[Christer]

Hugo 2 pass thru vs hugo 2 mscaled shows some clear differences but when i ran a direct optical into hugo2 solo then compared that to an mscaled hugo 2 the difference was massive. The soundstage collapsed and timing too with a direct optical into hugo 2 vs mH2. I tried the same experiment with tt2 as above. the difference between an mscaled tt2 and a solo tt2 is less than with hugo 2 but it is there without doubt. more importantly without the mscaler saxophone timing was mechanical and clocklike and not relaxed. with an mscaled tt2 everything relaxed again and that magic musicality returned. the music is livelier, more energetic, lifelike and engaging. if you just relax into it the mscaler adds a spark of authenticity to the music.

for me anyhow the music sounds bland without it now. it took me a few weeks of adjusting and i worried at times at first about my investment but now i'm totally happy with it. any good transparent headphones will display these things clearly. tt2 on its own sounds excellent but it's just reproducing the music. mscaled takes it up a good 2 or 3 levels. no solo dac can have such an effect. you can't transcribe the mscaler effect you either hear and feel the added musicality with it there or instantly notice something vital has gone missing without it there.

NB: pass thru for me doesn't show off the mscalers capabilities as much as when compared to direct source (usb/optical) into dac vs mscaled dac. when i went direct optical into H2 vs mH2 the difference for me was massive and a turning point in my understanding of the mscaler. same pattern of results with tt2 mscaled or not.

What do you still have against capital letters at the beginning of new sentences?
Is there something wrong with your typing keyboard? Or are you just too lazy to care?
Just wondering again.
Cheers CC

 

[ZappaMan]

What do you still have against capital letters at the start of new sentences?
Is there something wrong with your typing keyboard? Or are you just too lazy to care?
Just wondering again.
Cheers CC

He has a masters in military history, I’m sure he used capital letters for them, but not for us.

 

[jarnopp]

Hey Gang,

The last piece of my headphone setup (Zenith-MScaler-TT2-Empy) finally shipped but i’m also planning to use this as a 2ch rig. I have the external amp I want to connect via the xlr out on the TT2. What I’m wondering is if i’m able to use the analogue rca outs to connect a small JL sub? Or are the other outputs disabled when the xlr’s are in use?

Thanks!

Yes you can. All rear outputs are enabled, unless a Hp is plugged into the front, then all are disabled.

 

[Amberlamps]

try going source direct into dac vs mscaled as a suggestion. same music.

I do that already, altogether I have 5 audio inputs going in to my gear, 3 to the mscaler, 1x usb and 2x optical, and 2 directly in to TT2, 2x optical and the dual bnc cables coming from the mscaler, but we won't include them.

My Chrome Crap Audio goes directly into TT2 and, at times I've seen me use the CCA and forget that what I'm listening to is not mscaled.

Anyway, I could be an hour or two into listening and I've seen myself say, this song sounds excellent, my setup is great! and then I realise I've been sitting for the last couple of hours listening to non mscaled music and not missed the mscaler one little bit.

I would of thought that if the inclusion of an mscaler gave huge SQ improvements, then I would of thought that I would easily notice the lack of such huge SQ if the mscaler was removed from the equation, but I don't, which is weird and annoying at the same time.

Now everyone remember, I'm not hating on Chord or Rob and, that all of the Chord DAC's that I've owned have been very good to amazing. Plus I'm thinking about upgrading to another DAC and the ONLY one that I want to upgrade to is Chord's Dave. No Bartok or whatever else for me, I'm only interested in Chord DAC's as I know their dac's sound great.

Maybe what I've been told about the mscaler by various hifi stores is true, in that the mscaler only comes alive when it's connected to a Dave.

Regardless of whether the mscaler is connected to my TT2 or not, I'm still loving my Chord dacs, music from them sounds excellent and I can't dispute that, as they do make the best sounding dacs out there in my opinion.

 

[jarnopp]

I do that already, altogether I have 5 audio inputs going in to my gear, 3 to the mscaler, 1x usb and 2x optical, and 2 directly in to TT2, 2x optical and the dual bnc cables coming from the mscaler, but we won't include them.

My Chrome Crap Audio goes directly into TT2 and, at times I've seen me use the CCA and forget that what I'm listening to is not mscaled.

Anyway, I could be an hour or two into listening and I've seen myself say, this song sounds excellent, my setup is great! and then I realise I've been sitting for the last couple of hours listening to non mscaled music and not missed the mscaler one little bit.

I would of thought that if the inclusion of an mscaler gave huge SQ improvements, then I would of thought that I would easily notice the lack of such huge SQ if the mscaler was removed from the equation, but I don't, which is weird and annoying at the same time.

Now everyone remember, I'm not hating on Chord or Rob and, that all of the Chord DAC's that I've owned have been very good to amazing. Plus I'm thinking about upgrading to another DAC and the ONLY one that I want to upgrade to is Chord's Dave. No Bartok or whatever else for me, I'm only interested in Chord DAC's as I know their dac's sound great.

Maybe what I've been told about the mscaler by various hifi stores is true, in that the mscaler only comes alive when it's connected to a Dave.

Regardless of whether the mscaler is connected to my TT2 or not, I'm still loving my Chord dacs, music from them sounds excellent and I can't dispute that, as they do make the best sounding dacs out there in my opinion.

You could try to get that Topping they are always touting as measuring well and use that for a couple weeks, then go back and see what you think.

 

[Amberlamps]

You could try to get that Topping they are always touting as measuring well and use that for a couple weeks, then go back and see what you think.

Lol, I'm scared to incase I really like it, then TT2 will break my heart, as the topping D70 is only £350.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I'm sure TT2 will easily beat it SQ wise, but it may just have a sound to it that one really likes, whether thats caused by distortion or because it measures well.

Bottom line is, I love my Chord DAC's and I would think that something that costs a mere £350 would not compete with Chords Hugo 2 and up range of dacs. The topping may well outshine mojo and hugo, but I doubt it has as good a package as chords mid range products, although it does have a nice all aluminum remote, which is supposed to be of really good quality, which for £50 if you were to buy it seperately, it bloody better be good quality.

 

[N Quarter]

Maybe it's the kind of music I listen to thats the problem, I don't do orchestra's which a large majority of high end chord dac owners listen to.

I solely listen to heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal, rap metal, nu metal, national socialist black metal, viking metal, celtic metal, blackend screamo, crust punk, unblack metal, christian metal, gothic metal and industrial metal.

Oops, I forgot about funeral doom and pagan metal.

Honestly I think you are on to something here.Nothing against your choice of music, but I do think the Chord products excel with Jazz, classical, blues.

 

[Christer]

I do that already, altogether I have 5 audio inputs going in to my gear, 3 to the mscaler, 1x usb and 2x optical, and 2 directly in to TT2, 2x optical and the dual bnc cables coming from the mscaler, but we won't include them.

My Chrome Crap Audio goes directly into TT2 and, at times I've seen me use the CCA and forget that what I'm listening to is not mscaled.

Anyway, I could be an hour or two into listening and I've seen myself say, this song sounds excellent, my setup is great! and then I realise I've been sitting for the last couple of hours listening to non mscaled music and not missed the mscaler one little bit.

I would of thought that if the inclusion of an mscaler gave huge SQ improvements, then I would of thought that I would easily notice the lack of such huge SQ if the mscaler was removed from the equation, but I don't, which is weird and annoying at the same time.

Now everyone remember, I'm not hating on Chord or Rob and, that all of the Chord DAC's that I've owned have been very good to amazing. Plus I'm thinking about upgrading to another DAC and the ONLY one that I want to upgrade to is Chord's Dave. No Bartok or whatever else for me, I'm only interested in Chord DAC's as I know their dac's sound great.

Maybe what I've been told about the mscaler by various hifi stores is true, in that the mscaler only comes alive when it's connected to a Dave.

Regardless of whether the mscaler is connected to my TT2 or not, I'm still loving my Chord dacs, music from them sounds excellent and I can't dispute that, as they do make the best sounding dacs out there in my opinion.

What I find a bit puzzling is WHY? you bought an MScaler if you can't hear much improvement using it?

Some of the other questions you raise are interesting though, imho.

I also suspect that there are possibly MANY more things involved in making a good dac than just the number of taps employed.
And I too find it VERY annoying when only one important disadvantage is adressed as in the case of the lack of power with certain headphones with DAVE, while still only using a 10 elements DAC in TT2.

I don't like it when companies intentionally strangle a product to fit the intended market.
But unfortunately they do!

In the world of Digital Photography my profession, Canon has been proven quilty of actually hiding useful tech in some models using the same tech.

I hope Chord is not guilty of such marketing strategies at least.
But I also find it a bit surprising that I can get even better SQ from my Qutest HMS combo both by using a battery powered PSU with the Qutest instead of the supplied one. And that BNC cable upgrading is also a very obvious improvement over stock.

On the other hand,I can quite easily hear the advantage of DAVE against the other Chord DACs and many others too for that matter.
But I strongly dislike its price its format and lack of power.
I don't know if the increased transparency of DAVE is because of 20 elements over 10 on all the others?
But I have reasons to believe it may be at least one reason why it is more transparent.

And although DAVINA seems more of a teaser than anything we will see or hear in action any time soon,
Rob has stated here that DAVINA will be a 40 elements unit unless my memory fails me?

That fact and claims made by some competitors, lead me to suspect that the number of elements actually DO MATTER.
I wonder if both the type of and the number of supercaps used also matter?

But to my ears and with the type of music I primarlily listen to ,unamplified ACOUSTIC music and the human voice, the improvement an MScaler adds with the Chord DACS it can be connected to, is VERY obvious both via headphones and speakers to me.
I would NOT have bought one if that had not been the case for me.

On the other hand the old piano I bought for 100€ including home delivery! a few weeks ago at a thrift shop sounds CLEARLY more REAL than any HIFI I have ever heard.

Not even HMS/ DAVE can play back a piano as it really sounds live.
We are simply not there yet.

Rob has, I think, said that DAVINA ultimately will solve that little problem.
But when?
Maybe someone else gets there before him?
Cheers CC

 

[rkt31]

Will Davina be ADC - dac ?

 

[rkt31]

I have owned the HMS for months, and till now I have yet to say anything regarding the HMS.

I will compare with and without when I got the time.

However my system became very sensitive, sound will change even by mm.

By the way, I am a 2ch.

Used Monitor Audio gold series bookshelf are a good starting point, and might costs less than a pair of used hp.

I reluctant to upgrade the Qutest to TT2 for three reasons:

1. I don't listen to hp
2. My speakers aren't an easy load
3. It's too hassle to sell my pre-power

Initially I was considering the Blu2 and Dave but after reading few hundred Dave pages and undesired feedbacks of the Blu2, Qutest was released and HMS was on the pipeline

Get ahb2 power amp and
feed tt2 HMS combo directly to ahb2. You can sell your existing pre power combo. I have the same set up .

 

[Amberlamps]

What I find a bit puzzling is WHY? you bought an MScaler if you can't hear much improvement using it?

Cheers CC

Thats an easy question.

In order to hear it, I had to first buy it, where I'm located the nearest Chord dealer is a 120 mile car journey away. Why Chord chose to have a chord dealer who sold anything other than a mojo in my region, based in some seaside village miles away instead of in a sprawling well heeled metropolis like my city, I will never know.

Oh, and before I bought it, I first had to join a que to be able to buy one. They weren't the easiest of things to get to hear/see/buy at the end of last year. I will add this as an edit, it wasn't the easiest thing to see and hear where I'm located that is and, stores were selling them as fast as they came into stock, thus no in home demo's were available at that particular time.

 

[Amberlamps]

Honestly I think you are on to something here.Nothing against your choice of music, but I do think the Chord products excel with Jazz, classical, blues.

Lol, I don't listen to that schit, that was just a joke post for Music Kid, who knew I was joking as per his reply

 

[N Quarter]

Lol, I don't listen to that schit, that was just a joke post for Music Kid, who knew I was joking as per his reply

Oh i see, sarcasm, now I get it. I am sure there are a few metal heads using chord products out there. Don’t get me wrong though, I like to indulge in some Pantera, Zeppelin or Sabbath occasionally .

 

[musickid]

i'm too lazy to care finally you get something right christer.

 

[zenlisten]

Honestly I think you are on to something here.Nothing against your choice of music, but I do think the Chord products excel with Jazz, classical, blues.

Lol, I don't listen to that schit, that was just a joke post for Music Kid, who knew I was joking as per his reply

Joking aside, the benefits of M Scaler are dependent on the type of music.

There is a lot of music that is fine via my MojoPoly and IEMs. This includes not only electronic but also many classical music and jazz. Yes, they sound better on the bigger system but they are actually okay on the smaller system too. They are also good enough on my TT2 only (my current situation as the M Scaler has been with the service over 3 weeks now, and still no updates ).

Then there is this kind of music which I would call "fragile" or "extra fine" for a lack of a better word. For example, solo violin, human voice. Also there are such piano tracks, such orchestral pieces, as well as jazz tracks. Where the critical theme is the treble, when the attention is following the highs. I happen to like many such tracks and these are simply not fun without the M Scaler, after I was spoilt by it. When I had to return the M Scaler, it was very different to listen to those tracks. I also used just heaphones (and not the best ones, a pair of Sony Z1R) and the sound was clearly different, no question about it. It became "pixelated", lost its more natural-sounding characteristic. Okay but less fun. (Maybe it also depends on the mastering? I'm not sure.)

So now, living without the M Scaler, with the TT2 only, I tend to avoid those "fragile" tracks. I listen to music instead that is still fun with the TT2 only, and indeed, it's a great DAC. But I'm missing the M Scaler because I would like to listen to all kinds of music.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯