[ray-dude]

This is interesting. I bought a couple of Chromecast Audio’s a few months back. After Rob’s explanation that the optical of his dacs were jitter immune, this jumped out at me as a very cheap and effective streaming option. I think the Chromecast measures quite badly with regards to jitter but given this isn’t an issue for Chord dacs, it doesn’t matter.

That’s why I’m surprised moving to a battery would have any impact on sound quality, or that you can differentiate between different optical sources. Any thoughts on this?

With regards to my experience of the Chromecast, they are great little devices, although I’ve found going beyond 44khz to be a bit flaky, even in my home which has a very reliable and strong WiFi network.

I’m also surprised by a lot of what I’m hearing as I experiment with noise and isolation. Alas, these sorts of thing are very home and system dependent, and are pretty subtle. Best thing is to try and see if it makes a difference in your system and home (Your mileage will definitely vary!).

I agree to stick with 44-48kHz with Chromecast Audio. It technically supports 96kHz but it does get glitchy for me from roon. With the NUC I get 192kHz over toslink, but that is a lot less turnkey.

 

[Musikfan]

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any mscaler owners who are using a linear power supply to power the unit. I saw this one on the web but have no experience with it: https://mcru.co.uk/product/linear-power-supply-for-chord-m-scaler/?v=7516fd43adaa. I know that owners are discouraged from using an lps as it would void warranty. Just looking for thoughts on use of Lps with m scaler and the MRCU lps in particular. Thanks, James

 

[Mediahound]

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any mscaler owners who are using a linear power supply to power the unit. I saw this one on the web but have no experience with it: https://mcru.co.uk/product/linear-power-supply-for-chord-m-scaler/?v=7516fd43adaa. I know that owners are discouraged from using an lps as it would void warranty. Just looking for thoughts on use of Lps with m scaler and the MRCU lps in particular. Thanks, James

I wouldn't even try. Rob Watts has said that it will make it sound worse.

 

[rkt31]

did anybody try xduoo x10t (older version without analog out ) as transport. it is discontinued. this little battery operated gadget is a great audiophile transport. i am feeding it's optical out to Hugo 2 and to me it sounds extremely focussed and clean. before that I was using fiio x3ii coaxial out to ifi spdif purifier optical out to Hugo 2 which was very good too but xduoo x10t surpassed my all expectations. newer V2 has analog out too but excludes dedicated chip for transport imho.

 

[STR-1]

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any mscaler owners who are using a linear power supply to power the unit. I saw this one on the web but have no experience with it: https://mcru.co.uk/product/linear-power-supply-for-chord-m-scaler/?v=7516fd43adaa. I know that owners are discouraged from using an lps as it would void warranty. Just looking for thoughts on use of Lps with m scaler and the MRCU lps in particular. Thanks, James

It possibly is better than the supplied smps but no way of knowing until tried.

I wouldn't even try. Rob Watts has said that it will make it sound worse.

What linear power supplies has Rob compared with his smps? There are good linear power supplies and not very good power supplies. Has Rob tried a Paul Hynes SR4 or a double-regulated SR7 and found either of these wanting?

Chord’s stance on use of power supplies other than the one supplied has killed discussion of this topic, which is a shame really given how much I believe Rob and Chord have benefitted from feedback from this and other forums.

 

[Jawed]

That is interesting. I found a noticeable difference between solo Dave and Dave plus HMS in pass through mode. I preferred solo Dave.

I didn't do that comparison as I'm only interested in making sure that the ferrites on the BNCs with HMS in pass through produce absolutely no change in sound quality compared with DAVE alone

And USB and optical sound identical, proving that the ferrites on the BNC are doing what they're supposed to.

 

[neogeosnk]

Question,
I don't need the amp section in the Hugo 2 TT. Is there a significant sound difference just using the qutest and mscaler? Is the mscaler that much better with the Hugo 2 TT?

 

[JaZZ]

It possibly is better than the supplied smps but no way of knowing until tried.

What linear power supplies has Rob compared with his smps? There are good linear power supplies and not very good power supplies. Has Rob tried a Paul Hynes SR4 or a double-regulated SR7 and found either of these wanting?

Chord’s stance on use of power supplies other than the one supplied has killed discussion of this topic, which is a shame really given how much I believe Rob and Chord have benefitted from feedback from this and other forums.

This post and the following ones from the «Watts up...?» blog may be of interest to you, especially this one.

 

[STR-1]

This post and the following ones from the «Watts up...?» bl

Thanks for pointing out.

 

[danish71]

I wonder, can anyone figure this out.

I’m using Roon with Chord’s Asio driver, DSD is set to Native and a max of 512.

When I play a dff or dsf file it works for one song and then I get nothing, no sound and the mscaler doesn’t get a signal, the DX OP ball being unlit.

However, if I go into the settings and change DSD settings from Native ( both mscaler and tt2 can do native dsd as per Chords website ) to DoP over PCM, it then plays the files correctly.

If I change to the Chord Wasapi driver which does not have the Native DSD option in Roon and which is forced to use DoP over PCM, the tracks play fine, no problems.

It just seems to be a problem with the Asio driver or Roon, which if Roon is set to use Native DSD, there is no sound after the first track and no mscaler dx op light after the first track. When it works on the first track the dx op ball is white,

Chords website has been changed as there used to be green coloured icons showing what all the devices were capable of and Native DSD 512 was listed.

To me, Native DSD means no need to convert to PCM.

Anyone got any ideas ?

@Rob Watts

Edit

DXD seems to work properly in Native DSD playback mode. I just can!t figure out if it’s Roon, or if it’s the MScaler ? Roon looks as though it’s playing ok but the mscaler doesn’t seem to be picking up a signal for some reason.

It looks to be something to do with roon, as it works in Jriver once I found the correct settings for dsd files.

It’s been many weeks since I reported this problem with Native DSD, both in this thread and at Chords technical support.
It’s kind of a relief to know that I am not the only one having this problem. The DAVE alone has no problem with Native DSD out of Roon, but Chord keeps telling me that there is no difference between MScaler and Dave. But there obviously is.

 

[Mediahound]

It’s been many weeks since I reported this problem with Native DSD, both in this thread and at Chords technical support.
It’s kind of a relief to know that I am not the only one having this problem. The DAVE alone has no problem with Native DSD out of Roon, but Chord keeps telling me that there is no difference between MScaler and Dave. But there obviously is.

In my Roon (Mac) I don't even have an option for DSD direct with the MScaler but Roon says the DoP setting should be best for DSD:

 

[danish71]

In my Roon (Mac) I don't even have an option for DSD direct with the MScaler but Roon says the DoP setting should be best for DSD:

I am not home at the moment, but somewhere in Roon you can choose Chord DAVE as the device.

 

[Mikey99]

I am not home at the moment, but somewhere in Roon you can choose Chord DAVE as the device.

I have done that, works fine through the M-Scaler

 

[Mediahound]

I have done that, works fine through the M-Scaler

I'm pretty sure all it does is change the icon. My M Scaler even works the same without choosing any device and just setting it up manually.

 

[Amberlamps]

Mediahound

The native dsd option only shows up with chords asio endpoint.