I think my DAVE sounds great with everything. Analogue Volume Control 1dB from 0 to 106 Deactivable by menu, Dimensions ChassisWidth : 432 mmDepth: 305 mmHeight without feet: 51 mm. of the 5 systems are completely different, our rooms are completely different My wife said it as far as direct comparison with other dacs the closest Ive done is listening to the Select II at shows and then listening to other top dacs in other systems at shows. I mean is it audibly noticeable? Putting price aside, what are your thoughts about the Hugo TT as an integrated DAC+amp? SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 256-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical--Bricasti M3 DAC--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers. About Chord Vs Dac Discrete Msb Dave . $16K Signature DAC sound? Some silly sausage plugged a white power cable into a black device. Conversely, you could spend a lot more and not gain a great deal in real terms. A Chord DAC converts to analog via Chord's "Pulse Array DAC" which is a discrete circuit, similar to the discrete circuit used in the MSB DACs (but not the same). I dont know as that was years ago and I dont have one here to test against. @ricred1, youre right to point that out. Both DACs connected directly to power amp using each DACs volume controle. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates. Fair enough if you know some of the posters here and their listening preferences. I called the distributor and we went through everything again. Its an interesting setup with everything from design through to milling the chassis to building the circuit boards being done in-house. there are others I know about but Ive not heard them recently. Hmm.. I have had Dave in my system. Specifications: Type: Digital to analogue converter with volume control. Is it better than the Chord DAVE that I raved about a few years ago? There's 340 pages packed with HiFi Reviews, Industry Interviews and much more. This unit came with two power supplies and Ill be playing with the DAC with one and with two to compare and contrast. The Base module has two outputs (high and low) depending on whether you are outputting to a preamplifier or directly to a power amplifier. Not sure why you would spend so much on a DAC when the Crane Song Solaris is available at $1,949. What else should one expect? Were constantly improving digital input modules to stay at the forefront of the high-end audio industry, ensuring youre always equipped with the most current digital file formats and interfaces. The other thing I've learned about the Chord Dave is it can sound very different depending on the interconnect and/or power cord used. I've tried it in my system and I don't like it. Up to 32 bit 768kHz I auditioned a DAVE (not deconstructed) and TT2 and found all Chord products lacked the musicality of MSB. I like Aqua Formula xHD and Totaldac Six. Thanks for the suggestion ecwl. The MSB Renderer was developed using an in-house hardware design running an ultra low noise A5 processor for optimal audio playback performance. Anyway, I switched out the valve power amplifier and put in its place the Krell KST100 (all fully fettled and brought up to a better than new spec by Krell in the States) with my intention being to see what effect was the DAC and what was down to the amp basically isolating the effect to a component. He liked the Mola Mola Tambaqui over these others listed below. One of the things I jotted down in my notes during this time was the sense of scale the Discrete brought to the music I was listening to big music sounded BIG and more intimate recordings had their own scale too. But DAVE also seems to me to highlight the original recording so if the recording is flat, the playback sounds flat (still with great accurate timbre) but if the recording really showcase the soundstage and the 3-dimensionality of the instruments and vocals, DAVE really portrays that well. Sit back and be immersed. There seemed to be a little more separation of instruments in the mix of whatever I was listening to than with the LAB12 DAC and Pre in the signal path and a slightly leaner edge to the music more clearly etched, perhaps? I had the DAVE for 3years, it is an amazing DAC. Of course your opinion on sound quality is your own, and valid, but to suggest that the reason for the difference is because the Chord is an "FPGA DAC" is technically incorrect. Digital: Jay's Audio CDT2 MK2 CD transport, Modified MHDT Labs Balanced Pagoda DAC. Height with feet: 68 mm Weight: 8.2 kg, Accessories included: Manual Remote control Aluminum MSB USB charging cable 4 X Spikes and Cups 4 X plastic inserts Power connector splitter, MERASON FRROT DAC REVIEW The Merason Frrot DAC costing 995 isn't the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Switzerland. Its not bombarding you with information, but it is a notably more defined sound with regards to the spatial information and the way that elements sit in the mix a tad more solidity and more of a sense of the stereo image being wider and deeper and with instruments and sounds occupying a definite space of their own. Of course this DAC is super pricey and out of the reach of many (including me). The MSB Discrete, as I mentioned, came with two power supplies but you can operate it with just one with the supplied doodad. There is a real sense of spectacle and scale when the MSB is in the system. JavaScript is disabled. Blimey my RME ADI 2 DAC looks to have better performance at a fraction of the cost, /===============================================================/, DACs, Streamers, Servers, Players, Audio Interface, Combination Audio DAC and Headphone Amplifiers. CH Precision mono dac with clock and 3 power supplies (7 boxes)----its more spendy---$150k, Merging Technologies NADAC w/power supply and clock---much better now with the clock and power supply upgrades than my previous experience.----around $60k. will every hear. Its a clever thing meaning that their products are repairable and upgradeable for example, you can have a card that is set up for single-ended outputs or balanced XLR outputs (for review we have the balanced version). Additionally, MSBs robust in-house design enables the finest quality playback of PCM and native DSD, while our low impedance circuitry drives your amplification directly without adding coloration or buffering noise. However, there are also products that manage to straddle both sides of the electric fence (whilst being careful not to electrocute their nether regions) and give us a tremendously enjoyable reproduction of a recording whilst remaining true to the source material. The DACs are individually shielded and thermally-bonded and multiple units are used per channel, which MSB tells us increases performance and lowers output impedance. Mike, Scott has been absolutely wonderful in his support, despite my purchasing the Found-Music 2A3s used (from Art S.) He has visited once and is planning another visit after the trip your way. the North American distributors for Rockna so I thought I would jump in on this personal preference." Click to expand. Mind you, I have chipless DSD with 1 bit processing, so the bar is set VERY high for me. Or arm yourself with a nice bottle of red and pay a visit to@Stereophilus. You are using an out of date browser. Bespoke Audio Ultimate Silver TVC passive preamp, Totaldac xlr version D1-Drivers x2, Eisteddfod 340 & 840 amps, Magico S5 speaker, MSB Select DAC, MSB Select Transport, Nakamichi 700 XLE cassette deck, Taiko Audio Extreme Server, Tripoint Troy Signature NG groundbox, PLiXiR Elite 1500 isolation transformers. The Discrete DAC, the successor and highly improved replacement to the now-famous Analog DAC is the MSB DAC that everyone has been waiting for. Great Dac but for me a NOS DAC (Metrum Adagio) won the contest over all the others Dacs I have tried so far. An FPGA does not have analog output, in the Chord DACs, VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623, : SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels, http://igg.me/at/geekpulseaudio/x/5216671. dac at a reasonable price. - Up to 32 bit - 768kHz. It is a manual step which I forgot. DAVE is the most advanced DAC Chord Electronics has ever made. In my listening tests, I could detect no attribute that made it sound special. IMHO an audio recommendation in a forum is just an advice on what is worth listening and the reason why we think so. But digital, potentially, can change things. The jump from Six to Seven is rather large. MSBs top-level DAC is 121K and there are other brands out there offering very expensive options, but the truth is that the vast majority of people will never feel the need to spend that kind of money (even if they could) to eek out that last-minute bit of detail. The only other items in the chain were the Stack streamer and a pretty well-sorted network setup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites. As a contented Qutest user, I would have hoped for "improved", performance from the Dave. https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-rothschild-70aab85/, Headphones and Personal Audio with Pitch Perfect Service. Concluding that there is some kind of problem with using an FPGA vs. what MSB does is not technically supportable. in this forum and they are all very good dacs. Funny how Rob Watts drones on and on about noise modulation, and then we see his product performing like this.. now one might not exactly call this noise modulation, but it definitely something to avoid, especially given the price tag. Once complete there are measurements and functional tests before the final products are inspected, cleaned, and packed up ready to be shipped, but not before a white glove inspection by either Jonathan or Daniel. as my Select II sits it would list for $116,450. Each clock is made up of two independent clocks but only one is used at any given time so as not to add unwanted noise to the circuit. A modular I/O card keeps even the discrete DAC flexible, repairable, and upgradeable. Wavedream only has a couple hours on it, but from the first note it The sonic signature is detailed and yet easy to listen to, with the Discrete bringing a sense of the recordings scale (big or small) to the listening experience. There hasn't been any direct comparison of them with Select II, Trinity DAC, CH D1/C1, Totaldac D12 etc in Hong Kong yet. Did I mention the remote is perfect? If I want to build a complicated system, I won't consider DAVE because for the position of DAC, I can choose from other brands (Totaldac, NADAC, Rockna, Prismsound 8XR etc) at the same price. Im sure it does have a flavour of its own, but from my standpoint, it sounds like a very neutral and transparent DAC. For the most part, I listened to the MSB through our LAB12 and Krell KST100 amps and TotalDAC D100 speakers. I could easily live with any of these. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Check out our support page and technical specifications > Click Here, 10100007 - Discrete DAC with Supply- Gallery - 1200px, 10100007 - Discrete DAC with Supplies - Gallery - 1200px, 10100006 - Discrete DAC - Gallery - 1200px, 10100003 - Discrete DAC Badge - Gallery - 1200px, 10100005 - Discrete DAC MSB Logo - Gallery - 1200px, 10100004 - Discrete DAC Jack Panel - Gallery - 1200px, 10100008 - Discrete DAC Basemetal - Gallery - 1200px, 10100009 - Discrete Supply Options - Gallery - 1200px, 10100010 - Discrete Supply Cover - Gallery - 1200px. The lo-res display also makes menu ]set-up fiddly because it doesn't have enough space to display words. @smodtactical I would not take price as any arbitrator of quality, especially nowadays. Search: Msb Discrete Dac Vs Chord Dave. more might come to mind and I will add them. Put simply, your DAC is ready for the future. And I make Best DAC Quality Ranking list. The other stand out dacs that we like are the And this is what separates the very good from the excellent piece of audio equipment. I can only comment on the Emm labs, if u can get a DA2 I think you will be happy "An audiophile is only done when they go to the great brick and mortar store in the sky" Ron Resnick @shkong78 how good is the dave + mscaler vs msb? Never say never, but I reckon 99.9% of folk would get to the Discretes level of performance and not be able to justify another 110K to achieve, what I am guessing would be marginal gains though I have not experienced the Select and so cannot say for sure that this would be the case and it may be a total revelation is sonic engineering. Watts is avidly not reading this in anticipation of the video version he won't watch. Edited November 11, 2020 by seadog. As I said, its an odd one to describe but you do hear it as it brings a sense of rightness to rhythm tracks. 2 are upscalers , not upsamplers. You'll be shocked by how much you lose by going through a separate preamp. 2. I just heard DAVE directly connected to MacBook Pro via USB without any expensive cables, headphone amplifier, power conditioner. I submit dealers use the statement "component X competes against much more expensive components" far too often. The Chord Qutest DAC has the same DAC architecture and filters as the Chord Hugo 2. You must log in or register to reply here. Price 9k in the U.K. sounds just like the Dave. It features the very best conversion technology available, using proprietary techniques never seen before, making DAVE the most advanced DAC/preamp amplifier in the world. This is the main advantage of DAVE (i.e. heard, I could easily live with the Aeris, Dave, or Wavedream. You are using an out of date browser. Chord Dave Black New The Prime DAC With two prime DACs, MSB yields an unprecedented level of detail, reproducing the musicality, soundstage, and texture of an original performance, bringing the artist to you Ps Audio Directstream Dac Vs Auralic Vega Founded in 2004, Games for Change is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that empowers game creators and . T&A Dac8 (for DSD512) or Lampi Atlantic for any native rate DSD playback. Impedance 100 Low Gain setting. We can operate our current DAC modules at up to 6 MHz for PCM and up to 50 MHz for DSD. The Premier is a super-high-resolution, completely silent, utterly dynamic component that lets music flow through it less hindered than through anything else I've heard. Up to 8X DSD As I listen to this tune a few times it strikes me that the Discrete is just that (discrete), it doesnt seem to add a great deal of itself to the file it is playing. I can see the problem with this unit. The best upgrade for Dave easy. johndoe21ro Not a bad idea Snoop! Many competing DACs will have a more comprehensive display at this price and, more commonly still, an app designed for intuitive access via smartphone and/or tablets. This DAC is 11,000 and as such, it is a considerable investment to make, but I would suggest that this is not stupid money for the kind of transparency and clarity it brings. Vega DAC 6/10 As dynamic as the Weiss, but a little too edgy in sound emphasised presence made female voices a bit hard on the ear. retail client forgets that most audio stores and audio distribution companies There is no such thing as a "FPGA DAC"! @shkong78 Thanks for sharing your listening impressions of the Lampizator Pacific vs the MSB DACs as well as what you miss about the Pacific vs your Chord combo. very important and our preference connection is an i2S connection. Focal Utopia ~ LCD i4 ~ ETHER FLOW open/C ~ LCD-2.2/XC ~ Nighthawk ~ K10 custom ~ JH Angie, Chord mscaler // Chord TT2 // Oppo PM-1 (Artisan silver headphone cable) // Beyerdynamic DT880 600 Ohm // WAVE Stream bnc cables // Kef LS50 Meta. Stuart Smith finds out. Very resolving, tone is on the cold side of neutral but otherwise pretty free of digital nasties compared to the cheaper Chords, and the stage is flatter than Keira Knightley. Theyre not limited by audio formats, sample rates, or even speed. We used PCM (16/44,1 to 24/192) and DSD 64 and 128 for the comparioson. There are some tonal differences too, but what you prefer will depend on your other equipment and the music you like. Sonically it is very much as its name suggests and converts files faithfully and without loss or (importantly) embellishment. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Then just stay with the basic Premier unit, and the power supply that comes with it. Compared to some other similarly priced DACs ($10 - $15k MSRP) I prefer the Discrete with 2 Discrete PS. Too many DACs> Too many amps> Too many headphones. Sound Media Group Pty Ltd 5 other people who only have 2 things in common with our system. So this was headphones straight out of the DAVE? You're very polite about how you describe your preferences, cmarin. As you pursue higher levels of playback, an MSB upgrade path is always available to help drive your own desire for innovation. conversation. This would help to take your digital playback upa few levels. The DAVE is very resolving, but thinner tonally in comparison to the EMM Labs. Elevator Pitch Review: Built in America, the MSB Discrete is a modular DAC that also acts as a preamplfier, though, as supplied, it has no analogue inputs. Well build a personalized offer for your existing MSB products that count towards a new DAC or amplifier. I'm doing this off the top of my head. Cheers @Stereophilus I have enjoyed my time with the MSB Discrete DAC a great deal. Tailored for both the transport and the DACs daily use, our remote brings you closer to the music you love. It would have been a different outcome though with the Cyrus pre-amp I previously owned, which cast a veil over everything. What didn't you like about the Dave? One name that was thrown around by a few people I know is the Rockna Wavedream. I agree with what you are saying but "far too often" the Oppo Modwright BDP-205 full mod. the Extreme has some special optimization for USB. In that time, weve pushed the industry forward with each product weve built, redefining whats possible. Of those, I've only heard the DAVE. This all-American theme is continued in the companys PCB Shop where they use circuit boards produced for them in Silicon Valley, which are then made ready for the automated adding of the smaller components and hand-fitting bulkier components before washing and inspection. I've had many world class DACS in my studio over the years and the Crane Song is as good as any no matter the cost. Well this is going to set the cat amongst the pigeons for sure. have had the opportunity to A/B many more pieces of equipment than any consumer comparing top dacs directly is a bit challenging, even if you have them both together. So true jr, the discrete R2R Multibit dacs like the Terminator the Holo, MSB, Total ect ect have a life and a boogie factor to the music that DS dacs lack, and yes they do show up bad recordings. This leaner and cleaner edge has the effect of adding a level of perceived detail to the listening experience. Moving away from the actual sound of the music, one of my main takeaways from listening to the Discrete was the sense of timing it brought to music. Stuart Smith finds out. I believe it comes down to So yes it's a question of being polite, but it's also about acknowledging the limitations inherent in making absolute pronouncements about differences between high performing components. To cut a long story short: A burnt in MSB Analog DAC with Power Base demoed side to side to a burnt in DAVE was no challenge for the MSB. The PSUs are available to match. And if I had to guess (given I haven't heard both), I'd guess it outperforms the Tambaqui. The BADA Ref is a great DAC and I understand the new version takes it to even another level. What is available on models higher up the MSB food chain is the ability to add an analogue module so that you can use the unit as a true preamplifier and DAC. But MSB Select 2 is regarded by many as the best thats why for something 1/10 of the price to compete in anyones eyes is quite an accomplishment. Anyway, the MSB Discrete is a machine that I consider to be highly resolving and a true HiFi product with regard to the definition I quoted above. It seems to me that manufacturers are jacking up the price for the perception of quality. and build quality is also excellent. Will do. Chord Dave DAC "Sealed Box Brand New" Never Opened !! Daedalus Audio Apollo 11's. REL S3/SHO. The Discrete DAC Features - MSB Technology The Discrete DAC Refined sound. It will kick your ass. Our publication is supported by its audience. I don't like Dave with or without upsampler but I do like Auralic G2 with their upsampler and clock. The AC modules are fully balanced at every stage, have no buffers, IV converters, or transistors in the signal path, and have no active devices used in the conversion process at all. Like x 5 List Once you add the second discrete PS, and a module or two for it to work, the price goes over $23-24K. Set up is key, cables are super important, server is also Do diamonds shine on the dark side of the moon? connection because it eliminates some parts and gets you closer to a direct Out of all of the DACs I've Personally we have A/B 76 different digital front ends.. So I saw the DAC lighting up and it looked fully functional, right down displaying the bit rate etc of the file playing, but no music. Any owners around here? Stainless steel buttons arrayed around an elegant volume wheel to optimize performance and response. For such a high entry price I wouldn't take the gamble to go on some recommendation by a stranger whose tastes I don't know. prefer to keep our test results among ourselves. I would,however, like to say we are highly selective over the brands we represent and believe they are excellent value. Even at very low listening levels, it was clear that the MSB was delivering a clean analogue output to the ampand Im aware that sounds a bit vague. The MSB Renderer was developed using an in-house hardware design running an ultra low noise A5 processor for optimal audio playback performance. We are The Prime DAC Module. How does it compare? We have what I consider to be a pretty resolving system, but we also listen to music a fair old bit for pure pleasure and so theres a valve amp currently feeding our chosen reference loudspeakers though thats not to say this system isnt highly resolving in its own right. The evolution of the original irreverent and irrelevant and non-authoritative site for headphone measurements, i.e. This is a company that is All American and fiercely proud of that fact. I've sometimes heard people say that DAVE is too bright or analytical for them. You already have a very top tier DAC. It matches Chord Dave and Mscaler on dynamics with slightly more bass slam.
