Chord Electronics first took flight from the aviation world, where engineering without limits means uncompromising standards. This concept designed by company owner John Franks has helped shaped their philosophy since the company’s inception in 1989. Chord’s first amplifiers were supplied to the BBC, followed by world-leading studios including Abbey Road, Sony Music (New York) and later, The Royal Opera House.
Chord’s reputation within the professional world generated demand for a domestic range encompassing the design, engineering and build standards demanded of the finest pro equipment. Today, Chord applies proprietary technologies to all of their British-made products and proudly deliver studio-grade audio performance across the entire Chord range.
DAVE is Chord’s flagship DAC, a true reference-level product, loaded with their latest-generation FPGA technology.
DAVE is the most advanced DAC Chord has ever made. It features the very best conversion technology available, using proprietary techniques never seen before, making DAVE the most advanced DAC/preamp amplifier in the world. 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.
DAVE is Chord’s flagship DAC, a true reference-level product, loaded with their latest-generation FPGA technology.
DAVE is the most advanced DAC Chord has ever made. It features the very best conversion technology available, using proprietary techniques never seen before, making DAVE the most advanced DAC/preamp amplifier in the world. 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.
https://audiobymarkjones.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Dave-Front-900x675-1.jpgDeveloped from the multi-award-winning transportable Hugo 2, the Hugo TT 2 is bigger, better and more advanced in every way.
Hugo TT 2 has been radically redesigned from the ground up, not only with beautiful new casework by Chief Designer, John Franks, but with 5x the processing power of the original Hugo TT and double that of the multi-award-winning Hugo 2. Hugo TT 2 distils over 20 years of digital development by Rob Watts and takes advantage of the very latest technology.
As expected, it delivers radically improved technical specifications and measurements across the board and exhibits drastic sonic benefits over its predecessor with 768kHz PCM and DSD 512 playback. Hugo TT 2 sets a new benchmark in table top audio, only being eclipsed by DAVE.
https://audiobymarkjones.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Hugo-TT-2-Side-900x675-1.jpgQutest is a standalone DAC whose performance belies its compact dimensions. With DAC architecture based on the award-winning Hugo 2, Qutest offers class-leading digital conversion.
Qutest is Chord’s ‘pure’ DAC (it does not contain headphone amplification or rechargeable batteries like some of its range stablemates) and is designed to improve sound quality in the home. It is the latest evolution of their most affordable standalone DAC, the multi-award-winning 2Qute, which it directly replaces.
Qutest, which is a What Hi-Fi? Star of CES 2018, is based on Chord’s award-winning proprietary FPGA technology developed for the class-leading Hugo 2 DAC/headphone amp, giving it proven class-leading technical and sonic performance. Perfectly equipped to bring the benefits our digital technology to a wide range of connected devices, it features a galvanically isolated USB-B, optical and coaxial digital input, giving an instant performance upgrade, plus the ability to modernise ageing digital source components.
https://audiobymarkjones.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Qutest-Isometric-Right-1-900x675-1.jpgUsing technology first seen in the flagship BLU MKII digital/CD transport, the Hugo M Scaler is a standalone upscaling device containing the world’s most advanced digital filter. When used with a dual-BNC-input Chord Electronics DAC, it is capable of redefining digital audio sound quality.
The Hugo M Scaler brings the unrivalled advantages of Chord’s ground-breaking FPGA-based WTA (Watts Transient Alignment) filtering technology to digitally connected audio devices, dramatically improving sound quality. Although optimised for use with selected Chord Electronics DACs (for the maximum 768kHz upscaling/decoding benefit), the Hugo M Scaler can be used with other DACs with suitable inputs, subject to their decoding capability.
https://audiobymarkjones.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/M-Scaler-L-Front-900x675-1.jpg