Gave up on vinyl

[Macca]

Your original problem was with the term 'analogy' in this context

There are huge differences between a ship and a plough - doesn't stop them having an analogous relationship ....

I think if you consider the term 'analogue media' for more than a moment you would arrive at the same conclusion

Fair point. It is just the added confusion of them both being 'digital' - you don't have that with the ship/plough analogy, as it's clear to anyone that it is just an analogy.

[Mr. C]

I have listened to DAVE a lot with the m-scaler and no way does it sound mechanical. You must have heard it in a rotten system to sound like that. It is the smoothest most analogue sounding DAC I have heard. And in terms of 3D soundstage and textural layering it is superb.

I really can't understand your listening experience led you to think it sounded the way you described it.

Hey ho we all hear diferently I suppose.

Hi Jimbo

I will qualify my thoughts for you regarding the Dave:-

My experience with the Dave is quite extensive having had six units pass through our doors since October 2016, we have ran the units with quality musical highly resolving systems that have the ability to demonstrate what the equipment is or isn't capable of

Imho the Dave works best with slightly warmer fuller sounding systems based on our experience with former Dave customers set ups and our own systems in the studio

The m scaler is delivering what a good upsampler would deliver (if the device is correctly implemented ) a wider and deeper sound stage improved note separation and maybe if used in a direct red book multipule better bass definition as well. Also included in many up-samplers are some form of extra reclocking latches / jitter reduction /PLL contained within SRC chips or in FPGA dsp hardware



We also have one of the lowest system noise floor currently available so it is very easy to identify even. The smallest differences between equipment in a working genuine listening environment

The Dave combination is impressive I have acknowledged that fact just like the dac 64 which did give CD's at that point in time a shot in the arm without question but a long term listenability not a chance

One last point I would like to make all of the Daves that have passed through our hands have been traded back within six to nine months of their original purchase

Chord electronics, being a British company that does well which is a nice positive feel and we should be thankful of some good manufacturing news. In the U.K. The brand decides opinion in the trade I personally have always felt it was an English Krell but with more Space 1999 casework. I am not anti Chord at all I just do not believe all of the hype. This also applies to many other Audio companies as well

I have no doubt that it will do well here in the U.K. But the acid test is in that time frame I mentioned how many will be on the market?

The Dave does keep its used value which is big positive for the owners

Imho the Hugo is the most engaging dac Chord make not the TT version

After all 1 million taps is an audiophile's dream.

[montesquieu]

Hi Jimbo

I will qualify my thoughts for you regarding the Dave:-

My experience with the Dave is quite extensive having had six units pass through our doors since October 2016, we have ran the units with quality musical highly resolving systems that have the ability to demonstrate what the equipment is or isn't capable of

Imho the Dave works best with slightly warmer fuller sounding systems based on our experience with former Dave customers set ups and our own systems in the studio

The m scaler is delivering what a good upsampler would deliver (if the device is correctly implemented ) a wider and deeper sound stage improved note separation and maybe if used in a direct red book multipule better bass definition as well. Also included in many up-samplers are some form of extra reclocking latches / jitter reduction /PLL contained within SRC chips or in FPGA dsp hardware



We also have one of the lowest system noise floor currently available so it is very easy to identify even. The smallest differences between equipment in a working genuine listening environment

The Dave combination is impressive I have acknowledged that fact just like the dac 64 which did give CD's at that point in time a shot in the arm without question but a long term listenability not a chance

One last point I would like to make all of the Daves that have passed through our hands have been traded back within six to nine months of their original purchase

Chord electronics, being a British company that does well which is a nice positive feel and we should be thankful of some good manufacturing news. In the U.K. The brand decides opinion in the trade I personally have always felt it was an English Krell but with more Space 1999 casework. I am not anti Chord at all I just do not believe all of the hype. This also applies to many other Audio companies as well

I have no doubt that it will do well here in the U.K. But the acid test is in that time frame I mentioned how many will be on the market?

The Dave does keep its used value which is big positive for the owners

Imho the Hugo is the most engaging dac Chord make not the TT version

After all 1 million taps is an audiophile's dream.

This is really helpful Tony.

Would still love to hear one in my valve/Tannoy setup thought at some stage.

[Mr. C]

Tom

Your Mutec device is also a reclocking come upsampler I believe

One chap used Quad 2905 with his plus some quite tidy solid state it did work well and wasn't to Chord like

He traded up to MSB analogue dac which gave a much better natural fluid prestantion

Other owners went for Esoteric, Mergering Technologies and TAD

Again what we each look for in the sound is different however when something is fundamentally correct it just rounds right imho

[montesquieu]

Tom

Your Mutec device is also a reclocking come upsampler I believe

One chap used Quad 2905 with his plus some quite tidy solid state it did work well and wasn't to Chord like

He traded up to MSB analogue dac which gave a much better natural fluid prestantion

Other owners went for Esoteric, Mergering Technologies and TAD

Again what we each look for in the sound is different however when something is fundamentally correct it just rounds right imho

The Mutec has three main functions

USB receiver => SPDIF
Master clock with six outputs
Reclocker based on the master clock capability

It may have an upsampling capability but I've never figured that out - I'm pretty much 100% redbook anyway and the Audio Note DAC mostly does 44/16.

I use the MUTEC mainly for the limited amount of listening I do via USB input, as a USB receiver with high quality clock. As a reclocker it makes a modest improvement between my Audio Note transport and Audio Note DAC (AES/EBU or SPDIF out), so I generally leave it in when doing that as well. I would be interested in testing its capabilities as a master clock, but I don't have transport or DAC with BNC clock inputs and am probably unlikely to have in the short term.

I'm aiming at the overall musical flow that vinyl gives me, as well as the ability to unthread complex musical passages, where may dacs fall down. That and the degree of 3D space/dimensionality I get from vinyl - that's a hard one to pull off, the DAC64 did it to some extent but in an somewhat overblown, unrealistic way. NOS DACs I've found to give a more organic feel on the whole, but can suffer from other vices that mean they fall short of the palpability and presence of good vinyl.

Digital is my next port of call but I'll be sticking mainly with CD, I'm just not into stream-type interfaces. My AN DAC is actually very good, but my analogue setup (cartridge, arm, SUT, phono stage) is notably better in almost every circumstance. Having said that it's cost me considerably more (x4 maybe x5 what the digital side owes me). The Esoteric stuff does interest me.

[Haselsh1]

Sound and video have markedly different requirements.

Oh yes I agree, they both have differing requirements but they are both analogue waveforms that have been digitised. One exists because of nature and one exists because of man/woman.

[Ali Tait]

Out of interest Tony, what dacs have you heard that you liked?

[Mr. C]

Out of interest Tony, what dacs have you heard that you liked?

Hello Ali

Again all of this is personal and some of the not so well known units are pretty good, for example the Caiman SEG can be made to perform like a £2K unit and is musically engaging as well.

Some of the older dac's had the right mixture of involvement and listen ability as well

See Here

The Belcanto dac's can be great to, having owned a great many of the Esoteric's (My previous reference was the six box dual mono dac/ Rubidium clock set up)

It is really how you like your music and how good your system is at resolving detail and presenting to you, do not reach beyond the capabilities of your speakers, keeping a nice balance pays dividends imho

[Ali Tait]

Agree on the SEG, currently using one with a Longdog PS, gives little or nothing away to the Mytek Brooklyn I was using previously, except remote control lol.

[Firebottle]

Tony clear your inbox please. Ta.