Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: gone
Posts: 11,519
I'm gone.
I had a Chord Hugo2 DAC on dem fully expecting to buy it based on the reviews (I hadn't seen the one by The Verge!).
I agree absolutely with The Verge review - soulless and unmusical. Actually quite unpleasant to listen to after a while.
If the Chord Dave is anything like that then I am sure I would be agreeing with Mr. C's opinion!
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Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
Well Marco, the reason I have given up on vinyl is largely one of cost and value for money, nothing else really. Everyone has a price they put on everything regarding value for money and for me personally, I went as far as I was prepared to go in terms of expenditure. I know full well that if I were to win the Lotto tomorrow night and it was nothing short of a jackpot win, things may well change in an instant. Correct house, correct room and correct analogue.
If that should ever happen, or even something remotely approaching it, give me a shout and I'll help you build a vinyl set-up that will blow your mind and that will never be anything other than a delight to listen to, I promise!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Can you describe how it sounds then, Jim?
I don't doubt what you say, since you've heard it, but experience tells me that the products from specific manufacturers generally all share a similar 'house sound', to varying degrees (and also fundamental design principles), so in that respect I'm struggling to see why Chord, and the Dave in particular, would be any different, other than simply using 'fancier' and more expensive components...
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
I can't see Shaun's analogous analogue photography staging a major comeback as vinyl has done. I forlornly keep all my Olympus bodies and lenses in my drawer waiting for that renaissance but I rather think my reincarnation might precede it !
I find the comments on DAVE interesting and a little different to how I hear it. As you know Marco I am no great fan of digital music by any means but have endeavoured to try and find a system that would suit to play some of the music I have not been able to get on vinyl format. I have been fortunate through a number of friends to be able to listen to a wide range of DACS from a number of manufacturers both cheap and expensive and generally I have been unimpressed. However DAVE is the exception. I heard Hugo when it first came out and I agree with folk on here with their comments, it is all about detail and lacks musical involvement, definitely a no-no for me. However the jump from Hugo to DAVE was both massive and extaordinary.
Listening to DAVE with the m-scaler the soundstage was simply breathtaking both in width and depth. Instruments and musicians had their own spatial acoustic environment clearly defined. The hard, hyper detailed edge of digital recordings simply vanished and the glassy quality digital often imposes on recordings disappeared. What hits you straight away it the very smooth analogue like sound DAVE imparts to recordings, almost like listening to tape.
DAVE is not all about detail and reaches far into the subterranean depths in bass with an articulation that cannot even be matched by vinyl. Its Dynamic range and vanishingly low noise floor does make it sound impressive but my thoughts were simple it was unlocking the potential that digital recordings have and few have actually heard.
Now when it comes to the question of musicality and all that I love in the analogue /vinyl realm then all I can say is its different, probably colder and less involving. And there is still something about digital music that lacks that indefineable musical experience that makes vinyl such a joy . Even DAVE can't achieve this.
If anyone out there truly thinks they have a digital set up that does achieve this let me know, I would certainly like to hear it.
Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702
Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2
I've been keen to hear the DAVE, if only as a complete antidote to the sort of non-oversampling, redbook focused, tube ouput/rectified/regulated DACs that I've been using for best part of a decade. My last non os/non tube DAC was actually an early Chord DAC64. TBH anyone I've heard talking about the DAVE (as opposed to the Hugo TT which appears to be a bit Marmite) has liked it, which has left me intrigued and wondering if it could turn out to finally offer a decent TT some genuine competition in the making music stakes.