Chord DAVE DAC

@retiredfarmer It tells me anytime  some one says a really cheap piece is better than a top flight piece You know the only thing that has happened is the good piece is showing  how bad the rest of there system is

You give them more benefit of the doubt than I. My strong suspicion is they haven’t even heard the more expensive product they’re so dismissive of. I believe that it is more philosophical in nature. Anything more than they can/want to spend is simply the result of hype, clever marketing and of course a good dose of the ever present snake oil.

Charles

Not heard the Dave, but I read a lot of reviews and ended up getting the Holo May KTE. It’s the most perfect sounding dac I’ve heard, and if you look at what others saying, who heard both, it beats the Dave. For the price of the Dave you can get more value and more sound elsewhere, because you’re paying top dollar for British employees doing research and development.

also don’t forget the technology in Dave is from 2014, as good as that was at the time, there’s some new developments that surfaced in the past years which could make the Dave obsolete. Besides I personally hate the design and the looks of the Dave:)

Regarding M-Scaler which is a must if you want to get the best out of Dave, it’s easily bested by hqplayer, but does require more effort than plug and play.

enjoy the music!

I had the Chord TT2 and m-scaler for over a year which sounded excellent. Upgraded to the DAVE in Feb - definitely an improvement over the TT2 but the TT2 is more forgiving of recording quality, the DAVE makes no attempt to smooth out rough recordings. M-scaler? This refines the DAVE even further but I can see why some like the DAVE on its own, I think rhythm is better without the scaler but you also lose some coherency, a sense of musicians playing together.  See if you can audition one at home.

@charles1dad  yes there is a huge level of jealousy  involved  as well. 

@jackhifiguy if you are planning on spending this amoun5 of money there are many other great dacs out there. I have been on a dac journey with many brands. Chord is good but there are better options imo. 

I went from chord to dCS with the Bartok and now own an MSB Discrete. To me the Bartok is now overpriced as is the Dave.