Chord DAVE DAC

I see audiotroy is still flogging their stuff on here of course they're a chord dealer LOL

the Wyred4sound 10th anniversary dac sounds even better and it's only $4,500 US.

@jackhifiguy 

dang man. Sorry for your loss. You should fix the house up the way the wife and kids want. There will be other dacs, but there’s only one of them. 

+2 @steakster 

+1 @steakster 

lame troll bait right here

I’m probably in the minority here. I’ve heard the DAVE a couple of times and I prefer my Naim DAC. It’s no longer in production but you can get a used one for around 1k and it sounds amazing (MSRP ~$4200).

Save the money and still be able to renovate those bathrooms!

The Dave is a very good dac but it’s almost $10 k 

the Denafrips terminator+ is a better sounding dac in my experiences when heard side to side the Dave is very detailed sometimes too much so and not as forgiving 

to poorer recordings.  But f your system is warmer sounding it may suit you well.

I will admit I bought a new DAC before my high end Japanese toilet. I am an audiophile after all.
 

I lived in Japan off and on for years. One of the most wonderful things in Japan… the bathroom… huge water pressure, great smelling soaps, and the Japanese toilet. A wonderful place of regeneration. Warm toilet seats, no need for TP. The good life requires both… hmmm, maybe I need a high end system in the bathroom.

A bathroom remodel could easily run you $20k, but you'll get 60-65% back in increased home value.  A new DAC vs. a heated toilet seat with bidet, clearly a no-brainer.  One actually is a profound upgrade.

Bricasti M1SE, Weiss 501 or 502 should be in the mix as well.  @verdantaudio has an extensive post covering popular DAC's in this price range.

People who don't trust their own senses rely on ASR.

We have been gifted some senses (listening vs hearing) that machines don't have. Use them or loose them - your choice.

DAVE or Mola Mola would be amazing in a properly configured system.

Nothing but peddlers on these pages today.

+1 @hilde45,

I totally agree!

One thing I noticed about reactions to ASR -- Amir’s videos make a number of discrete claims and not all of them are false or spurious. But many simply dismiss his entire videos or his approach or him, as a person. But if some of his claims are true, they’re useful and should be considered, apart from whether one agrees with the other claims or like his approach or whatever -- because that advances truth and supports the hobby.

ASR is for entertainment only 

@audiotroy 

Sounds to me like you're trying to sell me on it.

Well obviously, you're in business so that makes sense.

I didn't really understand your analogy..

I watched some YouTube videos about it before Amir posted his review.

Looks cool, claims are amazing from the company...

I like to see that kind of confidence 

@jackhifiguy What is driving you to the Chord DAVE in the first place? If you have not heard it, what attributes have you heard about it that sound appealing? What kind of sound signature do you find most appealing, and what DAC would it be replacing and in what system?

ASR does not produce valuable reviews upon which to base purchase decisions. I would not recommend anyone let it influence them in the smallest way. 

I would not buy a Chord without auditioning the Mola Mola Tambaqui as well. It omits the flashy but nonfunctional Chord aesthetics. The Mola Mola is designed by some of the leading engineers in audio today, and reportedly the sound is superb. Just saying, why not check out the competition, too?

I've been most interested in the Holo May DAC. That would leave you some nice $$ to play with.

asr is a misguided guy sinead means next to nothing you can hear 1 to 5 percent thd  anything lower means nothing. in fact amplifiers with ultra low sinead  means lots of negativre  feedback which sounds bad 

it is like  measuring  horsepower in a car which is a useless spec

unless  you take into acount the vehicles weight 

400 hp in a 2 ton vehicle  is not fast

400hp in a 1 ton vehicle is screaming fast

speci fications don't  mean anything compared to sound quality

we are a chord dealer the Dave is excellent I would also consider how you feed the dac is also extremely important.

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect NJ.

dac and streaming experts 

I saw that.  I even thought about mentioning it in my response to you above.   I've always thought ASR was out to lunch. They now seem to be writing their own obituary.  They remind me of shock jocks saying things they know are not true just to stir up excitement.  "This $13000 DAC is easily bested by a $190 DAC."

They think that any parameter they can measure is a proper parameter to evaluate stereo components by.  

I'll be glad to take people off the street and do a blind test between the DAVE and the $190 dac.  

Thank You! @carlsbad

I’m a bit confused now...after reading what you wrote and watching this video:

is this guy misguided? maybe delusional? Weird measurements?

Like I said in a previous post a while back, I’ve heard some of the "top measuring"

gear featured on that site. Absolutely hated the sound. Sorry, but I don't think some cheap-looking thing from China can be all that competitive!! I'm so confused!

I have this DAC and it is awesome.  Tremendously detailed, great soundstage.  I've compared to a lot of midrange DACs and it blows them away. 

I did add the M-scaler and didn't think it provided improvement, in fact I liked that presentation less.

It has a great pre-amp function so you can run it directly into your amp. 

I'm running with a Decware ZMA tube amp with great results.

Jerry