Hugo M Scaler by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[THGM]

It’s not quite like that. They were both older and man dad’s death wasn’t unexpected but still sad. My mom was still full of life at his funeral, so to see her deteriorate within 2 month was kind of shock. She had stage 4 dementia.

But basically got insurance money and additional money from selling of their house. So had more money than I ever had and was still getting over there death and thought why not get the Dave and the mscaler, I have the money but it financially the right thing to do. At the time I didn’t care. Now as the year comes to a close, I’ve come to my senses. If my parents were still alive, they would have killed me for spending that kind of money on audio equipment. So actually listening to it came with some guilt for not being smart with my finances.

Ah, okay. At least you can still listen to music, I guess that's what matters in the end.

 

[Reactcore]

I actually got a Focal Arche to go with my Utopia’s. It’s a fun setup and obviously doesn’t compare for critical listening or lifelike sound but works for my needs. I am glad I got own the Dave/mscaler for the time I had it. Just really out of my budget but got as a form of grieving. Both my parents died within 2 months of each other at beginning of the year.

Sorry to read this now.. i interpreted that you went for something endgame above Dave..

One thing should be safe to say.. your parents would most certainly have like you to be happy and enjoy life as much you can..
Rick.

 

[iamoneagain]

Sorry to read this now.. i interpreted that you went for something endgame above Dave..

One thing should be safe to say.. your parents would most certainly have like you to be happy and enjoy life as much you can..
Rick.

Yes I did go endgame with the Chord Dave and mscaler but then realized it wasn’t smartest decision even with the inheritance money. Still had to pay off credit cards and start a savings for my son’s schooling. So that’s why it’s up for sale now and I bought Focal Arche while still had $1000 off offer.

And also you didn’t know my dad. Sometimes I think he enjoyed my suffering.

 

[118900]

Yes I did go endgame with the Chord Dave and mscaler but then realized it wasn’t smartest decision even with the inheritance money. Still had to pay off credit cards and start a savings for my son’s schooling. So that’s why it’s up for sale now and I bought Focal Arche while still had $1000 off offer.

And also you didn’t know my dad. Sometimes I think he enjoyed my suffering.

Sorry to hear about your woes. I genuinely wish I could afford to take the Mscaler off your hands but simply can’t right now. I’m pretty sure you will be able to sell them both soon though.

 

[NYanakiev]

Seems like the DAVE is gone already. I am certainly curious about the Mscaler but I am looking to get one in on demo before committing to buy this type of product.

In the process of setting HQ Player up to be able to compare the two solutions side by side.

 

[iamoneagain]

Seems like the DAVE is gone already. I am certainly curious about the Mscaler but I am looking to get one in on demo before committing to buy this type of product.

In the process of setting HQ Player up to be able to compare the two solutions side by side.

I posted somewhere about my thoughts of HQPlayer a while back. I’ve had good results with it on non-Chord dacs but didn’t like it as much as the Hugo 2 or Dave’s internal upsampling, let alone the Mscaler. Not sure if it has something to do with the synergy of the WTA1 filter on to the WTA2 filter. Even with the mscaler, the Dac still has the 2nd stage filtering with the WTA2.

But HQPlayer has free trial, so never hurts to try it yourself.

 

[Boogie7910]

What are you guys using to support the heavy wave cables?

 

[ZappaMan]

What are you guys using to support the heavy wave cables?

There is heavy foam that mscaler ships with, you can cut a block out of it.

 

[OM hawk]

I know people want this thread to not be about RFI, but just now I saved my friend (who is new to audiophile stuff) from RFI gremlins due to what I learned from reading this thread. She just bought a new Sony bluetooth headphone, and was telling me how it was fatiguing her, but she wasn't sure why. I was like hmmm... are you uhh... sitting right next to your WiFi router? Bingo!! She moved to the other side of the house, and the fatigue is basically gone, much better. Anyway, thanks y'all, for my RFI PhD. It's already useful

 

[mihnea70]

I use P12:
https://www.psaudio.com/products/directstream-power-plant-12/

This is kinda overkill for head-fi in terms of power, but I had my own reasons. Best strategy is to plug all hi-fi in regenerator outlets to separate it from the rest of the network.
P12 was effortlessly powering three power supplies for TT2, HMS, opticalRendu and two big monoamps AVM Evolution M3.

All in all I can say that PS Audio regenerators are very expensive, but very effective. Soundstage depth and small musical details were seriously improved with P12.

@Ragnar-BY I remember you have experimented with isolation transformers and other power conditioning equipment in your setup. Did you replace them with the P12 power plant or did you just add the P12 in front of the isolation transformer? Any reasons for going the extra mile?

 

[Ragnar-BY]

@Ragnar-BY I remember you have experimented with isolation transformers and other power conditioning equipment in your setup. Did you replace them with the P12 power plant or did you just add the P12 in front of the isolation transformer? Any reasons for going the extra mile?

Yes, I used Russ Andrews X6 and Airlink Balanced transformer for some time. Both had positive impact on sound quality. Now everything is replaced with PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 12. I was somewhat sceptical before ordering regenerator, mostly because of it's price. I knew that clean power is important, but was not sure if this influence would be enough to justify the price. Well, listening showed it has an incomparably stronger effect on quality. With transformers/filters it felt like sound became slightly cleaner. With regenerator it sounds not only cleaner, but noticeably better (more dynamic, better layered soundstage, higher transparency et.c.). I felt like I have upgraded my DAC.

All in all, PS Audio regenerators are excellent devices, well ahead of conventional filters or isolation transformers. Quite expensive, but absolutely worth it.

 

[griff500]

Yes, I used Russ Andrews X6 and Airlink Balanced transformer for some time. Both had positive impact on sound quality. Now everything is replaced with PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 12. I was somewhat sceptical before ordering regenerator, mostly because of it's price. I knew that clean power is important, but was not sure if this influence would be enough to justify the price. Well, listening showed it has an incomparably stronger effect on quality. With transformers/filters it felt like sound became slightly cleaner. With regenerator it sounds not only cleaner, but noticeably better (more dynamic, better layered soundstage, higher transparency et.c.). I felt like I have upgraded my DAC.

All in all, PS Audio regenerators are excellent devices, well ahead of conventional filters or isolation transformers. Quite expensive, but absolutely worth it.

Quite expensive? That's a significant cost for clean power. I am a big believer in clean, isolated power - the benefits on a guitar pedalboard are immediate and obvious and I've done this for my Auralic Aries G2 - but £5K... wow.

 

[moemoney]

Yes, I used Russ Andrews X6 and Airlink Balanced transformer for some time. Both had positive impact on sound quality. Now everything is replaced with PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 12. I was somewhat sceptical before ordering regenerator, mostly because of it's price. I knew that clean power is important, but was not sure if this influence would be enough to justify the price. Well, listening showed it has an incomparably stronger effect on quality. With transformers/filters it felt like sound became slightly cleaner. With regenerator it sounds not only cleaner, but noticeably better (more dynamic, better layered soundstage, higher transparency et.c.). I felt like I have upgraded my DAC.

All in all, PS Audio regenerators are excellent devices, well ahead of conventional filters or isolation transformers. Quite expensive, but absolutely worth it.

I have the PS Audio PerfectWave P10 and have all my headphone setup as well as my main system connected to it and it makes a big difference on the + side as far as sound goes money well spent.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Quite expensive? That's a significant cost for clean power.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. The price is really rather big, especially when compared with the things that surround us in everyday life. But by the standards of the High-end audio everything is ok. There are more expensive regenerators than PS Audio. There are also very expensive filters and even completely incomprehensible products for a lot of money. Next level DAC upgrade also would have cost me more. With all that in mind I see P12 as a quite expensive, but reasonable (for the keen hobbyist, of course) purchase.

 

[griff500]

Well, it depends on how you look at it. The price is really rather big, especially when compared with the things that surround us in everyday life. But by the standards of the High-end audio everything is ok. There are more expensive regenerators than PS Audio. There are also very expensive filters and even completely incomprehensible products for a lot of money. Next level DAC upgrade also would have cost me more. With all that in mind I see P12 as a quite expensive, but reasonable (for the keen hobbyist, of course) purchase.

It looks like an interesting bit of kit and, upon closer inspection, I guess the man maths is helped by the fact that it can power a number of devices. Comparisons with stock power supplies for the M-Scaler and TT2?