[Whitigir]

There is noise on almost all the recordings I hear but I just thought it is noise on the recordings and not part of the digital process. By that I mean that I hear the noise fading up at the start of the track and fading out at the end of the track. I assume the low level noise I hear is either ambient noise from the recording studio or noise introduced as part of the recording process via amplifers and any other equipment in the circuit.

Noises like those are super hard to trace down . Even if digital have noises, it would need a lot of critical listening to distinct. There must be something wrong in your chains because the way you describe it, it is very noticeable. But let not talk about off topic stuff

I am curious to see if M-Scaler has been pit against a dedicated powerful PC as a digital source with HQPlayer to upscaling. I know it uses different programs and coding and so on....but let’s keep it simple...why an M-Scaler and not any built PC ?

 

[simorag]

I am deliberating over my next hi-fi investment. Should I get an HMS combo or upgrade the music server? Re the latter, for the past 8 years I have used an iMac with Pure Music, via USB to the DAC. The iMac needs replacing and I am wondering whether to get another (or a Mac Mini) or go for a dedicated unit such as the Aurender. (And why is the Aurender so much more expensive an option?)
The cynic in me says "bits is bits" and staying with the Mac frees up funds for HMS and related investment. Is this true?
Appreciate thoughts from those experienced with both choices ...

Thanks

I was in your position about one year ago.

At the time the only option for accessing the M Scaler technology was the Blu Mk2. Considering its price and given that I am not using CDs since long time, I decided to buy a dedicated server first as a replacement of my highly tweaked Windows laptop. Then the Hugo M Scaler came out last fall, so I took the plunge and added it to my DAVE.

In terms of purely sound quality, the improvement from the HMS - in my system - was much more noticeable than upgrading the server.

 

[analogmusic]

Some interesting comments about mscaler vs a server
There’s simply no way a server to my ears can replace an Mscaler !

 

[Whitigir]

Some interesting comments about mscaler vs a server
There’s simply no way a server to my ears can replace an Mscaler !

Not even a $16,000 Pinkfaun PC-server with OCXO clocks ? There are ways more to digital sources and dedicated PC-server than just streamer/server that is readily available on the market

 

[HumanMedia]

I am always curious about tweaks which optimise the equipment I have. The change in coax cables and use of ferrited cables has been covered here. What else is there that can let the M Scaler perform even better?


Whilst USB cables have very noticeable effect going from source directly to my Qutest, changing USB cables INTO the M Scaler has negligible, if any, audible difference in my system.


What has been noticeable by coincidence of me moving equipment around, is that the sound changes depending on what powerboard/circuit my front end components are plugged into. When I was first trialling the M Scaler (still with stock wall wart) I had it on a different circuit to the player (ultraRendu with JS2 power supply) and DAC (Qutest) it had a pushed midrange. I moved onto the same power board as the player and DAC and it sounded better, more natural. And that where it’s been for the last 3 months.


Last night I tried a new power supply, the LPS 1.2, on my ultraRendu player. In trying it out I plugged the LPS charging supply onto a different circuit/powerboard. This left the MScaler and Qutest on the same powerboard as previous (which is on an isolating transformer same as before).


This resulted in a noticeable improvement in the overall sound, tighter highs, clearer background and sense of space. This came as quite a surprise considering that the MScaler ironed out USB differences feeding it, wouldn’t it also diminish other changes to the player feeding into it?


Well the player does provide cleaned up 5V for USB, and cleaner USB data into the M Scaler, but why would this be so audible when its filtered out and reconstructed into SPDIF by the M Scaler? It could also be something to do with not having the player charging power supply on the same powerboard/circuit as the M Scaler/DAC. Maybe its the combination of the above, cleaner signal from the source AND reducing possible power supply interactions. Note that both supplies are by design not grounded.


Another unexpected improvement where I was least expecting it, and one I thought I should share.

 

[XP_98]

I am always curious about tweaks which optimise the equipment I have. The change in coax cables and use of ferrited cables has been covered here. What else is there that can let the M Scaler perform even better?

The Wave cables mentioned above are very expensive...
Any recommendations on cheaper (100-200 euros range) BNC cables ?

 

[rkt31]

Get 1m pair of alpha AG furutech bulk totl coaxial cable from the dealer which will cost you around 150 euro. Furutech connectors are expensive so you can get the cables terminated with crimp type BNC plugs.

 

[rkt31]

Furutech bulk cables beat even the most expensive readymade ones because of the purest form of silver/copper used in them.

 

[plinth]

I bought a set of BlueJeans Cables and they have been superb. They may be a tad low cost for you but they offer superb performance.

Mind you, I only bought those in anticipation of my M-Scaler's arriving and before I knew that Chord were including a a pair of cables. I would probably have been just as happy with those.

If you want to spend money, think about getting an electrician to wire in a sub-main to your equipment stack.

Consider getting a haircut, this can cause a better seal on around ear headphones.

Perhaps invest in a good bottle of wine, I find that mood has a big influence on perceived sound.

Send a thank you note to Rob Watts, this might encourage him to continue building equipment that is mostly immune from cable differences, poorly clocked data streams and poor power supplies.

Even though I cannot personally hear any differences between cables, I sometimes do upgrade them because I think that they look gorgeous and certainly look as if they should improve the sound quality. Some cables just look stunning, I love plugging them in but when I double blind test them I always fail to spot a difference. Perhaps I need that haircut.

 

[simorag]

I am curious to see if M-Scaler has been pit against a dedicated powerful PC as a digital source with HQPlayer to upscaling. I know it uses different programs and coding and so on....but let’s keep it simple...why an M-Scaler and not any built PC ?

Based on my limited experience and understanding, I would say that the answer depends very much on the starting point.

For instance, if someone already has a dual BNC capable / compatible Chord DAC (Hugo2, Qutest, TT2 or DAVE), and a source with some noise mitigation strategy in place (laptop on batteries, usage of optical instead of USB), I believe that the best bang for the buck would be the Hugo M Scaler. Especially if playing mostly 16-44 files, and preferring PCM sound over DSD sound.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you have a DSD optimized DAC (T+A comes to mind) and a regular, noisy, Windows PC over USB, you like DSD smoothness, then a high end music server with sufficient power to upsample all material to DSD512 via HQ Player, and great clock / USB implementation would be the investment with more return on sound quality IMO.

In between these two extreme conditions, I believe it is very difficult to tell on paper what's the best single investment between a HMS and a PC with upsampling software (or dedicated server with or without upscaling capabilities), without being very specific on overall system set-up, preferences, etc..

Not even a $16,000 Pinkfaun PC-server with OCXO clocks ? There are ways more to digital sources and dedicated PC-server than just streamer/server that is readily available on the market

When your hifi system reaches a certain level, there is no 'silver bullet' so your investment of 16k or even 50k (gulp!) on the server will pay real dividends only if the remaining of the chain is on par, so you may end up needing both a multi-$$$ server AND the M Scaler to get some chunk of that last elusive 5-10% of sound quality perfection

 

[Lgn3]

There is noise on almost all the recordings I hear but I just thought it is noise on the recordings and not part of the digital process. By that I mean that I hear the noise fading up at the start of the track and fading out at the end of the track. I assume the low level noise I hear is either ambient noise from the recording studio or noise introduced as part of the recording process via amplifers and any other equipment in the circuit.

Tinnitus ? !
Any male over the age of 50 will be lucky to hear anything beyond 12-14 khz. As a result it often makes me smile when middle aged reviewers claim to be able to detect the most subtle of differences in sound quality. This is not a dig at @triode by the way.

 

[Triode User]

Tinnitus ? !
Any male over the age of 50 will be lucky to hear anything beyond 12-14 khz. As a result it often makes me smile when middle aged reviewers claim to be able to detect the most subtle of differences in sound quality. This is not a dig at @triode by the way.

No offence taken. My ears have so far been at least good enough to fine tune my own systems and develop my cables. Why shouldn't we oldies be able to detect the most subtle of differences in sound quality? There are differences in sound quality all the way through the audible range and not just at the upper end.
If you are right then maybe it is time to get up a petition to retire @Rob Watts on the basis that his ears are no longer up to scratch? Are you going to tell him?

Oh, and as far as I know tinnitus doesn't fade in just before the music starts at the beginning of a track unless I have a very rare form of it.

 

[Lgn3]

No offence taken. My ears have so far been at least good enough to fine tune my own systems and develop my cables. Why shouldn't we oldies be able to detect the most subtle of differences in sound quality? There are differences in sound quality all the way through the audible range and not just at the upper end.
If you are right then maybe it is time to get up a petition to retire @Rob Watts on the basis that his ears are no longer up to scratch? Are you going to tell him?

Oh, and as far as I know tinnitus doesn't fade in just before the music starts at the beginning of a track unless I have a very rare form of it.

Of course there is more to sound quality than the highter frequecncies and obviously to an extent I was being a little flippant in my post. However I do think it is interesting to consider that our perception/experience of sound changes as we age so that a system pleasing to a 55 year old may be less so to a 20 year old or vice versa. Perhaps those black backgrounds are not so black if you can hear up to 20khz. As for @Rob Watts I am quite sure he would like to have his hearing as a 20 year old back if it was on offer. I would !

 

[Ragnar-BY]

I am deliberating over my next hi-fi investment. Should I get an HMS combo or upgrade the music server? Re the latter, for the past 8 years I have used an iMac with Pure Music, via USB to the DAC. The iMac needs replacing and I am wondering whether to get another (or a Mac Mini) or go for a dedicated unit such as the Aurender. (And why is the Aurender so much more expensive an option?)
The cynic in me says "bits is bits" and staying with the Mac frees up funds for HMS and related investment. Is this true?
Appreciate thoughts from those experienced with both choices ...

Thanks

If you have TT2 or DAVE already - get the M Scaler. It will be more noticeable and much more interesting upgrade. You can buy server later, or use a cheap alternative: Roon on iMac as Roon Core and Allo USBridge as network Roon Endpoint. USBridge is a cheap device, but this configuration sounds way better with M Scaler than USB output of my MacBook Pro, even without "audiophile PSUs".

P.S. I`m not sure what would sound better: an expensive music server, or regular computer and good network endpoint (like OpticalRendu and so on), but I would bet on a good endpoint.

 

[jarnopp]

If you have TT2 or DAVE already - get the M Scaler. It will be more noticeable and much more interesting upgrade. You can buy server later, or use a cheap alternative: Roon on iMac as Roon Core and Allo USBridge as network Roon Endpoint. USBridge is a cheap device, but this configuration sounds way better with M Scaler than USB output of my MacBook Pro, even without "audiophile PSUs".

P.S. I`m not sure what would sound better: an expensive music server, or regular computer and good network endpoint (like OpticalRendu and so on), but I would bet on a good endpoint.

I think anything with optical out, but @ray-dude is supposed to be investigating that now for us!