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The Chord DAC bandwagon

The Mojo is the least used of my dacs. But it is the size of a fag packet and is a brilliant design so it stays. The other models deserve the criticism they get, except the Dave that is just outrageous with it porthole :)
I use a DACMagic100 and the RME too. Rather than upgrade I just rotate them every few weeks. I get a slightly different sound but all are astonishing through good headphones.The DACMagic100 S/h at £80 was a pleasant surprise given the cost of the others. It’s now got its own LPSU and is gets most airtime. Chaps, we are blessed for peanuts nowadays ;)
 
Your DA-06 sounds better than the TT2 to me Mac.

That's great to hear! I'm just saying that it does go to show how certain components can sound different in different settings and systems.
I think perhaps the DA06 wasn't the best match with my Accuphase amps and Harbeth speakers.... too much of a good thing
Mac
 
Since ditching my Naim CDS2 I've had a hugo1 then a hugo2 and now a TT2.
Each time there has been a distinct uplift in quality. I've finally succumbed to buying a streamer, the Zenith Mk3 and finally this is way better than my CD front end system ever was.
now I just need to get a supercap for my Snaxo and I'll be done (for 2021...)
 
That's great to hear! I'm just saying that it does go to show how certain components can sound different in different settings and systems.
I think perhaps the DA06 wasn't the best match with my Accuphase amps and Harbeth speakers.... too much of a good thing
Mac

Quite possibly. I chose TT1 over DA-06 when I had the L-590II, now with the L-509X I am preferring the DA-06. I prefer both to the TT2, which I found very impressive, but almost too precise for my system. The TT1 is a bit of a gem at just over a grand.
 
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.
Agreed, I had the TT2 + Scaler here and tried it against the Bartok, not a lot in it. For me the Bartok edged it, so far it’s my fave streamer/dac, I've tried a few over the last couple years.
 
Since ditching my Naim CDS2 I've had a hugo1 then a hugo2 and now a TT2.
Each time there has been a distinct uplift in quality. I've finally succumbed to buying a streamer, the Zenith Mk3 and finally this is way better than my CD front end system ever was.
now I just need to get a supercap for my Snaxo and I'll be done (for 2021...)

My front end and also my experience having moved from a much loved CDX2.
 
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.

Mr Badger here. I sold all my higher-end system, so the Bartok was massively out of balance with the rest of the new stuff. It made sense to sell at the time, when you add into the mix certain other issues and a house move. I'd love to have another, and if/when I get the money together + if I actually want to spend that sort of money on hifi, the Bartok would be the very first thing i'd get again. It is a stupendous bit of kit.
 
Mr Badger here. I sold all my higher-end system, so the Bartok was massively out of balance with the rest of the new stuff. It made sense to sell at the time, when you add into the mix certain other issues and a house move. I'd love to have another, and if/when I get the money together + if I actually want to spend that sort of money on hifi, the Bartok would be the very first thing i'd get again. It is a stupendous bit of kit.

Sorry to hear this Badger, but sometimes life just gets in the way... good luck with what ever you do in the future.
Mac
 
Sorry to hear this Badger, but sometimes life just gets in the way... good luck with what ever you do in the future.
Mac
Thanks!
It’s only stuff when all said and done.
I still have a decent hifi system and isn’t is better to have loved and lost?
Will pick up my old thread at some point to say what I now have. Lesser stuff but used and enjoyed more.
 
Mr Badger here. I sold all my higher-end system, so the Bartok was massively out of balance with the rest of the new stuff. It made sense to sell at the time, when you add into the mix certain other issues and a house move. I'd love to have another, and if/when I get the money together + if I actually want to spend that sort of money on hifi, the Bartok would be the very first thing i'd get again. It is a stupendous bit of kit.

I probably didn’t put my point too well. I just remember you saying you wanted kit the whole family could access easily. I had this picture of you all sitting in the same room, with all having the same access to a world of music for a tenner a month and inflicting your generational taste on each other. A bit of fun at Christmas type of thingy.
It’s not the sort of thing you could contemplate on my cheap skate Pi based system which forgets its unique IP address at the drop of a hat:)
 
I probably didn’t put my point too well. I just remember you saying you wanted kit the whole family could access easily. I had this picture of you all sitting in the same room, with all having the same access to a world of music for a tenner a month and inflicting your generational taste on each other. A bit of fun at Christmas type of thingy.
It’s not the sort of thing you could contemplate on my cheap skate Pi based system which forgets its unique IP address at the drop of a hat:)
That was the goal - we could all use it - and we do, as the living room and kitchen are next to each other, but open plan, sort of!
 
Supercap now powering the snaxo. WOW - what an uplift. Seriously, it needs to be done, one of the cheaper upgrades out there.
Much more spacious, I can hear lows that were previously not there, an old active naim system properly set up with SBLs has to be heard to be believed. I have honestly never heard anything like it. I also pressed the button on a Innuos phoenix reclocker to go with the zenith 3 and Chord Hugo TT2. This should be coming at the end of the week and my front end will really start to sizzle.
 
I bought a DAC64 Mk2 in 2006 after it trounced a CDX2 at the time. Since then, I've owned the Qute HD, Hugo, QBD76HDSD, Qute EX, Hugo2 & Qutest. They were all brilliant. I did appreciate the inbuilt PSU and balanced analogue outputs of the Coral series models (DAC64/QBD76), although ultimately the Hugo2 was the best performing for me. I was happy to live with the quirky ergonomics of all.

That being said, I discovered dCS a few years ago with a used Paganini and that was a bit of an ear opener. And I've recently moved on to a Holo Audio May, which I expect will be with me for a long time!
 
If you can find a used Chord QBD76, give it a try. I never thought music could sound so organic and real through a DAC. It sounds more like vinyl than digital with the Chord. The QBD76 made my Musical Fidelity M1 DAC sound broken, no joke. I immediately sold the MF M1 DAC once I experienced the 'Chord sound'.

It has been 3 or 4 years since i got the Chord into the system. I have now upgraded my entire system(amp, speakers and cabling) and the Chord DAC still remains. The power cord that's connected to the Chord DAC now costs more than the DAC itself, but I'm still keeping the Chord. Although it's not a DAVE/MScaler, it's a keeper in my system.

Started with Blu DAC 64 mk1, moved to QB76HD, then onto Dave. Great sound and with the Chord stand even my wife likes it! Not too impressed with the improvement made by the M Scaler though, I found it marginal ...if at all. QB76HD used is an absolute bargain!
 


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