[InstantSilence]

I don’t know if this is in response to me saying check what Rob says on the MQA but I would say he’s an authority on this matter. Everything about the mscaler is over 30 years of research and it’s this technical philosophy that drives his audio improvements. So I don’t take his negative comments about MQA as just something to dismiss. But I suppose if think of his products as just another high end dac and don’t care about his approach to achieving the sound quality, then his comments would have less meaning.

But I don’t blindly trust everything I hear. I’ve heard him discuss why mscaler is better than HQPlayer but heard the opposite from it’s designer. So I did quick test and determined with my own ears I preferred the mscaler. And in the heat of all the MQA discussion, I also did several tests and preferred cd and hires to MQA. So at least on these 2 points I agree with Rob even though I don’t understand all the sciences behind it. But I have heard him say usb and optical should sound the same on the Dave and mscaler but I can hear a clear improvement with optical. So I’m sure all these other tweaks Users are doing have merit.

How do I even try the hqplayer just so I can see what mscaler might be like?

 

[bikutoru]

How do I even try the hqplayer just so I can see what mscaler might be like?

https://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html

 

[iamoneagain]

How do I even try the hqplayer just so I can see what mscaler might be like?

They have a free trial that can listen for 30 min before it stops. I find the interface to be horrible to use and options overwhelming so you’d have to find other threads on how to setup. I‘ve used it with roon as the backend so I don’t have to deal with it but if it breaks then have to reset. This is why getting rid of it and just using roon directly into mscaler is easier solution.

 

[InstantSilence]

They have a free trial that can listen for 30 min before it stops. I find the interface to be horrible to use and options overwhelming so you’d have to find other threads on how to setup. I‘ve used it with roon as the backend so I don’t have to deal with it but if it breaks then have to reset. This is why getting rid of it and just using roon directly into mscaler is easier solution.

Any threads with thr settings... Goodness! The interface is complex for me.
Need some step by step tutorial any ideas where I may find?

 

[iamoneagain]

Any threads with thr settings... Goodness! The interface is complex for me.
Need some step by step tutorial any ideas where I may find?

Over at audiophilestyles has a lot of discussion about it. But this is not the threat to discuss further. If you do try you need the max pcm setting of whichever Chord dac you’re using to bypass the WTA1 filter otherwise no point testing.

 

[InstantSilence]

Over at audiophilestyles has a lot of discussion about it. But this is not the threat to discuss further. If you do try you need the max pcm setting of whichever Chord dac you’re using to bypass the WTA1 filter otherwise no point testing.

How do I do that on the tt2?

 

[iamoneagain]

How do I do that on the tt2?

Think you’ll need to post in HQPlayer thread. Think fare to have comparisons here but not to give instructions on how to use competing product.

 

[bikutoru]

How do I do that on the tt2?

It is true, this is the M Scaler thread and we should stay on topic. You should look for help on HQPlayer in the thread dedicated to it, here is a place to start, and good luck:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/663/?tab=comments#comment-1016128

While they are competing products, I hope that we here after listening to music, and help each other in our endeavor, leaving completion to business side of things.

 

[InstantSilence]

It is true, this is the M Scaler thread and we should stay on topic. You should look for help on HQPlayer in the thread dedicated to it, here is a place to start, and good luck:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/663/?tab=comments#comment-1016128

While they are competing products, I hope that we here after listening to music, and help each other in our endeavor, leaving completion to business side of things.

Thanks so much I appreciate it. The goal is a mscaler, hq is a trial

 

[kennyb123]

I get that Mscaler can run on a power supply, but as you know, I'm wondering about the Dave. You told me that you hadn't really tested upgraded power cables on the Dave. Could you share a bit of your thinking on why not?

I left a lot of important things off that list as I just wanted to get the point across about how little the file format matters relative to other things.

The reason I didn't evaluate a power cord with the DAVE is simple. I don't own a DAVE - I own a TT2. The Farad Super3 benefitted a lot from a better power cord. The newish Shunyata Venom series power cords that include noise reduction deliver a really big bang for buck. I'm powering both Farad Super3s with the Venom V12 NR that retails for $399. I plan to eventually shoot higher but am waiting for excellent deals to come along.

As far as those "who simply don't believe they have any appreciable affect" - "believe" is the correct term. It's more of a religious tenet than a conclusion reached by doing experiments. See what I said above about tribalism.

 

[kennyb123]

I don’t know if this is in response to me saying check what Rob says on the MQA but I would say he’s an authority on this matter. Everything about the mscaler is over 30 years of research and it’s this technical philosophy that drives his audio improvements. So I don’t take his negative comments about MQA as just something to dismiss. But I suppose if think of his products as just another high end dac and don’t care about his approach to achieving the sound quality, then his comments would have less meaning.

I think it’s important to consider context. Rob is absolutely correct to view MQA as an abomination from a technical perspective. WTA is superior in every regard.

But just because MQA is technically inferior doesn’t mean it still can’t be enjoyed and that it has to be avoided completely. There are a heck of a lot of people enjoying non-Chord DACs that are using filters that are spectacularly inferior to WTA from a technical perspective. Must we avoid listening to those DACs because they don’t measure up?

I realize that Rob can’t bear to listen to most other DACs because he hears all the many problems he has long ago solved. That situation is more akin to a talented software engineer who has inherited code written by a far less talented engineer. All they can think is “what an idiot” as they behold what’s in front of them. Users of the software would likely be oblivious to all that and would wonder what all the fuss was about. I parse Rob’s comments about MQA from the perspective that he’s often speaking as a genius who is critiquing things technically.

I must confess that I began my career as a mechanical engineer. On a few occasions I interacted with a few who were geniuses. I once visited a shop that focused on only one thing: turbocharger design. I met a guy who spent his entire career focused on the shape of the blades. We were all blown away by the depth of his understanding. The real surprise though was discovering that his genius applied to only a very narrow area. He was able to go deeper than us normals in that narrow area, but outside that area he was just as normal as the rest of us or maybe even a step behind us. His depth in that narrow area left him somewhat weaker in other areas, unsurprisingly. When it came to the shape of those blades he was the guy to speak with. But when it came to long term durability and tough conditions we had to turn to someone else.

 

[iamoneagain]

I think it’s important to consider context. Rob is absolutely correct to view MQA as an abomination from a technical perspective. WTA is superior in every regard.

But just because MQA is technically inferior doesn’t mean it still can’t be enjoyed and that it has to be avoided completely. There are a heck of a lot of people enjoying non-Chord DACs that are using filters that are spectacularly inferior to WTA from a technical perspective. Must we avoid listening to those DACs because they don’t measure up?

I realize that Rob can’t bear to listen to most other DACs because he hears all the many problems he has long ago solved. That situation is more akin to a talented software engineer who has inherited code written by a far less talented engineer. All they can think is “what an idiot” as they behold what’s in front of them. Users of the software would likely be oblivious to all that and would wonder what all the fuss was about. I parse Rob’s comments about MQA from the perspective that he’s often speaking as a genius who is critiquing things technically.

I must confess that I began my career as a mechanical engineer. On a few occasions I interacted with a few who were geniuses. I once visited a shop that focused on only one thing: turbocharger design. I met a guy who spent his entire career focused on the shape of the blades. We were all blown away by the depth of his understanding. The real surprise though was discovering that his genius applied to only a very narrow area. He was able to go deeper than us normals in that narrow area, but outside that area he was just as normal as the rest of us or maybe even a step behind us. His depth in that narrow area left him somewhat weaker in other areas, unsurprisingly. When it came to the shape of those blades he was the guy to speak with. But when it came to long term durability and tough conditions we had to turn to someone else.

As I mentioned in another post I can sit back and still enjoy the Grado SR60 straight out of an iPod. But if I’m building my system around one of Rob’s dac’s, I’m going to take with his advice about works best first and then double check for myself.

I didn’t waste my money on a Dave to shortchange it playing inferior files. If every part of the chain matters, then let’s start with the files themselves.

I just have a hard time understanding putting so much into what comes after that files that you wouldn’t care about the quality of the files themselves. Would think all the other tweaks would make it more noticeable. And changing to better files is actually cheaper in several countries if you choose Qobuz over Tidal, so seems easy choice.

 

[InstantSilence]

As I mentioned in another post I can sit back and still enjoy the Grado SR60 straight out of an iPod. But if I’m building my system around one of Rob’s dac’s, I’m going to take with his advice about works best first and then double check for myself.

I didn’t waste my money on a Dave to shortchange it playing inferior files. If every part of the chain matters, then let’s start with the files themselves.

I just have a hard time understanding putting so much into what comes after that files that you wouldn’t care about the quality of the files themselves. Would think all the other tweaks would make it more noticeable. And changing to better files is actually cheaper in several countries if you choose Qobuz over Tidal, so seems easy choice.

Agreed. It's just that I use Tidal to discover new tracks (and then hunt down the hi res file, often failing at finding one)
But I guess you can only maximize Tidal so much....

 

[Ards]

If using Roon, set your Tidal settings to HiFi (down from Master) and you will never see MQA.

 

[kennyb123]

I didn’t waste my money on a Dave to shortchange it playing inferior files. If every part of the chain matters, then let’s start with the files themselves.

I just have a hard time understanding putting so much into what comes after that files that you wouldn’t care about the quality of the files themselves. Would think all the other tweaks would make it more noticeable. And changing to better files is actually cheaper in several countries if you choose Qobuz over Tidal, so seems easy choice.

It's simple: the better your gear gets the less the file format matters. The quality of the recording is what I hear. I can no longer blindly tell if I'm listening to 16/44.1, 192/24, DSD, or MQA.

I wouldn't spend all my money on this gear and then limit the music I listen to because the wrong kind of filter was used. The music is what's most important.

I have played Joni Mitchell's "Blue" in MQA format for friends. The reaction I hear often is something like "wow I've never heard this album sound so good". I have an earlier mastering ripped from CD that doesn't sound as good. Why? Not sure but it very well could be that the master from which the MQA version was cut came from a better analog tape or it was converted to digital with a superior A/D. The recordings provenance is what matters most - not the file format.

I hate to be so blunt, but you really have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to the importance of the file format. I used to be a vinyl guy so it isn't the first time a person has wondered how I could listen to an inferior format.

It seems to me that the prestige of owning one of the finest DACs, the DAVE, matters greatly to you - and that is why you won't "shortchange it playing inferior files". I want a DAVE for exactly the opposite reason: because it will make more enjoyable my entire music library. It will bring forth richer tone, more accurate timbre, better timing, and more naturalness from even the worst recordings. Before I owned this Chord gear, I often found myself having to skip past too many recordings because they had a tendency to be too harsh. That rarely happens now. Better gear makes everything sound better and enables one to get far more enjoyment from listening.

The irony in all this is that the Rob's DACs can make MQA sound spectacular. I don't think I'd be this positive had I owned a different brand of DAC.