Ok. Initial impressions… the DAVE is two months in, the MScaler a couple weeks added in… the May is two days old.
I’ll lead with the current state of affairs. I switched over to the May two days ago and have been listening to all the same albums I’ve been on for the last month – they run the gamut like my tastes, a sampling of the acts/tracks played today: Steely Dan, Nick Drake, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Beck, Paul Simon, Norah Jones, k.d. Lang, Angelique Kidjo, Lyle Lovett, Nickel Creek, Miles Davis, Carter Burwell, Woodentops, Junun soundtrack, Jenny Lewis, Glenn Gould…
The DAVE was amazing. Mind blowing. The detail, the dynamics, the cleanness… incredible. Add the MScaler and it got… twice as good? Hard to quantify, undoubtably, immediately better, but… how much, five thousand dollars worth? Not sure. But blacker blacks, more detailed soundstage, which was already amazing. Definitely a step up, from great, to… really great?
The May. Let me just say, after 4 or 5 songs I considered that there was a distinct possibility I’d never switch the thick, balanced outputs cables back to the DAVE. The difference was not night and day, they are both simply fantastic units, they single-handedly have made the biggest difference in my system I’ve ever experienced. In a way, more even than new speakers. I wouldn’t have assumed this. The May compared to the DAVE is slightly warmer, not colored, but… less clinical. The difference I think I’m hearing is that the DAVE has a pretty sharp attack on micro and macro transitions, it does not sound bad, but it is… crisp? The May is… rounder? Not smeary, or less detailed, but more… oh, this over-used epithet: musical. The May is easier, a bit more effortless somehow. They both have gripping dynamics, the DAVE grabs you quick, the May holds you tight, subtle but there are differences. It’s audible, but more than that it’s feel-able. I immediately felt like I could listen for days and days with the May. Some tracks that sounded clear and clean but somewhat clinical and deconstructed through the DAVE were coherent and flowing through the May. With both you can easily pick an instrument and follow it through the shifting tempos and dynamic mixing… with the May all the detail seemed there, some newly heard timbres even (the slight nasalness in Norah Jones gorgeous voice was readily apparent, just another layer) but the track adhered in a smoother way. The soundstage on the MScaler/DAVE is phenomenal… and slightly bigger even and more interesting on the May, believe it, or not. My jaw was somewhat perpetually dropped the last couple days.
The bottom line is… and I’m not done ‘testing’, haven’t even delved into OS on the May (…do I even need to, doesn’t feel like it…) the May is more inviting, more comfortable. No less detail. No less capable in dynamics and in fact the bass may sit nicer than the DAVE for the same reason as the upper mids and highs sound slightly clinical – the sharp attack in the micro-dynamics. The slewing at the head of a cymbal or tom hit, the start of a trumpet note… both render them superbly but the May may have the … edge, for the lack thereof. This is just to my ears. The truth is these units feel like the digital and analog versions of genius-level DACs. I am playing through an old (but supremely clean and capable) Krell SS amp. If I were listening to a tube amp would the DAVE be a better balance than the May, would the places reverse because the amp stage is warmer and rounder? I don’t know. Context matters, this is for sure. So, I make no grand pronouncements, only what things sound like to my ears in my system. On this day.
I will say… I will have hard time giving up the Chords. And very well may (
) not. But one thing is sure, the May is staying.
Much more listening to come. The smile has not left my face for weeks, so… Could. Be. Worse. First world problems. (Seriously, I know how privileged I am, in general and in this year or two in particular. I make sure to meditate on it every day, and act accordingly.)
Associated gear:
Roon Core on Mac mini
Cat6/7 to Ubiquiti networking switches
Lumin U1mini
USB to:
Chord MScaler/DAVE
Holo Audio May (L3)
Balanced analog to:
Classe CT-SSP (analog bypass mode, no DSP)
Balanced analog to:
Krell FPB-400cx
DeVore Fidelity Gibbon X
I am getting close to end of the line. Don’t need or want much better than this… I feel I am there, sitting at the artists’ feet. Mission accomplished.
vs 
but becomes less so if (just an example) you have May in NOS mode and do software based DSP like HQPlayer. But then you may as well do the full Chord stack vs May+HQP for the ultimate showdown.
