Well, first of all, hello Mr. R
In the beginnings of my audio journey, I’ve owned the Chord Dave for a few months and prior to that, the Qutest. I purchased the DAVE because I really enjoyed the Qutest, I had huge expectations before I purchased the DAVE, [ the DAVE being six times the price of the Qutest ] thinking that the DAVE would be the solution or the cure I longed for in my quest for musical euphoria. It was a disappointment and a learning experience through my journey in the search for the sound signature I thought I craved. DAVE is NOT a bad product. It’s actually a great product and a solid device. If only, if I had more audio experience before the DAVE, I would’ve come to a different conclusion.
Anyways, to answer your question, I’m currently using an integrated all-in-one Amp from a Norwegian company called Hegel and the Peachtree Nova 300.
The H360 uses an AKM AK4450 and the Nova 300 uses an ESS Reference 9018K2M Sabre DAC.
One thing I’d like to mention is that an identical DAC chip does not have the same sound signature in a seperate device. Even in in a stand-alone DAC. You might have used a DAC chip from AKM or ESS in an integrated setup or in a stand-alone setup from other manufacturers and might have come to a conclusion that a certain off-the-shelf DAC chip would sound the same from the rest, but they don’t.
An example for this will be in a DAP from Astell & Kern the AK380 and an integrated amp from the same company called the ACRO L1000. They both use a dual AKM AK4490 DAC chip but have a totally different sound signature. Whichever might be the better is solely up to your ears.
The Chord DAVE is a great DAC+Preamp+headphone amp! [ I really need to mention that the Preamp in the DAVE is exceptional! ] The DAVE gets too much credit for its DAC technology, but the Preamp is awesome.
Mr. R, here is my conclusion, if a person has all the money, if money was no object, then for sure get the DAVE, or even the NAGRA setup, and a MSB. But of course, I’m assuming in the real world, best value for money does matter and the DAVE unfortunately [ my opinion ] does not equate to best value for the money. All in all, in the world of high end audio, you MUST audition a device before purchase. And to add a sad but a true reality is that the Bose and the Beats generate more capital than the top ten high-end audio manufacturers combined. Maybe even more. And the reason for that, that is because their sound quality is good enough, good enough for the average listeners. [ I would never by them BTW ] I, myself listen to a system with an integrated off-the-shelf delta sigma DAC chip and it’s very good!
In an interview, even Andrew Jones once said “ only an experience listener can appreciate a relative subtlety of high end audio.”
Thank you, for reading it through
Kevin K
p.s AKM & ESS aren’t Chinese. AKM Semiconductor chips are actually manufactured in San Jose and is a subsidiary of AKM japan and ESS is from Fremont, California. These chips are used in all devices worldwide. One thing to mention is that Chinese Audio manufacturers make exceptional DACs and audio devices.
P.S.S
The Hegel is a Norwegian audio manufacturer but their devices are made in China. So I guess, I did trade in my DAVE for a Chinese manufactured device.LOL [ I have some pics I wanted to share. I no longer have the DAVE of course ]