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Chord DAVE Review (DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 294 60.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 120 24.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 46 9.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 24 5.0%

  • Total voters
    484

Trell

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As a member of head-fi for nearly 2 decades now, even going to far to host a mid-sized meet, it's a bit like boiling a frog.

When that forum group-think hits a high note, you believe that what you're getting is superlative and will do what it takes, within reason, to get it. When you spend hours every week poring over discussion threads for things you have an interest in, hearing how much some piece of audio equipment sets a new bar, it unlocks something in your brain.

As much as $14k is, there were oodles of folks I met over the years at meets with collections way in excess of that. And they weren't rich or anything, mostly dorky software devs that were super deep down the rabbit hole where this was by far their primary hobby and outlet to socialize.

Yet here you are as a member of ASR since September 2019. :rolleyes:
 

mansr

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So, you think it might be false because of overload? Isn't the white noise down at -60 dB, or am I misreading all this?
It's a bit over -60 dB/Hz. For white noise at 44.1 kHz, that's somewhere close to full scale. I can't say that it definitely is overload, though, but if I got that reading, I'd run it again at a lower level just to be sure.
 

brandall10

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Thanks, but that quote is mine, not Trell's.
Sorry, botched a reply that included an earlier quote from Trell.
Yet here you are as a member of ASR since September 2019. :rolleyes:
Yep. FWIW I tried getting into the Sound Science forum but the person running it was so militant it was off-putting. I did dip my toes in the water w/ an ODAC circa 2013 or so.

OTOH, the way Amir presents his findings spoke to me and at this point I hardly spend time over there at all.
 

Trell

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Sorry, botched a reply that included an earlier quote from Trell.

Yep. FWIW I tried getting into the Sound Science forum but the person running it was so militant it was off-putting. I did dip my toes in the water w/ an ODAC circa 2013 or so.

OTOH, the way Amir presents his findings spoke to me and at this point I hardly spend time over there at all.

Truth hurts!
 

brandall10

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Truth hurts!
Sorry, don't follow what you're getting at. You've been here less than half the time I have. No one was putting these kind of measurements cohesively together, explaining what they meant, over a wide variety of devices. Presentation matters if you're trying to convey a message.

I stepped in to explain the mindset. Several seem to have trouble understanding it. I'm explaining it because I held it for a long time. I even listened to a DAVE at the 2017 CanJam with a good friend of mine who still is thinking about purchasing one.
 

Trell

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Sorry, don't follow what you're getting at. You've been here less than half the time I have. No one was putting these kind of measurements cohesively together, explaining what they meant, over a wide variety of devices. Presentation matters if you're trying to convey a message.

You could try reading your own posts.
 

AudioSceptic

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It's a bit over -60 dB/Hz. For white noise at 44.1 kHz, that's somewhere close to full scale. I can't say that it definitely is overload, though, but if I got that reading, I'd run it again at a lower level just to be sure.
I still don't understand why Watts/Chord would choose to start the filter so late. We're not only past 20k and 21k, we're just past 22k, right up against Nyquist, when we could easily start at ~21k and have room to spare.
 
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I would like someone trained in the art of design to weigh in on the appearance of DAVE. To my untrained but practically minded eye, it appears like a mixed bag of various styles with no intuitive usability. It does look "different" but then so does a platypus.
Nobody designed a platypus and then charged $14k for the pleasure of twiddling it’s Steampunk knobs.
 

AdamG

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Awsmone

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I was a little surprised to find that while it has always been historically notable for innovations in portrait rendering, its status as being the world's most important painting was simply because it was stolen just over a century ago. Its recovery created intense interest by the public which has lasted to its day. It's famous for being famous rather than being truly great and your reaction seems to be rather common.
absolutely true , though I think it started in 1850s, after Napoleon who kept it in his bedroom, and when returned to Louvre, Victorian writers started talking about it as “femme fatale”, your right the 1911 I think theft and later recovery received world wide attention, though it had to have some notoriety to be so reported, it also meant many people saw pictures of it for the first time in the newspapers , and the smile, was a standard way da Vinci did his beautiful women, as other mouth positions of his didn’t work so well, he fiddled with the damn thing for years very weird as of course he was , in his own time he was better known for his own racist grotesque cartoons than anything else lol
 

Awsmone

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I still don't understand why Watts/Chord would choose to start the filter so late. We're not only past 20k and 21k, we're just past 22k, right up against Nyquist, when we could easily start at ~21k and have room to spare.
From what I can gather from a Watts interview he manipulated the filter specs based on “how it sounded” it would appear it was a deliberate choice, what ever the reasoning
 

Axo1989

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Nobody designed a platypus and then charged $14k for the pleasure of twiddling it’s Steampunk knobs.

Depends: platypus plushie from my local zoo? $16.95. Adopt a platypus? $1000/year at the top rate. One you can take home? Likely a lot more than $14K (plus stochastic legal expenses). But more exciting than a DAC I expect.
 

AudioSceptic

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From what I can gather from a Watts interview he manipulated the filter specs based on “how it sounded” it would appear it was a deliberate choice, what ever the reasoning
Well, I'll just have to say that I'm not at all convinced by that!
 

Jimster480

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As a member of head-fi for nearly 2 decades now, even going to far to host a mid-sized meet, it's a bit like boiling a frog.

When that forum group-think hits a high note, you believe that what you're getting is superlative and will do what it takes, within reason, to get it. When you spend hours every week poring over discussion threads for things you have an interest in, hearing how much some piece of audio equipment sets a new bar, it unlocks something in your brain.

As much as $14k is, there were oodles of folks I met over the years at meets with collections way in excess of that. And they weren't rich or anything, mostly dorky software devs that were super deep down the rabbit hole where this was by far their primary hobby and outlet to socialize.
Hey hey hey, I am a software dev! I don't waste money like that though.
I actually use this hobby to enjoy my work more, so I have double enjoyment. I can enjoy great quality music as I work. I am actualy surprised that I wasn't into this hobby earlier in my life as I literally always listened to music working and studying and it was like a 24/7 thing for me for decades already.
 
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