Chord DAVE Measurements (With MScaler) by GoldenSound

[Matias]

Article below. Kind of disappointing, I was expecting more.

Chord DAVE Measurements (With MScaler) - GoldenSound

Technical measurements and analysis of the Chord DAVE DAC. This is a high end DAC with some great and not so great aspects

goldensound.audio

 

[Shazb0t]

Wonder what's going on here:

 

[Jimbob54]

Must confess I only scanned it and I see he has linked full reports with both usb in and mscaler in but are all the charts in the main body with dave fed by mscaler? You would have thought he would have at least shown the dashboards with and without mscaler... Unless it made no measurable difference

 

[dougi]

Wonder what's going on here:

He postulated it was some kind of clipping at 0dBFS, as it went away at -1dBFS. The harmonics look like slight clipping, but who knows what mechanism causes that 100 Hz interval grass at full scale only.

 

[Matias]

Wonder what's going on here:

Yes, that was the weird part but easily solvable by firmware making -0.5dB the new 0dB.

But still I was expecting lower harmonic distortions, and multitone is nothing to write home about...

And also MScaler brought nothing better to the measurements.

So overall, I guess an "okay" panther but no soccer panther, specially considering the price.

 

[juliangst]

Good to see that not all boutique brands have bad measuring gear

 

[amirm]

Wonder what's going on here:

Pretty sure it is measurement error seeing the 100 Hz and multiples. He doesn't know what he doesn't know about using Audio Precision.....

 

[Eskamobob1]

Pretty sure it is measurement error seeing the 100 Hz and multiples. He doesn't know what he doesn't know about using Audio Precision.....

What kind of error would cause the distortion to only be present at full scale and to stop at the nyquest frequency?

 

[MaxBuck]

Seems like a competent, if overpriced, DAC.

 

[dc655321]

What kind of error would cause the distortion to only be present at full scale and to stop at the nyquest frequency?

User error.

 

[CinDyment]

What kind of error would cause the distortion to only be present at full scale and to stop at the nyquest frequency?

Math error. Saturation I expect. Taken out by the filters later in the process.

 

[abdo123]

Yes, that was the weird part but easily solvable by firmware making -0.5dB the new 0dB.

But still I was expecting lower harmonic distortions, and multitone is nothing to write home about...

And also MScaler brought nothing better to the measurements.

So overall, I guess an "okay" panther but no soccer panther, specially considering the price.

It has 115 dB SINAD. And it’s noise limited.

With very aggressive filtering.

This DAC is the child of the school of thought that if you measure it you will hear it no matter how loud it is.

 

[arthur1260]

Pretty sure it is measurement error seeing the 100 Hz and multiples. He doesn't know what he doesn't know about using Audio Precision.....

Hi Amir, first of all thanks for your great contribution to the audio scene and for providing this platform, I'm personally grateful!
This short statement however reminds me of some older work colleagues, who liked to tell off young employees because they had no experience yet. I feel this is not a respectful approach, assuming that someone is incompetent without opening the door for a thorough technical conversation.
I would prefer to see a friendly and constructive approach towards a younger, and less experienced enthusiast, especially from someone with your knowledge and experience. It's already hard to navigate all the marketing claims snake oil sellers make.
To me it's very helpful and positive to see that more and more people dedicate their time and make substantial efforts to help the community with measurements and honest reviews. I believe a friendly and constructive approach could help the community much more.
On that note, could you please explain what is it he doesn't know, what could cause measurement errors, if any?
I understood from the review that this occurs only at full output, on both channels, most likely in the digital domain.

 

[192kbps]

Hi Amir, first of all thanks for your great contribution to the audio scene and for providing this platform, I'm personally grateful!
This short statement however reminds me of some older work colleagues, who liked to tell off young employees because they had no experience yet. I feel this is not a respectful approach, assuming that someone is incompetent without opening the door for a thorough technical conversation.
I would prefer to see a friendly and constructive approach towards a younger, and less experienced enthusiast, especially from someone with your knowledge and experience. It's already hard to navigate all the marketing claims snake oil sellers make.
To me it's very helpful and positive to see that more and more people dedicate their time and make substantial efforts to help the community with measurements and honest reviews. I believe a friendly and constructive approach could help the community much more.
On that note, could you please explain what is it he doesn't know, what could cause measurement errors, if any?
I understood from the review that this occurs only at full output, on both channels, most likely in the digital domain.

If you know Goldensound, you know he's not a decent guy.

 

[mccririck]

Must confess I only scanned it and I see he has linked full reports with both usb in and mscaler in but are all the charts in the main body with dave fed by mscaler? You would have thought he would have at least shown the dashboards with and without mscaler... Unless it made no measurable difference

I believe there's going to be a separate M-Scaler article.

 

[mccririck]

If you know Goldensound, you know he's not a decent guy.

Explain.

 

[mccririck]

Pretty sure it is measurement error seeing the 100 Hz and multiples. He doesn't know what he doesn't know about using Audio Precision.....

A cheap shot there. Are you not better than that?

 

[192kbps]

Explain.

 

[Jimbob54]

I believe there's going to be a separate M-Scaler article.

There already is. But I'd like to know how the Dave measures with and without.

 

[staticV3]

There already is. But I'd like to know how the Dave measures with and without.

GoldenSound provided full measurement reports of Mscaler->Dave->XLR and Dave->XLR