Chord 64dac

I have a Chord DAC64, in conjunction with a CEC TL1X, and couldn't be happier (except perhaps with a Burmester combo!)

This is my first experience with separate transport/dac combinations, having replaced a Wadia 830. I only know that I've gotten rid of most of my objections to CDs, primarily the shrill, etched, sibilance that I've found in the past. I can't honestly say I fully enjoy every CD I have (there are good and bad recordings in all formats) but I now enjoy MORE of them than I have in the past.

My $0.02, and worth every penny!
Jim

Barry---I'm delighted that you agree with me, and for the same reasons.

I had just about given up on CDs, and still find very little of interest in available SACDs or DVD-As. If those formats are successful, the situation should change for the better, but for now I simply don't want to start duplicating what I presently have, either on LP or CD. There's not much attraction to me in old analog masters that have been trotted out to flesh out the SACD repertoire.

I happened on the Chord DAC64 purely by accident: I was in a local store that has a limited selection of CDs, and noticed issue 14 of HiFi+, a mag I'd never even heard of. Browsing through the mag, I noticed the review of the DAC64, and it appeared that here was something out of the ordinary, not the usual over-/up-sampling that is pretty common. (So I found not only a new piece of equipment, but another magazine as well. Beautifully presented, but full of typos, misspelled words, and grammatical errors, I'm sad to say.)

Later I found Delve Audio's ad on Audiogon, contacted Oliver, and bought a unit. Had to wait couple of weeks but it was certainly worth the wait. Oliver cautioned that I should play the unit constantly for at least three weeks for proper burn-in. He was right, and it just kept getting better and better. I've had the unit several months now and I swear it's still improving! I still love analog, and have no plans to abandon that format, but the Chord/CEC combo has convinced me that the depths of CD sound are just now being plumbed---in the same way that modern analog equipment is only now revealing the true quality of LPs.
Jim

Chris--I didn't try anything else, since, as I said, all other DACs appear to use the same up- or over-sampling devices. I'm sure I'll get an argument on this score, but that's my feeling.

As for trying other components, I'd like to know how this realistically can be done. I imagine if I lived in a major metropolitan area there would be shops more than anxious to lend equipment for home trial (although even under those circumstances possibly excluding components as new and rare as the DAC64?), but this is impossible in my town of approx. 35K population. As for auditioning equipment in a shop, I feel this is a lost cause. Room acoustics, equipment combinations,limited audition time,etc.
strike me as making it highly misleading. Chances of getting equipment/room mixes representative of one's actual home environment are slim and none.

No, I may be crazy to do so, but I rely on the "golden ears" of the audio mags, primarily TAS. I can't recall a time when I have been led astray by this method, every component "upgrade" being just that: an upgrade, however subtle. Sometimes there is a more-than-subtle improvement, like the DAC64 accompanied by the CEC transport. (I'm not truly convinced that, as declared in TAS recently, the belt drive feature makes a lot of difference, but the CEC is truly a joy to look at, listen to, and simply to use. Perhaps it's the rather retro feature---the "ritual", if you will---of sliding the glass cover back, removing the weighted platter, placing the CD on the "turntable", etc. that I enjoy.)

As for your question regarding the performance of the Chord, I replaced a Wadia 830 (retail of about $3800 as I recall)with the Chord/CEC combo (for about $6000) and I certainly don't regret the expenditure. It's my feeling that since we are obviously "stuck" with some sort of digital format, at least for the forseeable future, we must go as far as is affordable toward getting the most out of the recordings that we have. Otherwise, we may as well pursue another hobby (read: "addiction").If I could be convinced that a Burmester 001 is another substantial step up, I'd seriously consider its purchase; I'm happy for now, however.
Jim

I tried to post earlier but for some reason it didn't go through.

The DAC64 I'm now using (Ser. No. 5100) is actually my second, since we (the dealer, the Chord rep., and I) discovered a defect in the first one (Ser. No. 5063). Not to belabor the point, but I wonder if the "defect" was actually the "major design flaw", as mentioned by "reliable sources". To be brief, my first unit would not play at all---the sound was absolutely garbled--- with my Rotel RCD 950, and incorrectly on certain CDs with my CEC transport, although I had no (discernible) difficulty with my Sony DVD player. Go figure!

The unit I now have continues to perform flawlessly.

As for inputs: I've found the XLR input(using a BEL cable)to be the better of the two---XLR/RCA(using the supplied adapter)---available to me. (The optical output connector on the CEC is incompatible with the Chord input, so I haven't even tried to devise a method of using that inter-connection. Optical connections strike me as just so many unnecessary monkey-motions, going from electronics to optical on one end and vice versa on the other end. So why do it, unless there is a problem with electrical interference in the interconnection?)

Jim