For a Good Sound Demo of the ÉTUDE in my review system I suggest checking out my Sound Demo for the Wharfedale EVO 4.2 Speakers found here th-cam.com/video/MTHVPh3VcoA/w-d-xo.html
Terry yet another fine appraisal of a favourite the Chord Choral range that of course includes DAVE and the now defunct BLU 2 , glad I was able to get one before they disappeared .
Top shelf review. I will be scheduling an audition of these with my dealer when I feel it’s safe; he is quite high on them. I’ll bring in my amplifier, as I did when I auditioned the Triangle Gaias; those two are quite different I recognise! I haven’t yet convinced my dealer to bring in the Evo 4.3 or 4.4 for audition - he’s on the fence over the Evo series.
Terry, It's almost 3 years since the sound demo of the Hugo TT2, MScaler with TToby, has Chord answered your request for "The Tell" (Dave Choral Dac without the headdphone rig)??? Can you wet our appetite for a Qutest MkII ? Thanks mate, you're the man. And The Etude at $5,300US is a level up, looking forward to the sound demo.
Nice review Terry. You seem to like Chord products! I would be interested to learn how these 'entry level' ( for Chord ) products compare to some of the top offerings from Cambridge Audio, AudioLab, Quad etc. Cambridge Audio in particular have had some good reviews of their top amps. Which company is trying hardest?
The Etude mono would be 300 watts into 4 ohms, so maybe around 160watts at 8 ohms more equivalent to the Ultima 6. I dont know if the Ultima amps have a little more of the Ultima magic sauce in them to make them perform better than the Etude, hopefully will get to review one or two of the big ones one day :)
Hi Terry. Thanks for this excellent review on the Chord Etude. I've been a big fan of Chord products for many years and I'm good friend's with a Chord dealer here in Northern Ireland and as you can imagine I've heard many of Chord product demo's. Even though their products seem expensive they are more affordable than many other manufacturers products, but give a sound that rivals them. I have a 2qute DAC and although an old entry level DAC now, it still rivals many modern DAC's up to £2000. I would like to know how well a Primaluna pre amp hooked up to the Etude would sound like. Would it soften the sound too much or would it give it that sweet tube sound with a real authorative punchy bass? Just a thought. Could it also be used as a monoblock with two of them ?
Thanks for the feedback, I think you could easily use the PRE to add a character to the sound of the system with the etude and yes you can bridge them and run then in mono mode which would be pretty cool and should be pretty potent and still only take up a small amount of rack space
@@PursuitPerfectSystem that makes the Etude an interesting choice and would be a great experimental video for you, but I'm sure you've probably got other projects ready to go. This has given me food for thought and thanks for that.
For those who've had any encounter or experience with McIntosh's MA252, how do these to compare (Étude)? And perhaps which would you say is "superior"? Many thanks from New York City
If this little amp is Class AB, it can't have a toroidal power supply and big power supply caps in that little box as well. So, does it have a switching power supply, otherwise I can't figure out how a Class AB amp can be so compact? Thanks.
You know what Terry..? More and more I hear good if not great things about this little amp, but specially if you want to put your foot on the door of Chord and (when you have the money) later buy a second one and use each in mono. Is this correct..? and if so, what do you think?
yes I totally agree with you but its also about the appeal of the small form factor too because now we have the NAD M23 which costs a £1000 less and is another awesome power amp, more powerful but much bigger
So I got this in to test and it smashes the ttoby and is much better in its balance an clarity. The ttoby struggles in some areas and gets muddy in the miss with complex music.
For a Good Sound Demo of the ÉTUDE in my review system I suggest checking out my Sound Demo for the Wharfedale EVO 4.2 Speakers found here th-cam.com/video/MTHVPh3VcoA/w-d-xo.html
Fascinating video, Terry. Etude is the standout bargain of the Chord Electronics amplifier range, so thanks for highlighting this gem of an amp.
Terry yet another fine appraisal of a favourite the Chord Choral range that of course includes DAVE and the now defunct BLU 2 , glad I was able to get one before they disappeared .
Top shelf review. I will be scheduling an audition of these with my dealer when I feel it’s safe; he is quite high on them. I’ll bring in my amplifier, as I did when I auditioned the Triangle Gaias; those two are quite different I recognise! I haven’t yet convinced my dealer to bring in the Evo 4.3 or 4.4 for audition - he’s on the fence over the Evo series.
Another well thought out and presented review Terry, nice work
Thanks Adrian :)
Been looking forward to this one! Nice one!
Terry, It's almost 3 years since the sound demo of the Hugo TT2, MScaler with TToby, has Chord answered your request for "The Tell" (Dave Choral Dac without the headdphone rig)??? Can you wet our appetite for a Qutest MkII ? Thanks mate, you're the man. And The Etude at $5,300US is a level up, looking forward to the sound demo.
Nice review Terry. You seem to like Chord products! I would be interested to learn how these 'entry level' ( for Chord ) products compare to some of the top offerings from Cambridge Audio, AudioLab, Quad etc. Cambridge Audio in particular have had some good reviews of their top amps. Which company is trying hardest?
Would be great to have a video with 2 Etude's mono blocked to give 300W RMS and compare with the Chord Ultima 5 (also 300W RMS)
The Etude mono would be 300 watts into 4 ohms, so maybe around 160watts at 8 ohms more equivalent to the Ultima 6. I dont know if the Ultima amps have a little more of the Ultima magic sauce in them to make them perform better than the Etude, hopefully will get to review one or two of the big ones one day :)
can you hear the fan when it kicks in to cool it down?
Hi Terry. Nice review. How does it compare with its predecessor Mezzo?
Sorry man I don't know I havent heard the mezzo only really the ttoby
Shall Etude+DAVE work well with forgiving speakers, neutral or bright speakers? Say Evoke20 vs KEF R3 vs B&W706s2?
is it will be enough for Wharfedale elysian 4 ?
+ Chord Dave
Hi Terry. Thanks for this excellent review on the Chord Etude. I've been a big fan of Chord products for many years and I'm good friend's with a Chord dealer here in Northern Ireland and as you can imagine I've heard many of Chord product demo's. Even though their products seem expensive they are more affordable than many other manufacturers products, but give a sound that rivals them. I have a 2qute DAC and although an old entry level DAC now, it still rivals many modern DAC's up to £2000. I would like to know how well a Primaluna pre amp hooked up to the Etude would sound like. Would it soften the sound too much or would it give it that sweet tube sound with a real authorative punchy bass? Just a thought. Could it also be used as a monoblock with two of them ?
Thanks for the feedback, I think you could easily use the PRE to add a character to the sound of the system with the etude and yes you can bridge them and run then in mono mode which would be pretty cool and should be pretty potent and still only take up a small amount of rack space
@@PursuitPerfectSystem that makes the Etude an interesting choice and would be a great experimental video for you, but I'm sure you've probably got other projects ready to go. This has given me food for thought and thanks for that.
For those who've had any encounter or experience with McIntosh's MA252, how do these to compare (Étude)? And perhaps which would you say is "superior"? Many thanks from New York City
Hello what are the round speakers in the vignette from TH-cam ?
If you mean in the video thumbnail they are q acoustics 3030i
If this little amp is Class AB, it can't have a toroidal power supply and big power supply caps in that little box as well. So, does it have a switching power supply, otherwise I can't figure out how a Class AB amp can be so compact? Thanks.
Yes all chord products use switching power supplies except the ones that are battery powered
You know what Terry..? More and more I hear good if not great things about this little amp, but specially if you want to put your foot on the door of Chord and (when you have the money) later buy a second one and use each in mono. Is this correct..? and if so, what do you think?
yes I totally agree with you but its also about the appeal of the small form factor too because now we have the NAD M23 which costs a £1000 less and is another awesome power amp, more powerful but much bigger
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Forgive for asking bluntly but, is the NAD M23 warm? (I like warm amps, I like warm averything)
How does it compare x2 with say a 1200e
Not sure Jason I didnt have one available to test out
So I got this in to test and it smashes the ttoby and is much better in its balance an clarity. The ttoby struggles in some areas and gets muddy in the miss with complex music.
Muddy in the midrange (typo). Cheers for stating the extra money worth the upgrade. Just got to run it inn now.
Yes its a better sounding amp for not much more money and larger footprint
Did you run hi or low gain for tt2 as pre amp?
Cheers again Terry👍
@@jasonnewby7358 low i think