[griff500]

I’ve had that with other devices when changing between sampling rates that differ between songs. I’m not sure if it would be the streamer or the DAC that causes it.

 

[audio_1]

I’ve had that with other devices when changing between sampling rates that differ between songs. I’m not sure if it would be the streamer or the DAC that causes it.

There is a very simple solution to this. Stop playback of the track before changing to the new track with a different playback sample rate. Also set a time delay in roon between tracks. I have this set at 2.5 seconds and never experience pops and clicks.

 

[griff500]

There is a very simple solution to this. Stop playback of the track before changing to the new track with a different playback sample rate. Also set a time delay in roon between tracks. I have this set at 2.5 seconds and never experience pops and clicks.

I've not experienced it with my current setup.

I was responding to the post above mine and hopefully he will see your post regarding this.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I think Chord may be stuck in the past at the moment. One of the quotes from a recent post highlighted this for me. Rob was again suggesting that linear power supplies would not lead to sound quality improvements for the DAVE. This is mildly controversial, but I know they do. I know Rob doesn't necessarily represent Chord, but this kind of aversion to new developments seems like a trend with the brand. As much as I hate to say it, the ASR takedown of the DAVE was a big blow to the brand. I've noticed that public opinion of the DAVE took a big nosedive after that ASR report. It made many people jump ship, rightly or not. At meets, it's almost embarrassing to say you use a DAVE still. Chord needs to fix that. Hopefully the new m-scaler and the new Ultima DAC will lead to big sound quality improvements. Right now, I've never seen Chord look so bad from a PR standpoint. They went from the top, to mid-fi in a matter of years.

I've seen this a bit as well. Personally, when others drag products, even that I own, it really doesn't bother me much lol. But I have seen the pricing hits (along with the brand power hit specifically for the DAVE) and is one reason I haven't done the PSU upgrades. It seems it may make more sense to simply look at other DACs, rather than to continue upgrading a DAC that seems to be losing or has lost some resale value.

That said, I will say that when I went to CanJam, it was reassuring to me hearing other DACs and systems, and still seeing the value in the DAVE as a top performer sonically. Outside of random dacs in random systems, I spent a ton of time in the DCS room two days (which kudos to them, they did an excellent job keeping it a quiet space and ensuring each person had space and time, just an excellent setup), and with the Lina system, I could immediately pick up on its strengths--the timbre, body and tone, while still having really good resolution. But the DAVE also stood out in comparison of being more resolving, a bit more open and with better spacing. Obviously a home demo would be best, so take with a grain of salt, but it was reassuring from a performance perspective that the DAVE still felt very competitive given all this time. (ultimately I'd love to have a DAC where you could have all of these qualities together). I absolutely intend to explore other DACs, but in much less of a hurry now.

Well you can say the words of course. There’s a different mentality between those sides that’s not worth getting into in this topic though.

There's much of the same in this thread, just in a different color. Any time another DAC is brought in this thread, it's the same immediate replies that claim nothing on earth can compete with the DAVE. Different coin, same ridiculousness imo. But it's really just the nature of the beast when it comes to these internet forums. There is still a ton of really great info in this thread when you parce through it, and I'm sure some others feel the same about ASR.

 

[xmitHIFI]

Thanks for your solution proposals. In roon i did set allready the time delay; this works. But working with Tidal connect i do not have this option. To stop between the tracks seems to me not very conveniant.

 

[Aeonyx]

I was able to spend time with Empyrean II on Dave at CanJam Dallas, and I have to say that I was very impressed.

 

[azvargulis]

As much as I hate to say it, the ASR takedown of the DAVE was a big blow to the brand

I don't think people actually in the market for a DAVE - typically experienced audiophiles - could care less about what ASR thinks. Those who like to proclaim DAVE (and many other products) as overpriced and of little-to-no incremental value are also typically people who have never heard these products and think the Topping D90 is the pinnacle of audio engineering. So, sure, maybe it hurt DAVE in the eyes of people who wouldn't buy a DAVE anyway, but not sure Chord is worried about that.

At meets, it's almost embarrassing to say you use a DAVE still.

I don't want to deny what you're hearing at meets, but I'd again be curious if these are people who are actually DAVE owners or in a similar market. That hasn't been my experience at all. I certainly think it's totally cool to like whatever DAC you want, and despite being a very satisfied DAVE owner myself, I take no issue if folks prefer another DAC to DAVE. It's all subjective preference. That said, I think DAVE is still incredibly competitive, especially with an M-Scaler attached. I have no issue jumping around brands or products, but I have yet to be more impressed by anything in a similar price category (e.g. a Bartok or the LINA stack). Again, everyone is welcome to have different preferences, and there are most certainly competent and competitive offerings entering the market all the time, but my point is that DAVE is far from falling behind in terms of being subjectively and objectively able to compete with any of these products.

 

[Meridian7]

As time goes by both Dave and MS become reachable (2nd hand market) for a wider segment people previously drooling-only.
The respect goes on and on...

 

[Reactcore]

But I have seen the pricing hits (along with the brand power hit specifically for the DAVE) and is one reason I haven't done the PSU upgrades. It seems it may make more sense to simply look at other DACs, rather than to continue upgrading a DAC that seems to be losing or has lost some resale value.

When i started my mods to Dave i knew i wouldnt sell it anytime soon as i havent heard anything like its transparency, timbre and space awareness. Even being a bit thin sounding in stock form VS other top end offerings.

Now i managed to improve its drive authority it is unbeatable in my book for a long time to come.

Yes i wished Rob could have ironed out the last little wrinkles, but its almost perfect for me as it is.. im not looking for bells and whisles in updates just a true the music DAC and being able to drive headphones straight out of it taking away the need for added circuitry is a huge bonus and this became my main usecase for best SQ.

Im not in the slightest looking for another DAC what gives me time to enjoy my music fully and find new to complement my collection.

 

[griff500]

But I have seen the pricing hits (along with the brand power hit specifically for the DAVE) and is one reason I haven't done the PSU upgrades.

Not sure what you mean by that. The price had been going up, as everything had been going up, and this was reflected in resale value. The prices went down as supply constraint issues were resolved (as far as I am aware). So the price went up and then came back down… Are you assuming the price reduction was because of ASR or something? I’m not sure why resale value matters if you’re not selling it.

 

[number1sixerfan]

When i started my mods to Dave i knew i wouldnt sell it anytime soon as i havent heard anything like its transparency, timbre and space awareness. Even being a bit thin sounding in stock form VS other top end offerings.

Now i managed to improve its drive authority it is unbeatable in my book for a long time to come.

Yes i wished Rob could have ironed out the last little wrinkles, but its almost perfect for me as it is.. im not looking for bells and whisles in updates just a true the music DAC and being able to drive headphones straight out of it taking away the need for added circuitry is a huge bonus and this became my main usecase for best SQ.

Im not in the slightest looking for another DAC what gives me time to enjoy my music fully and find new to complement my collection.

If I had your engineering knowledge and skills, I'd certainly go the mod route without question. It's still not out of the question for me however, just not as much of a for sure route to take.

Not sure what you mean by that. The price had been going up, as everything had been going up, and this was reflected in resale value. The prices went down as supply constraint issues were resolved (as far as I am aware). So the price went up and then came back down… Are you assuming the price reduction was because of ASR or something? I’m not sure why resale value matters if you’re not selling it.

No I'm not assuming that any price trends are solely due to the ASR noise, and prices returning to previous points before supply chain and other issues is also a good point. Might it be a small factor? I think it could be and certainly for what we'll see in the future. I think there is perceived lower value in some circles with people I have talked to, conversation I've heard around meets, conversations I've seen on these boards, etc. But I think that also is related to the amount of time the DAVE has been on the market, and obviously we're talking about a small subset of overall users. But something to keep an eye on if concerned with resale value.

For all of my gear, resale value is extremely important to me whether I'm currently intending to sale or not, as the likelihood is that someday I will.

 

[jlbrach]

Not having user-upgradeable firmware is a bit out of touch but I’ve never felt the Dave has a problem that needs to be fixed or features that should be added?

What exactly needs to be fixed or added with a firmware upgrade?

I have to say that I’ve never felt the Dave needed it.

Regarding ASR and being embarrassed to have a Dave - that sounds a bit daft to me. The Dave sounds as good as it always has. ASR has a big audience primarily because it makes people feel better about having relatively cheap DACs by telling them that they are just as good as the expensive stuff that us idiots get conned into spending money on… Most people think spending a few hundred on a DAC is crazy so it’s nice for them when they think that the more expensive stuff is a con for gullible people.

ASR exists essentially to mock all expensive gear and laud inexpensive gear...once in a while I will take a peek at the site and all I ever see is people speaking of new gear or existing gear that is expensive and mocking people for buying it instead of a Topping product...I think the only expensive gear I have seen reviewed positively at the site is the stealth closed back HP

 

[audio_1]

Thanks for your solution proposals. In roon i did set allready the time delay; this works. But working with Tidal connect i do not have this option. To stop between the tracks seems to me not very conveniant.

I only subscribe to Qobuz as Tidal uses MQA compression.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I think Chord may be stuck in the past at the moment. One of the quotes from a recent post highlighted this for me. Rob was again suggesting that linear power supplies would not lead to sound quality improvements for the DAVE. This is mildly controversial, but I know they do. I know Rob doesn't necessarily represent Chord, but this kind of aversion to new developments seems like a trend with the brand. As much as I hate to say it, the ASR takedown of the DAVE was a big blow to the brand. I've noticed that public opinion of the DAVE took a big nosedive after that ASR report. It made many people jump ship, rightly or not. At meets, it's almost embarrassing to say you use a DAVE still. Chord needs to fix that. Hopefully the new m-scaler and the new Ultima DAC will lead to big sound quality improvements. Right now, I've never seen Chord look so bad from a PR standpoint. They went from the top, to mid-fi in a matter of years.

The ASR "review" of a used DAVE provided by some Rando made me like the DAVE and Chord even more, especially coming from some guy that adores cheap Chi-Fi and that is somehow provided new Chi-Fi products all the time. The site is at Best comedy to me, the fact that people keep coming here to tell Chord-users that their stuff is not good as a Chi-Fi product is really funny, the fact that this keeps happening solidifies that Rob Watts is certainly doing something right. Is his stuff the best period? Not at all, people have preferences, but to take the advise of some cult leader harping on SINAD is a complete Joke, thanks but no thanks.

 

[Rob Watts]

Hi @Rob Watts question to mscaler connected to dave. I have connected a lumin u2 with mscaler and when changing from lower to higher sampling rate there is a pop during the start of a song. I do have a bnc connection between lumin and mscaler. On the USB connection there is the slave (ergo mscaler) which is the master. Over digital BNC there should be a wordclock, which cant be connected. How can i avoid these kind of problems? Any proposal..

Adding a delay (resync delay on Roon for example) will fix the issue. The problem is USB issues SR change commands whilst data is still in the source buffers, and still in the M scaler's buffer. Adding a delay flushes out these buffers with digital 0.

Thanks for your solution proposals. In roon i did set allready the time delay; this works. But working with Tidal connect i do not have this option. To stop between the tracks seems to me not very conveniant.

So you have the delay sorted for Roon. Another approach is to use Toslink optical out from the Lumin U2. That will limit you to 192k, but you will either get better SQ, or the same SQ if RF noise on USB is low. The SPDIF generally does not suffer from these SR induced click issues, as there is no USB commands to change clocks and no internal buffers. Also, the internal PLL for SPDIF OP auto mutes during SR changes. I run optical from my Win PC with Qobuz and get better SQ and no SR clicks - that said I didn't get any clicks with USB either!