Hugo M Scaler by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread
Feb 19, 2022 at 4:41 PM Post #14,941 of 18,291
I think it’s very interesting, the three camps. The bystanders, the pro-linear/power-supply advocates. The supplied power supply advocates.
Is there truth or only opinion.
I think that at a certain point we need to understand which path to follow.

On the one hand there is a very competent person who advises you what to do in order to improve your system, intervening in various posts / threads.

On the other hand, there are those who prefer to make different, respectable choices.

I preferred to follow the first path.
 
Feb 19, 2022 at 4:59 PM Post #14,942 of 18,291
I think that at a certain point we need to understand which path to follow.

On the one hand there is a very competent person who advises you what to do in order to improve your system, intervening in various posts / threads.

On the other hand, there are those who prefer to make different, respectable choices.

I preferred to follow the first path.
Im happy to follow the outer edge, although I don’t hear the improvement until much later. Audio is not linear, but the only way to
God.
 
Feb 19, 2022 at 5:32 PM Post #14,943 of 18,291
For a few days now I have been powering both the M Scaler and the Lumin streamer with a lithium battery.

I have to say that there is indeed a smoother sound. That slight brightness on the high frequencies has disappeared.

I bought a 35000mAh lithium battery. Is a real power, weighs about 2 kg.

Then inserted in an electronic door box and fixed behind the back panel. When the job is finished, you no longer see anything.

When I have to recharge it, I insert the connector that comes out of the box.
@stemiki am I right you are feeding M Scaler via optical from Lumin? Either way have you been experimenting with USB vs optical in battery setup by chance?
 
Feb 20, 2022 at 10:49 AM Post #14,944 of 18,291
am I right you are feeding M Scaler via optical from Lumin? Either way have you been experimenting with USB vs optical in battery setup by chance?
In the next few days I try to use the USB connection.

Now that there is maximum isolation, it may be slightly better than the Toslink, although Lumin works very well from all outputs.

I'll let you know how it goes:thumbsup:
 
Feb 20, 2022 at 11:34 AM Post #14,945 of 18,291
In the next few days I try to use the USB connection.

Now that there is maximum isolation, it may be slightly better than the Toslink, although Lumin works very well from all outputs.

I'll let you know how it goes:thumbsup:
Wait. Your photo only shows 1 lithium battery. Do you have two lithium batteries, one to Lumin, one to M-Scaler?
Because I thought normally, (non battery), if you power Lumin and M-Scaler with the same linear power supply, you basically take out the USB galvanic isolation between the Lumin and M-Scaler. So you would need two linear power supply, one for Lumin and one for M-Scaler in order to preserve the galvanic isolation. I presume the same holds for lithium battery power supply but I really am not sure.
 
Feb 20, 2022 at 3:23 PM Post #14,946 of 18,291
Wait. Your photo only shows 1 lithium battery. Do you have two lithium batteries, one to Lumin, one to M-Scaler?
Because I thought normally, (non battery), if you power Lumin and M-Scaler with the same linear power supply, you basically take out the USB galvanic isolation between the Lumin and M-Scaler. So you would need two linear power supply, one for Lumin and one for M-Scaler in order to preserve the galvanic isolation. I presume the same holds for lithium battery power supply but I really am not sure.
A single battery 35000 mAh that powers both. With battery power you should not run into possible disturbances such as those given by the electrical network.

Now I don't think that a single battery for both or switching from optical to USB will defeat the isolation.

Maybe if @Rob Watts reads the thread he can give an answer.
 
Feb 20, 2022 at 5:30 PM Post #14,947 of 18,291
RF noise doesn't require a mains connection to ruin your day. So linking two devices via a battery makes the RF devil happy.
 
Feb 21, 2022 at 1:41 AM Post #14,948 of 18,291
A single battery 35000 mAh that powers both. With battery power you should not run into possible disturbances such as those given by the electrical network.

Now I don't think that a single battery for both or switching from optical to USB will defeat the isolation.

Maybe if @Rob Watts reads the thread he can give an answer.

So the issue here is isolating RF noise from the DAC, so grouping the source and the M scaler together via a battery is a good idea. Otherwise, the source RF noise via the mains could affect the DAC. RF noise from the source won't impair the M scaler operation; the only reason I have galvanic isolation on USB from the source to the M scaler is to reduce the noise that the DAC sees.
 
Feb 21, 2022 at 10:22 AM Post #14,949 of 18,291
So the issue here is isolating RF noise from the DAC, so grouping the source and the M scaler together via a battery is a good idea. Otherwise, the source RF noise via the mains could affect the DAC. RF noise from the source won't impair the M scaler operation; the only reason I have galvanic isolation on USB from the source to the M scaler is to reduce the noise that the DAC sees.
Thanks Rob!
 
Feb 22, 2022 at 1:26 AM Post #14,951 of 18,291
It depends entirely upon the source and your system. So my MSI lap-top the optical outs sounded identical to USB (even with the charger connected) but my design PC (which is huge with an MSI motherboard) the optical is better.

As a rule of thumb, battery powered sources that are not connected to the mains, it doesn't matter. Optical should always be considered as the reference SQ, and with a good source USB and optical will be effectively identical in SQ.
 
Feb 22, 2022 at 6:42 AM Post #14,953 of 18,291
When using Roon feeding M Scaler, should I have "Enable MQA Core Decoder" on or off? Is the idea supposed to be to send the M Scaler 44.1 and let it upscale to max? or is it ok to send the first MQA unfold in ROON into the M Scaler and then it upsamples accordingly?
 
Feb 22, 2022 at 6:45 AM Post #14,954 of 18,291
When using Roon feeding M Scaler, should I have "Enable MQA Core Decoder" on or off? Is the idea supposed to be to send the M Scaler 44.1 and let it upscale to max? or is it ok to send the first MQA unfold in ROON into the M Scaler and then it upsamples accordingly?
You should never ever even think about MQA if lossless is important to you.
So you should set tidal quality in roon to hifi not masters from tidal. But even then you are not getting real lossless files - not with the albums that are MQA "quality"
Check this and follow up videos if you haven't already

Also just listen to MQA versions vs non MQA versions of the same tracks. It alters the sound, and it alters it in a bad fake way.
 
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Feb 22, 2022 at 6:54 AM Post #14,955 of 18,291
So in practice there’s no advantage in USB in it’s asynchronous mode using the DAC clock to control the data stream ?
No advantage - the DPLL is very effective with SPDIF inputs, and this creates a jitter free word clock from the master clock that is frequency locked to the incoming data.
 

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