Chord DAVE Review (DAC & HP Amp)

[Robbo99999]

You know, it's the craze for and belief in British HiFi that creates that demand, the price.

Incidentally, the so-called "British HiFi sound" is something that even some English people (on this forum) are skeptical about:

Rule, Britannia!, Britannia rule the (sound)waves!

That seems to be the case with Hifi in any case. Or let's say that there is very good Hifi coming from England. Two of my favorite brands when it comes to speakers are English : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wharfedale_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEF Feel free to add what you want...

audiosciencereview.com

A performance (myth?) which is of course held up by ....guess who.... :

We ask the industry: is there such thing as 'British hi-fi sound'?

We asked the experts who make the products we love

www.whathifi.com

Edit:
Having said that, yes there is also really good HiFi from England, KEF and Wharfedale for example.

Edit 2:
Damn, sorry I missed it. You're from England! Then of course you know everything I wrote in this post.

Ha, I didn't know there was such a thing as "British HiFi", but that's probably because all my audio knowledge has been informed through ASR mostly (since only end of 2019). I have heard of some of those brands though. Me being British I still don't feel any need to buy British sound gear, I see it as a global market & I'll buy what makes the most sense for the best price.

 

[DSJR]

Forty years ago, much so called 'British HiFi' was in two opposing camps, one dynamic like a PA system but errors tonally and the other more natural reproduced timbres but little in the way of dynamic range. I'd suggest there was a general age spilt too, us young-uns into punk, prog and subsequent contemporary music genres and aiming for what I now regard as 'domesticated PA systems') to listen through and gents (usually) our parents' age into more 'genteel' acoustic, choral and orchestral music. I'm generalising here, but broadly this I feel is what it was like.

So take your pick! I believe KEF and B&W, then wholely British owned, sold a lot of product internationally, so maybe the 'british' tones often referred to were as a result of these makers' successes back then.


All I can say is looking back - Thank heavens for 'Digital,' as it woke up the poorly performing vinyl sources back then and brought about the taming of our loudspeaker industry excesses I feel.

 

[Mart68]

Forty years ago, much so called 'British HiFi' was in two opposing camps, one dynamic like a PA system but errors tonally and the other more natural reproduced timbres but little in the way of dynamic range. I'd suggest there was a general age spilt too, us young-uns into punk, prog and subsequent contemporary music genres and aiming for what I now regard as 'domesticated PA systems') to listen through and gents (usually) our parents' age into more 'genteel' acoustic, choral and orchestral music. I'm generalising here, but broadly this I feel is what it was like.

So take your pick! I believe KEF and B&W, then wholely British owned, sold a lot of product internationally, so maybe the 'british' tones often referred to were as a result of these makers' successes back then.


All I can say is looking back - Thank heavens for 'Digital,' as it woke up the poorly performing vinyl sources back then and brought about the taming of our loudspeaker industry excesses I feel.

you could sum it up as Naim Vs QUAD with everyone else in between somewhere.

Funny how the QUAD people were fine with the onset of digital but the Naim folk couldn't get on with it at all.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

you could sum it up as Naim Vs QUAD with everyone else in between somewhere.

Funny how the QUAD people were fine with the onset of digital but the Naim folk couldn't get on with it at all.

I think there is a BBC speaker sound. I believed that I would alway have to replace my Spendor S100's with their modern equivalent. Until I took delivery of the far cheaper Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX's, and found out how "good", they are!

 

[NiagaraPete]

Hello. I am newly registered to this forum, although I have read many threads around here. I want to share my experience.. I started this hobby with a Topping E30 DAC, having a limited budget. I was disappointed with it, coupled with B&W speakers and a cheap amp, I had bright setup. My room didn't helped either.. Moving forward, I told myself that I would never ever pick a chi-fi product again. I bought a good english integrated amplifier with a decent DAC that I used for a while with LS50 Meta. Then, the what-abouter in me had this idea "Hey, I have a good english integrated, what about having a great english DAC? I am quit sure that should be an improvement, right? "
What english DAC manufacturer is well known for their devices? The hype was real, (almost) everyone recommended their devices.
Yea, I bought a Chord Qutest, and I was disappointed. It's not to say that it sounds bad, but it's almost equally good as my integrated DAC (In my room, with my amp, with my speakers)
After two days, as my Hi Fi dealer has a return policy, I said what the hell, let's try one more time a ice cream Topping.. flagship, of course.. D90SE. And let's do some tests..
It WHIPED the flour with Qutest.. some details in music are missing with Qutest and with D90se are there. I didn't expect that, taking into account that I ran Qutest with a LPS, together costing 3x the price of D90se.
Fast base, very "technic", fast, music never sounded better in my system.
So, the moral is, test for yourself and decide what is best. Or, instead, you could check Amir lists.
I might order the Dave next

A waste of air.

 

[Mart68]

I think there is a BBC speaker sound. I believed that I would alway have to replace my Spendor S100's with their modern equivalent. Until I took delivery of the far cheaper Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX's, and found out how "good", they are!

Yes I agree there's a BBC sound. Like the British upper-middle class - polite, a bit reticent - some quirks but not unpleasant ones.

Never thought I would own a French loudspeaker let alone be enthused by one. And yet here we are.

 

[Snoopy]

Yes I agree there's a BBC sound. Like the British upper-middle class - polite, a bit reticent - some quirks but not unpleasant ones.

Never thought I would own a French loudspeaker let alone be enthused by them. And yet here we are.

I think that traditional BBC sound is because they brickwalled everything at 15khz?

I would love to own a fancy British loudspeaker but something like harbeth is Just out of my price range considering the performance, even if it's made in the UK.

Not a fan of chord. I hate the design.. never seen anything that ugly.

 

[DanielT]

I think there is a BBC speaker sound. I believed that I would alway have to replace my Spendor S100's with their modern equivalent. Until I took delivery of the far cheaper Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX's, and found out how "good", they are!

Spendor S100. They look good!
Since they are "amp-friendly speakers" with decent sensitivity, they should be quite easy to match with a not so powerful vintage amp/receiver (then it doesn't have to be so expensive). That plus a record player. The set up would also look aesthetically pleasing.
Spendor S100 could,of course, also work well with modern streaming and a modern amp.

I like their FR. Increase in the bass area is nice, I think.
(should be easy to reduce via EQ if you feel like it)

"As shown by the impedance plot (fig.1), the S100 is an easy load for an amplifier to drive, dropping to a minimum value of 5.7 ohms in the upper bass and remaining pretty much above 8 ohms everywhere else. Coupled with the high voltage sensitivity—I measured approximately 89dB/W/m—the S100 will go loud even with moderately powered tube amplifiers.

Note, however, the boost in the upper-bass region in fig.3; I was unable to get completely rid of this effect no matter where I placed the speakers or what amplifier I used, and it undoubtedly contributes to my feeling that the S100 has a "powerful" bass and a warm balance. This, of course, would be less evident in a room significantly larger than mine.

Superbly flat in the main, there is some unevenness between 800Hz and 3kHz which might correlate with the slight forwardness noted in the audition. This forwardness can also be seen in the in-room balance (fig.3)."

Spendor S100 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I use a mixture of nearfield, in-room, and quasi-anechoic FFT measurement techniques (using primarily DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a B&K 4006 microphone calibrated to be flat when used on-axis up to 30kHz—see "Follow Up," October 1991, Vol.14 No.10—plus an Audio Control...

www.stereophile.com

 

[DSJR]

you could sum it up as Naim Vs QUAD with everyone else in between somewhere.

Funny how the QUAD people were fine with the onset of digital but the Naim folk couldn't get on with it at all.

Not sure the Quad 33 was happy with the 2V max output of a CD player, although it could be adjusted to work if you didn't have a record player or tape deck but I get your point (i didn't want to put too fine a point on it really )

Linn put the cat amongst the pigeons here though, as their 1985 Lk1 and LK2 amp system *sounded* more like Quad but had the balls of an amp able to drive 3 ohms without limiting although basic measurements weren't very good as judged by Stereophile and HiFi Choice (not sure Linn amps were ever tech tested afterwards as I'd love to have seen the perceived sonic improvements put to the test properly - LK1 with and without Dirak supply vs Kairn vs Kairn with smps supply, LK2 vs LK275, LK280 adding the SPARK and evolution into the Klout and so on into the noughties and beyond)

This is the problem. Much 'desirable' UK made stuff at that time wasn't properly tested I recall (maybe any UK readers with collections of HiFi Choice in full magazine form could help?)

I do worry with the Dave that the price, weird looks and exclusivity of this product influences buyers far more than what it actually does, as the performance seems taken for granted by many!

 

[Mart68]

I think that traditional BBC sound is because they brickwalled everything at 15khz?

I would love to own a fancy British loudspeaker but something like harbeth is Just out of my price range considering the performance, even if it's made in the UK.

Not a fan of chord. I hate the design.. never seen anything that ugly.

supposed to be the 'midrange dip' I thought? Here's the classic BBC speaker LS3/5a:

BBC LS3/5a loudspeaker 1989 Measurements

Sidebar 2: 1989 Measurements I estimated the voltage sensitivity (using 1/3-octave pink noise centered on 1kHz) and measured the change of impedance with frequency, while the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was assessed with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass...

www.stereophile.com

Re the Chord stuff I agree, I can't be doing with the ones that look like they came off of Captain Pike's wheelchair. But the DAVE does look pretty good 'In real life' if not in photos.

There's a British 'DAC' sound? No, I don't think so.

 

[Mart68]

Not sure the Quad 33 was happy with the 2V max output of a CD player, although it could be adjusted to work if you didn't have a record player or tape deck but I get your point (i didn't want to put too fine a point on it really )

True but who was still using a '33' pre in 1982?

Yeah someone, probably.

 

[Angsty]

Then it really has to be level matched because we are talking about such small differences in FR and distortion/noise. Of course then also tested and performed according to all the rules of art, blindly. Without that, blind test, it is only one's ideas about which one sounds the best that determines which one sounds the best. Most likely an imaginary difference.

I agree. I’d assert that the “blue” and “green” DACs in Amir’s stats have variations that are so small as to be sonically indistinguishable when level matched. I have various DACs of that quality and I’d never bet on my ability to tell them apart in a blind test.

Since the variations between DACs are so small to the human ear, it’s okay to call them a “solved problem” and focus on areas of greater variation, such as speakers and room acoustics.

 

[Robbo99999]

Forty years ago, much so called 'British HiFi' was in two opposing camps, one dynamic like a PA system but errors tonally and the other more natural reproduced timbres but little in the way of dynamic range. I'd suggest there was a general age spilt too, us young-uns into punk, prog and subsequent contemporary music genres and aiming for what I now regard as 'domesticated PA systems') to listen through and gents (usually) our parents' age into more 'genteel' acoustic, choral and orchestral music. I'm generalising here, but broadly this I feel is what it was like.

So take your pick! I believe KEF and B&W, then wholely British owned, sold a lot of product internationally, so maybe the 'british' tones often referred to were as a result of these makers' successes back then.


All I can say is looking back - Thank heavens for 'Digital,' as it woke up the poorly performing vinyl sources back then and brought about the taming of our loudspeaker industry excesses I feel.

My first exposure to somekind of Hi-Fi was back in around 1984 when my Dad jumped on the new CD bandwagon and bought a Technics seperates system. I just remember it sounding excellent, but who knows what it sounded like in reality! Certainly there was no concept of ideal 30 degree listening position, I think one speaker was on one side of the room and the other was on the other side of the room, but Dad did like his stereo seperation back then!

 

[DSJR]

True but who was still using a '33' pre in 1982?

Yeah someone, probably.

Don't knock it (too much) as it restores up very well believe it or not, if not to modern ASR standards...

 

[DSJR]

I think there is a BBC speaker sound. I believed that I would alway have to replace my Spendor S100's with their modern equivalent. Until I took delivery of the far cheaper Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX's, and found out how "good", they are!

The Harbeth 40.3-XD is the latest incarnation of a large 'BBC Inspired three way' and it'd sad the chosen retail price is so very high (I'm also ignoring the LS5/5 resurrection that another 'me-too' brand has introduced). Sadly, Spendor isn't the company it was and neutrality in the pure form 'we' talk about here regularly, isn't part of their portfolio now (not even sure they have a designer working there now but I could be mistaken).

 

[Angsty]

The Harbeth 40.3-XD is the latest incarnation of a large 'BBC Inspired three way' and it'd sad the chosen retail price is so very high (I'm also ignoring the LS5/5 resurrection that another 'me-too' brand has introduced). Sadly, Spendor isn't the company it was and neutrality in the pure form 'we' talk about here regularly, isn't part of their portfolio now (not even sure they have a designer working there now but I could be mistaken).

I read a factory tour somewhere that i can’t locate right now, but I was impressed by the ‘new’ Spendor. I think the main designer now is the founder’s son. The cabinet shop does a lot of OEM work for other speaker manufacturers because of their expertise and investment.

As for speakers, I would not mind having a pair of D7.2.’s.

 

[DSJR]

I read a factory tour somewhere that i can’t locate right now, but I was impressed by the ‘new’ Spendor. I think the main designer now is the founder’s son. The cabinet shop does a lot of OEM work for other speaker manufacturers because of their expertise and investment.

As for speakers, I would not mind having a pair of D7.2.’s.

That's twenty odd years out of date I think sir! Spencer, whom I deeply respected, passed away in 1983 at age 60 and his talented son Derek took up the reigns. Derek sold the business in the early noughties to the ex Audiolab owner Philip Swift and I gather that around ten years ago, another party came in and bought many shares in the business it seems.

 

[Angsty]

That's twenty odd years out of date I think sir! Spencer, whom I deeply respected, passed away in 1983 at age 60 and his talented son Derek took up the reigns. Derek sold the business in the early noughties to the ex Audiolab owner Philip Swift and I gather that around ten years ago, another party came in and bought many shares in the business it seems.

Thanks for the correction and update as I could not find the article to which I referenced. I’d still like a pair of D7.2’s, though.

Edit: According to Wikipedia, Derek is still a freelance speaker designer for Spendor and Swift is still cited as the owner. He certainly may have minority partners in the business.

 

[Veri]

Hello. I am newly registered to this forum, although I have read many threads around here. I want to share my experience.. I started this hobby with a Topping E30 DAC, having a limited budget. I was disappointed with it, coupled with B&W speakers and a cheap amp, I had bright setup. My room didn't helped either.. Moving forward, I told myself that I would never ever pick a chi-fi product again. I bought a good english integrated amplifier with a decent DAC that I used for a while with LS50 Meta. Then, the what-abouter in me had this idea "Hey, I have a good english integrated, what about having a great english DAC? I am quit sure that should be an improvement, right? "
What english DAC manufacturer is well known for their devices? The hype was real, (almost) everyone recommended their devices.
Yea, I bought a Chord Qutest, and I was disappointed. It's not to say that it sounds bad, but it's almost equally good as my integrated DAC (In my room, with my amp, with my speakers)
After two days, as my Hi Fi dealer has a return policy, I said what the hell, let's try one more time a ice cream Topping.. flagship, of course.. D90SE. And let's do some tests..
It WHIPED the flour with Qutest.. some details in music are missing with Qutest and with D90se are there. I didn't expect that, taking into account that I ran Qutest with a LPS, together costing 3x the price of D90se.

Topping whipped the.. flour?

I know you mean it wiped the floor but that's some funny choice of words

 

[AudioSceptic]

Forty years ago, much so called 'British HiFi' was in two opposing camps, one dynamic like a PA system but errors tonally and the other more natural reproduced timbres but little in the way of dynamic range. I'd suggest there was a general age spilt too, us young-uns into punk, prog and subsequent contemporary music genres and aiming for what I now regard as 'domesticated PA systems') to listen through and gents (usually) our parents' age into more 'genteel' acoustic, choral and orchestral music. I'm generalising here, but broadly this I feel is what it was like.

So take your pick! I believe KEF and B&W, then wholely British owned, sold a lot of product internationally, so maybe the 'british' tones often referred to were as a result of these makers' successes back then.


All I can say is looking back - Thank heavens for 'Digital,' as it woke up the poorly performing vinyl sources back then and brought about the taming of our loudspeaker industry excesses I feel.

In short, I suspect you mean the Linn-Naim "axis" vs the BBC-derived (or at least influenced) mainstream.