Dave DAC by Chord Electronics

DAVE stands for ‘Digital to Analogue Veritas in Extremis’, a moniker that best reflects the product’s capability; a device so advanced and with so few compromises, that it is absolutely truthful in the extreme — a standard that all other DACs on the market simply cannot hope to match.

The DAVE also features a reference-level headphone amplifier and ‘digital preamp’, which distills twenty years of Chord research, development, and advanced engineering into one device. At its heart lies a new version of the advanced Spartan 6 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with 1,000x the processing power of the traditional mass-produced chip DAC. DAVE’s FPGA is loaded with over a million lines of code to confront complex timing issues head-on, with speed and precision.

The FPGA’s extraordinary capability enables a number of key sonic benefits, including significantly improved timing and the best noise-shaper performance of any known DAC. DAVE’s technology delivers music with unmatched reality and musicality, with an unrivaled timing response. The device’s lossless digital volume control outputs the signal directly to your power amplifier for the purest experience.

DAVE has a full-sized LCD display, showing input, sample frequency, volume, and set-up configurations options, within Chord’s famous porthole design. On its fascia, DAVE also features a rotary encoder with a large stainless steel controller and ball buttons, enabling direct interactivity in addition to the supplied remote control.

Features:

• Tap length filter: 164,000
• Sample frequencies: 44.1Khz – 768Khz (16 – 32bit) and DSD64 to DSD512 native DSD + DoP (input dependent)
• Digital Inputs:
  • 4x 75Ω S/PDIF BNC Coax – 44.1kHz to 384kHz
  • 1x AES XLR – 44.1kHz to 96kHz
  • 2x Fiber Optic TOSLINK – 44.1kHz to 96kHz
  • 1x USB Type B – 44.1kHz to 768kHz (16 – 32bit) – PCM and DSD
• Analog Outputs:
  • 1x Stereo Pair of Unbalanced RCA
  • 1x Stereo Pair of Balanced XLR
  • 1x 1/4″ TRS Jack Headphone Output
• Supports 800Ω Headphones
• Configurable Crossfeed
• Standalone Pre-amp Function
• Galvanically Isolated USB
• Supports up to 768kHz
• Native DSD (Direct Stream Digital) Supported
• DSD 512 (8x) Capable
• Solid Aluminum Chassis
• IR Remote Control (Included)

whathifi
“If you’re looking for the best DAC money can buy, the DAVE is a superb place to start. We haven’t heard anything that sounds so natural or insightful”

https://www.whathifi.com/us/chord/dave/review
Stereophile
“ I am, recommending a DAC with a linear-phase FIR filter that is not merely long but the extreme opposite of short. What gives? To stretch an analogy: If perfect sound quality lies on the other side of a mountain of implementation, the short, minimum-phase filter route goes one way around that mountain, and the long, linear-phase filter route goes the other way. But on the far side of the mountain, the two routes begin to converge . ”

https://www.stereophile.com/content/chord-electronics-dave-da-processor
hi-fiworld
“The Chord Dave is a remarkable piece of design that quite probably sets the benchmark for just what a DAC is capable of at present. From the quality of its handcrafted casework to the sheer engineering prowess of the proprietary electronics inside this is quite simply an outstanding product. Yes, £7950 is a decent amount of cash in anyone’s language but if you can afford it you’d be daft not to try it out. Even if you can’t, it’s still worth listening to for an indication of just how good state-of-the-art digital replay can be nowadays.”

https://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/cd-dvd-blu-ray/62-cd-reviews/843-chord-dave.html?showall=1

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz flat within +/-0.1dB (HF filter off)
• THD + N: 127.5dB (AWT)
• Channel separation: >125dB @ 1KHz
• Dynamic range: 127.5dB (AWT)
• Headphone Output:
  • 1% THD 6.8v RMS with 300Ω (154mW)
  • 1% THD 6.8v RMS with 33Ω (1.4w)
• Output Impedance: 0.055Ω (short circuit protected
• Operating voltage: 90v AC – 250v AV auto switching 50Hz – 60Hz
• Dimensions (including connectors): 7.8cm (H) 33.5cm (W) 15.2cm (D)
• Weight: 5kg

DAVE-User-manual