I own a TT2 and MScaler and I love them. The DAVE is a dream, and I look often for used at dealers who might consider my TT2 in exchange. Many years ago I had a Chord Blu transport and DAC...the divorce saw that go...biggest hifi regret of my life.
I've had all the Chord DACs in my house and have chatted with Rob a few times, to me his DACs are the best, they are the only DACs that allow me to feel the music and tap my feet. I currently use a TT-2 with the M Scaler and I just love that combo. I've heard most of the expensive competition and don't care for them.
Love the Hi-fi Riff, always entertaining and informative. Great to have some records (CDs) mentioned along the reviews. One suggestion: a tall small table between Mike and Dave with one of those rotating platforms to get the components always at sight. It could improve the description of the pieces. Keep having a blast :)
Thanks for the review guys. I’m always disappointed by the Chord rooms at shows but it’s always down to the ludicrous volume level they insist on playing at. Maybe next time I’ll go to their room and ask them to moderate it a bit.
I don't do listening through headphones, so don't need a DAVE. What I do have however is a Qutest fed by an M Scaler, which probably approaches the DAVE in perfromance, and maybe even equals it.
I'm a Hugo TT2 and M-scaler guy and I'm in 7th heaven. Would love to use a Dave and see how it compares, but I'm not feeling FOMO, I love their approach and the sound they get and I'll never tire of it because to me at least, its correct. It's how music sounds. Loved to see you guys cover this as I'm also blown away but what I got to - can't see why I'd ever change where I'm at unless it was for a Dave. Not feeling Mikes issue as I find pre amps work better when they are not on the Dac - my Scaler /TT2 feeds a Mcintosh MA252 with a Tube preamp section and Class A/B power..its a good combo. Many of us would not want to pay for an analog input on a DAC. Cheers guys...
Another great riff chaps, dont think ive seen Mike cling on to a product so hard 😆out off all your riffs you look genuinely stunned by it, would love to own one of these one day. What headphones were you listening to out of interest?
DAVE stands for Digital to Analogue Veritas in Extremis - It's going to be very hard to find a similar Latin phrase to justify calling the next one DAVID
An LP12 can have an “Urika 2” installed which has an optical output. Maybe this may work coming out optical from LP12-and into the DAVE optical input? Bad news: you have to shell out for a “Radikal” power supply so be prepared to drop some coin to get your turntable working through this kit
Interesting review, Audio science review felt it was poor and many people commented that it sounded no better than much cheaper ones. For that amount I would expect a dramatic improvement
ASR is full of people who believe all amps sound the same, cables make no difference and they are openly hostile to you if you use your ears to figure out what sound you like. In the same way they would dismiss Mike and Daves opinion, I would never give any weight to anything they say unless we are looking for a particular measurement...
2016 must have been a good year for Dacs. I bought a Pioneer NP01 Streamer, cost £350.00 and has performed flawlessly ever since. Still sounds wonderful, less digital compared to some of the latest Dacs. It's the only piece of kit I have not changed in the last ten years.
Great video, Great bit of kit, expensive but state of the art, however, I do have one gripe and that's the pre amp section. If you have a pre amp or an integrated it will be there doing nothing and I am sure it is a significant part of the cost. I own a Chord dac 64 and my experience is that the balanced ins and outs give a more open sound with a bigger soundstage which is more suitable for classical and the single ended ins and outs are punchier and tighter more suitable for pop/rock. Just a thought as the Dave may to similar. 👍
Thanks both, enjoyable as always. i have the dave, m-scalar combo with exposure 3510 integrated and mono blocks with the atc scm40 and it’s a great combo. Right up Mikes street i’m thinking. i keep looking out for the philips cd960 at german flea markets for you which i often frequent. they have many 70s and 80s hifi piled up at these places. very cheap too.
MScaler takes things up a notch. As can the third party power supplies some of us use (Farad / Sean Jacobs). And Rob is releasing a new MScaler, the Quattro, hopefully 2025, which should raise the bar even higher. Exciting times.
@@dannyfannyfoodle A mate of mine who certainly wouldn't regard himself as "upper class" said once that he ahem,"needed" a larger BMW X something or other to fit his golf clubs in as justification for buying it. A true "working class" statement if I ever heard one.🙂
Chord "Chaz and Dave" next. The Mola Mola Tambaqui would likely give it a run for it's money and would be another I would like to try if playing in this league.
Mike, would a Linn Urika 2 not solve your problems (at a price of course). By the way “Mikes butt” takes on a whole new meaning to US viewers but may attract a more specialised audience 🤣🤣
Read on Pink Fish media the other day, a post from a dealer - who owns 100 + dac’s & talks in forsenic detail about all things dac- that he thinks so highly of the Dave, that he uses it as a doorstop. So, I don’t know.
The thing to do is to hear one for yourself. Go to a dealer and bring your existing DAC. Dealers, magazines, TH-camrs, forum members, etc., can say all they like - it's how it sounds that counts.
I have it the naim DAC + XPS2 PSU not dr and absolutely stellar combo digital front end I've heard the naim DAC and a 555PSU DR combo and it elevates the sound to another level very organic and virtually free from any digital harshness totally love it ❤
I use the mojo2 as a portable dac/amp and I love it, but if I could / wanted to spend that much money on a DAC I would look into the Tambaqui rather than the Dave. having listened to both but only for a short time. Please try to review one.
I do think hi-res can be superb, but the performance difference can often be overstated. You need a seriously good DAC to really get the best out of hi-res, and if it's that good then it's going to work wonders with Red Book CD too! Agree that 16/44 can sound fantastic, when reproduced properly..
Can I ask David which digital connection you used between the Aurilic Aries S1 and the Dave? USB or coax/bnc? Did you have the external Aurilic power supply too? Asking as I am looking for an improved digital transport for my M Scaler / TT2 combo.
We used the coax, and yes we had the Auralic PSU. The DAVE is a clear improvement on the TT2/M Scaler, which is saying something! You can of course use a Hugo M Scaler with the DAVE too, and it sounds better still.
Great Riff. Loving the reviews. It’s you guys and Steve Guttenberg I listen to now. I no longer watch Darko, and British Audiophile anymore. Genuine people having a laugh and talking honestly about Hi-Fi.
Yes, although he did tell me not so long ago that the current DAVE is still pretty close to what they can achieve, sonically. It will be interesting to see what's next for Chord. It does make sense to do a more high end model to challenge dCS, methinks.
Yes, I reviewed it when it first came out. I'd say the DAVE is noticeably better all round. For some reason I didn't get along with it particularly well. I really enjoyed the DAC64 that came before it though, and we've done a Riff on that.
Great Riff. Bet Alphonse Mouzon sounds great through this DAC!!!! Suggestion. Started to stream with TIDAL. Despite rubbish user interface sounds great with my budget Audiolab 6000 streamer. Not as good as CD obviously and well behind my Orbe. But is it worth spending more money. How about a Riff comparing 6000 at £450, 7000 at £550 and 9000 at £2.5k? Also I loved my Bariks and thought I was loosing it now I have Martin Logan ELS as my main speakers so to hear Mike also has Quad electrostatics maybe vindicates me!!!
@@dean6816 A lot, I should think. The case alone is a huge fixed cost, relative to most hi-fi separates. UK manufacturing is extremely expensive now, thanks to our crazy energy costs - which are an order of magnitude higher than China now. Labour costs are also high here because we want people to be paid a living wage, and get paid for their skills and expertise.
Great riff, chaps. However, David, err, Dave, this latest riff is perhaps a tad self-indulgent? However, redemption is at hand.... that Rush Riff Special? Resistance is futile...
10G's for a DAC that people can barely hear any difference in between a cheap good one if they don't know what they're listening to. This is audiofoolery at its best!
Clear you are commenting based on no experience. No idea why you think anyone would need to hear what you are saying based on zero knowledge or experience? These differences are very profound, and if you dont believe Mike or Daves viewpoint, then why are you watching at all?
Completely agree. The weird aesthetic is a total turn off. It's just embarrassing. Plus, I'm just not ponying up that much money for what is essentially by definition old product. The Tambaqui has the same problem. Mola Mola needs to write Bruno a check to have him consult on Tambaqui Version 2.0 and then I'm handing the retailer my credit card. Might do the same for a Dave 2 as well but only if Chord substantially improved its appearance.
Hi fellas! Your production standards have really gone to hell this time... Straight onto the review!! What the heck was that!! Remember, the thing that sets you apart from the rest is the suspense you create while we wait for you to actually start reviewing the thing!! You just ruined it for me this time. Shame on you! That being said, the DAVE is an interesting piece and I wonder how high they can raise the bar. It is quite possibly as high as it can get and further ‘improvements’ would be more academic than practical or audible in real-life conditions. The interesting part, at least for me, will be to see how much of the sound on offer here will become available to mere mortals. The DAVE might be better value than others but the ‘value’ that it isn’t really worth talking about. The D/A convertor that I use as a reference is Bryston BDA-2. I bought it new in 2013 and in my system, it sounds as good as anything else I have heard. But at 2500 Euro, it was a tremendous stretch for me to get it and I was pondering over it for months. Not an easy decision at all. I have no doubt that the Chord DAVE is better but by how much, I don’t know, and whether it would elevate my enjoyment of music, I don’t know that either. These are lovely toys to spend money on, presuming you have money you don’t need. Very few of us do but that’s no reason to despair - at all. Affordable but good DACs have never been more accessible and let’s face it, owning expensive kit doesn’t make you a better listener or someone who automatically knows more about the music. To me, that’s certainly a big part of the audiophile charm. Hence, turntables, cassette decks and oh yes - MINIDISC DECKS are huge fun! Ahem, fellas, if I am not very much mistaken, a MiniDisc review is long overdue!! 😊 Cheers!
I’m gonna ask a question keep in mind that pretty much every single thing in this dark will have been bought off the shelf parts with the exception of maybe the power supply or a little bit of circuitry where is the £10,500 pricetag gone in this equipment I understand it’s mailed from one lovely piece of aluminium which literally does nothing to a DAC they don’t have any moving parts in unless something is really gonna rise. They don’t get too hot so they don’t need massive heat sinks. I’m not a sceptic and I believe 100% when you say this sounds awesome but when you buy a piece of equipment, the price you pay should be somehow represented in the parts it’s been used and I’m pretty sure there is nowhere near 10 grand of equipment/parts inside this and the question should be it’s not how does this still stand up to be brilliant in 2024? The question should be how good as the opposition got for less than £10,500 compared to this cause even though this particular market sector doesn’t really move forward in leaps and bounds because they microchips they do pretty much the hard work so there’s only a certain selection to choose from. Is this still value for money in 2024 compared to what is available today that should be the question.
As with any product sold through retail…The dealer gets about 40% of the price you pay, the distributor has taken there cut before that and the manufacturer will be getting double what it costs. Parts cost less than development time and wages. Hans Beekhuyzen rates this as better than the Terminator, and the Tambaqui. The latter is £10K.
It takes a hell of a lot of money to keep hifi companies running, it’s a specialist market not a mass production one, most people aren’t interested in buying DACs or pre power combos, they settle for something that is made by the likes of the Samsung etc. A team is required to design, build and administer these hifi products, so yes the chips may be off the shelf and of low ish cost, but it’s all the other costs of running these relatively small hifi companies, so hence the costs go onto the product, then the retailer needs to pay for bricks and mortar locations & staff to demonstrate the equipment properly
It just doesn't work like that. When Ford release a new SUV, its retail price is not the sum total of the parts price plus a small bit of profit. The development budget is factored in, plus safety testing and certification, and then there's the distributor and dealer network, who also need a fair slice of the pie to keep them in business - who will do warranty repairs if they're no longer around? Same for hi-fi. Sure, you could buy a DAC on a Chinese auction site and get lucky for not much money. But if you don't like it then you can't take it back to you dealer, and if it catches fire you can forget warranty claims, and if a small part fails in a few years time where are you going to get the spares from as the company has long since disappeared? I fully get why people buy cheap and experiment. Why not? But most people want a UK product and a warranty, and a strong resale value from a known brand. Different strokes, for different folks!
I think dCS DACs are absolutely superb, and really the only other high end designs that I’d have. Slightly different presentation, and the differences are a bit like coffee and tea - a matter of taste in other words.
Another fantastic rift lads the dave is great but David is better as Mike is can't forget you Mike, but you know what I'm going to say there are other DAC's outthere which IMHO are better than dave dac I wish you would look at other DAC's naim DAC with 555DR PSU or xps Dr psu and the naim ND555 streamer and NAPS 555 Dr PSU
No offence intended but please stop abusing the 'time domain' term. It has a very particular meaning in physics and electronics and has nothing to do with the examples you are using the term to describe. Any recording or mastering audio engineer worth his pay would be able to correlate many phase issues with subjective audio observations and I promise you they would be nothing like you (or many other audiophiles and audiophile audio reviewers) describe. Historically, I blame Naim and their horrible marketing term PRAT for all this..
I own a TT2 and MScaler and I love them. The DAVE is a dream, and I look often for used at dealers who might consider my TT2 in exchange. Many years ago I had a Chord Blu transport and DAC...the divorce saw that go...biggest hifi regret of my life.
I've had all the Chord DACs in my house and have chatted with Rob a few times, to me his DACs are the best, they are the only DACs that allow me to feel the music and tap my feet. I currently use a TT-2 with the M Scaler and I just love that combo. I've heard most of the expensive competition and don't care for them.
There are no bad Chord dacs. Period.
Have you ever seen a piece of gear cradled so tenderly?
Love the Hi-fi Riff, always entertaining and informative. Great to have some records (CDs) mentioned along the reviews.
One suggestion: a tall small table between Mike and Dave with one of those rotating platforms to get the components always at sight. It could improve the description of the pieces.
Keep having a blast :)
Thanks for the review guys. I’m always disappointed by the Chord rooms at shows but it’s always down to the ludicrous volume level they insist on playing at. Maybe next time I’ll go to their room and ask them to moderate it a bit.
After listening to Mike and David this is my dream DAC.
Mike should consider selling everything he owns and just start all over again. Chord Dave on its way !!
Mike's face truly betrays him and shows his pain... bless...😁😁😂😂😂😂😜😜😜😜😂😂
Great riff, great to see two dyed in the wool reviewers showing genuine unbridled enthusiasm. Totally infectious. Cheers chaps.
Love the channel guys you really cheer me up
I don't do listening through headphones, so don't need a DAVE. What I do have however is a Qutest fed by an M Scaler, which probably approaches the DAVE in perfromance, and maybe even equals it.
I'm a Hugo TT2 and M-scaler guy and I'm in 7th heaven. Would love to use a Dave and see how it compares, but I'm not feeling FOMO, I love their approach and the sound they get and I'll never tire of it because to me at least, its correct. It's how music sounds.
Loved to see you guys cover this as I'm also blown away but what I got to - can't see why I'd ever change where I'm at unless it was for a Dave. Not feeling Mikes issue as I find pre amps work better when they are not on the Dac - my Scaler /TT2 feeds a Mcintosh MA252 with a Tube preamp section and Class A/B power..its a good combo. Many of us would not want to pay for an analog input on a DAC.
Cheers guys...
Thumbs up to both Daves in this episode! 👍
Very entertaining chaps as always
Another great riff chaps, dont think ive seen Mike cling on to a product so hard 😆out off all your riffs you look genuinely stunned by it, would love to own one of these one day. What headphones were you listening to out of interest?
DAVE stands for Digital to Analogue Veritas in Extremis - It's going to be very hard to find a similar Latin phrase to justify calling the next one DAVID
An LP12 can have an “Urika 2” installed which has an optical output. Maybe this may work coming out optical from LP12-and into the DAVE optical input? Bad news: you have to shell out for a “Radikal” power supply so be prepared to drop some coin to get your turntable working through this kit
I’d love to hear a chord Dave it must be amazing
Interesting review, Audio science review felt it was poor and many people commented that it sounded no better than much cheaper ones. For that amount I would expect a dramatic improvement
I'd love to know what system they were using.
I value the opinion of the audio engineers in top studios over the naysayers of ASR.
@@KXP70 I value the opinion of my ears!
I'd suggest that anyone who doubts this DAC listens to it in a serious system.
@@MrVinylista 100%. I look forward to the day I get to audition one 👌
ASR is full of people who believe all amps sound the same, cables make no difference and they are openly hostile to you if you use your ears to figure out what sound you like.
In the same way they would dismiss Mike and Daves opinion, I would never give any weight to anything they say unless we are looking for a particular measurement...
2016 must have been a good year for Dacs. I bought a Pioneer NP01 Streamer, cost £350.00 and has performed flawlessly ever since. Still sounds wonderful, less digital compared to some of the latest Dacs. It's the only piece of kit I have not changed in the last ten years.
Mike,et all,there are Turntables that have with Balanced output cables out. Doc BC
Great video, Great bit of kit, expensive but state of the art, however, I do have one gripe and that's the pre amp section. If you have a pre amp or an integrated it will be there doing nothing and I am sure it is a significant part of the cost. I own a Chord dac 64 and my experience is that the balanced ins and outs give a more open sound with a bigger soundstage which is more suitable for classical and the single ended ins and outs are punchier and tighter more suitable for pop/rock. Just a thought as the Dave may to similar. 👍
Thanks both, enjoyable as always. i have the dave, m-scalar combo with exposure 3510 integrated and mono blocks with the atc scm40 and it’s a great combo. Right up Mikes street i’m thinking. i keep looking out for the philips cd960 at german flea markets for you which i often frequent. they have many 70s and 80s hifi piled up at these places. very cheap too.
Crikey, that's a nice system!
MScaler takes things up a notch. As can the third party power supplies some of us use (Farad / Sean Jacobs). And Rob is releasing a new MScaler, the Quattro, hopefully 2025, which should raise the bar even higher. Exciting times.
“Justification for not buying something I can’t afford”. 😂❤
@@dannyfannyfoodle A mate of mine who certainly wouldn't regard himself as "upper class" said once that he ahem,"needed" a larger BMW X something or other to fit his golf clubs in as justification for buying it. A true "working class" statement if I ever heard one.🙂
Chord "Chaz and Dave" next. The Mola Mola Tambaqui would likely give it a run for it's money and would be another I would like to try if playing in this league.
I would like to hear this against my Audiolab M Dac plus
Mike, would a Linn Urika 2 not solve your problems (at a price of course). By the way “Mikes butt” takes on a whole new meaning to US viewers but may attract a more specialised audience 🤣🤣
Read on Pink Fish media the other day, a post from a dealer - who owns 100 + dac’s & talks in forsenic detail about all things dac- that he thinks so highly of the Dave, that he uses it as a doorstop. So, I don’t know.
Indeed if ASR were to be believed as well, its a piece of crap. Heres the thing though, its not, its out of this world.
The thing to do is to hear one for yourself. Go to a dealer and bring your existing DAC.
Dealers, magazines, TH-camrs, forum members, etc., can say all they like - it's how it sounds that counts.
The chord mike 😂
Mike , you need to try the discontinued Naim DAC with a XPS or XPS-2 power supply . Second-hand bargain
I have it the naim DAC + XPS2 PSU not dr and absolutely stellar combo digital front end I've heard the naim DAC and a 555PSU DR combo and it elevates the sound to another level very organic and virtually free from any digital harshness totally love it ❤
Mike and Dave, once again dropping some early UK house vibes. Wonder if you'll get to Sasha Digweed Renaissance 1
I use the mojo2 as a portable dac/amp and I love it, but if I could / wanted to spend that much money on a DAC I would look into the Tambaqui rather than the Dave. having listened to both but only for a short time. Please try to review one.
Once again, just solidified what I've always said thY for digital, 44.1 16 bit really is good enough. Hires is pure marketing.
I do think hi-res can be superb, but the performance difference can often be overstated.
You need a seriously good DAC to really get the best out of hi-res, and if it's that good then it's going to work wonders with Red Book CD too!
Agree that 16/44 can sound fantastic, when reproduced properly..
Absolutely correct 👍
Can I ask David which digital connection you used between the Aurilic Aries S1 and the Dave? USB or coax/bnc? Did you have the external Aurilic power supply too? Asking as I am looking for an improved digital transport for my M Scaler / TT2 combo.
We used the coax, and yes we had the Auralic PSU. The DAVE is a clear improvement on the TT2/M Scaler, which is saying something!
You can of course use a Hugo M Scaler with the DAVE too, and it sounds better still.
@@MrVinylista Thanks David 👍
Great Riff. Loving the reviews. It’s you guys and Steve Guttenberg I listen to now. I no longer watch Darko, and British Audiophile anymore. Genuine people having a laugh and talking honestly about Hi-Fi.
Nothing wrong with A British Audiophile, his reviews are honest and thorough.
Good grief… what a daft comment
Each to their own, and the more the merrier!
A higher end (read much more expensive) Chord DAC has been in the making for some time now, according to Watts.
Let's hope they have a in-house PSU to go with it non of these crappie power bricks
Yes, although he did tell me not so long ago that the current DAVE is still pretty close to what they can achieve, sonically.
It will be interesting to see what's next for Chord. It does make sense to do a more high end model to challenge dCS, methinks.
ASR said you can't tell the difference in a blind test to a Topping DAC 😊
But ASR is hopelessly biased.
@@michaellichnovsky8397 so is this.
@@michaellichnovsky8397 so is this.
Afternoon gents👍👍
Alright Dave 😊
Thats a weird looking Playstation remote 🤔
Have you two listened to the QBD 76? If you have, how would it compare to the DAVE? If not, when are you guys making a hifi riff of it? 😂
Yes, I reviewed it when it first came out. I'd say the DAVE is noticeably better all round.
For some reason I didn't get along with it particularly well. I really enjoyed the DAC64 that came before it though, and we've done a Riff on that.
Great Riff. Bet Alphonse Mouzon sounds great through this DAC!!!! Suggestion. Started to stream with TIDAL. Despite rubbish user interface sounds great with my budget Audiolab 6000 streamer. Not as good as CD obviously and well behind my Orbe. But is it worth spending more money. How about a Riff comparing 6000 at £450, 7000 at £550 and 9000 at £2.5k? Also I loved my Bariks and thought I was loosing it now I have Martin Logan ELS as my main speakers so to hear Mike also has Quad electrostatics maybe vindicates me!!!
Not huge difference between 6000 and 7000 ,9000 a jump up but pricy
@@misterzero8667 Agreed.
It would be interesting to know what this actually cost to produce?
Including R&D time, marketing, factory costs, staff costs, insurance, etc?
@@michaellichnovsky8397 materials and manufacturing costs?
@@dean6816 A lot, I should think. The case alone is a huge fixed cost, relative to most hi-fi separates.
UK manufacturing is extremely expensive now, thanks to our crazy energy costs - which are an order of magnitude higher than China now.
Labour costs are also high here because we want people to be paid a living wage, and get paid for their skills and expertise.
what's more important? streamer or dac?
DAC by a mile.
There's one on ebay Mike for £6k?
Hi guys so erratic in when new podcast comes out. You need to be more sensitive about our withdrawal symptoms
Sorry, we’re very busy with day jobs that we still rather like!
We try put videos out on Monday or Friday, at 5pm.
@@MrVinylista only jesting chaps
Great riff, chaps. However, David, err, Dave, this latest riff is perhaps a tad self-indulgent? However, redemption is at hand.... that Rush Riff Special? Resistance is futile...
10G's for a DAC that people can barely hear any difference in between a cheap good one if they don't know what they're listening to. This is audiofoolery at its best!
Clear you are commenting based on no experience. No idea why you think anyone would need to hear what you are saying based on zero knowledge or experience? These differences are very profound, and if you dont believe Mike or Daves viewpoint, then why are you watching at all?
Trolling. ASR type, no doubt.
@@titntin5178 Because it's still interesting to her what they have to say. The level of how these people buy into it never ceases to amaze me.
the freaky looks are a big 'no' for me; I'm referring to the item beign reviewed, not the reviewers
😂
Completely agree. The weird aesthetic is a total turn off. It's just embarrassing.
Plus, I'm just not ponying up that much money for what is essentially by definition old product.
The Tambaqui has the same problem. Mola Mola needs to write Bruno a check to have him consult on Tambaqui Version 2.0 and then I'm handing the retailer my credit card.
Might do the same for a Dave 2 as well but only if Chord substantially improved its appearance.
I have a T+A DAC200 with a dCS Network Bridge and they sound wonderful!
Yes, the dCS Network Bridge is a top-tier streamer.
I won't ever buy a dac that looks like that. 😬
A year ago I had thought the same but now I want one 😂
Hi fellas!
Your production standards have really gone to hell this time... Straight onto the review!! What the heck was that!! Remember, the thing that sets you apart from the rest is the suspense you create while we wait for you to actually start reviewing the thing!! You just ruined it for me this time. Shame on you!
That being said, the DAVE is an interesting piece and I wonder how high they can raise the bar. It is quite possibly as high as it can get and further ‘improvements’ would be more academic than practical or audible in real-life conditions. The interesting part, at least for me, will be to see how much of the sound on offer here will become available to mere mortals. The DAVE might be better value than others but the ‘value’ that it isn’t really worth talking about.
The D/A convertor that I use as a reference is Bryston BDA-2. I bought it new in 2013 and in my system, it sounds as good as anything else I have heard. But at 2500 Euro, it was a tremendous stretch for me to get it and I was pondering over it for months. Not an easy decision at all. I have no doubt that the Chord DAVE is better but by how much, I don’t know, and whether it would elevate my enjoyment of music, I don’t know that either.
These are lovely toys to spend money on, presuming you have money you don’t need. Very few of us do but that’s no reason to despair - at all. Affordable but good DACs have never been more accessible and let’s face it, owning expensive kit doesn’t make you a better listener or someone who automatically knows more about the music. To me, that’s certainly a big part of the audiophile charm. Hence, turntables, cassette decks and oh yes - MINIDISC DECKS are huge fun!
Ahem, fellas, if I am not very much mistaken, a MiniDisc review is long overdue!! 😊
Cheers!
Coming very soon, honest!
@@MrVinylista I'll believe it when I see it! ;) At least, coming from you, that means something! But Mike... ;) All he does is Exposure.
I’m gonna ask a question keep in mind that pretty much every single thing in this dark will have been bought off the shelf parts with the exception of maybe the power supply or a little bit of circuitry where is the £10,500 pricetag gone in this equipment I understand it’s mailed from one lovely piece of aluminium which literally does nothing to a DAC they don’t have any moving parts in unless something is really gonna rise. They don’t get too hot so they don’t need massive heat sinks. I’m not a sceptic and I believe 100% when you say this sounds awesome but when you buy a piece of equipment, the price you pay should be somehow represented in the parts it’s been used and I’m pretty sure there is nowhere near 10 grand of equipment/parts inside this and the question should be it’s not how does this still stand up to be brilliant in 2024? The question should be how good as the opposition got for less than £10,500 compared to this cause even though this particular market sector doesn’t really move forward in leaps and bounds because they microchips they do pretty much the hard work so there’s only a certain selection to choose from. Is this still value for money in 2024 compared to what is available today that should be the question.
As with any product sold through retail…The dealer gets about 40% of the price you pay, the distributor has taken there cut before that and the manufacturer will be getting double what it costs. Parts cost less than development time and wages. Hans Beekhuyzen rates this as better than the Terminator, and the Tambaqui. The latter is £10K.
It takes a hell of a lot of money to keep hifi companies running, it’s a specialist market not a mass production one, most people aren’t interested in buying DACs or pre power combos, they settle for something that is made by the likes of the Samsung etc. A team is required to design, build and administer these hifi products, so yes the chips may be off the shelf and of low ish cost, but it’s all the other costs of running these relatively small hifi companies, so hence the costs go onto the product, then the retailer needs to pay for bricks and mortar locations & staff to demonstrate the equipment properly
It just doesn't work like that.
When Ford release a new SUV, its retail price is not the sum total of the parts price plus a small bit of profit. The development budget is factored in, plus safety testing and certification, and then there's the distributor and dealer network, who also need a fair slice of the pie to keep them in business - who will do warranty repairs if they're no longer around?
Same for hi-fi. Sure, you could buy a DAC on a Chinese auction site and get lucky for not much money. But if you don't like it then you can't take it back to you dealer, and if it catches fire you can forget warranty claims, and if a small part fails in a few years time where are you going to get the spares from as the company has long since disappeared?
I fully get why people buy cheap and experiment. Why not? But most people want a UK product and a warranty, and a strong resale value from a known brand. Different strokes, for different folks!
Dcs stuff is insanely priced ,heard it at a hi end store it was good but not that good
I think dCS DACs are absolutely superb, and really the only other high end designs that I’d have.
Slightly different presentation, and the differences are a bit like coffee and tea - a matter of taste in other words.
Another fantastic rift lads the dave is great but David is better as Mike is can't forget you Mike, but you know what I'm going to say there are other DAC's outthere which IMHO are better than dave dac I wish you would look at other DAC's naim DAC with 555DR PSU or xps Dr psu and the naim ND555 streamer and NAPS 555 Dr PSU
Yes, I haven't heard a Naim DAC for ages - it would be great to try one out.
I'm happy to send you mine but i only have the XPS PSU not DR version @MrVinylista
@@MrVinylistaMike would be very happy as it's a naim product but please 🙏 try and refrain him from using his naim nait 😂😂😂
@@nickevans3190 LOL!
I'll see if I can borrow one from Naim - and Mike's NAIT 1 has finally conked out so no risk of it being involved. 🙂
😮😂😂😂 maybe it's for the best 😅😂😂@@MrVinylista
No offence intended but please stop abusing the 'time domain' term. It has a very particular meaning in physics and electronics and has nothing to do with the examples you are using the term to describe. Any recording or mastering audio engineer worth his pay would be able to correlate many phase issues with subjective audio observations and I promise you they would be nothing like you (or many other audiophiles and audiophile audio reviewers) describe. Historically, I blame Naim and their horrible marketing term PRAT for all this..