[hieukm]

Not necessarily. I really don’t like spaghetti mess. I prefer one piece rather than two pieces. Any way, I don’t know how Hugo Mscalar fits with DAVE aesthetically. Are you going to stack DAVE on top of Hugo Mscalar?

Well the mess would be more but i am pretty sure thats why dedicated power supply always trump onboard power supply.

There will be a new stand for you at the cost of i dont know maybe 2K. :-D

 

[Crgreen]

A way more logical way to look at thing is that if USB galvanic isolation was not needed then they would not put it in the new Hugo M Scaler in the first place.

I agree, that is a difference, but in my view that isn’t the reason why ferrites are needed. Playing CDs through the Blu2 benefits from ferrites. I’m sceptical that the problem is RFI entering the Blu2 through USB.

 

[seeteeyou]

I agree, that is a difference, but in my view that isn’t the reason why ferrites are needed. Playing CDs through the Blu2 benefits from ferrites. I’m sceptical that the problem is EFI entering the Blu2 through USB.

Dunno what to do about EFI but someone was actually showing some numbers with this EMF tester

EMI TEST MEASUREMENTS ON VARIOUS AUDIO GEAR
http://www.usaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1470
https://www.amazon.com/Meterk-Electromagnetic-Radiation-Detector-Dosimeter/dp/B0754VVW4W
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Meterk-EMF...etic-Field-Radiation-Tester-N2H3/173334540504

 

[Crgreen]

What about the optical output of the new mScaler? How does that work, exactly?

Presumably, the same as the electrical output, providing a maximum up to 4x upsampling, which would (I think) take you to 192, provided you have an optical cable capable of handling that.

Just thinking aloud, but if you are inputting into the Dave, aside from the double rate transfer through dual BNC, is there any advantage in feeding the Dave from the m-scaler through single electrical or toslink inputs? In other words, would there be a difference between a CD transport via optical into Dave, and the transport into the m-scaler and then via toslink into the Dave? Since the Dave contains it’s own upsampler anyway, is the only real benefit of an m-scaler the dual data input so far as the Dave is concerned?

 

[leatherneck]

Chord Blu CD Transport £ 6499.00, Chord Blu 2 £ £7995.00.
Difference between the two one cheaper without the Mscaler by £1496.00 so I deduce that the Mscaler part is around £1500.00.
Its a starting point as the difference is the Mscaler Tech.

$4,600 USD
https://audiobacon.net/2018/07/21/t...ugo-m-scaler-your-prayers-have-been-answered/

 

[Triode User]

Dunno what to do about EFI but someone was actually showing some numbers with this EMF tester

EMI TEST MEASUREMENTS ON VARIOUS AUDIO GEAR
http://www.usaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1470
https://www.amazon.com/Meterk-Electromagnetic-Radiation-Detector-Dosimeter/dp/B0754VVW4W
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Meterk-EMF...etic-Field-Radiation-Tester-N2H3/173334540504

That is radiated noise, we are discussing common mode noise in the ground plane, ie being conducted by the wires.

 

[seeteeyou]

A pity Romaz is on a leave of absence, as otherwise he’d probabably be able to tell us whether it was the new m-scaler he was talking about. I’d still prefer confirmation from the horse’s mouth.

Jay was there with both of them, too. He just posted something @ audiobacon.net and maybe you could send him an e-mail?

https://audiobacon.net/contact/

 

[ecwl]

Just thinking aloud, but if you are inputting into the Dave, aside from the double rate transfer through dual BNC, is there any advantage in feeding the Dave from the m-scaler through single electrical or toslink inputs? In other words, would there be a difference between a CD transport via optical into Dave, and the transport into the m-scaler and then via toslink into the Dave? Since the Dave contains it’s own upsampler anyway, is the only real benefit of an m-scaler the dual data input so far as the Dave is concerned?

So when you use Blu2, regardless of whether the output is 705/352/176/88, you're always upsampling with 1 million taps. What that means is that the accuracy of the upsampled signals (in between the original 44.1kHz) is always at least to 16-bit accuracy (which is not the case for most DACs. So if you just use DAVE to upsample, then the accuracy I think is only up to 14 bits. And for reasons that I don't think any of us really understands, Blu2 sounds substantially better than DAVE (when upsampled to 705kHz). You would think the error at the lowest 2 bits for the inter sampled digital signals would not matter much but oddly it does. I am just too busy to reduce the output of Blu2 to 352kHz or 176kHz to see how everything sounds via AB testing. I did it briefly in the past (like less than 30 minutes) and I do think even at 176kHz, things sound better than sending things straight to DAVE. That's why I can foresee some non-Chord owners going for the Hugo M-Scaler and then eventually converting to buy DAVE or at least Qutest.

 

[ecwl]

The rational person with no cds would never have bought a Blu2 in the first place.

Haha... The rational person would never become an audiophile. iPhone DACs are probably "good enough". It's about the music in the end... Hehe...
Value is in the eye of the beholder. I would argue the rational person would not buy Blu2, knowing that eventually, be it 1-5 years later, there'll be a cheaper version without CD player, if they can't afford the pain of the price drop. I am quite surprised the product is coming out about 18 months after initial announcement of Blu2. When they were having problems filling Blu2 orders. But in the long run, the more people who enjoy Blu2/M-scaler the merrier.

 

[ecwl]

I am giving him back a CD transport and M scaler for an M scaler. If he does not take back then he loses a customer who going to buy the digital amps and maybe Dave 2

I think in general, manufacturers do not swap products. Sometimes they offer trade-in discounts that are passed onto dealers. Somehow I doubt Chord would do that.
The bigger question is whether our dealers are going to offer us deals to either swap or trade-in at discounts. And I presume what deals we get from our dealers depend on our dealer relationship and the profitability of the dealer. If we are regular customers, then as you said, the dealer might be willing to order Hugo M scaler for us, trade in the Blu2, may or may not give us some money. Then they might be able to keep the Blu2 as a demo and sell more Blu2's and Hugo M-scalers. And in the future sell us more Chord products. But if we basically contacted 5 different dealers to find the lowest price for Chord DAVE and Blu2. I doubt the dealer who sold us the Blu2 is willing to trade the Hugo M Scaler.
Another factor I'm thinking about is that Blu2 was announced January 2017 but I don't even think they were shipping regularly until May 2017. So I'm guessing people will be waiting for their Hugo M-Scaler earliest this Christmas? Not sure. I might have remembered wrong.

 

[Crgreen]

So when you use Blu2, regardless of whether the output is 705/352/176/88, you're always upsampling with 1 million taps. What that means is that the accuracy of the upsampled signals (in between the original 44.1kHz) is always at least to 16-bit accuracy (which is not the case for most DACs. So if you just use DAVE to upsample, then the accuracy I think is only up to 14 bits. And for reasons that I don't think any of us really understands, Blu2 sounds substantially better than DAVE (when upsampled to 705kHz). You would think the error at the lowest 2 bits for the inter sampled digital signals would not matter much but oddly it does. I am just too busy to reduce the output of Blu2 to 352kHz or 176kHz to see how everything sounds via AB testing. I did it briefly in the past (like less than 30 minutes) and I do think even at 176kHz, things sound better than sending things straight to DAVE. That's why I can foresee some non-Chord owners going for the Hugo M-Scaler and then eventually converting to buy DAVE or at least Qutest.

Perhaps I can put it this way. The Dave can be seen as having two parts: an upscaler section and a DAC. When you use any of its inputs (apart from dual BNC) the signal travels through both before coming out at the analogue outputs. If you use an m-scaler into the dual BNC inputs on the Dave, the Dave’s own upsampling is bypassed (which is why it runs cooler) and the signal goes to the DAC part.

So, other than when using the dual BNC connections, is there any reason why you’d want to upsample with an m-scaler when feeding the signal to the Dave via electrical or optical when it is going to be upsampled again by the Dave? Indeed, might it not be best to just leave such data at it’s original sampling rate. I appreciate, with a non-chord DAC there could be other reasons for upsampling and feeding through non-dual BNC, but I’m just limiting myself to the Dave here.

If the above is correct, then for Chord DAC users (with dual inputs), the additional electrical and optical outputs on the Hugo m-scaler really don’t seem to have much use.

 

[hieukm]

I think in general, manufacturers do not swap products. Sometimes they offer trade-in discounts that are passed onto dealers. Somehow I doubt Chord would do that.
The bigger question is whether our dealers are going to offer us deals to either swap or trade-in at discounts. And I presume what deals we get from our dealers depend on our dealer relationship and the profitability of the dealer. If we are regular customers, then as you said, the dealer might be willing to order Hugo M scaler for us, trade in the Blu2, may or may not give us some money. Then they might be able to keep the Blu2 as a demo and sell more Blu2's and Hugo M-scalers. And in the future sell us more Chord products. But if we basically contacted 5 different dealers to find the lowest price for Chord DAVE and Blu2. I doubt the dealer who sold us the Blu2 is willing to trade the Hugo M Scaler.
Another factor I'm thinking about is that Blu2 was announced January 2017 but I don't even think they were shipping regularly until May 2017. So I'm guessing people will be waiting for their Hugo M-Scaler earliest this Christmas? Not sure. I might have remembered wrong.

You probably have a very different perspective when buying hi-end equipment. I expect more when buying flagship electronics and somehow got outperformed by lower end equipment with cheaper price.

Imagine hugo 2 TT has a better feature than Dave. It would be ridiculous to me.

 

[leatherneck]

Haha... The rational person would never become an audiophile. iPhone DACs are probably "good enough". It's about the music in the end... Hehe...
Value is in the eye of the beholder. I would argue the rational person would not buy Blu2, knowing that eventually, be it 1-5 years later, there'll be a cheaper version without CD player, if they can't afford the pain of the price drop. I am quite surprised the product is coming out about 18 months after initial announcement of Blu2. When they were having problems filling Blu2 orders. But in the long run, the more people who enjoy Blu2/M-scaler the merrier.

Nelson Pass once called audiophiles the Lunatic Fringe. He got that right.
I'll be using my Blu2 with an Aurender N10 streamer. I do have a CD collection but it's all on the N10 and I don't intend to buy more CD's or even play them with the Blu2.

 

[AndrewOld]

Ordered mine an hour ago. Was quoted "Autumn" for delivery. Not expecting anything before Christmas.

 

[Crgreen]

I think in general, manufacturers do not swap products. Sometimes they offer trade-in discounts that are passed onto dealers. Somehow I doubt Chord would do that.
The bigger question is whether our dealers are going to offer us deals to either swap or trade-in at discounts. And I presume what deals we get from our dealers depend on our dealer relationship and the profitability of the dealer. If we are regular customers, then as you said, the dealer might be willing to order Hugo M scaler for us, trade in the Blu2, may or may not give us some money. Then they might be able to keep the Blu2 as a demo and sell more Blu2's and Hugo M-scalers. And in the future sell us more Chord products. But if we basically contacted 5 different dealers to find the lowest price for Chord DAVE and Blu2. I doubt the dealer who sold us the Blu2 is willing to trade the Hugo M Scaler.
Another factor I'm thinking about is that Blu2 was announced January 2017 but I don't even think they were shipping regularly until May 2017. So I'm guessing people will be waiting for their Hugo M-Scaler earliest this Christmas? Not sure. I might have remembered wrong.

The only problem is, outside the Far East, how many dealers think they’ll be selling Blu2’s once the Hugo m-scaler is available? Who needs a demo unit of something for which they’ll get few, if any, orders. I’m not saying no dealer would do you a deal of some kind, but I’m sceptical.