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Chord DAVE, any lesser Chord DAC come close?

I had the opportunity to audition a Chord DAVE in my system for a couple of days and I was very impressed.
Anybody who truly thinks dacs are all the same needs to listen to a true high end model.
However not so impressed with the 10k price tag.
So looking for comment from experienced Chord users if any of their lesser DAC models come close to the magic of the DAVE.
128x128uberwaltz
ricred1
1,976 posts
 
Every system is different. I've compared the Hugo TT mk2 with the M-scaler to the Dave in my system. I prefer the Dave and kept it.
astelmaszek
125 posts
 
@ricred1 Did you keep the M Scaler. Clearly Dave sounds even better with the M Scaler. That's not even in contention. That's pretty much the ultimate combo. Soundstage about as deep as it is wide and then some.
ricred1
1,976 posts
 
astelmaszek,
There are no absolutes in Audio,  only preferences. Although I know several people that absolutely loves the M-scaler, I prefer the sound of the Dave by itself. 
astelmaszek
125 posts
 
@ricred1 
Sure there are, especially in this case. If you like the sound of 20 element array being fed by 160 thousand some tap filter and you feel it's superior to TT2 (10 element array DAC), feeding a 20 element array DAC by 1 million taps of course sounds better unless all you ever feed your Dave is 352 files in which case, I'd agree. I have a total of 5 albums in my collection in that resolution. But if we're talking about feeding Dave CD or 88/92 files, there really is no comparison between Dave alone vs BluDave. I'm interested, what is it that makes Dave alone better than BluDave? You are the only happy Dave user that apparently heard it being fed Blu/MScaller and didn't feel it was worth it. I'm seriously interested. What's the story. What is it you don't like about the combo?
ricred1
1,976 posts
 
astelmaszek,
I sent you a PM. 
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