[jaredjcrandall8]

I have the Hugo2 TT on order, although I heard from another mscaler owner that he wishes he went for the Dave instead. Not to put words into his mouth, but I believe he thinks the Hugo TT2 + Mscaler = magic, and the DAVE alone is a magic of its own, but the Hugo2 TT, and the hugo2, aren't quite "magical" in isolation. I can understand what he means now that I've put the mscaler into the hugo2, although that isn't anything against the latter, but hard to get a component above the magic realm and not want all devices within that realm.

 

[musickid]

If you can stretch to dave just do it it will sound really on top form mscaled. you just can't go wrong with a dave. if i could dedicate a song to dave it would be "i like the way you move" performed by earth, wind and fire.


(i sometimes wonder if i'm interacting with professional types who carefully allocate time to interact on headfi in between their busy schedules and who carefully allocate a certain percentage of their income for their audio hobby? or... they do seem to be on here alot of the time... so maybe they're just audio junkies with bad credit??umm i'll ponder on that).

 

[jaredjcrandall8]

No funds right now--I also a new set of speakers and amps i want to pair with the hugo2 and mscaler. I think I'll be very happy with the new speakers/amps but in hindsight I would have loved some omega speakers, Chord Dave, Mscaler, and the KSE1200. I've read that some folks didn't like the sound of the kse1200 but I have been very impressed. The kse1200 is the only iem that my non-audiophile friends have demoed and have wanted and were willing to save and buy for themselves--even when played using a phone out.

 

[SunWarrior]

hugo tt2 or dave then? those are your options. i had the chord awakening when i heard hugo1 in early 2017 and on the same day i heard naim dac V1 and moon 230 HAD. i couldn't believe how a small metallic box just blew away two full size units in terms of clarity, detail and most oddly ease of power delivery to the same and higher volumes into 600 ohm beyerdynamic headphones....

Oh, I love the term "Chord awakening."

My Chord awakening happened in 2013, when a friendly fellow at Acoustic Sounds in Kansas convinced me that spending over $1K for a DAC would be worth it big time...my first 4-figure purchase for a DAC.

That Chord QuteHD unit blew away my first standalone DAC (from CIAudio), and I really enjoyed its colorful port hole too. I moved on to other DACs, better than the QuteHD perhaps, but I still kind of missed it.

Then in early 2016, as the relevant forums were filled with talk of the DAVE, I added that DAC to compare it with my then main DAC from Berkeley Reference. (Yes, this is the curiosity part mentioned elsewhere in this thread.) The two DACs were close in sound quality, with the Berkeley being no slouch. But the DAVE was more "livable" -- that is, I could listen longer with greater pleasure.

So that's it. Between finances and pure satisfaction, I was not about to add any major equipment to my main music system. Didn't make sense. Then the Blu MK.2 came along, and while I was intrigued by the M Scaler technology, I have no need for a CD player, since my Aurender N10 is my only source now.

So then the Hugo M Scaler came along, and I champed at the bit to add it to my system -- and managed to get one as soon as I could. I am curious, still, to see how reviewers handle reviews of the HMS, what ancillary equipment they use, if it even gets reviews.

Because really, unless you are Chord awakened and have one of their four DACs that allows dual-BNC input from the HMS, does it really make sense to buy an HMS?

Dave, who says this post runs long but he is quite Chord awakened at the moment

 

[musickid]

the problem with kse1200 is the amp degrades alot of the intended transparency out of the chord combo. what you really want is something like the new ether2 which can resolve the detail and keep up with the timing of the mscaler. even top of the line headphones like hd800s reach a bottleneck in performance with the mscaler. so really all parts of the chain should be in order to extract what the chord gear is giving.


i suppose you could buy the HMS and just look at it or maybe make a cardboard dave mock up to attach it to and then you'd be halfway there? i still haven't seen a serious review or breakdown of an mscaled mojo. i'm surprised no one has done it out of sheer novelty value or wonder even if it is only 0.5M taps. such a review should be entitled mojo 768kHz special ops.

 

[jaredjcrandall8]

the problem with kse1200 is the amp degrades alot of the intended transparency out of the chord combo. what you really want is something like the new ether2 which can resolve the detail and keep up with the timing of the mscaler. even top of the line headphones like hd800s reach a bottleneck in performance with the mscaler. so really all parts of the chain should be in order to extract what the chord gear is giving.

Yes, that is the downside that I wish I could change. I listen to music 90% of the time at work via IEMS. Headphones generally would be preferred but I try to be as discrete as possible among my coworkers, so big headphones just don't work. If the company was my own or I was in isolation I would probably try out the Stax & Hawaii combo with the chord equipment. I would get the stax because I have never once heard an over-ear electrostatic headphone, and the KSE1200 has convinced me that I should. As far as high-end headphones, I had the utopias along with different dacs/amps--including tubes--and I just didn't like the utopia. The new Meze heapdhone looks interesting, and so does the ether2 or the voce headphone, but like I said I hardly use headphones at work or at home.

 

[musickid]

so something like tia forte or a18t from 64 audio would be perfect then? but at 3k these are lifetime iem's. they would compliment h2/hms perfectly. actually pretty incredible.

 

[jaredjcrandall8]

I almost pulled the trigger on the a18t. I had the a12 in the past, so going for the a18t would have required no extra ear mold work! Oddly enough the KSE1200 are more comfortable than my customs. I sound like I am either a paid marketer or oddly obsessed with the kse, but if something comes about that by many subjective accounts is similar but superior then I am interested. What stereo speakers and amp(s) is anybody running with the Chord gear?

 

[supervisor]

What stereo speakers and amp(s) is anybody running with the Chord gear?

i have my HMS+H2 (soon to be TT2) running into a Naim Uniti Nova > KEF R7s

i bought the appropriate XLR adapters that will let me try running my normal speaker wire from the TT2 directly into the KEF R7s to see how it compares to the Naim amp

 

[Doody]

Rob mentioned using a portable battery to power the mscaler on flights--any portable battery option in the states?

The unit RW uses is the Poweradd Pilot Pro2 Power Bank.

Walmart sells it in the states - for now, as I believe it's been superseded by the Pro3, which lacks the variable output voltage setting.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Poweradd...r-for-iphone-Samsung-Galaxy-Tablets/124162562

Doody

 

[jaredjcrandall8]

i have my HMS+H2 (soon to be TT2) running into a Naim Uniti Nova > KEF R7s

i bought the appropriate XLR adapters that will let me try running my normal speaker wire from the TT2 directly into the KEF R7s to see how it compares to the Naim amp

The new R series is looking great! I am very curious to know your findings. I have kef reference 1s that will be with PS audio m700s, but have yet to listen. Kefs seem pretty insensitive, but if you can get your TT2 to power your R7s then the TT2 & Mscaler might be my own way to go. Keep me posted!

 

[supervisor]

Kefs seem pretty insensitive, but if you can get your TT2 to power your R7s then the TT2 & Mscaler might be my own way to go. Keep me posted!

excited to try it out, but will still need to use the Nova for vinyl playback and to watch television. so will be mostly experimenting.

i am getting an Innuos Zenith Mk3 server soon, which I will also run to the Nova via ethernet, so it is likely the HMS+TT2 rig will be mostly for headphone listening and maybe an occasional R7 listen. it won't be too hard to swap the speaker cables.

but the Naim amp sounds pretty amazing on its own terms as a Roon endpoint using the internal DAC.

 

[jaredjcrandall8]

excited to try it out, but will still need to use the Nova for vinyl playback and to watch television. so will be mostly experimenting.

i am getting an Innuos Zenith Mk3 server soon, which I will also run to the Nova via ethernet, so it is likely the HMS+TT2 rig will be mostly for headphone listening and maybe an occasional R7 listen. it won't be too hard to swap the speaker cables.

but the Naim amp sounds pretty amazing on its own terms as a Roon endpoint using the internal DAC.

I have yet to try Naim but have read many good things. I will most likely be waiting out for the Mscaler compatible amp (DX) for my speakers. I am always conflicted with gear because I find room correction useful for the lower mids and lows, but only a few components provide that feature. Maybe I'll have to look at the all digital MiniDSP and have it send a digital signal to the chord gear for scaling, DAC, and amp.

 

[musickid]

Exciting times. i'm thinking to swap h2 for tt2 when i can to use with my hms. stuck on pm1 cans out of pure joy right now. running roon out of a 512gb ssd imac late 2013 via optical. (correct colours not fully set yet on h2 and hms in picture)

 

[musickid]

i'm in no rush though! (correct colours on hms and h2 not fully set yet in picture)