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The Chord DAC bandwagon

Octavian said:
Agreed. The mysterious diffrences reported here are overwhelmingly likely to be products of imagination.
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I take it you mean some imagine how good they sound.

Joking apart, they obviously sound different in different situations/systems. There are professional reviewers on the net that describe Chord DACs as detailed but anything but musical although admittedly most are favourable. Why as a group can we not simply agree they can sound great or less than great in varying systems or circumstances.
 
I have owned a 2Qute and now own a Mojo.

Both were significantly better than the excellent DAC in my Arcam CD93T. The classic phrase is 'a veil being lifted' and that is exactly what I experience - literally sounds like a curtain has been lifted from in front of the instruments and voices and their presence in the room improves markedly.

With Hi-Res I am less sure of my footing as I don't really have anything to compare it to. It sounds very good.

The Mojo in particular is just superb value. DACs are the one element of hifi which has come along leaps and bounds in the last 20 years.

The DAVE is the best designed DAC I have ever seen. The measurements are without equal. IMO that points beyond dispute whether Chord know what they are doing. It is then a different technical exercise to try and translate those design benefits to lower priced kit.

The Hugo 2 and everything below it in the pecking order is excellent. Some of the second hand prices are just mad. I have seen a Mojo go for £180.
 
Whizzy said:
I suppose because the forum acts to informs via debate.
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Yeah, I know. But all too often it's a case of 'It sounds great' vs 'No, it sounds crap'. There's so many variables involved (partnering equipment; size/shape of room; age of listener's ears/tastes in music) that individual opinions are of limited use in informing the debate.
 
Joe Hutch said:
Yeah, I know. But all too often it's a case of 'It sounds great' vs 'No, it sounds crap'. There's so many variables involved (partnering equipment; size/shape of room; age of listener's ears/tastes in music) that individual opinions are of limited use in informing the debate.
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I suppose it does alert potential purchasers to the fact that careful auditioning in ones own system is wise to find out which side of the divide they might fall on.

I suspect that the more revealing a system is the more it is likely to divide opinion; a little old transistor radio won’t divide opinion on the basis that it won’t present much of the music anyway!

Those who think all perceived differences are in the imagination of the listener can, of course, just buy at will or toddle along to their measurist dealer who is shilling his ideology in these threads. Their belief will protect them, arguably more than those who actually listen, there being none so deaf as those who refuse to listen.
 
Does it matter what other people think & spend their money on. Chord DACs are well reviewed but obviously invest in casework & certain visual cues which will add to the cost.

I personally find the ridiculously expensive TTs rather pointless but I can appreciate some of the engineering behind them.
 
Woodface said:
Does it matter what other people think & spend their money on. Chord DACs are well reviewed but obviously invest in casework & certain visual cues which will add to the cost.

I personally find the ridiculously expensive TTs rather pointless but I can appreciate some of the engineering behind them.
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Certainly not cheap!

Ridiculous? Well, for a DAC combined with a pre and headphone amp, perhaps not too bad considering the build Quality, the fact that they aren’t mass produced by the million, the research that has gone into increasing tap length, maybe about right but only if someone values those features. For the “it all sounds the same cult” probably bad value :), but frankly I couldn’t care less what they believe to be the truth ;).

The feature I value the most is the volume control; much better than pressing buttons on a remote. Oh, and it sounds excellent and doesn’t distract me by thinking there is something wrong, as is the case with my Benchmark 1 HDR. I can well imagine Benchmark users thinking the reverse, and that is fine, and they are right, because we all perceive sound differently.

I think it’s great that we can all find equipment that suits our perceptions - whether by listening or measuring!
 
camverton said:
Certainly not cheap!

Ridiculous? Well, for a DAC combined with a pre and headphone amp, perhaps not too bad considering the build Quality, the fact that they aren’t mass produced by the million, the research that has gone into increasing tap length, maybe about right but only if someone values those features. For the “it all sounds the same cult” probably bad value :), but frankly I couldn’t care less what they believe to be the truth ;).

The feature I value the most is the volume control; much better than pressing buttons on a remote. Oh, and it sounds excellent and doesn’t distract me by thinking there is something wrong, as is the case with my Benchmark 1 HDR. I can well imagine Benchmark users thinking the reverse, and that is fine, and they are right, because we all perceive sound differently.

I think it’s great that we can all find equipment that suits our perceptions - whether by listening or measuring!
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I agree, there are no losers here. A good DAC hooked up to some active speakers offers potential high end performance for almost budget money, what's not to like.
 
Exactly - Mojo is actually affordable and can challenge a £2k CD player of 20 years ago (and exceed a good number of them). That is a huge step forward for the mass market. I adore mine.
 
Whizzy said:
I take it you mean some imagine how good they sound.

Joking apart, they obviously sound different in different situations/systems. There are professional reviewers on the net that describe Chord DACs as detailed but anything but musical although admittedly most are favourable. Why as a group can we not simply agree they can sound great or less than great in varying systems or circumstances.
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Apologies for reviving this thread, but just wanted to add my thoughts on the Qutest.
About 3 years ago when I lived in a different house and a smaller listening room and owned Harbeth SHL5+ I demoed a Qutest and an RME ADI2. I was totally underwhelmed by the Chord so kept the RME.
However, at the moment while I'm waiting for a DCS Bartok to arrive, I've had the Qutest on loan to tide me over and I'm amazed how good it sounds... in fact, I would say it sounds better than my Luxman DA06... probably a good job for the dealer that he didn't send me a Hugo TT!
Mac
 
Interestingly, I'd heard (and read) that the Quest has a refined sound to it which would make the Sex Pistols sound erroneously polite or something along those lines. I don't listen to the Pistols but I did play The Wall the other night through my Quest and I totally got what people are saying: it really does refine things. A lot of the time that's great. But The Wall isn't a refined-sounding album. In my mind, it was recorded in a really dirty environment with coffee stains here, there and everywhere; insects crawling brazenly across the studio dirty floor; spiders lurking with real intent and menace in the shadows; bloodstains lingering on the wall from a nasty fight at a drunken recording session the week before; profane graffiti of the highest order scrawled irreverently here and there; and drugs, lots of drugs and fags and rancid alcohol, and the stench of stale vomit and unfettered faeces huffing and puffing from its way through a thoroughly defeated toilet door. These are the sorts of sounds one should hear when listening to The Wall - not a semi-polished presentation that's essentially second cousins with the sound of Steely Dan.
 
windhoek said:
Interestingly, I'd heard (and read) that the Quest has a refined sound to it which would make the Sex Pistols sound erroneously polite or something along those lines. I don't listen to the Pistols but I did play The Wall the other night through my Quest and I totally got what people are saying: it really does refine things. A lot of the time that's great. But The Wall isn't a refined-sounding album. In my mind, it was recorded in a really dirty environment with coffee stains here, there and everywhere; insects crawling brazenly across the studio dirty floor; spiders lurking with real intent and menace in the shadows; bloodstains lingering on the wall from a nasty fight at a drunken recording session the week before; profane graffiti of the highest order scrawled irreverently here and there; and drugs, lots of drugs and fags and rancid alcohol, and the stench of stale vomit and unfettered faeces huffing and puffing from its way through a thoroughly defeated toilet door. These are the sorts of sounds one should hear when listening to The Wall - not a semi-polished presentation that's essentially second cousins with the sound of Steely Dan.
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I think the second Damned album was recorded at Pink Floyd's studio - they secretly liked punk!
 
gavreid said:
I think the second Damned album was recorded at Pink Floyd's studio - they secretly liked punk!
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Come to think of it, The Wall sounds like it was recorded just after The Damned had been in for a wild recording session... and semi-trashed the place lol
 
maccar said:
Apologies for reviving this thread, but just wanted to add my thoughts on the Qutest.
About 3 years ago when I lived in a different house and a smaller listening room and owned Harbeth SHL5+ I demoed a Qutest and an RME ADI2. I was totally underwhelmed by the Chord so kept the RME.
However, at the moment while I'm waiting for a DCS Bartok to arrive, I've had the Qutest on loan to tide me over and I'm amazed how good it sounds... in fact, I would say it sounds better than my Luxman DA06... probably a good job for the dealer that he didn't send me a Hugo TT!
Mac
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From my listening at the Munich show, I'd suggest that he TT2 needs the MScaler to approach the Bartok in terms of sound quality.
 
I’m surprised Badger748 got rid of his Bartok. It looked like a good center to a slimmed down system given being used to high end.
 
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