[GuiltyRocker]

Thats the stack. Somebody please beat it because if you can go higher than this I’m game.

Nice rig dude love it. I also keep hearing about the Playback Designs DAC, apparently it is world class.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I need to insert mscaler into the chain to see if i get a tiny lift. There is one chap on the MU one form on another website that said, the M scaler does create a little lift if it’s put into the chain. So I guess you scale up on the MU one plug it into the M scaler and then into the Dave. I need to run that experiment. I haven’t done it yet. The solution sounds so good and without having to stick another box in it’s pretty nice but since my mscaler is collecting dust, definitely need to try it.

I can see why, the Grimm only upscales to 4FS, the M Scaler goes all the way to 16FS with Sinc Function, so it makes sense.

 

[Playtron]

I can see why, the Grimm only upscales to 4FS, the M Scaler goes all the way to 16FS with Sinc Function, so it makes sense.

Yeah, you would think so… but there are a number of people that think the 2FS on the Grimm sound better than the four FS depending on the DAC. So i do question the benefits of upscaling beyond a certain point I’ve come to the conclusion that a better clock is more important and this is what the MU1. has

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Yeah, you would think so… but there are a number of people that think the 2FS on the Grimm sound better than the four FS depending on the DAC. So i do question the benefits of upscaling beyond a certain point I’ve come to the conclusion that a better clock is more important and this is what the MU1. has

In my system 16FS is a big difference, I can hear a subtle improvement at 4FS with the M Scaler, but 16FS is night and day. Also, the M scaler on battery being fed a signal via Toslink is some of the best sound I've heard to date. I think the weakness of the M Scaler is using an unshielded coax

 

[Reactcore]

Quicker than i thought i went on another trip with my MDave stack in my backsack. This time back to Earsunlimited in Delft where Rick welcomed me warmly. Lifes good..

The most dominant thing in my head being: How does the new Yamaha YH5000 sounds on my gear.. so lets take a comfy chair and find out

First i have to note this pair had decent burn in time of some months.

After a little Dave warmup i plugged it in and played some Art Pepper and Ohmy this thing has some energy.. the attack of piano strucks and fast light instruments is breathtaking, the underlaying bass notes were deep going and following the tune with ease. I notice these phones are really sensitive to placement on ones head.. a little move forward of the headband changes its staging.

Now comes a supprise.. the high mids peak which were bothering me on the previous unit on the audio fest was quite a bit calmer compared to the fresh pair i heard earlier.. ok it was on a stock Dave and on my modded one it has real meat on the bones. The stage was a bit narrower than my HD800 but this was not missed actually so much. The high treble extends out my hearing reach keeping smooth and never pierced even on some tracks that i know are sharply recorded.

So lets compare it to my recent discovery last week.. the Final D8000 (non pro) this one is deeply buned in as it has some years on Rick's store.

According to some reviews the non Pro version is warmer with a tiny bit forwarded treble vs the Pro.

This became evident instantly.. it has more authority and a bolder sound overall.. more prominent and full bass fluent going in the mids. The top end is sparkling.. sound and transient attacks have this wonderful decay in the room where its recorded. This thing sounds just so real to me touching my soul.. its hard getting it off my head.

Playing forth and back different tracks on the D8000 and the Yamaha leaves me finding the latter being a bit smaller sounding.. i hear the resonance of the smaller cups and cant help but longing for the more refined fullness of the Final.

Now its time for something else.. lets get the Focal Utopia 2022 to the party..

Boy this is a easy drive of volume.
Nice!! So balanced tuned.. the stage became more intimide.. its not as big sounding with pounding bass as the Final but smooth yet open ..really well outlined with no v-shaped signature.

Closer recorded material really shines on this.. female voices can feel scary close to my ear hearing them breathe making my hairs stand up. Its treble stayed smooth and never edgy.
Also the squeecky headband issue of the previous Focals i tried is solved even being the same design. It has a polite sound but not dry.. i can see it having a vast fanbase also because its insensitive to uneven placement on ones head and on movement aside the cups. It also has some isolation being an open design. But im a soundstagehead and want that space awareness of the recording venue or small studio room.

So what shall i do next.. i decided to give the Sus abit more listen time..

I just wanted to feel this Hifiman's magic.
Funny also Rick grabbed the Enleum amp to plug it in. But this time i regulated my PSU resistor pots to a lower ohms value which influence Dave's line outs too. Lower resistance takes down the body and mids making the ultra sub more to front.

Playing some Leonard Cohen's later songs.. and Nicolas Jaar.. Jeez now were talking.. its showed its lower registers on this amp.. then switching to straight out and as i hoped here too it rumbled on my head.. yes on 0db setting with still enough volume to spare actually.. with the Sus i need more charge current from PSU to the caps. Thats evident.. now it became a real challenger to the Final. The Hifiman does have the edge on refinement and organics on my ears.. but the Final wins for boldness and realness grabbing me firmly and staging so deeply and vertically.
I can even play it out of my AK120 DAP on vacation.

Lets step back a little and try the HD660v2 ..see how Senns latest dynamic mid tier holds up.

No disappointment here.. its so light and perfect fit as i remember my HD600 and 580 Jubilee.. but it clearly is more fleshed out next to those. Better balanced with nice midbass.
I miss the rumbling deepness and that fine decay and sound reflections i hear on the summit pairs but thats to be expected.

So the day ended soo quickly again..
And theres soo much more to try..

Many thanks to Rick for always being there.
Highy recommended.

Time to head home guys..
To more Chord bliss

 

[iDesign]

Now its time for something else.. lets get the Focal Utopia 2022 to the party..



Boy this is a easy drive of volume.
Nice!! So balanced tuned.. the stage became more intimide.. its not as big sounding with pounding bass as the Final but smooth yet open ..really well outlined with no v-shaped signature.

Closer recorded material really shines on this.. female voices can feel scary close to my ear hearing them breathe making my hairs stand up. Its treble stayed smooth and never edgy.
Also the squeecky headband issue of the previous Focals i tried is solved even being the same design. It has a polite sound but not dry.. i can see it having a vast fanbase also because its insensitive to uneven placement on ones head and on movement aside the cups. It also has some isolation being an open design. But im a soundstagehead and want that space awareness of the recording venue or small studio room.

In my experience owning the Focal Utopia 2022, the DAVE cross feed helps widen the sound stage whereas I preferred my 2016-2021 Utopia with the setting off. And I agree the with your comment about some vocals feeling, “close to the ear” which I suspect is attributed to the new M shaped dome design and shallower cup— it was not a trait I perceived in the previous version. Overall I prefer the 2016-2021 Utopia with the DAVE but the reliability issues were a concern.

 

[AussieMick]

I obtained an innuous zen 3, feeding mscaler the usb output, I have to say I’m floored by what I’m hearing, both on head phones and speakers.

On headphones, it feels like an extra dimension is being provided, much more space, discernible layering, reality.

Mostly, I’m feeling that kind of intoxication lol, it’s that good, it feels like this is the bit that maybe my system has been missing.

Previously, I’ve been using a combination of laptops, desktops, chrome cast audio, Audiolab cd player, matrix spdif 2, but this is much better.

I’ve been listening for a week now, so hopefully it’s not a placebo effect.

Sadly, my Zen MK3 just failed and I’ll be without it for some time. I returned to a MacBook Air as source and, well, now I’m sad.

 

[thePhones]

Mscaler TBH is somewhat subtle despite many zealots here talking about a quantum leap…. It is not and most know this to be true.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Hahahahahahahaha, exactly right.

 

[miketlse]

I won't apologise for having a rational wired brain, but there is a 'staircase' of phrases used by posters to try and justify their opinions.
'most know this to be true' is several steps below 'it stands to common sense', which is itself below 'it is a proven fact'.
Come on @Playtron , you will have to do better than that.

 

[OnlySoMany]

Thats the stack. Somebody please beat it because if you can go higher than this I’m game.

Sean Jacob's dc4 arc6?

 

[thePhones]

Sean Jacob's dc4 arc6?

Stock M Scaler + stock Dave. 170€ bit perfect streamer with optical out.
Boom. The king stack

 

[Playtron]

Stock M Scaler + stock Dave. 170€ bit perfect streamer with optical out.
Boom. The king stack

Nope

 

[Playtron]

Sean Jacob's dc4 arc6?

Doubt will make appreciable diff vs farad stack after pumped through the wa33e

 

[alphaman]

I wonder how much extra effort it would take for Mr. Watts to offer non-oversampling in a Chord DAC? Not sure how Chord DACs implement just the DAC part (w/o an oversampling fpga, that precedes the DAC). I assume D/A is purely in FPGA. If an FPGA is emulating, say R2R, then this might be a way to offer NOS, like some NOS PCM63 and AD1862 projects have.
I think the Chord DAC fpga/dsp is based on Philips Bitstream ????? 1-bit pdm/pwm has a kind of "oversampling" built in to the architecture. Yes?