Chord Dave Replacement

I have had Dave in my system. Great Dac but for me a NOS DAC (Metrum Adagio) won the contest over all the others Dacs I have tried so far. 

Saved me also 3K in direct comparison with the save and even more on the MSB.  

I would recommend in general to try some NOS dacs .
Mayby you already don so.
Look also below your budget range and not at the Usual Suspects. 

The DENAFRIPS Terminator was not around yet when I bought my new Dac. It does NOS , OS and DSD. The Rockna Wavedream does the same. 

I have no need to change the Metrum it’s already at the level I can live with for many years to come. But those two Dacs would be on my list of options for shure. 

@ricred1, I would like to suggest you take a look at the Mola Mola Tambaqui when it arrives later this month I understand. Going by the performance of the Mola Mola Makua (pre with dac module) it will be extremely good. Price £9k in the U.K.

Not sure if you are aware but there is a comparison between Dave and Makua in the Computer Audiophile Forum which might be worth reading.

toetapaudio,

I sent you a PM. I'm also looking into the Hugo M Scaler and Blu mk2 as possible upgrades. 

I've owned a PS Audio Directstream, Bricasti M1, Jeff Rowland Aeris, Chord Dave, and today I auditioned the Rockna Wavedream Edition DAC. Out of all of the DACs I've heard, I could easily live with the Aeris, Dave, or Wavedream. The Wavedream only has a couple hours on it, but from the first note it sounds like a more transparent Chord Dave to my ears. My wife said it sounds just like the Dave. It's my understanding that the Wavedream only has 20 hours on it. Like a true audiophile with "issues", I'm saying to myself, if at $8300 list the Rockna Wavedream Edition sounds this good, how good does their $16K Signature DAC sound? More to follow.

What makes you want to upgrade from DAVE? Like others said, I'd try first an MScaler with DAVE. I'd also look at the Mola-Mola Tambaqui and the new dCS Bartok.