Wave High Fidelity Storm Reference Review
Written by Terry Ellis October 2018
The Digital Cable your Chord DAVE will love
At the start of my video coverage for the Chord Electronics DAVE DAC I was contacted by Nick from the company Wave High Fidelity with the offer for them to bring round a Chord Blu MKII Scaler to demonstrate their dedicated digital linking cables. This seemed a very exciting proposition but I resisted the temptation because I wanted to spent some serious time with the DAVE on its own before adding anything new that could skew my opinions during its review.
I was very grateful for the introduction because I am always keen to meet and speak to companies that are new to me. More interestingly was the design on the companies Storm Reference Cables, a purpose designed digital cable for linking between the Chord Reference digital products. I kept the Storm Reference Cables in mind and planned to revisit them when I eventually got the Blu MKII or Hugo M Scaler in for review to put them to the test.
The Digital Cable your Chord DAVE will love
At the start of my video coverage for the Chord Electronics DAVE DAC I was contacted by Nick from the company Wave High Fidelity with the offer for them to bring round a Chord Blu MKII Scaler to demonstrate their dedicated digital linking cables. This seemed a very exciting proposition but I resisted the temptation because I wanted to spent some serious time with the DAVE on its own before adding anything new that could skew my opinions during its review.
I was very grateful for the introduction because I am always keen to meet and speak to companies that are new to me. More interestingly was the design on the companies Storm Reference Cables, a purpose designed digital cable for linking between the Chord Reference digital products. I kept the Storm Reference Cables in mind and planned to revisit them when I eventually got the Blu MKII or Hugo M Scaler in for review to put them to the test.
A change of plan
After several weeks enjoying the Chord DAVE I had tried a lot of different things to eek out as much performance from it as I could, well aware of my systems limitations from hearing fully what its capable of. Back in the summer I met with Chord's very own Rob Watts at a seminar he was hosting for the companies new Hugo M Scaler. At the end of the seminar in the Q&A some questions were asked from the crowd regarding the Hugo M Scaler and if similar to the Blu MKII it would need ferrites on the digital output cables when connecting to a DAVE to help reduce RFI noise. Rob made a point that he had improved the isolation of the Hugo M Scaler so that the ferrites should now not be needed.
This was very interesting because it was spoken in a way that seemed very common knowledge for Blu MKII and DAVE users and it got me thinking about the topic. In my review time with the DAVE I had already discovered just how sensitive it is to the incoming signal quality and noise. The audiophile in me really wanted to look into this in more detail so I got back in touch with Nick at Wave High Fidelity
Going a different way
I contacted Nick and explained to him that I was very short on time and that a day spent testing the Blu MKII scaler with and without his Storm Reference Cables despite being fun would just be too awkward with my current commitments but I wanted to try his cables in a different way.
I assume a lot of Chord DAVE users feed into it via USB connection from a computer source but when I tried this despite all the effort with my dedicated computer transport to lower noise from the USB output, noise (more harshness) was still very present during music playback. I found the sound much cleaner and clearer when the DAVE was fed with a reclocked signal from my Mutec MC3+ USB. The MC3+ USB is a studio grade clock and I think it adds another level of separated galvanic isolation as to being is the reason for the improved sound. I connect from the MC3+ USB via an SPDIF cable in BNC variety to the Chord DAVE. I have tested this method against optical and I am convinced this is the best method for overall sound quality.
I asked Nick if he would send me just one of his Storm Reference Cables so that I could test it linking between my Mutec MC3+ USB and the Chord DAVE because I assumed that there must be some noise transferring from the MC3+ USB and if the DAVE is that sensitive there could be sonic gains. This was just a theory, I really wasn't sure but I was very keen to test it and find out.
A "Beast" of a cable
The Storm Reference arrived in nice packaging for a small company and I was instantly hit by how much of a "beast" the cables is. Its not big for big sake, its big because of its design. The Storm Reference has no less than 20 ferrites along the outer of its 1 metre length to reduce any RFI along or within. The ferrites used are carefully selected and installed tightly for maximum effect.
The build quality was exemplary and I was very impressed with the Oyaide BNC connectors, these are used for the specific reason of continuing the 5N (99.999) Pure Solid Silver central conductor from end to end. Silver solder is used and the cable has a dual screen combination of foil and a silver plated mesh.
Adding all these ferrites does make the cable very chunky and heavy but the quality of the Oyaide BNC connections fill you with the confidence that they will support the weight. I played safe and supported the cable at the DAVE end with a Furutech NCF Booster (Signal).
Positive Early Impressions
Nick confirmed prior to sending me the Storm Reference that they are not directional cables and he wasn't aware of any time necessary for them to "run in". I installed the cable and settled in for a listening session. Straight away there was a difference compared to what I was used to and elements of the sonic presentation had clearly improved. Vocals were tighter and more focused, micro details were more well pronounced, in some songs parts of the presentation appeared larger than normal and clearer. These were not small differences.
Not everything seemed better at this stage, the sonic presentation seemed more tense and some of the system sweetness was gone. I tested this by reinstalling the BNC SPDIF cable I had been using prior which is exceptional and this confirmed to me what was improved and what was not.
I decided to put some hours on the Storm Reference before listening to it again and I let the system play for as long as I could before sitting down the next day for another listen. This really helped to relax the sound a little, but only a little and that is very important.
Understanding what the DAVE is really there to do
Speaking to Rob Watts about his design goals and listening to him speak in seminars I have been building a picture in my mind of what he is trying to achieve with his DAC technologies. The M Scaler technology is there is fully recreate a 16bit 44.1khz signal, in actual real world terms its designed to improve transient response and clarity, the start of notes and the decay of notes becoming clearer. I think the decaying of notes are naturally "easier on the ear" but a clearer start of a note can come over hard and even harsh when there is noise in the system. It doesn't take a lot of noise for there to be a negative effect and certain albums can appear "punished" by this technology, recording qualities are often blamed and I feel that is quite wide of the actual mark. Red Hot Chilli Peppers Californiacation is one such album.
If you only ever heard a Chord DAVE sounding like this you would completely miss what it is capable of and designed to do. "Noise" within computer audio is a big focus area and I have been on a mission for years to lower the noise within my dedicated music server and using the DAVE as a DAC had rewarded all those efforts with fantastic sound quality that is clean, clear, dynamic and harshness free or so I thought.
Benefits of the Storm Reference to DAVE performance
I spent more time listening to my review system with the Storm Reference digital cable in and I was becoming and more and more impressed with what I was hearing. The extra clarity across the sound stage was very impressive. The sound was already very clean and clear prior to adding the Storm Reference but with it there was more clarity and more focus to everything, treble right down into the bass. A difference one would associate with a lower noise floor
The Storm Reference cable was helping the DAVE closer achieve what it is designed to do, I was getting an overall sound with immense clarity and focus because the leading edges of transients were clearer and cleaner. This has another benefit of creating a more open overall sound presentation with each element of the musical presentation coming from a blacker background and therefore appearing more dynamic
The song demonstration below is a fantastic example of this where the male gruff vocals have body, texture but with amazing clarity and presence.
Even more insightful
Having the extra leading edge clarity has the benefit of producing a more insightful presentation to the music. The song demonstration video below is a fantastic example of just how insightful the Chord DAVE can be when the incoming noise is reduced by the Wave High Fidelity Storm Reference cable.
Pay attention to the trumpet start and stop of its notes, how clean and clear they are and how you can easily distinguish between how hard and softer the player is blowing air through the instrument - stunning stuff.
Final Thoughts
The Wave High Fidelity is a great product that you can clearly see has been made by an enthusiast with a passion for not only better audio but a passion for better audio from Chord DAC's. The build quality, finish, packaging and parts used are all spare no expense and the end result speaks for itself.
The Storm Reference definitely helps the Chord DAVE achieve its design goal of clean and clear transients, cleaner and clearer starts and stops of all notes. It does exactly what it promises of reducing the noise going into the DAVE via its BNC inputs and its positive effects are very easily audible to hear.
Pulling back a second the Storm Reference cables are designed to link between the now two Chord M Scaler products and the DAVE. The M Scaler has been designed to further improve the clarity of transient notes it and it has about 10x the power of the DAVE in this regard. I can now confidently say from my testing that in order to achieve this the cables linking to the DAVE will be critical and I haven't seen any other cables on the market focus on this issue like Wave High Fidelity have with the Storm Reference.
Chord Blu MKII and Hugo M Scaler owners should pay attention here and give the Storm Reference Cables serious consideration, however I would say all Chord DAVE owners should give them just as much consideration.
I have a closing thought that is of extreme interest to me, is the Chord Dave exclusively affected by incoming RF or are all DAC's affected by it. I am very inclined to think all DAC's are in which case we might also see better performance from Chord's other DAC's when using the Storm Reference and that is something I will have to test in the future.
