hibo Posted July 15, 2016 Author Posted July 15, 2016 @@Galactic Soap You seem genuinely passionate about the Dave. Most components usually give incremental improvements. It must be great to find one that offers the door to Nirvana. I hesitate because human nature dictates that Nirvana is never reached. Diminishing funds and discipline generally define the point where satisfaction is achieved. Are you there yet? It would be interesting if you agree with Rob Watts that source is not so important. Some owners on Headfi and Marc hear improvements to sound with better source. Too much analysis; the music is what its all about. I'll have to start saving up for a Dave on the basis of your glowing recommendation. Martin
Guest Sime Posted July 15, 2016 Posted July 15, 2016 There's 160,000 odd taps in Daves processing, and Rob Watts has stated at numerous times that he theorizes that to achieve the best results possible from a DAC, he'd think it'll take a million taps to do so. Nirvana, not yet.....
hibo Posted July 15, 2016 Author Posted July 15, 2016 And so many different ways to skin a cat. Not mean't literally, i have a cat. Martin
wis97non Posted August 11, 2016 Posted August 11, 2016 (edited) Interesting! I heard the DAVE last November and liked it a lot, even though I hatted the Hugo. DAVE is a LOT better. It compared favourably to the MSB Select for me, but they were in 2 different rooms and in 2 different buildings, so a couple hours separated the listening experience. Though I prefer my Lampi Golden Gate , with R2R PCM and chipless DSD256, I was very impressed by DAVE. However, over at WB Forum (Chord Dave on a 2-Ch rig thread), someone with a MSB Analog Dac with optional power supply thought differently. To each his own! Edited August 11, 2016 by wis97non
GTA007 Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 Galactic Soap.... Does your Aurender N100H pair up well with the Dave? Any experience compared to the Auralic Aries? I am contemplating which streamer / server might be best with the Dave? Would be great to hear your thoughts on it..... Cheers @@hibo Thank you Martin! LOL! I was quite self conscious when rattling off my gear like I did in my original post. I wanted to highlight that while the DAVE was new it was connected to quite a lot of ancillary components that Rob suggests aren't necessary. I also wanted to point out that there have been a few substantial changes in my system of late. Despite all of that though, the DAVE has been beguiling. If the DAVE is within touching distance of the Adagio I'd have no hesitance recommending the DAVE. I believe the likes of the Pavane/Adagio, La Scalla, Directstream, Chord TT and MA-1 sit above the likes of Auralic's Vega but sit just below the likes of MSB's Analog DAC (particular with Quadrate USB & upgraded Analog Powerbase) and Emm Labs DAC2X. I believe once you break through the initial group of DAC's which are highly resolving, highly musical, have incredible imaging capability and are able to recreate haunting holographic imaging you come across a new class of product where the likes of Chords DAVE, Esoteric's top of the range pieces, the latest offerings from EmmLabs, Nagra, and MSB pick-up where the others have left off and bring timing and spatial information to the table. I don't use the remote. I change my two inputs via the main unit. I also agree with you re: the design, I wasn't a fan when I first saw it. Like you having read the Headfi thread I went in with very high expectations and had convinced myself that if those expectations weren't met then the aesthetics alone would be justification enough for me to move the unit on. Well, those expectations were met and then some. I agree with the reviews you've read re: the Pavane. It had very impressive bass, indeed it was on par with the Analog DAC by way of the quality of it's Bass reproduction. It dug deep, had great texture and more than enough slam to keep me happy. Even here though the DAVE betters it. I find the DAVE just that bit more dynamic right across the frequency range. That's not to say there's anything artificial or "lit-up" about it's tonality, it just grabs and holds my attention like nothing else I've had in my system all the while being incredibly natural in its presentation. Is the DAVE's ability to covey drama and nuance so viscerally a result of accentuated treble due to a brighter than neutral tone - I don't think so but I can understand how some could. We all have such different ways of listening and interpreting what we're hearing.
Sir Rab of Everest Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 I was getting seriously interested in this dac until I just googled the price: a$18k! Better run away now... 1
CryptiK Posted August 30, 2016 Posted August 30, 2016 On 29/08/2016 at 8:41 AM, Sir Rab of Everest said: I was getting seriously interested in this dac until I just googled the price: a$18k! Better run away now... And with DAC technology changing so fast right now, it may be outdated tech in 6 months... Just going to sit this out and see where the chips fall in 6-12 months time!
hibo Posted August 31, 2016 Author Posted August 31, 2016 I currently have an Aries and have a Dave on order thanks to Galacticsoap's fulsome recommendation. Will hopefully post impressions in a couple of weeks. Martin. 2
Galactic Soap Posted September 10, 2016 Posted September 10, 2016 On ?8?/?28?/?2016 at 10:57 PM, GTA007 said: Galactic Soap.... Does your Aurender N100H pair up well with the Dave? Any experience compared to the Auralic Aries? I am contemplating which streamer / server might be best with the Dave? Would be great to hear your thoughts on it..... Cheers Hi Mate - Sorry about the delay getting back to you. The N100H sounds great with the DAVE, having said that I haven't had a chance to test it with anything else to compare and contrast. By all accounts the Sonore Micro-Rendu + DAVE is a brilliant combination is Headfi is anything to go by. @hibo - Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
GTA007 Posted September 12, 2016 Posted September 12, 2016 Was wondering if anyone has compared the Aurender N100H to an Auralic Aries?
rossb Posted October 7, 2016 Posted October 7, 2016 On 31/08/2016 at 8:20 PM, hibo said: I currently have an Aries and have a Dave on order thanks to Galacticsoap's fulsome recommendation. Will hopefully post impressions in a couple of weeks. Martin. Martin, any update on your impressions of the Dave?
fdhfdy Posted October 7, 2016 Posted October 7, 2016 I tried it with some 803d3s for some good time.Its very nice but improvement over TT is not very big. 18000 is rrp I believe it can be had for around 16000 but still 3 grand more than UK.
CryptiK Posted October 7, 2016 Posted October 7, 2016 It seems it's a hugely polarising piece of equipment! I've heard everything from its the best thing I've ever heard and very Analogue to its terribly fatiguing, digital and bright.
rossb Posted October 7, 2016 Posted October 7, 2016 7 hours ago, CryptiK said: It seems it's a hugely polarising piece of equipment! I've heard everything from its the best thing I've ever heard and very Analogue to its terribly fatiguing, digital and bright. Yes, it does get conflicting opinions. I found the previous QBD76 a little bright and dry, and ended up selling it. I was wondering whether the Dave was similar - from some of the comments I suspect it is.
hibo Posted October 7, 2016 Author Posted October 7, 2016 You may think I have been slack updating my last post but Dave only entered the building on 29th September so I have put off the update and putting on some hours. The delay was due to lack of supply. This even with criticism over cost and only managing to get free freight in lieu of discount. Out of the box, sound was not promising; plenty of bass but flat and lacking treble. 12 hours on, treble present but apart from increased bass, slightly more detail and more musical, not appreciably better than Vega. After 15 hours, a more natural sound especially with vocals and violins, smoother and more detail revealed. Amy Winehouse previously unlistenable with Vega, now tolerable with Dave. About 30 hours on now and enjoyable to listen to. More relaxed on some tracks than Vega's high energy renditions but probably more realistic. Not heard much of the fabled depth of image yet, could be to do with less than ideal speaker placement. Running Dave from Aries to Merak monoblocks to Avanteras. No Pre amp and no headfi. Cost/benefit always subjective. No Retailer in NZ so I direct imported from UK. Currently Dave is about twice retail of Vega. I'd say Vega is about 80% of Dave sound. To me worth the cost. Those the plusses also some minuses. Function and aesthetics. The remote is rubbish. Of the fifty plus buttons , only five offer control to Dave. I tried to teach the remote to wake up and put Aries back to sleep. Instead, the remote got confused and now only changes volume. No way to put Dave into standby either with remote or manually; needs to be switched on and off. The S shaped drilled holes on the case are mainly decoration. The chrome volume knob is slippery and hard to turn. Of the four surrounding buttons, only two are required to operate all the functions, the other two are redundant and decorative. The display is difficult to see from the side. Its fonts are dated and some lurid colour options. I'd say Dave is 80% of Vega in terms of design. The Chinese do better design than the Poms at less than half the price. Dave's case is carved out of billet and Vega's remote is nothing great either but still more functional. I committed to Dave before Auralic generously upgraded Aries and would have been satisfied with the sound. Now, Dave has become the new normal. You don't know what you don't know. Ignorance is economic bliss. Martin.
GTA007 Posted October 13, 2016 Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) I just received my Dave and Aries LE with low noise PSU last friday. Initial impressions are very good - depth and instrument separation is excellent. With increased detail, I was expecting some degree of brightness but none of that and it has been most enjoyable so far. Hopefully it will sound better once it gets a bit of burn in time. Very happy with the sound and can't wait to enjoy the music this weekend........ Edited October 13, 2016 by GTA007
hibo Posted October 14, 2016 Author Posted October 14, 2016 Hi Brian, Glad you are enjoying the Sound of your Dave. I have about 50 hours on mine. Speed has improved, no longer what I would call relaxed. Very musical and natural sounding vocals. Martin.
CryptiK Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 Any more new DAVE owners? There's loads on HeadFi, thought it would prove very popular here too?
CryptiK Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 I'm surprised how many owners there are elsewhere. There's a few hundred page thread with Rob Watts from Chord and many owners chiming in whereas there's only a 2 page thread here with 2 owners!
zenelectro Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 On 15/07/2016 at 7:08 PM, Sime said: There's 160,000 odd taps in Daves processing, and Rob Watts has stated at numerous times that he theorizes that to achieve the best results possible from a DAC, he'd think it'll take a million taps to do so. Nirvana, not yet..... I believe HQplayer has equiv of up to 4M taps depending on OP sample rate. However he (Miska) also points out he doesn't really prefer the closed form type filter because it is not apodizing. See here http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/hq-player-20293/index144.html#post472526 T
GTA007 Posted October 31, 2016 Posted October 31, 2016 Very happy with my Dave so far. Haven't got that many hours on it yet but sounding absolutely superb so far. Apparently mine was the 8th or 9th Dave that the dealer has sold in Perth .......
CryptiK Posted October 31, 2016 Posted October 31, 2016 8 or 9 DAVE's from the one dealer? Where are these people?
Guest cavillor Posted October 31, 2016 Posted October 31, 2016 6 hours ago, CryptiK said: 8 or 9 DAVE's from the one dealer? Where are these people? Probably listening to their wonderful new DAC and not looking at SN. I have heard it along with the new Meitner, Nagra HD and HAPI. Its very good.
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