chord dave the ear review

Innocent Bystander posted:

Dave looks unusual. On its stand, as you generally see it online or in dealers, I actually think it looks rather nice, vaguely reminiscent of some turntable designs, and certainly in a living room better than rather industrial looking ranked rows of identical black boxes. It certainly makes a statement visually as well as aurally, though of course whether any individual likes that is a matter of taste.

I'd agree, especially the black version. The display always looks a bit strange to me but otherwise it's a pretty handsome bit of kit.

Bob the Builder posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Actually, it’s Dr. I don’t take myself seriously either, but I find ****ty responses tiresome. I just need to suck it up, I suppose. 

Dr who?

DOCTOR Hungryhalibut. Mister Hungryhalibut precised he is not a simple mister, but a doc.....

I'd put money on this thread disappearing if this tedious bickering continues...

Just stick to the Dave admiration, drop the sniping and the forum will continue to be a pleasant place

Going back to Dave...

On the subject of visual taste, it is of course good that there is a wide range of what is considered attractive: imagine if men all were attracted only to a particular visual appearance of women, rejecting any substantially different. Fortunately even with stereotypical images of what is ‘beauty’ continually thrust at us through the media, many men are attrected to those who don’t fit that stereotype, while even women of such a visual appearance that initially may fail to catch the interest of the vast majority of men can have men fall in love with them and want to be with them for their inner ‘beauty’, their personality and soul, and often said men then see nothing but beauty in the woman, including on a visual level. And the same concept applies to Dave - once heard, you can fall in love, whence the visual aspect very much takes second place. And if indeed considered visually hideous, it doesn’t need to be placed in a visually dominent place. I can understand better the objection to visually challenging speakers, that, by their very function have to be there in front of you, and impossible to hide without going to ridiculous measures.

French Rooster posted:

Bob the Builder posted:. 

Dr who?

DOCTOR Hungryhalibut. Mister Hungryhalibut precised he is not a simple mister, but a doc.....

I suspect you are unaware of the British TV character called Doctor Who, which I assume is what  prompted BtB’s response.

Hungryhalibut posted:

I have no view on Dave, having never heard it. It is of no interest. 

Yes, best not to know.

French Rooster posted:

i read the chord dave by the ear magazine on the net.  The new preamp at 3,9 k from chord is also announced.  For people interested by the dave( with innuos zenith se server or auralic)

Just to clarify ... am I missing something in the review or did you mean "the new POWERamp (the Etude), at £3.9k is also mentioned"?

I'm really just curious ... if I was to change my Naim system out (and likely that would only happen if I won the lottery) Chord is on my radar ... though liking vinyl as well as digital an analogue preamp would be a requirement though perhaps then feeding a pair of ATC actives.

Eloise posted:

French Rooster posted:

i read the chord dave by the ear magazine on the net.  The new preamp at 3,9 k from chord is also announced.  For people interested by the dave( with innuos zenith se server or auralic)

Just to clarify ... am I missing something in the review or did you mean "the new POWERamp (the Etude), at £3.9k is also mentioned"?

I'm really just curious ... if I was to change my Naim system out (and likely that would only happen if I won the lottery) Chord is on my radar ... though liking vinyl as well as digital an analogue preamp would be a requirement though perhaps then feeding a pair of ATC actives.

perhaps there is an error in the review, but i am quite sure the reviewer told about a new preamp of chord to come, at this price, with the same dimensions as the Dave.  You can check at ear magazine, the latest review is on the Dave.   He said also that the preamp / volume control of the Dave was good but no exceptional.....

Perhaps Analogmusic music has more infos on the subject...

French Rooster posted:

perhaps there is an error in the review, but i am quite sure the reviewer told about a new preamp of chord to come, at this price, with the same dimensions as the Dave.  You can check at ear magazine, the latest review is on the Dave.   He said also that the preamp / volume control of the Dave was good but no exceptional.....

Prompted to look, I read the review. Whilst it does not use the word ‘exceptional’ to describe them, I can see no suggestion whatsoever that either the preamp or volume control of Dave (latter being in the digital stage) are “good but not exceptional”. Regarding the preamp, the reviewer describes it as very accomplished, whilst highlighting that the main talent of Dave is the DAC - meaning that the DAC is what you buy it for, the preamp simply serving to convey its output transparently, and the signal going through it even if connected through an external preamp, so an integral part of the sound of Dave.

Eloise posted:

I'm really just curious ... if I was to change my Naim system out (and likely that would only happen if I won the lottery) Chord is on my radar ... though liking vinyl as well as digital an analogue preamp would be a requirement though perhaps then feeding a pair of ATC actives.

Dave would be good direct into ATC actives as it has balanced outputs as well as unbalanced (unless of course you want to add the sound of a Naim preamp). For vinyl, when (if?) it goes into production the Chord Davina would facilitate this by obviating the need for a separate preamp, taking the analog signal and feeding into Dave, with perfectly matched ADC/DAC... as you’d only be considering Dave after a lottery win, cost of Davina may not be important (while the value of your existing but then redundant preamp could be realised...

Innocent Bystander posted:

French Rooster posted:

perhaps there is an error in the review, but i am quite sure the reviewer told about a new preamp of chord to come, at this price, with the same dimensions as the Dave.  You can check at ear magazine, the latest review is on the Dave.   He said also that the preamp / volume control of the Dave was good but no exceptional.....

Prompted to look, I read the review. Whilst it does not use the word ‘exceptional’ to describe them, I can see no suggestion whatsoever that either the preamp or volume control of Dave (latter being in the digital stage) are “good but not exceptional”. Regarding the preamp, the reviewer describes it as very accomplished, whilst highlighting that the main talent of Dave is the DAC - meaning that the DAC is what you buy it for, the preamp simply serving to convey its output transparently, and the signal going through it even if connected through an external preamp, so an integral part of the sound of Dave.

i understood that the exceptional part of the Dave is its dac, not the preamp....but as you tried to point, i made my proper interpretation of the text. The reviewer was not using the words « good but not exceptional « .   It is more what i read between the lines....and i  may be wrong.

French Rooster posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

French Rooster posted:

perhaps there is an error in the review, but i am quite sure the reviewer told about a new preamp of chord to come, at this price, with the same dimensions as the Dave.  You can check at ear magazine, the latest review is on the Dave.   He said also that the preamp / volume control of the Dave was good but no exceptional.....

Prompted to look, I read the review. Whilst it does not use the word ‘exceptional’ to describe them, I can see no suggestion whatsoever that either the preamp or volume control of Dave (latter being in the digital stage) are “good but not exceptional”. Regarding the preamp, the reviewer describes it as very accomplished, whilst highlighting that the main talent of Dave is the DAC - meaning that the DAC is what you buy it for, the preamp simply serving to convey its output transparently, and the signal going through it even if connected through an external preamp, so an integral part of the sound of Dave.

i understood that the exceptional part of the Dave is its dac, not the preamp....but as you tried to point, i made my proper interpretation of the text. The reviewer was not using the words « good but not exceptional « .   It is more what i read between the lines....and i  may be wrong.

wanted to add too: why the reviewer talked about the future chord preamp, pointing it could be an upgrade over the volume control of the Dave.....

French Rooster posted:

wanted to add too: why the reviewer talked about the future chord preamp, pointing it could be an upgrade over the volume control of the Dave.....

But the article doesn't even mention a Chord preamp at all, let alone being an upgrade to Dave’s volume control as you suggest! This is all I can see that refers to a Chord amp:

“A new power amp called the ‘Choral Etude’ has recently been announced by Chord with a similar case design so that it can be a potential partner for the DAVE and priced at £3,900. It will be very interesting indeed to ascertain how this power amp works with the DAVE. So, in summary, should the DAVE partner your hi-fi? Absolutely, it is incredibly talented and seriously recommended as a DAC/preamp, and it’s good value to boot.”

Are we reading the same thing? Are there be  two reviews in The Ear? I am reading the review by Simon Price dated May 16 2018 in the-ear.net online. Hoping this is not contravening forum rules, this is the link to what I have seen: http://www.the-ear.net/review-...-headphone-amplifier

Innocent Bystander posted:

French Rooster posted:

wanted to add too: why the reviewer talked about the future chord preamp, pointing it could be an upgrade over the volume control of the Dave.....

But the article doesn't even mention a Chord preamp at all, let alone being an upgrade to Dave’s volume control as you suggest! This is all I can see that refers to a Chord amp:

“A new power amp called the ‘Choral Etude’ has recently been announced by Chord with a similar case design so that it can be a potential partner for the DAVE and priced at £3,900. It will be very interesting indeed to ascertain how this power amp works with the DAVE. So, in summary, should the DAVE partner your hi-fi? Absolutely, it is incredibly talented and seriously recommended as a DAC/preamp, and it’s good value to boot.”

Are we reading the same thing? Are there be  two reviews in The Ear? I am reading the review by Simon Price dated May 16 2018 in the-ear.net online. Hoping this is not contravening forum rules, this is the link to what I have seen: http://www.the-ear.net/review-...-headphone-amplifier

 

 

my memory was not correct.....i was totally wrong : it was not the preamp but the future amp the reviewer was referring.   sorry for this mistake or wrong information.

French Rooster posted:

Eloise posted:

French Rooster posted:

i read the chord dave by the ear magazine on the net.  The new preamp at 3,9 k from chord is also announced.  For people interested by the dave( with innuos zenith se server or auralic)

Just to clarify ... am I missing something in the review or did you mean "the new POWERamp (the Etude), at £3.9k is also mentioned"?

I'm really just curious ... if I was to change my Naim system out (and likely that would only happen if I won the lottery) Chord is on my radar ... though liking vinyl as well as digital an analogue preamp would be a requirement though perhaps then feeding a pair of ATC actives.

perhaps there is an error in the review, but i am quite sure the reviewer told about a new preamp of chord to come, at this price, with the same dimensions as the Dave.  You can check at ear magazine, the latest review is on the Dave.   He said also that the preamp / volume control of the Dave was good but no exceptional.....

Perhaps Analogmusic music has more infos on the subject...

i was wrong, it was question about the amp, not preamp. sorry 

OK, glad that’s sorted!