Ok so I've gotten my MScaler hooked up this morning and I've only been listening to it for about 2 hours but I already have some very early impressions and something interesting is going on that leads me to believe not everything is working as it should and some things are. I am going from PC usb>MScaler>Schiit Gumpy single BNC until I get my TT2.
I thought things were sounding good but listening for the first time of the day I didn't know if the MScaler was helping as I didn't compare it to anything yet. I have to second what Amberlamps has been saying that the sample rate selector doesn't do a damn thing and every single setting from pass through to maximum is identical and I have very good ears and payed close attention cycling through each one over and over. HOWEVER, I took the MScaler out of the equation and just went back to the dac and noticed things might have went down in quality but I wasn't exactly sure so I listened for a while until I decided to add the MScaler back in. This time I can say the MScaler is doing something good after taking it in, out, and back in my system. My very early impressions are much improved separation, more smoother, each part of the music is more detailed. So my question is WHY does the sample rate selector do absolutely nothing from pass through to each other stage up the chain? I can imagine this driving people nuts who think the MScaler is not doing anything for their system.
The MScaler takes time to get used to, it’s not an obvious change like going from an mp3 player to a high end dac. I think what the problem was with alot of people, myself included, was that we didn’t know what to expect from the mscaler, and previous posts by blu mk ii owners maybe gave us the wrong impression. Meaning, that the change was so vast, that it would be noticed immediately. Which in my experience isn’t the case.
However, use the mscaler for a few weeks and then go back to using your old gear, and it’s very easy to spot the differences then.
I got bugged by passthrough mode, but then I did a little test by taking the mscaler out of the loop and just used hugo 2, and the difference between hugo 2 on it’s own and with an mscaler was big.
So big, that I don’t think I could ever use my hugo 2 on it’s own in a static setup now. It made hugo less bright/clinical, and also made every sound much easier to pick out and follow, where before it was just one huge lump of sound all mixed together, the mscaler helps break that up into it’s component parts, and I must admit, it does it so well that listening to old songs and albums is like listening to them for the first time again. Last night I was listening to a qobuz 60s playlist and some of the songs sounded amazing.
Passthrough mode.
I spoke to Rob about this perceived problem.
He said, once in passthrough mode, the OP SR ball will change to Red and the track sample rate will show on hugos window, red for 44.1khz, blue for 192khz etc.
If there was any upscaling happening, hugo’s glass window would show the colour for whatever khz the upscaling is for. And because of that, we can be assured that passthrough is not 1 million taps.
The MScaler is very very subtle at first, and it does take time to get used to it. Give it a few weeks of dedicated listening time, ( for me it was 4 ) and then take the mscaler out of the loop and listen to your old setup. I’m positive that you will be able to instantly notice the difference.
Don’t worry about passthrough mode, and enjoy your new mscaler.