Chord Dave - Missing soundstage width


Hi I am in the process of evaluating the Chord Dave.I have a Orchid dac and to my ears it has a wider soundstage than the Dave, but in every other aspect the Dave is the clear winner.
The Dave has height, depth and a way to make you feel that you are there. but not much sound outside the speaker boundaries.
Is my observation correct or does my system suck (;
Equipment: Primaluna HP integrated EL34 tubes. Tekton Design DI, A well treated room.Streaming with Tidal HIFI/Master
martin-andersen
I own a Dave as well and I’ve found that different powercords impact its sound.  More so than other components in my system.  I also agree with adg101 and ricred1s comments.
The DAVE is an amazing DAC and I literally can't keep them in stock which is mind boggling for a DAC that is >$10K.  I will say that when I have one in my system (I swap depending on what I am showing) the idea that the soundstage wouldn't extend past my speakers is almost inconceivable.    

I would definitely say your system doesn't suck.  The double impacts are a wild speaker though.  They can be driven quite well with 15w of great power or they could be driven with 400w of power.  Wonderful sound but they also run at a relatively low impedance.

My hunch is that you might benefit from a step up in quality if amplification.  I had a similar experience with that amp while demoing a pair of B&W 805 D3s.  My gut tells me that you amp is the bottleneck.  

If you are looking for a bigger soundstage, I would recommend three potential amps that will completely change your listening experience.  

Check out:
Art Audio Carissa which is an 845 based SET.  You don't need the integrated edition because the preamp section on the DAVE is superb and can be connected straight to the power amp.  I have run this at home and it is truly spectacular.  (full disclosure, I am the importer and reseller for Art Audio - I have a used Carissa available)

Line Magnetic LM-845.  This has a brutally expensive tube compliment to upgrade/replace but this is a wonderful amp for the money and a brilliant product.  

Raven Audio - Check out their 6L6 based amps.  In my opinion, the king of all tubes in terms of soundstage is the 845 but the runner up is the 6L6.  


I wonder if you have tried rolling the first or second gain stage with any NOS small signal tubes?  I use new Genalex Golden Lions all around with NOS CIFTEs in the first gain stage of my Prima Luna Dialogue Premium Pre...  In my system it really nailed the soundstage...
do you have an example off a piece of music that have a very wide soundstage and that can be found on Tidal

Cut: Gypsy Nights
Artist: Craig Chaquico
Album: Panorama

A wide sound stage can be:
- Recorded well to reproduce the effect.
- Engineered artificially to produce the effect.
Thanks all, brilliant answers.I really wish there was a like button.
I have some mullard NOS tubes from the 60' in the input stage, really made a positive difference