[Tao8]

The bnc plat Starlight cables I had terminated at 1.5m lengths based on everyone’s comments and also I have the same cables as USB cables and the 1.5m version sounds best to my ears.

Also I just upgraded the length of dc cable from the psu that feeds into the m scaler and changed the unshielded dc wire to a bigger gauge shielded furutech cable terminated with an oyaide dc plug. Hmmmm, surprisingly good move. I was only expecting small change but got a good deal of bass extension, more midbass richness and a nice shot of dynamics added as well. Just burning it in now. Sounding very promising.

 

[Triode User]

ATC SCM150ASL
...damn that must be heaven with the DAVE MScaler combo!!!

Yes, especially as the ATC actives have just come back from ATC where they were fully upgraded to 2019 spec. They are sublime with Dave MScaler.

 

[AndrewOld]

There may well be more to it than simply cable length. The purported reason the 2m cables in question sounded a little better is that they were better at attenuating frequencies at 2/3GHz. But different cables themselves have substantially different behaviors at these frequencies. Here is Canare’s chart:

http://www.canare.com/TopicDisplay.aspx?topicCategoryCode=TechNote&TopicID=60

You can see that the cheaper thinner cables are much much better at attenuating 2GHz as the more expensive, fancier fatter ones. (62dB/100m vs 25.7dB/100m)

So it might even be the case that cheapo skinny cables have advantages ...

(Mind you, what difference 1m makes is anyone’s guess..)

 

[Christer]

Thanks I will do some experimenting.

OMG.
Five musicians in a room the size of a closet each playing into their own mic.
And amplified instruments!
What on earth would one expect to hear from something as synthetic and claustrophobic as that which 32/768 would do any better than even 16/44.1???
I just wonder?
Cheers Controversial Christer

 

[ray-dude]

Thank you Nick, I updated my post to the correct value!

 

[shuttlepod]

Also I just upgraded the length of dc cable from the psu that feeds into the m scaler and changed the unshielded dc wire to a bigger gauge shielded furutech cable terminated with an oyaide dc plug. Hmmmm, surprisingly good move. I was only expecting small change but got a good deal of bass extension, more midbass richness and a nice shot of dynamics added as well. Just burning it in now. Sounding very promising.

 

[shuttlepod]

Sorry for the post above without any text. My two cents on power to the M Scaler is that the Chord-supplied power supply benefits from both a good power cord and (especially) a good power conditioner. When I replaced the stock power cord with a relatively inexpensive Shunyata Venom and plugged it into an available outlet on my Audience aR6 TSSOX power conditioner, I immediately noticed more intelligible, propulsive bass and blacker backgrounds. A step forward in reducing edginess and a step up in musical engagement.

A poster on audiophilestyle.com with extensive experience using different power supplies has also recommended using a battery supply instead of the Chord-supplied SMPS. Specifically, he found that using 16v on this battery supply worked about as well as one of the best power supplies money can buy (a Paul Hynes DR SR7):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015OAJFOC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I haven't tried this yet.

 

[ray-dude]

I am still waiting on my SR7, but I have been experimenting with various power configs. I have two of the PowerAdd Pilot units linked above, two Uptone LPS 1.2’s, and a couple battery packs for AA batteries.

Having the assortment has been invaluable in tracking down power and noise issues.

* The battery packs have perfect electrical isolation and no switching noise, but terrible voltage regulation

* PowerAdd Pilots have good electrical isolation (it has internal electronics), good but not great voltage regulation

* LPS 1.2 has great isolation, and great voltage regulation if you operate away from its max current limits.

Swapping into different parts of my chain, it is very easy to hear differences and learn what aspect of power makes the most difference for any particular component.

With all that, I agree wholeheartedly that HMS on the PowerAdd battery packs sounds fantastic.

 

[shuttlepod]

I am still waiting on my SR7, but I have been experimenting with various power configs. I have two of the PowerAdd Pilot units linked above, two Uptone LPS 1.2’s, and a couple battery packs for AA batteries.

Having the assortment has been invaluable in tracking down power and noise issues.

* The battery packs have perfect electrical isolation and no switching noise, but terrible voltage regulation

* PowerAdd Pilots have good electrical isolation (it has internal electronics), good but not great voltage regulation

* LPS 1.2 has great isolation and voltage regulation

Swapping into different parts of my chain, it is very easy to hear differences and learn what aspect of power makes the most difference for any particular component.

With all that, I agree wholeheartedly that HMS on the PowerAdd battery packs sounds fantastic.

Appreciate the feedback, ray-dude!

 

[musickid]

How long does a fully charged PowerAdd power the mscaler for on 1M taps?

 

[ZappaMan]

How long does a fully charged PowerAdd power the mscaler for on 1M taps?

6 hours or so brother

 

[dmance]

How long does a fully charged PowerAdd power the mscaler for on 1M taps?

I can tell you exactly; almost 6 hours...

 

[dmance]

...
With all that, I agree wholeheartedly that HMS on the PowerAdd battery packs sounds fantastic.

A caution and warning to everyone: If you start adding batteries in your chain and the sound keeps getting better ...then lights will start going off in your audiophile brain.
Everything you do to provide clean power helps and everything to clean noise on signal paths helps. So keep pursuing this direction for your tweaks. Maybe one day we can all live off the AC lines and the digital/analog sides of our chain will each be battery powered.
I have the advantage of an optically isolated DX ...so for me the benefits are instant and obvious and my evening listening thru speakers is pretty glorious these days...
Dan

 

[ray-dude]

A caution and warning to everyone: If you start adding batteries in your chain and the sound keeps getting better ...then lights will start going off in your audiophile brain.
Everything you do to provide clean power helps and everything to clean noise on signal paths helps. So keep pursuing this direction for your tweaks. Maybe one day we can all live off the AC lines and the digital/analog sides of our chain will each be battery powered.
I have the advantage of an optically isolated DX ...so for me the benefits are instant and obvious and my evening listening thru speakers is pretty glorious these days...
Dan

To paraphrase Pope "A little clean power is a dangerous thing; Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Experimenting with clean power and digital signal integrity is both intoxicating and sobering!

 

[Ciggavelli]

This is a very newbie sort of questions, so I apologize in advance.

I was wondering, would I see a bigger gain by including the m-scaler in my chain, or would I see a bigger gain by going with a different headphone? Currently, I have Tidal>Hugo 2>LTA MicroZOTL MZ2>Dana Cables>Focal Utopias.

If I bought some Meze Empyreons, Abyss, or ZMF headphones, would I see a bigger change in the sound than I would get with the M-Scaler? I am unfortunately unable to try our gear (I live in an area that is devoid of high-end audio stores). My issue is, should I add the m-scaler to my chain and max out my Utopia setup, or should I spend the $5K on different headphone to get a variety of headphone "signatures?"

Thanks