Hugo M Scaler by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[Ragnar-BY]

PC (usb) ==> TT2 -- works fine
PC (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- poor/noisy sound
iPad (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- works fine

Might be a ground loop. You can try earthing M Scaler, but it's better to use optical for connection to normal PC.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Might be a ground loop. You can try earthing M Scaler, but it's better to use optical for connection to normal PC.

Didn't think of that -- good call.

 

[MasterZen]

PC (usb) ==> TT2 -- works fine (correct)
PC (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- poor/noisy sound (correct - sounds laggy as well and intermittent)
iPad (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- works fine (Correct)

Although now, I have removed the M Scaler chain as if it was yesterday and now my TT2 alone has same issue

My windows audio setting used to say "TT2", but now says "Chord Async UCB 44.1-768"


Is it better to use optical for PC? I guess there are no ground issues then, but optical quality isnt as good as USB (or is that wrong?)

Thanks

 

[MasterZen]

Literally no idea what has happened.... Think I will just use optical to PC.

Keep that USB input cable for the ipad at least

Strange..............

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Uninstalled the audio drivers in device manager. Now sound settings in output device shows as "speakers (hugott2)" - so back to how it was yesterday and working fine.

Now to try and get M scaler to work.... fingers crossed!


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Everything works now, how strange......must be driver issues ..... no more tinkering now, best leave it and enjoy lol

 

[ecwl]

Literally no idea what has happened.... Think I will just use optical to PC.

Keep that USB input cable for the ipad at least

Strange..............

-----------------------------------------------------

Uninstalled the audio drivers in device manager. Now sound settings in output device shows as "speakers (hugott2)" - so back to how it was yesterday and working fine.

Now to try and get M scaler to work.... fingers crossed!


------------------------------------------------------

Everything works now, how strange......must be driver issues ..... no more tinkering now, best leave it and enjoy lol

Not surprising at all. It is very easy when you have an electrical connection to TT2 or M-Scaler to have ground loop RF noise leaking through PC, router, cable modem, etc into the DAC. If the noise is bad, you hear these pops. But even if the RF noise is very well filtered and carefully addressed, it’s still difficult to completely eliminate them. And inevitably it affects sound quality (if you know what to listen for). That’s why my main system uses optical source to M-scaler. But my portable system runs on my iPad so no grounded power source for iPad (battery powered) means no ground loop so it sounds the same as optical.

 

[Amberlamps]

PC (usb) ==> TT2 -- works fine (correct)
PC (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- poor/noisy sound (correct - sounds laggy as well and intermittent)
iPad (usb) ==> mScaler ==> TT2 -- works fine (Correct)

Although now, I have removed the M Scaler chain as if it was yesterday and now my TT2 alone has same issue

My windows audio setting used to say "TT2", but now says "Chord Async UCB 44.1-768"


Is it better to use optical for PC? I guess there are no ground issues then, but optical quality isnt as good as USB (or is that wrong?)

Thanks

the chord async thing is chords windows driver, its crucial, in that you need it to hear music from tt2

The first thing I would do is uninstall the drivers and restart and then reinstall new ones.

schiit, I see you have already fixed the problem, this is what happens when you start typing up a post inbed and half way through fall asleep and waken up and continue to finish said post

 

[MasterZen]

Lol, yes managed to get it fixed.

I haven't installed the chord async drivers however, I tried getting them from https://chordelectronics.co.uk/product/hugo-mscaler/ , then installed it and had problems.

Currently sound device properties show my ouput as "speakers (hugott2), the USB is plugged into M Scaler, dual BNC into the TT2 and headphones plugged in. Everything seems to work......... worth installing the drivers again?

 

[Amberlamps]

Lol, yes managed to get it fixed.

I haven't installed the chord async drivers however, I tried getting them from https://chordelectronics.co.uk/product/hugo-mscaler/ , then installed it and had problems.

Currently sound device properties show my ouput as "speakers (hugott2), the USB is plugged into M Scaler, dual BNC into the TT2 and headphones plugged in. Everything seems to work......... worth installing the drivers again?

If you have any more problems, just get the drivers from Here then on the right look for windows 10, thats all you need.

I have no idea of what all else is going wrong, but those drivers work, or should work.

Edit, what that ( speakers hugott2 ) that you are seeing is TT2’s bluetooth, do you have BT enabled on your windows 10 pc ?

 

[MasterZen]

I think I will leave it as it is - seems to be working with no problems.

The windows sound settings when I had my TT2 solo said "HugoTT2"
When I added the Mscaler, downloaded the drivers from that link the "HugoTT2" changed to "Chord Async UCB 44.1-768" - Then I had some problems.
Uninstalled the drivers, reverting back to "HugoTT2" (maybe windows auto installed this) - But it works.

No bluetooth or anything - PC does not have this.

But all is ok so happy days!

 

[bikutoru]

I think I will leave it as it is - seems to be working with no problems.

The windows sound settings when I had my TT2 solo said "HugoTT2"
When I added the Mscaler, downloaded the drivers from that link the "HugoTT2" changed to "Chord Async UCB 44.1-768" - Then I had some problems.
Uninstalled the drivers, reverting back to "HugoTT2" (maybe windows auto installed this) - But it works.

No bluetooth or anything - PC does not have this.

But all is ok so happy days!

Is this the driver you installed in configured: Windows-10-768KHz-driver.zip ? Are you on Windows 10?

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Is it better to use optical for PC? I guess there are no ground issues then, but optical quality isnt as good as USB (or is that wrong?)

Optical interface has highest jitter level by design and normally everyone recommends to avoid it. Chord DACs are immune to jitter, so in our case optical is a best choice. The only reason why I still use USB transport is because I have some DSD256 and DXD albums which I like. If your library is limited to 24/192, or you listen to streaming services only, there is no reason to avoid optical.

 

[ecwl]

Optical interface has highest jitter level by design and normally everyone recommends to avoid it. Chord DACs are immune to jitter, so in our case optical is a best choice. The only reason why I still use USB transport is because I have some DSD256 and DXD albums which I like. If your library is limited to 24/192, or you listen to streaming services only, there is no reason to avoid optical.

@MasterZen, and it is definitely possible to have your USB source not introduce radio frequency noise from ground loops into the DAVE/M-Scaler to degrade their performance, e.g. as you could hear from playing simply from your iPad. To me, with a network system that’s controlled via Wi-Fi through my iPad, I’ve found it very difficult to setup such a system so I finally gave up and switch to optical. For portable listening, I always use my iPad & USB as adding a USB to Toslink adaptor doesn’t change the sound at all.
What I’ve found is that your mileage may vary. Or more importantly as I’ve read many people’s posts, some people simply cannot hear the degradation in sound or others actually prefer the added RF noise.
At the end of the day, if your system is running well, USB/Toslink, and you’re enjoying the sound, that’s what matters.
But yeah, it sounds like your initial problem might have been driver-related rather than ground loop RF noise related.

 

[MasterZen]

Is this the driver you installed in configured: Windows-10-768KHz-driver.zip ? Are you on Windows 10?

I did first time and then had issues with the sound, so uninstalled it in device manager.

Maybe I will reinstall and see if it works again, if not, at least I know I can revert back to current working state

Will try tonight!

 

[MasterZen]

Interesting to know about optical/USB, I doubt I would be able to hear any significance either and mostly stream music from Tidal anyway.

Will leave it as it is with USB as my PC optical out cable goes into some desktop speakers , though they are rarely used

Thanks everyone!

 

[alekc]

I did first time and then had issues with the sound, so uninstalled it in device manager.

Maybe I will reinstall and see if it works again, if not, at least I know I can revert back to current working state

Will try tonight!

From my very limited experience with TT2 drivers on Win10 I recall a strange case of completely distorted sound when using different USB port on my notebooks than the one initially used. Indeed driver reinstallation did the trick. Hopes that helps.