Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Agreed. No way should they sound bright, they're remarkably even-handed.
Chord DACs
- Thread starter Allaboutmusic
- Start date
harmonica98
pfm Member
I've recently acquired a mk1 Hugo and don't find it bright at all. I think the only way, like with most things in hifi, is to try one yourself, in your system.
John_73
pfm Member
Any brightness will be the partnering equipment showing its true signature. The Chords are extremely even-handed/neutral. However any equipment which has even a hint of brightness, whether in the amp or the speakers, that’ll be highlighted when playing a Chord DAC. Or any other genuinely well-engineered source.
Good post. Non-digital is the keyword. Sounds like good analogue! It's not only with CD rips but digital audio files (FLAC format) as well.
Well I’ve had three Chord DACs and I never found any of them bright. Smooth, solid, textured, satisfying, rich, tangible, engrossing - yes, but bright - no.
Julf
Facts are our friends
What does "sound digital" actually mean? Accurate? Transparent? Uncolored?
steveinspain
pfm Member
Do the filters on chord dacs make much difference - if people have found them to be bright can't it be tuned out to some extent?
And the PCB is a bit of plastic with some ICs on it. And what are ICs? A bit of silicon. ie Sand. You could go to the beach with a kiddies spade and get enough silicon for a thousand DACs for nothing.
Agree with this absolutely. My Qutest has performed superbly. I would be interested in hearing the Dave at some stage to see whether the extra cost of the upgrade is justified.
Thetiminator
Painfully virile
Chord have a very good relationship with the hifi press and are big advertisers.
IME Chord dacs are ok but nothing special, let down by their fancy casework which hinders their ability to squeeze in really good power supplies.
I had a Qute a few years ago and it was very good at its price point. I added a decent external power supply which made it is as good as the QBD (couldn’t really justify the extra cost considering the small difference between the two).
I had it a while and then tried a Primare Dac which was twice the price but did make the Chord sound rough.
Decent stuff but by no means exceptional at their price points.
IME Chord dacs are ok but nothing special, let down by their fancy casework which hinders their ability to squeeze in really good power supplies.
I had a Qute a few years ago and it was very good at its price point. I added a decent external power supply which made it is as good as the QBD (couldn’t really justify the extra cost considering the small difference between the two).
I had it a while and then tried a Primare Dac which was twice the price but did make the Chord sound rough.
Decent stuff but by no means exceptional at their price points.
MasterTape
pfm Member
I think Chord's WTA filtering sounds different in the same sense that zapping through an assortment of fast and slow linear or minimum phase filters will sound different - not a huge difference but some will find a preference. If there was one such filter that was 'coming home' to my ears, where nothing sounds bright or too fast and slow and the music just gets through - that's how I experience Chord vs the rest, having heard Mojo, Hugo 1, Qutest, Dave.
My most recent purchased were RME ADI-2 DAC and Sabaj D5 so that's one top AKM DAC and one top Sabre DAC, both sounding more detailed but I revert to Hugo 1 after a while every time. It's as if they cut the music from slightly different cloths and I personally just feel at home with how the Chord sounds.
My most recent purchased were RME ADI-2 DAC and Sabaj D5 so that's one top AKM DAC and one top Sabre DAC, both sounding more detailed but I revert to Hugo 1 after a while every time. It's as if they cut the music from slightly different cloths and I personally just feel at home with how the Chord sounds.
What can I say, and you think that these designs just appear by magic? Yes, production can be inexpensive now but how do you fund the next products without putting R&D into the pricing model?
I have had a mojo, and moved on the a Qutest. I have a modest, in hifi terms, set up and the Qutest has brought a refinement and balance to the system. I owned various DACs at similar price points before, and the Chord sound is very involving compared to the others.
Worth every penny....
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
I lived with a Chord DAC 64 mkII for quite a few years and loved the easy yet detailed non-fatiguing sound.
After much listening, including two trips to the Munich show, I narrowed my list of just-about-within-budget dacs to the Chord Dave (with the M-Scaler later on) or the dCS Bartok (with a clock later on). I would have been very happy with either.
At this price level I expect local support (I am in SE France). dCS is physically present in a well-established dealership here, upmarket Chord is not (nor anywhere vaguely near either)... maybe their new distributor will one day sort that out, but for me it will be too late (just imagine a major brand not being available anywhere near Birmingham, MAnchester and Edinburgh!). The local support for dCS provided by importer and dealer alike has been brilliant.
After much listening, including two trips to the Munich show, I narrowed my list of just-about-within-budget dacs to the Chord Dave (with the M-Scaler later on) or the dCS Bartok (with a clock later on). I would have been very happy with either.
At this price level I expect local support (I am in SE France). dCS is physically present in a well-established dealership here, upmarket Chord is not (nor anywhere vaguely near either)... maybe their new distributor will one day sort that out, but for me it will be too late (just imagine a major brand not being available anywhere near Birmingham, MAnchester and Edinburgh!). The local support for dCS provided by importer and dealer alike has been brilliant.