Chord DAVE, any lesser Chord DAC come close?

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.

Hey guys,

curious if anyone has some experience with the sound of a few more components to help me figure out my "next step"...

I've got a Hegel HD30 DAC now being fed by an Aurender N100H. The sound is *very* affected by the USB cable and power-cord and isolation (still points) I use under the N100H. I also want a sound that is more holographic/3D. I was thinking to upgrade to an N10 which sounds better (based on almost all other reports), but then I heard an owner of the DAVE dac say that this particular dac is remarkably jitter-resistant... he had compared the sound using multiple USB cables and servers (including Aurender n10 and macbook etc) and could hear virtually no difference.

So now I'm wondering what's a better way to go:

* Keep Hegel HD30 DAC and upgrade to Aurender N10
* Keep Aurender N100H and upgrade to CHORD DAVE DAC

Naturally, I would love to audition all of these options in my own system but this may not be possible. Any advice is welcome!

-Dave

Hey guys,

curious if anyone has some experience with the sound of a few more components to help me figure out my "next step"...

I've got a Hegel HD30 DAC now being fed by an Aurender N100H. The sound is *very* affected by the USB cable and power-cord and isolation (still points) I use under the N100H. I also want a sound that is more holographic/3D. I was thinking to upgrade to an N10 which sounds better (based on almost all other reports), but then I heard an owner of the DAVE dac say that this particular dac is remarkably jitter-resistant... he had compared the sound using multiple USB cables and servers (including Aurender n10 and macbook etc) and could hear virtually no difference.

So now I'm wondering what's a better way to go:

* Keep Hegel HD30 DAC and upgrade to Aurender N10
* Keep Aurender N100H and upgrade to CHORD DAVE DAC
* Other? Hugo TT?

Naturally, I would love to audition all of these options in my own system but this may not be possible. Any advice is welcome!

-Dave

Dave,  I haven’t heard the Hegel HD30 DAC so I cant really comment on that.   However I do have the Aurender N10 with a Chord Dave which I love.

I’ve heard quite a few DACs over the years though and to my ears the Chord Dave has been the most 3D sounding.   My vote would be for the Dave.

Keep Aurender N100H and upgrade to CHORD DAVE DAC