Chord Dave: what I liked, and why I sold it

I owned a Chord Dave for a few years. I bought it used, lightly used, for a bit less than the price of a new one. Before buying, I borrowed one from a music shop I know, and listened at home.

Before Dave, my DAC was a Sonnet Morpheus. I used Dave on its own headphone output, or with a Wells Audio Milo amplifier. A Lumin streamer fed it. My headphones at the time were an Abyss 1266 (always through the Milo, and the two worked quite well together) and a ZMF Verite Closed, which I liked a lot. I never used Dave with speakers.

What I liked

The treble. I am a treble head. Compared with the Morpheus, Dave had more treble, and it was clearer and fuller. I listen mostly to rock and metal, and it did not matter which track. It was there on everything.

What I noticed later

A month after I sold Dave, I bought an Apogee Symphony Desktop and set up a parametric EQ on it. Then I started to feel that Dave had been selective. It brought some sounds forward and pushed others back.

One example: Carcass, “Heartwork”. Right at the start there is a soft cymbal hit in one channel. On Dave I could barely hear it. On the Apogee it is clear.

To be fair: I never had both at the same time, so this is from memory, not a side-by-side test. And the EQ was on when I heard it on the Apogee. Take it as my impression, not a measurement.

Why I sold it

A recording engineer told me I could get the same sound from an audio interface, at a fraction of the price, if I set it up right. For me, he was right. I don’t regret selling it.

I sold it on Head-Fi, for the same price I paid. So in the end it cost me nothing to own it.

Who should buy one

I don’t really know. Everyone recommends gear by their own taste. For me, the Apogee is the better choice: I can set the sound I want, and it stays faithful to the recording. That is what I want from a source. If you like how Dave sounds, buy Dave.

The rest of the path, from iBasso IEMs to the Apogee · What the recording engineer actually said