Chord DAVE DAC

I had the Chord TT2 and m-scaler for over a year which sounded excellent. Upgraded to the DAVE in Feb - definitely an improvement over the TT2 but the TT2 is more forgiving of recording quality, the DAVE makes no attempt to smooth out rough recordings. M-scaler? This refines the DAVE even further but I can see why some like the DAVE on its own, I think rhythm is better without the scaler but you also lose some coherency, a sense of musicians playing together.  See if you can audition one at home.

@charles1dad  yes there is a huge level of jealousy  involved  as well. 

@jackhifiguy if you are planning on spending this amoun5 of money there are many other great dacs out there. I have been on a dac journey with many brands. Chord is good but there are better options imo. 

I went from chord to dCS with the Bartok and now own an MSB Discrete. To me the Bartok is now overpriced as is the Dave. 

“hmmm, maybe I need a high end system in the bathroom.”

@ghdprentice George, you crack me up!

Listen to all that you can. But what you like the kind of. It doesn’t have to be expensive to sound good. Consider Delta-Sigma, Resistor Ladder (R2R), and FPGA, based types of DACs. Remember that the actual chip, or way the 1’s and 0’s are changed to an analog wave for is actually not the hard part. It is the circuit design, clock, power supply, and analog output stage that really determines the sound quality of a DAC. I have owned a few DACs and right now my favorite is the Gustard x26 Pro. It beats my Topping D90, D10, and my modified MSB Gold III. Also remember that “end-game” in a still evolving area (digital audio conversion) is not an easy thing to identify. Much easier in an amplifier or pre amp as they have been around for 100 years. $13k is a lot of money. If you come to this group openly asking for suggestions, I’d suggest you have a lot more research and learning to be done on your end first.
One last thing. If the number of “taps” used by an upsampled seems important to you because of what Chord says, remember that a equivalent software package can do the same and more for $150 (FPPB-RT). You don’t need a $5000 box from Chord to do it (M-scaler).

edit: I would also add that if CD’s are too expensive for you to buy and you are downloading 320MP3 from torrent sites, then you should not be dropping $13000 on a DAC and should put the money to use elsewhere.  Don’t let if burn a hole in your pocket.