Hugo M Scaler by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[jjazzy]

I had the DAVE in my rig, while I loved it, the TT-2 is more to my taste and I saved money. You are correct about getting to a place of acceptance, I love my system and have no desire to make any upgrades. My dealer carries all the Chord stuff, so for the sake of curiosity when the Quartet is released I will demo it in my system. If it is exceptional, and truly takes things to the next level, I may consider it. We will see.

Be carefull now I am talking about your last sentence… that’s what I thought exactly with the current mscaler, 2 months later I had one

 

[Sevenoaks Audiophile]

I had the DAVE in my rig, while I loved it, the TT-2 is more to my taste and I saved money. You are correct about getting to a place of acceptance, I love my system and have no desire to make any upgrades. My dealer carries all the Chord stuff, so for the sake of curiosity when the Quartet is released I will demo it in my system. If it is exceptional, and truly takes things to the next level, I may consider it. We will see.

Unfortunately many audiophiles (including myself) have compulsive tendencies and it can be like an addiction so I think you have to set limits and in many cases seek contentment with what you already have, which is often a fantastic sounding system.

 

[dguitarnut]

I know i shouldn’t say this but….if you frequent forums such as this one, it will fuel the I wanna upgrade disease.
I got on the HI-fi merry go round and had spent around 100K and felt I just had an entry system at that. I quit reading the forums and “survived” with what I had for many years and happy about it……..same now….got my woo amp and caldera hp and gonna call it quits…….
That being said I have an Immanis on order……which I’m considering canceling….. and stopping visits to this site.
Ok, maybe

 

[chelseafc]

I had the DAVE in my rig, while I loved it, the TT-2 is more to my taste and I saved money. You are correct about getting to a place of acceptance, I love my system and have no desire to make any upgrades. My dealer carries all the Chord stuff, so for the sake of curiosity when the Quartet is released I will demo it in my system. If it is exceptional, and truly takes things to the next level, I may consider it. We will see.

I’d be very surprised.
If you send an 8K video to an HD monitor, you sill get an HD quality.
May not be the best analogy, but you got the point .

 

[Jawed]

Yes, you might find that the only DAC that makes Quartet M Scaler compelling is the Ultima DAC.

 

[Beyond The Blackwall]

I don't notice big differences from Qutest up to the DAVE. I notice the Mscaler more and would take it with a Qutest over a TT2 or DAVE alone.

 

[Hiker816]

Yes, you might find that the only DAC that makes Quartet M Scaler compelling is the Ultima DAC.

Yep. That's partly what I meant. If the Quartet is 25k, there's a psychological challenge to overcome for at least some people for it to make sense to pair with a 10k DAC. Don't get me wrong--if it's 25k of sonic improvement, some people will buy it. But there's still that psychological challenge to overcome that wouldn't be there if it were either cheaper or intended to be paired with a more hyperexpensive DAC.

 

[Christer]

I don't notice big differences from Qutest up to the DAVE. I notice the Mscaler more and would take it with a Qutest over a TT2 or DAVE alone.

I do notice differences,but I still bought a Qutest/Mscaler combo while both were still priced more reasonably, at least in Asia, after comparing both Dave and TT2 both on their own against Q/HMS and HMS with Symphonic Music where I also know how things sounded both live in the hall at sessions and the hires masterfiles from those sessions.
IMO the ONLY Chord dac that is not GROSSLY OVERPRICED 2025 is still Qutest. Not quite up there with TT2 or Dave resolution-wise,but the price difference OMG!
Where I live Mscaler currently costs about twice as much as I payed for mine in Asia when it was launched . TT2 costs about the same as a new
Dave did in parts of Asia before Covid hit. 6,5K USD.
Dave sells for around 14K USD .
Absolutely insane prices imo.
"The early bird sometimes still catches the worm." But I strongly doubt "Quartet" if it ever sees the light of day? will provide any such chances for "early adopters" even in Asia.I am even beginning to doubt it will be launched this year at all?
Cheers CC

 

[Sevenoaks Audiophile]

I don't notice big differences from Qutest up to the DAVE. I notice the Mscaler more and would take it with a Qutest over a TT2 or DAVE alone.

I noticed a meaningful difference between the Qutest and TT2 (DAC mode) both with and without the M Scaler, the TT2 is widely accepted as a better DAC than the Qutest.

As far as I know and have heard there is no Ultima DAC or even Dave2 in the pipeline.

 

[Jawed]

Yep. That's partly what I meant. If the Quartet is 25k, there's a psychological challenge to overcome for at least some people for it to make sense to pair with a 10k DAC. Don't get me wrong--if it's 25k of sonic improvement, some people will buy it. But there's still that psychological challenge to overcome that wouldn't be there if it were either cheaper or intended to be paired with a more hyperexpensive DAC.

Well, there'll probably be an Ultima Scaler to go with the Ultima DAC. So Quartet is only a "stop gap"...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-111#post-12341081

On price with Dave it was fairly simple. I designed Dave to suit a sound quality and a performance goal - my own targets, not something Chord was setting. There was no price point set or determined - everything was engineering driven. Once the design was finished, Chord added up the BOM, used their usual multipliers, and that was the price.

[...]

So pretty chuffed by that, we went onto the next meeting with a dealer that stocks Dave, whereupon we were told in no uncertain terms that Dave was just way too cheap. He claimed that nobody will compare a Dave at $13k against a $50k DAC, that to say Dave was better was ridiculous as the price was wrong. It can sound better, measure better, that just didn't matter as the price was wrong, and everybody measures by price. Telling this to an engineering driven company (John was with me) was, shall we say - somewhat disheartening. Ho hum.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Well, there'll probably be an Ultima Scaler to go with the Ultima DAC. So Quartet is only a "stop gap"...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-111#post-12341081

It's sad but true. The more it costs the better it sounds...

The Quartet Mscaler better not cost $25k. I was expecting $10 - $15k. $25k is too much. I don't care how good it sounds. That's nearly the price of competing dacs that might sound better. I love my m-scaler, but let's be honest, it doesn't improve the sound that much. It helps a little. And I like that little bit of sound improvement, but it's not worth $25k for a better version of it. How much better can it genuinely get anyway? Sometimes I feel that Rob is going down the wrong path. Timing is key, but not $25k key. $^&% already sounds good. Realistically, how much better can it sound? Call me skeptical of this Quartet M-Scaler. I'll probably buy it though.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Be carefull now I am talking about your last sentence… that’s what thought exactly with the current mscaler, 2 months later I had one

Yea brother, that last sentence will get me in trouble . If that Quartet blows me away my pocket will have a hole in it

 

[Sevenoaks Audiophile]

if you use a networked streamer (with or without integral DAC) I thoroughly recommend placing a Reiki Audio SuperSwitch just before it and using a Reiki Audio Jundostream cable between the SuperSwitch and the streamer.

This cable is extraordinary.

https://www.reikiaudio.com/

 

[Meridian7]

...
IMO the ONLY Chord dac that is not GROSSLY OVERPRICED 2025 is still Qutest.

Dont forget mojo2

 

[jjazzy]

I do notice differences,but I still bought a Qutest/Mscaler combo while both were still priced more reasonably, at least in Asia, after comparing both Dave and TT2 both on their own against Q/HMS and HMS with Symphonic Music where I also know how things sounded both live in the hall at sessions and the hires masterfiles from those sessions.
IMO the ONLY Chord dac that is not GROSSLY OVERPRICED 2025 is still Qutest. Not quite up there with TT2 or Dave resolution-wise,but the price difference OMG!
Where I live Mscaler currently costs about twice as much as I payed for mine in Asia when it was launched . TT2 costs about the same as a new
Dave did in parts of Asia before Covid hit. 6,5K USD.
Dave sells for around 14K USD .
Absolutely insane prices imo.
"The early bird sometimes still catches the worm." But I strongly doubt "Quartet" if it ever sees the light of day? will provide any such chances for "early adopters" even in Asia.I am even beginning to doubt it will be launched this year at all?
Cheers CC

I see it with more devices, mentioned it before. A lot of devices (of different brands) went op in price quite a bit, since covid period. Even devices that are still the same.

My hifi amp was raises in price almost 4000 euro, since 2020, it is exactly the same amp. and yes parts and labour went up… but certainly not 4000 up.