[dmance]

...I’ll look into other adapters and cables

Careful, I went through my parts bin of adapters but only the audioquest worked without dropouts.

 

[musickid]

The hugo 2/hms combo is magical.

 

[JezR]

I was lucky enough to pick up an M-Scaler second hand a few weeks ago, it was unregistered so I put my details into the Chord website to transfer the warranty, I'm feeling good already.

There was slight problem with the remote control, but after contacting Chord they sent me out a new IR window that allowed the remote to work properly, thanks to Edd and Mitch at Chord, cheers guys.

I'm just using it for CD at the moment and really pleased with how it sounds, the seller told me that the original BNC cables that came with it had failed so he supplied some new ones, long story short the replacement cables gave dropouts at the slightest touch, this lead me to look for some robust/better fitting BNC cables.



I'm really not inclined or have the time to muck about with comparing cables, I just wanted something that was fit and forget, after reading some positive reviews about the Wave Fidelity BNC's I pushed the button on the STONE at a cost of £495 the pair delivered.



They're really well made using good quality BNC plugs, the fit is now secure so no dropouts in sound now, I think anyone looking for a new set of BNC cables for their M-Scaler to DAC should put these on their short list.

Nick at Wave Fidelity gives a money back guarantee if not satisfied, what's not to like.

 

[miketlse]

There was slight problem with the remote control, but after contacting Chord they sent me out a new IR window that allowed the remote to work properly, thanks to Edd and Mitch at Chord, cheers guys.

Yes there was an issue with one of the early batches of IR window, but that was sorted quickly.
Glad that Edd and Mitch were able to sort things out.

 

[JM1979]

So I've read/searched through this thread, and read the AudioBacon BNC cable analysis. Yet I still am going to ask this question. What 'Budget' BNC cables do y'all recommend for the MScaler? 'Budget' preferably being sub $300 for a pair (or close).

 

[Mediahound]

So I've read/searched through this thread, and read the AudioBacon BNC cable analysis. Yet I still am going to ask this question. What 'Budget' BNC cables do y'all recommend for the MScaler? 'Budget' preferably being sub $300 for a pair (or close).

The ones that come with it are just fine.

 

[jlbrach]

the ones that come with it are 2 dollar cables and may or may not work properly but one can do a lot better with better cables

 

[rkt31]

My M-Scaler comes next week, and I’ll be using the Hugo 2 as well. How are you getting the full 1m taps, without the dual bnc?

I bought that dual bnc to digital coax moon-audio cable for the Hugo 2, but I’m not sure if it will give the full 1m taps. How are you feeding the m-scaler to Hugo 2 to get the full 1m taps?

Fiio rc Ux1 is a very cheap headphone extension cable. They use oyaide pcocc A cable which beats much more expensive branded ofc cables. 3.5 stereo plug will go into Hugo 2 coaxial input and on the other end remove 3.5 stereo socket and simply add two screw in type BNC plugs and you are good to go a m scaler to Hugo 2 cable without any adapter in between. You can shorten the length to 0.5 m to 0.6m as the cable is 1m long.

 

[Triode User]

Fiio rc Ux1 is a very cheap headphone extension cable. They use oyaide pcocc A cable which beats much more expensive branded ofc cables. 3.5 stereo plug will go into Hugo 2 coaxial input and on the other end remove 3.5 stereo socket and simply add two screw in type BNC plugs and you are good to go a m scaler to Hugo 2 cable without any adapter in between. You can shorten the length to 0.5 m to 0.6m as the cable is 1m long.

RW has posted that he found that 1m bnc cables sound better than 0.5m and 2m were better than 1m. I also listened to various lengths of bnc and concluded that 2m sound better than 1m. So all other things being equal, I would suggest not cutting down the cable kength. Better in this context being slightly smoother and darker sound.

 

[rkt31]

No mojo 2 or any new dac in Munich high end show ?

 

[Christer]

No mojo 2 or any new dac in Munich high end show ?

What I have seen from Munich is that they have released two new amps and lo and behold! of all unexpected things from Chord, a phono stage!
The phono stage looks like Qutest and although I doubt Rob has had much to do with it,I hope it can be connected to an ADC like "DAVINA" to digitize LPs at the highest possible quality.
Very surprising indeed from Chord! But as a music lover who is of the opinion that LP can,in spite of its known flaws and limitations still rival even the best of digital in some respects maybe not so surprising after all?
Then again I have to say that with for example Sibelius'4th and 5th symphonies performed by the BPO /Karajan and recorded in the Philharmonie Berlin by Wolfgang Gülich for EMI, with half the number of mics DGG used in those days,mid 70s,there are some things the rbcd version does better than my original LPs!
On LP the two symphonies are on two LPs.

But only via HMS!

Via HMS/Qutest and both via headphones and my big speakers and powerful amplification the dynamic range is larger via cd than LP where subtle very low level detail is slightly obscured by surface noise. But still some of the acoustic cues and separation of instruments in complex climaxes are a wee bit better defined by LP.
I deeply enjoy both versions, but I find myself playing the rbcd version most often in the past couple of weeks in sheer surprise over how very good rbcd can sound with HMS.
And these recordings are imho, the two best ever recordings of Sibelius' symphonic masterpieces ever made, both interpretatively and SQ wise!

Cheers CC

 

[miketlse]

What I have seen from Munich is that they have released two new amps and lo and behold! of all unexpected things from Chord, a phono stage!
The phono stage looks like Qutest and although I doubt Rob has had much to do with it,I hope it can be connected to an ADC like "DAVINA" to digitize LPs at the highest possible quality.

It was certainly kept a secret, but perhaps it should not have been so unexpected, after all most Chord product ranges have contained a phono stage, for example the Chordette range contained the Dual . The Dual also featured an ADC.
The Qutest range replaces the Chordette range, and now it has it's own phono stage.

 

[Christer]

It was certainly kept a secret, but perhaps it should not have been so unexpected, after all most Chord product ranges have contained a phono stage, for example the Chordette range contained the Dual . The Dual also featured an ADC.
The Qutest range replaces the Chordette range, and now it has it's own phono stage.

Thanks for the update,interesting to know,
I don't know much about Chord's products before HUGO.
But then I really hope the new one will be able to use with the hopefully soon to materialize, DAVINA to digitize vinyl.
Personally I don't need a new phonostage for anything else than that.
I already have two top range phono stages from Musical Fidelity one of which is integrated into my big amp and sounds very good indeed with my best direct cuts and other well cut and mastered LPs.
I did not see any tech specs for the new Chord Phono stage but mine have signal to noise ratios of around 96dB resulting in whatever noise I hear mainly coming from the source ie theLP, not the phono stage.

But I saw some noise specs for one of the new Chord amps quoted as better than 84dB?
I don't have a clue how that was measured or compares to my more than ten years old Musical Fidelity amp with similar power output per channel. 610watts into 8 ohm and 910 watts per channel into my 4 ohm speakers.
But mine is quoted as 99dB SNR.

I have to put my ear close to the electrostatic panels even at my very loud playing levels with large scale classical music to hear more than a faint hum.
From my listening position about 5 metres away from the speakers I hear noise only when there is noise introduced from the medium played.
Unfortunately there often is,both from vinyl AND digital!
But nice to see that they are releasing really powerful amps for large scale systems and music.
Real deep bass as in symphonic music from say Bruckner,Mahler and onwards until today, eats power and is one of the main reasons many underpowered systems sound congested and distorted imho.
You may not need much power for Norah Jones and similar things, But with large scale symphonic you certainly do.
Cheers CC

 

[miketlse]

The Symphonic is the top of the range phono stage.
Pure speculation, but maybe when it is revamped, it will be a natural home for a Davina level ADC.

 

[rkt31]

Thanks for the update,interesting to know,
I don't know much about Chord's products before HUGO.
But then I really hope the new one will be able to use with the hopefully soon to materialize, DAVINA to digitize vinyl.
Personally I don't need a new phonostage for anything else than that.
I already have two top range phono stages from Musical Fidelity one of which is integrated into my big amp and sounds very good indeed with my best direct cuts and other well cut and mastered LPs.
I did not see any tech specs for the new Chord Phono stage but mine have signal to noise ratios of around 96dB resulting in whatever noise I hear mainly coming from the source ie theLP, not the phono stage.

But I saw some noise specs for one of the new Chord amps quoted as better than 84dB?
I don't have a clue how that was measured or compares to my more than ten years old Musical Fidelity amp with similar power output per channel. 610watts into 8 ohm and 910 watts per channel into my 4 ohm speakers.
But mine is quoted as 99dB SNR.

I have to put my ear close to the electrostatic panels even at my very loud playing levels with large scale classical music to hear more than a faint hum.
From my listening position about 5 metres away from the speakers I hear noise only when there is noise introduced from the medium played.
Unfortunately there often is,both from vinyl AND digital!
But nice to see that they are releasing really powerful amps for large scale systems and music.
Real deep bass as in symphonic music from say Bruckner,Mahler and onwards until today, eats power and is one of the main reasons many underpowered systems sound congested and distorted imho.
You may not need much power for Norah Jones and similar things, But with large scale symphonic you certainly do.
Cheers CC

For analog recordings LP may be slightly better as you said. But for pure digital recordings HMS is unmatched. I am not much into western classical but one of the best digital recording if western classical I have heard is this. Try this on HMS in you would be amazed how much more realistic HMS can be. https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Nightingale-Firebird-Suite-Spring/dp/B0000015A6