[FunkyBassMan]

You'd be better off using a DAVE to the analog inputs. A scaler of any kind can't fix the limitations of regular SD DACs.

Thanks -

Unfortunately, because of room-acoustic software, the speakers force everything through their DAC. You can come in analog, but it gets you a whole ADC-DAC set of conversions, and sadly for me, that sounds pretty terrible, even out of M-Dave. Much worse than coming in digitally.

It sucks, because the speakers sound outrageously good (Adam S5V), but the converters are weak compared to upscaled-Dave and things are far less engaging to listen to.

I'm half thinking about tearing them apart and rewiring the analog inputs right to the amps/crossovers, but at $17000, I'd rather not screw that up and it's probably a lot more complicated than I think.

 

[Currawong]

Thanks -

Unfortunately, because of room-acoustic software, the speakers force everything through their DAC. You can come in analog, but it gets you a whole ADC-DAC set of conversions, and sadly for me, that sounds pretty terrible, even out of M-Dave. Much worse than coming in digitally.

It sucks, because the speakers sound outrageously good (Adam S5V), but the converters are weak compared to upscaled-Dave and things are far less engaging to listen to.

I'm half thinking about tearing them apart and rewiring the analog inputs right to the amps/crossovers, but at $17000, I'd rather not screw that up and it's probably a lot more complicated than I think.

I sympathise. I've thought about doing the same thing with a pair of headphones here that have failed electronics. I can understand why manufacturers have gone that route though. They probably can do as good as a regular studio DAC, with the added benefit of other features, which the ready availability of serious processing power had made possible.

Thinking in a slightly different direction, some of the Weiss DACs have headphone corrections built into them, so I wonder how far Rob might take digital processing in the future, since studios are taking a serious interest in the DAVE and will with the DAVINA. Imagine listening to recordings from the DAVINA with room-correction built into a future Chord system. That would be quite amazing.

 

[FunkyBassMan]

I sympathise. I've thought about doing the same thing with a pair of headphones here that have failed electronics. I can understand why manufacturers have gone that route though. They probably can do as good as a regular studio DAC, with the added benefit of other features, which the ready availability of serious processing power had made possible.

Thinking in a slightly different direction, some of the Weiss DACs have headphone corrections built into them, so I wonder how far Rob might take digital processing in the future, since studios are taking a serious interest in the DAVE and will with the DAVINA. Imagine listening to recordings from the DAVINA with room-correction built into a future Chord system. That would be quite amazing.

Very interesting thoughts for sure.

Your comment and hearing how inferior the listening experience is through the DACs in these monitors makes me think of another market opportunity for Rob: OEM for other companies. Imagine if he could build some kind of modular scaler/DAC system that monitor/speaker companies could use.

Probably a tiny market for the cost involved. But it can't be much smaller than the market for a $15,000 or whatever scaler, right? or an Ultima DAC? With so many speakers integrating digital, if he could eventually do something cheap/small enough, who knows?

Because trying to get these monitors (which supposedly have great DACs built in) to achieve the same smoothness one gets directly out of M-Dave, and finding it impossible, has just cemented in my mind even more how much Rob's upscaling approach improves the music-listening experience. And how maybe it should find its way out of the exclusively audiophile world and into the wider consumer market.

PS - found out from the techs that I can't just run jumpers from the analog input to the analog circuitry because the speaker's frequency response is determined by the digital side. I should have expected that. Drat.

 

[jjazzy]

People happy to spend thousands on diy ferrite cables made in a shed but not on the extra it would cost between Hugo scaler and quartet

Not everyone is willing to spend thousands on a ferrite cable

 

[Red Rd Wolf]

The new Chord Quartet MScaler is a definite purchase for me along with the stand, even though my current MScaler is only a few months old. As for price, I have more invested in my Nordost Valhalla complete cable lineup than equipment, so it's all relative. Perfection to the beholder perspective is relative. I guess that's why I also shoot with Hasselblad for it's color depth and not Leica.

 

[Red Rd Wolf]

I am also happy to see Chord focus their research and development on the chain of products up to the DAC and not streamers or other sources. Streamers, regardless of price point are still frequently replaced components due to technology and chip changes that occur almost quarterly. That is why I see Chord as a long term product investment over DCS and others. Again, just my opinion.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I am also happy to see Chord focus their research and development on the chain of products up to the DAC and not streamers or other sources. Streamers, regardless of price point are still frequently replaced components due to technology and chip changes that occur almost quarterly. That is why I see Chord as a long term product investment over DCS and others. Again, just my opinion.

Very true, when Chord releases a product it is finished, I don't see Rob and the company releasing firmware updates to patch an unfinished product as I see plenty of others in the industry. I like that Rob takes his time and finishes a product and it's done, no insecurities as plenty of other companies do.

 

[AndrewOld]

I don't see Rob and the company releasing firmware updates to patch an unfinished product

No, just recommending £1495 cables.

 

[thePhones]

No, just recommending £1495 cables.

This is only the easiest (and to be honest very good looking) solution everyone can just buy. If you know how to solder a plug and ask around for the best ferrites to use you can build one for around 100-150€. That is what I did. It doesn't look good but it works.

By the way I have recently added a lot more (clamp on) ferrites to the Dave mains cable and it now sounds warmer again with better timbre variation and better focus.
For anyone feeling tweaky today: https://www.we-online.com/components/products/datasheet/74271132S.pdf
It's the best I found for the mhz - 2Ghz range.

 

[Jawed]

By the way I have recently added a lot more (clamp on) ferrites to the Dave mains cable and it now sounds warmer again with better timbre variation and better focus.
For anyone feeling tweaky today: https://www.we-online.com/components/products/datasheet/74271132S.pdf
It's the best I found for the mhz - 2Ghz range.

Have you now covered the full length of the mains cable?

 

[thePhones]

Have you now covered the full length of the mains cable?

Haha, yeah I remembered you where advocating for it so I just thought, why not try it. It is almost fully covered yes. The biggest change to before is better focus. So maybe better focus is the last thing that happens and needs the lowest amount of noise floor modulation or it is what you said: that you need the cable fully covered to not increase noise in some frequencies. Ordered another 10 cores to fully cover the cable. Maybe Rob will finally save us from total ferrite insanity with a Dave psu

 

[GuiltyRocker]

No, just recommending £1495 cables.

Never got that cable and I couldn't care less about it. To me the M scaler and TT-2 sound sublime.

 

[Jawed]

Maybe Rob will finally save us from total ferrite insanity with a Dave psu

I imagine the Ultima DAC will be where this would first be seen.

I reckon DAVE won't be officially upgrade-modded - companies like Linn or MSB do this, but Chord has never done this as far as I can tell.

 

[iDesign]

Interesting that Chord is using the Mavros dd S/PDIF Digital Cables-- it's surprising to see such expensive cables fitted given Rob Watts' efforts to make improvements after years of debates over shade tree cables and ferrites.

 

[naynay]

This is only the easiest (and to be honest very good looking) solution everyone can just buy. If you know how to solder a plug and ask around for the best ferrites to use you can build one for around 100-150€. That is what I did. It doesn't look good but it works.

By the way I have recently added a lot more (clamp on) ferrites to the Dave mains cable and it now sounds warmer again with better timbre variation and better focus.
For anyone feeling tweaky today: https://www.we-online.com/components/products/datasheet/74271132S.pdf
It's the best I found for the mhz - 2Ghz range.

I have made a few ferrite cables for not that much money in comparison to the higher price mentioned earlier. There are photos of them on the M Scaler Forum. I was curious to see how well they performed against those expensive ones mentioned on here and my local hifi shop happened to have these available for home demo. I took up the offer of a home demo and did my testing and comparing over a few days but I could not detect a difference. Both performed equally as intended.