Just watched this.
I guess he shoves the qutest aside a bit too easy saying Hms is not worth the upgrade cause of qutest's pricetag difference. Then saying the opposite for non chord Dac's while those can't benefit from 1M setting.
While I don't know the HE1000SE and how much better or different the Susvara is, I would choose headphone upgrades over the M scaler. And maybe add the M scaler further down the road.
I've been thinking about this - as to the "M Scaler effect" would it be fair to say that it is similar to going from mp3 320kbs to RBCD?
Not everyone can tell the difference between mp3 320 and RBCD, but on a high-rez system when you listen carefully you just *know* RBCD feels better, although you cannot put your finger on it.
As you have HQPlayer for upsampling you will get a much larger change in sound by changing headphones. I’ve had the mscaler (beautiful piece) but found hplayer was very similar and much more flexible in my system.
I've been thinking about this - as to the "M Scaler effect" would it be fair to say that it is similar to going from mp3 320kbs to RBCD?
Not everyone can tell the difference between mp3 320 and RBCD, but on a high-rez system when you listen carefully you just *know* RBCD feels better, although you cannot put your finger on it.
I think that’s a good way to put it. A good piece to get a feel for what mScaler does I just heard again is Jazz At The Pawnshop, particularly the first track or tracks with prominent vibes.
Hi, back in October 2020 I asked if anyone had tried feeding the MScaler with a miniDSP SHD Studio? I don’t think anyone had direct experience with the SHD Studio at that time, however one reply discussed the potential loss of timing/transient accuracy caused by the ASRC conversion to 96kHz that happens in the miniDSP. Given a few months have passed, I thought I would again see if anyone had tested this combination. I would love to fix room issues but I'm not prepared to undermine the capabilities of the MScaler. @Rob Watts are you able to confirm how an ASRC conversion to 96kHz would impact the MScaler?
Hi, back in October 2020 I asked if anyone had tried feeding the MScaler with a miniDSP SHD Studio? I don’t think anyone had direct experience with the SHD Studio at that time, however one reply discussed the potential loss of timing/transient accuracy caused by the ASRC conversion to 96kHz that happens in the miniDSP. Given a few months have passed, I thought I would again see if anyone had tested this combination. I would love to fix room issues but I'm not prepared to undermine the capabilities of the MScaler. @Rob Watts are you able to confirm how an ASRC conversion to 96kHz would impact the MScaler?
Hi, I have tried the MiniDSP DDRC-22D with my MScaler. It was a friends that I borrowed more out of curiosity to see what Dirac Live could do in a 2 channel system. I can't answer your specific technical query, but I would ask, have you had a chance to listen to your system with Dirac room correction? I know there are quite polarized opinions on this, but I have to say I was not impressed with the full room correction in my 2 channel system. It is quite hard to articulate the exact effect, but it sounds artificial and restrained. I have previously used Dircac on an Arcam AV amp in a home cinema setup and I was astounded at the positive difference, but for whatever reason it simply did not work for me in the 2 channel system. From my own experiences when I had a problematic room, I had much better results simply attenuating peaks below 200Hz, using ROON or Auralic DSP functions.
Hi, I have tried the MiniDSP DDRC-22D with my MScaler. It was a friends that I borrowed more out of curiosity to see what Dirac Live could do in a 2 channel system. I can't answer your specific technical query, but I would ask, have you had a chance to listen to your system with Dirac room correction? I know there are quite polarized opinions on this, but I have to say I was not impressed with the full room correction in my 2 channel system. It is quite hard to articulate the exact effect, but it sounds artificial and restrained. I have previously used Dircac on an Arcam AV amp in a home cinema setup and I was astounded at the positive difference, but for whatever reason it simply did not work for me in the 2 channel system. From my own experiences when I had a problematic room, I had much better results simply attenuating peaks below 200Hz, using ROON or Auralic DSP functions.
There are two reasons for this:
1) miniDSP Dirac always converts 44.1kHz to 96kHz I believe so the ASRC would significantly affect transient accuracy
2) I switched over from parametric EQ functions in Roon to a full convolution filter in Roon similar to Dirac. I learnt a lot building my own convolution filter with Acourate software. Most people online tell you that Dirac, Audyssey and Acourate/Audiolense are automated software and you’ll get great sound from them regardless. I find that to be totally untrue. It is easy to set your preferred frequency response for these software but because they’re also doing a phase response correction, it is extremely common where the phase response correction would cause a loss of transient accuracy. It took me months of tweaking to get a filter that’s to my satisfaction. There are people online who would generate a convolution filter for you for a small fee. I’ve never tried using their services. I’m always worried that those custom filters would prioritize a more aggressive phase correction in the bass frequency over transient accuracy.
There are two reasons for this:
1) miniDSP Dirac always converts 44.1kHz to 96kHz I believe so the ASRC would significantly affect transient accuracy
2) I switched over from parametric EQ functions in Roon to a full convolution filter in Roon similar to Dirac. I learnt a lot building my own convolution filter with Acourate software. Most people online tell you that Dirac, Audyssey and Acourate/Audiolense are automated software and you’ll get great sound from them regardless. I find that to be totally untrue. It is easy to set your preferred frequency response for these software but because they’re also doing a phase response correction, it is extremely common where the phase response correction would cause a loss of transient accuracy. It took me months of tweaking to get a filter that’s to my satisfaction. There are people online who would generate a convolution filter for you for a small fee. I’ve never tried using their services. I’m always worried that those custom filters would prioritize a more aggressive phase correction in the bass frequency over transient accuracy.
Thanks for that. That makes sense, I had wondered why there were people advertising 'dirac live calibration services', is that because of what you say about the auto setting not being great, there is a need for someone to come in and tweak and improve the curve further?
There are two reasons for this:
1) miniDSP Dirac always converts 44.1kHz to 96kHz I believe so the ASRC would significantly affect transient accuracy
2) I switched over from parametric EQ functions in Roon to a full convolution filter in Roon similar to Dirac. I learnt a lot building my own convolution filter with Acourate software. Most people online tell you that Dirac, Audyssey and Acourate/Audiolense are automated software and you’ll get great sound from them regardless. I find that to be totally untrue. It is easy to set your preferred frequency response for these software but because they’re also doing a phase response correction, it is extremely common where the phase response correction would cause a loss of transient accuracy. It took me months of tweaking to get a filter that’s to my satisfaction. There are people online who would generate a convolution filter for you for a small fee. I’ve never tried using their services. I’m always worried that those custom filters would prioritize a more aggressive phase correction in the bass frequency over transient accuracy.
Thanks for that. That makes sense, I had wondered why there were people advertising 'dirac live calibration services', is that because of what you say about the auto setting not being great, there is a need for someone to come in and tweak and improve the curve further?
I have not tried Dirac Live so I don't know other than frequency response, whether there are more adjustments (like aggressiveness of phase correction) are available. I guess if I were going to help someone use Dirac Live, I could tell them to try measuring at more locations or at different spots and to take photos of where they are measuring? Not sure. Or at the very minimum, I can create custom frequency responses for people.
As for convolution filter with Acourate or Audiolense, they are still fairly automated procedures except in addition to being able to set target frequency response, you can set how aggressively you want to correct for the phase and it's the phase correction that I spent a lot of time customizing. You can also choose whether to aggressively cut off the low bass if it's beyond what your subwoofer/speakers are capable of producing. Acourate/Audiolense is a deep dive so if you're happy with gentle parametric EQ, I would say yes, a convolution filter correctly calibrated would improve the sound quite a bit but you're looking at a $500 software investment and probably another 2 months of tweaking? That's a lot of time to just chill and enjoy music.
Thanks, I've tried lots of the recommended recordings and haven't managed to hear the MScaler effect yet.
I am not looking for "game changer" differences anymore, just *any* difference in full/bypass transition.
Maybe there is something wrong with my hearing or my system setup, I can't discount those either.
Thanks, I've tried lots of the recommended recordings and haven't managed to hear the MScaler effect yet.
I am not looking for "game changer" differences anymore, just *any* difference in full/bypass transition.
Maybe there is something wrong with my hearing or my system setup, I can't discount those either.
It’s possible the rest of your chain after the Qutest is not letting you hear the difference. Have you tried with good headphones out of the preamp (if it has HP out)?
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