Chord Gem - wireless bluetooth DAC
I just found out about this bluetooth DAC whilst reading (of all things) the Sunday Mail Live magazine (I don't normally buy the Mail - honest guv - I was visiting my mum and she had a copy!).
I'm not sure how I managed to miss this before, I see it is mentioned on the news page here but it mentions streaming from a mobile phone to the Chord Gem as opposed to streaming from a laptop/pc.
Given my recent problems with Airport Express I'm wondering if this device could replace the AE and my Beresford DAC as a means of streaming music from my laptop (which is bluetooth enabled).
If this is possible would it perform better in sound terms than my AE/Beresford combination and would it be able to stream itunes, foobar and media monkey as well as other applications?
(AE with airfoil seems unable to play smoothly via foobar and there are sync problems when streaming movies via media player).
Any thoughts out there in What Hi-Fi land?
I think that's a different model - the QBD76 DAC which is Chords top of the range DAC.
There's a news article on this very website stating that the Chord Gem is £399.
http://whathifi.com/News/Transfer-music-from-your-mobile-to-hi-fi-with-t...
jerryC:Saw another mag with a review of this when I was in the newsagents yesterday. Flipped to the start of the review, saw the price - 3 grand - and gave up. If I could afford 3K for a dac, I wouldn't be feeding it from a mobile phone
. For considerably less, I could build a dedicated music server that wouldn't need a wireless connection
I think it was bad marketing that made them suggest it for use with phones. I heard it connected to a PC via a USB to blu-tooth dongle playing i-Tunes and it sounded great. Works up to 100m range as well and also has a USB connection for those who want it wired. Kids with phones don;t give a monkeys about quality and adults (generally) don't keep music on their phones. BUT a laptop or PC source makes this a fab product.
sensei_russ:Given my recent problems with Airport Express
Problems? What problems?
We've got a Gem in - review due in the First Tests section of our Awards issue, out Oct 16th. May run the review online sooner, too...
Oh jeez - do I have to rethink AE + Cambridge..........?
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Saw another mag with a review of this when I was in the newsagents yesterday. Flipped to the start of the review, saw the price - 3 grand - and gave up. If I could afford 3K for a dac, I wouldn't be feeding it from a mobile phone
. For considerably less, I could build a dedicated music server that wouldn't need a wireless connection 