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  3. 192150-126

Enough is Enough

I've been looking at changing my DAC. I was considering Lampizator, Playback Designs, and Ideon. Recently a dealer basically told me(with the exception of my subwoofer and music server) my system sucks. He went on to say, I should sell my amps, preamp, DAC, speakers, and start all over! I've owned several different speakers, amplifiers, and DACs. I've attended shows and several different dealers show rooms. In fact, I directly compared one of the amplifiers the dealer recommended to a Rowland 625 S2 amplifier and preferred the 625 S2. I didn't build my system in a vacuum. I determined what I wanted to spend, listened and purchase what I preferred. I've been in sales and submit it would have been better to recommend a DAC that would improve my system. So now I say, maybe enough is enough; because no matter what I have some dealer will tell me it's crap and I have to start over. 

ricred1
drmuso's avatar
drmuso
109 posts
 

@ricred1 

I agree with others that that one dealer sounds like a jerk.  I've not run into that with the dealers I've talked with (mostly West Coast), but I've mostly been buying online for a long time.

From what I've heard from several YouTube reviewers I respect, the Chord Dave is a very detailed DAC.  I don't know if you can have that and also have a natural, "musical" presentation.  You might want to consider the Denafrips or other R2R DACs that strive to sound more like analog.  I'm getting the Denafrips Venus 15th on Monday, which as audioman58 says above, is essentially like the former Terminator at a lower price.  I also considered the Holo DACs, but they wouldn't allow for 1024k DSD playback of my SACDs, if I understand them correctly.  They would be another to consider if you don't care about highest-resolution playback of SACDs.

ricred1 OP
2,040 posts
 

 

audioman58,

My system is listed under my profile on Audiogon.

ricred1 OP
2,040 posts
 
drmuso,

"From what I've heard from several YouTube reviewers I respect, the Chord Dave is a very detailed DAC." I think we have to remember it's a system. In my system the Chord Dave isn't as detailed as the DCS Rossini APEX. Every song sounds different in my system based on how it was recorded...some songs sound detailed, some sound laid back, and some sound fantastic. Depending on the system, a DAC or any component can sound very different.

kennyc
1,522 posts
 

For next sonic uptick maybe Chord MScaler which is an ideal batch for the Dave, unless you want a different sonic signature 

ricred1 OP
2,040 posts
 

I'm not a fan of the Chord MScaler. I tried one in my system and to my ears it made everything sound artificial.

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