[Rhamnetin]

I would personally change headphones first Yes, HD800 sounds good with Dave but the times of HD800 are a bit over. My Hifimans are on a completely different SQ level...

Re "Music sounds better in the night": Perhaps power-related or mood-related?

Impatiently waiting for my M Scaler. Still not available locally...

Susvara is many times the price though. I will say, no $1,500 headphone is a significant step above the HD 800 in sound quality, for the type of sound presentation it pursues.

 

[JaZZ]

If you're just using the Hugo 2 and the HD 800, I would say getting a dedicated amp would make for a bigger improvement than the M Scaler. And for the price of the M Scaler, you can get an Apex HiFi Audio Teton. You will NOT regret that purchase.

I disagree. The M Scaler will bring you closer to the music, while an additional (needless) headphone amp will bring you farther away from it. Apart from IEMs the HD 800 is one of the easiest loads that's imaginable for the Hugo₂ – high efficiency, high impedance –, there's nothing any dedicated headphone amp could do better, not even output impedance, which is exemplarily low on the Hugo₂. An amp will serve as a coloring instrument at best, but it will also take a lot of the M Scaler magic away, according to my recent experience. Renounce any needless electronic components in the signal path! If you need a different tonal balance or a pleasing coloration, resp., use a dedicated (digital) equalizer for it instead of coloring (= distorting) electronics!

From following the discussion here and on the Dave thread I am led to believe that the HD 800 is not the best to show the capabilities of the Hugo 2 + M Scaler combination.

I disagree again. Although the HE1000 with V2 pads is my favorite headphone, the HD 800 can absolutely compete. Granted, it needs some damping modification, maybe a good aftermarket cable and heavy equalizing to sound at its best, but the latter applies to every headphone on the planet.

I used to rotate among four headphones, but with the arrival of the M Scaler the choice seems to have reduced to two. My homegrown electrostats with Stax drivers are unable to convey the M Scaler magic (this against my expectations) – obviously due to the sonic bottleneck in the form of the additional amplification stage.

 

[musickid]

I was disappointed to learn about the infra red detector fault today. I phoned chord and it looks like a new unit can be arranged. Contacted my dealer and it was news to them but will liase with chord so i'm not too worried just a slight dampener on the days proceedings. To cheer myself up have made some moves towards acquiring the new Ether 2 headphone. Anyone have thoughts on the recalls for the infra red sensor issue?

 

[seaice]

Susvara is many times the price though. I will say, no $1,500 headphone is a significant step above the HD 800 in sound quality, for the type of sound presentation it pursues.

I am not sure: What would be a better improvement? Susvara is pricey, no doubt, but if you have the cash, go fot it and never complain I have heard HE1000v2 and I would say that it is a big improvement over HD800 to me personally... If I had HD800 and had to choose between the M Scaler and HE1000v2 I would probably take the HE1000v2 or the new HE1000se first and buy the M Scaler later.. Just my personal point of view.

 

[jlbrach]

i have the phi and the susvara....that said the 800s will most definitely be able to show the m scaler abilities,it remains a very fine HP.....that will not impede your ability to enjoy the m-scaler or appreciate it....not too worry

 

[SuperBurrito]

I switched to the Focal Utopia after much time with the HE1000. HE1000 was great on certain types of music but often seemed too forgiving. These two headphones are pretty opposite of one another. HE1000 is lush and Utopia is laser-like. If I had the funds I would have kept both.

I'd love to try the LCD-4 and Abyss Phi. I miss the 'fun' element of the LCD-X.

 

[Tsyer]

Listening to mscaler now via h2 from source dap sony wm1a amped by benchmark hpa4 using abyss phi cc. Carmina Burana by Carl Orff original 44.1/24 bit upscaled by mscaler. Without mscaler music was dry lean not musical with no weight. With mscaler the music has come alive with full weight full atmosphere and dynamic soft to loud. I would say fantastic. Like a totally different recording. Yes wow!

 

[Tsyer]

Thanks for the music Rob!

 

[Limniscate]

I heard the Hugo TT2 and MScaler on some Audeze LCD-4 and was stunned to hear distortion on Adele's Hello. I did have the volume around 6 or 7 on the TT2. I don't know if it was a fluke or what.

 

[x RELIC x]

I heard the Hugo TT2 and MScaler on some Audeze LCD-4 and was stunned to hear distortion on Adele's Hello. I did have the volume around 6 or 7 on the TT2. I don't know if it was a fluke or what.

Adele’s albums mastering are a mess. You’re just hearing what is in the poorly mastered track. I hear distortion and clipping in most of her songs.

 

[Limniscate]

I don't think so. I know the song well enough to know there's no distortion in the track.

 

[x RELIC x]

I don't think so. I know the song well enough to know there's no distortion in the track.

Well, I know what I hear as well. With the DAVE it’s clear as day that Hello has a lot of distortion. Using other gear I hear distortion as well.

It’s also very dynamically compressed. Seriously, not the best example of good mastering, just look at the terrible dynamic range. I’ll freely admit that dynamic range on its own is not what always causes distortion, but measuring a track like Hello should result in a lot of dynamic range, unlike some music genres that naturally have a poor dynamic range. You can see for yourself how poorly the lossy and CD versions are mastered in the link below. The only half decent version is vinyl, by the very nature of the format, or it wouldn’t play well with the stylus if it was as bad as the other versions.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Adele&album=25

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/105216

The nature of the beast when using highly resolving gear is that the bad really stands out.

 

[Foxman50]

I heard the Hugo TT2 and MScaler on some Audeze LCD-4 and was stunned to hear distortion on Adele's Hello. I did have the volume around 6 or 7 on the TT2. I don't know if it was a fluke or what.

Your comment did make me laugh. Whats it like to hear the truth for the first time. All her albums are terribly produced by the way.

 

[analogmusic]

Her voice is still amazing but mixing choices ?

I love the albums mixed by bob clearmountain such as Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of love

 

[ray-dude]

Well, I know what I hear as well. With the DAVE it’s clear as day that Hello has a lot of distortion. Using other gear I hear distortion as well.

It’s also very dynamically compressed. Seriously, not the best example of good mastering, just look at the terrible dynamic range. I’ll freely admit that dynamic range on its own is not what always causes distortion, but measuring a track like Hello should result in a lot of dynamic range, unlike some music genres that naturally have a poor dynamic range. You can see for yourself how poorly the lossy and CD versions are mastered in the link below. The only half decent version is vinyl, by the very nature of the format, or it wouldn’t play well with the stylus if it was as bad as the other versions.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Adele&album=25

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/105216

The nature of the beast when using highly resolving gear is that the bad really stands out.

I concur with the huge disappointment that is the dynamic range compression and crap mastering on the Adele studio albums. Almost criminal. With my BluDAVE + Voxativ setup, almost unlistenable (I just get so angry at how they screwed it up)

With my Voxativ's in the house, I've been doing a lot of experimentation to increase the dynamic pop of BluDAVE (my hypothesis based on my BluHugo2 vs BluDAVE experiments was that that the Voxativs are capable of supporting an even faster dynamic response than the BluDAVE can produce)

As I've pushed up the dynamics of BluDAVE, it has had the eerie effect of "uncompressing" some of these more severely compressed dynamic range recordings. When I have friends over, I put on Adele's "Hello", wait for the whines for how they ruined the album, then sit back and wait for "Wow...this sounds pretty good! Not perfect, but perfectly listenable!"

I'm still sorting through it, but my gut is telling me that increased dynamic speed is giving the perception of cleaner more extended dynamic range, even for compressed recordings. In a strange way, the worse the recording, the more improvement I'm hearing with the boosted dynamics. The new setup has revived a lot of recordings that became very difficult for me to listen to once I had BluDAVE.

Still a LOT of experimentation and distillation to do before coming to any conclusions (or organize and share details). I can't wait for the TT2 to ship so there is a BluTT2 vs BluHugo2 vs BluDAVE comparison to be done to unwind these various factors.