Before I begin, I would like to give my thanks to Todd for offering the Chord M-scaler program.
I believe I am the first person to take advantage of this loaner program. While I am not a fan of being the first adopter of cutting edge technology, I was intrigued enough by the press for the Chord M-scaler to give it a try.
As far as disclosures go, I am expressing my own opinions. This review has not be edited in any way by a third party.
The test rig was set up as follows: mac mini (Apple Music/Apple Lossless files) -> glass fiber TOS link cable -> Chord M-scaler -> dual BNC cables (Audioquest) -> Chord Qutest -> RCA cables (Blue Jean cables) -> Manley Absolute Headphone Amp -> Moon-Audio Black Dragon XLR cable -> Focal Utopia.
Sample tracks:
Faithfully - Boyce Avenue/New Acoustic Sessions, Vol. 2
75 Septembers - Cheryl Wheeler/Driving Home
After All - Dar Williams/Green World
Don't Take your Time - Erin Bode/Don't Take Your Time
Someone Like You - Adele/Live at Royal Albert Hall
Pachelbel: Canon & Gigue - Platinum/Pachelbel's Greatest Hit - The Ultimate Canon
Fanfare for the Common Man -John Williams & Boston Pops Orchestra/American Classic
Admittedly, for the first week (after > 48 hour burn-in time), I was at a loss to tell what all the effusive praise was for. To really appreciate the M-scaler requires patience.
The M-scaler is a transformative technology: It will NOT, as the tired trope goes, allow you to hear things you never heard before in your musical choice. Rather, it will change HOW you listen to them. It is a qualitative rather than quantitative enhancement. The music gains an immediacy and liveliness that gives texture and sense of depth, and one that envelopes you rather than signalling from a distance. Take your favorite piece of recorded music; then imagine yourself going back in time to the studio where it was recorded. Replace the microphones for ones with less distortion and better placement for imaging. The sound you achieve is what the M-scaler accomplishes. Instead listening to tracks on a CD, you can almost imagine yourself plugged into the studio panel as the track is being recorded.
This effect tends to be most pronounced in music with lots of bass (e.g. Fanfare). However, even in acoustic pieces, the ensemble sounds more focused and less muddled. For those of you looking for a more detailed exposition of the M-scaler's capabilities, I refer you to the review by Jay Luong of Audio Bacon.
Finally, the most difficult quality to assess is the value of the Chord M-scaler. Like outboard DACs when they were first introduced, the technology will only improve and become more affordable with time. Does the increment improvement in sound justify the cost? To fully answer that question, one has to ask, what is the value proposed in a $4000 pair of headphones or a $4500 tube amplifier? For the vast majority of people, it is an absurd proposition. But for a very few, the art of listening is worth the investment.