo TT2. They're colorful when so much hi-fi gear has drab, boring, or unoriginal colors or design. However, I maintain a suspicion that the Chord sound may be behind some lack of synergy with the L700mk2. I've demoed my L700 on the BHSE twice, and each time, it acquired this crystalline, sibilant "edge" to the sound that made it worse than when I listen to it on low-power amplifiers. Both of those BHSE demoes have been with Chord gear, the Hugo TT2 on one occasion and the MDave on the other. So I cannot discount the possibility that the Chord DACs contribute to that edge. More demoes needed.

I'm on a work trip right now, and one of the benefits is that there's a hi-fi store near my workplace where I can basically hang out after work. I'm well acquainted with the owner of the shop, I've bought a few things from him, and he chats with me and lets me demo his stuff, so I can listen to Wilson Audio speakers driven by McIntosh amps and the dCS Rossini Apex, among many other things. While he has dCS, iFi, and Ferrum amongst his wares, he doesn't offer Chord products. And this guy has been selling hi-fi for his whole, 45-year career, so I'm sure he's heard of them. I'll ask him tomorrow why he isn't selling Chord. Maybe it'll be some benign or pedestrian reason, or maybe there's some tea to spill...

 

[catscratch]

L700 just has that sibilant edge period. It has peaks in the highs, to my ears at 5.5k, 7.5k, and 11k, but of course everyone will hear these peaks in different places. Reducing them with EQ gets rid of the sibilant edge - mostly. The crystalline sound is also reduced and becomes a glossy sort of coloration, not entirely unpleasant but not entirely natural either.

TL;DR I don't think it's Chord, it's just the L700. Amps with lower power will roll off the top end somewhat and you won't notice it as much. Warmer tuned amps will also reduce it. But when I talk about liking the L700, it's with EQ and mods, without them it's far too bright and too shouty in the mids.

 

[LouisArmstrong]

Do you guys think Wireless earbuds will go bonkers in price one day? Like Empire Ears or some company would come up with $5K wireless earbuds? The cable guys will take a hit though if wireless can finally match wired IEMs in terms of SQ. I know AptX-Lossless is supposed to be of CD quality at least.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Do you guys think Wireless earbuds will go bonkers in price one day? Like Empire Ears or some company would come up with $5K wireless earbuds? The cable guys will take a hit though if wireless can finally match wired IEMs in terms of SQ. I know AptX-Lossless is supposed to be of CD quality at least.

Only a matter of time, really

 

[Whazzzup]

TT1 has a dark edge, little more in the low end. Probably with the less pulse arrays and taps. Me like the distortion. Same with ch1. I’m on em both for 8-9 years now. There not perfect but throw in wa33 ee and tt1 sounds pretty good. The cult is really built around Robb, great marketing in this case and noble objective of technical transparency. Granted there’s two interactions that woke me up to the cult. I got antipodes server 2015-16 entry level and asked Robb, what’s going on TT never sounded so good. I got no response and presto 3-6 months later mscaler released. Well I thought the chord only use my products mantra. Of course it’s a sin to add an amp, distortion and all. So he came up with more output on tt2. Fine, but when I tested ss, then tube amps, level up again. So now I’m wise to the gig. I was also on the tour for ch1 vs ch2 and heard the subtle benefits of ch2 but liked ch1 a bit more. So now I’m wise to upgradeitus. Now this is not a diss to chord, I still use tt to this day, just sayin. Everybody got to make a living and everyone is trying to do there best And not knocking the results

 

[theveterans]

Do you guys think Wireless earbuds will go bonkers in price one day? Like Empire Ears or some company would come up with $5K wireless earbuds? The cable guys will take a hit though if wireless can finally match wired IEMs in terms of SQ. I know AptX-Lossless is supposed to be of CD quality at least.

For now the internal DAC/amp inside them as well as the BT transmission are far from the likes of TOTL sound that you get from a DAP, cable and IEM setup. If there's an internal DAC/amp that can resolve details, dynamics, immediacy and have maybe some exotic internal wiring similar to the effect of an aftermarket gold-silver alloy cables or exotic copper blends (PW audio, Brise Audio) and finally IEM tuned to sound similar to the level of Traillii then yes. Maybe in 3 years or so we can achieve that in a single package

 

[SolarCetacean]

So there was nothing really dramatic about the dealer I know not carrying Chord. He's demoed them in his store as his importer for another brand also imports Chord, he likes how they sound, but he says they look weird. The color-coded lights, the bulbous buttons, they seemed to him to be a bit out of place for his store. He also didn't like how specialized all of the gear was. He's into streaming DACs and integrated amps like dCS or Bel Canto that offer everything in a single box and he doesn't like how the Chord DACs need another piece to do streaming and a third device to do upsampling. Part of that is just his market. The vast majority of his customers are people in the area who are well-off and want a good-sounding system but aren't "audiophiles", as opposed to well-off audiophiles who are into building and maxing out their systems. It's a lot easier to slap a Bel Canto and say "this bad boy has so many features in it" rather than saying "you need to use this streamer to allow that DAC to receive your music, and you'll want this scaler to get the most out of the DAC, and then feed it into this pre-amp with those interconnects, etc. etc."

It's become more apparent to me in the past few years that there's a distinction between the audiophile market and the high-end audio market. There are brands and product lines that target audiophiles, and there are audio brands and lines that target the high-end buyer, and those two aren't always the same thing. They often overlap, and many an audiophile will be pleased with high-end audio gear and vice versa, but they aren't the same.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Apparently, a cult has formed around Chord, and some folks here have alluded to "Chord stans" who are fanatical in their devotion to Chord sound. So maybe the May bashing comes from these fans.

I find some Chord product designs vaguely cute, like the volume marble on the Hugo TT2. They're colorful when so much hi-fi gear has drab, boring, or unoriginal colors or design. However, I maintain a suspicion that the Chord sound may be behind some lack of synergy with the L700mk2. I've demoed my L700 on the BHSE twice, and each time, it acquired this crystalline, sibilant "edge" to the sound that made it worse than when I listen to it on low-power amplifiers. Both of those BHSE demoes have been with Chord gear, the Hugo TT2 on one occasion and the MDave on the other. So I cannot discount the possibility that the Chord DACs contribute to that edge. More demoes needed.

I'm on a work trip right now, and one of the benefits is that there's a hi-fi store near my workplace where I can basically hang out after work. I'm well acquainted with the owner of the shop, I've bought a few things from him, and he chats with me and lets me demo his stuff, so I can listen to Wilson Audio speakers driven by McIntosh amps and the dCS Rossini Apex, among many other things. While he has dCS, iFi, and Ferrum amongst his wares, he doesn't offer Chord products. And this guy has been selling hi-fi for his whole, 45-year career, so I'm sure he's heard of them. I'll ask him tomorrow why he isn't selling Chord. Maybe it'll be some benign or pedestrian reason, or maybe there's some tea to spill...

The cult like following has been an issue for many years, and it's really annoying.. and it's also not the majority of fans really. But it's a reason I almost avoided Chord altogether, but I'm glad I didn't. I absolutely would take negative takes from chord threads on any other piece of gear with a huge* grain of salt lol. The detail, resolution and spacing is what stands out with it, but at times at the expense of timbre and better, more natural tone. The Hugo2 and Dave both at least have a more analytical leaning sound. Coupled with other resolution first geared products, such as the BHSE, and yea it can be a bit much... add a 009 to that equation and just insane, in your face detail and holographic layering, but with a somewhat fatiguing experience (I can say that for sure from years of experience, and I loved the chain). That kind of sound used to be my pure bread and butter, but I guess old age has caused me to at least absolutely want a warmer, less analytical chain in comparison to contrast.

A DAC with a less analytical sound w/the BHSE also alleviates that quite a bit. My only issue is that even with the more expensive DCS, the areas where the DAVE shines, it seem to shine even against that tier of gear. If you've seen my other thread, I'm on the hunt for a DAC that can shine in the spacing/resolution area in similar ways, while improving in others.