Chord DAVE, any lesser Chord DAC come close?

Uber mate,

Why not audition the cheaper DACS yourself. 
And give us your opinion?
I for one would love hear a comparison.

Cos I ain't made of money!

No Chord 2Qute or Hugo owners with thoughts to share?

If you check out head-fi or superbestaudiofriends...their lesser dacs seem to be almost as good.

Thx Nitewulf
Heard from a friend that headfi was the inplace for the Chord dac gang
Going to have to take a look....

Try the Chinese model Stereophile mentions in this months issue.
$2,995 as I recall.

$2,995 Chinese DAC Richert just reviewed

The Hugo TT 2 would be your next best option to try after Chord Dave.

Uber-
I hear ya, me neither.
The only thing money can't buy is, poverty.......

Wasn't there a very recent thread on the Qutest, with comments on some of the other Chord models?

I have a few responders to myself from this thread that I am sure would love to take your 5k.
Then maybe they could give it to me to go towards a Dave.....

Chord Qutest + iFi iUSB3.0 (for power) + MScaler


Let's say 1300 for used Quest, 299 for used iFi, 4000 for a new M Scaller.  5600 all in. To me the above combo actually sounds better than Dave. There is just more body to the music than what Dave gives you. Dave is the ultimate transparency device at a cost of some tonality.

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.

@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.

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. 

@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?

astelmaszek,
I sent you a PM. 

Uber;

I have Qutest here & running Roon.

I have never heard Dave, but plan too at AXPONA.

I bought it via Audio Advisors for a 30 day trial.   You should too 

I compared it to Playback Designs Merlot DSD dac at same time.

Roon allowed me to upsample, filter PCM, DSD convert.

It is quite the chameleon.
It can be super detailed & incisive & BIG soundstage 
It can be DSD, smooth, detailed & sensuous & great soundstage 
it has big bass !

The upsample and filter in roon allows the cameleon to show thru

In it’s natural state it is highly incisive and detailed PCM 
If tap number is a representative of detail , then DAVE is as good as it will get?
If it was PCM only, I would have sent it back for overload of incisive detail, my system is capable of lots of detail and soundstage ques.
but, 
Roon allows DSD and associated tayloring of sound.

anyway, I’d love to hear a Dave with Roon or M upsampler.

Dave can’t be that much better?   Or my famous last words ! $1880 is reasonable, $10 k is not ( I’m happy )

Playback Designs and Qutest in DSD was a good competition, Playback a tad better, but Qutest and roon allows a bit of sound tayloring that I like 

My thought is try it thru Audio Advisor.

jeffy

ps: Great vinyl is still better, more soundstage 

I had a 2Qute here, belongs to a buddy (who is sending it back) for a day or two last week. Comparing it to my Yggdrasil with updated analog out, and I was not a fan. Seemed sterile and sucked the fun right out of the music. It could be more accurate, I don't know, but nevertheless I wasn't a fan. Was playing RB from a Jay's transport via BNC.I tried a couple of filters but they didn't make it stand out, in my opinion.Other DACs I've had are a non-multibit Gungnir, and an Aqua La Voce S2, but those were years ago so comparisons are moot.  

I submit everyone has different preferences and individual components have to be taken in context with the "whole" system. I've owned several DACs and don't hear the leanness that some refer to with the Dave in my system. I don't think there is a night and day difference between the Dave and TT2 if your talking about audiophile things(soundstaging, detail, bass), but to my ears the Dave is far more "musical and convincing" in my system than any DAC that I've owned. I don't speak in absolutes, but that's my opinion. In another system I could in fact arrive at a different conclusion.