[oronymo]

Rather often after powering up the tt2, sound is heavily distorted. I have to change to a song with different samplerate and back, before everything is fine. Known issue?

I have noticed the same thing! Like it couldn't lock on the sampling rate correctly. Switching tracks or power cycling fixes it. But very disconcerting!

 

[Widell]

Hmm, what you are describing is basically how I would rate them too. And instead of spending the very steep price of TT2 alone in a big heavy ,shiny ,fancy looking box, I spent that money on an Mscaler.
Unfortunately in an almost identical looking fancy box as TT2! But I like Qutest/Mscaler MUCH more than TT2 on its own. To my ears and with my 99% Acoustic Music listening habits, Qutest/Mscaler brings more realism with acoustic instruments than TT2 .
ALL Chord dacs EVEN Dave need mscaling to sound more natural ,effortless and "less digital" imho.
I do not know for sure but I suspect both the added number of taps and upscaling to 32/705 or 32/768 with mscaling matter more to me than other things like output stage of TT2 over the cheaper Qutest.
Ideally I would REALLY want Rob to design a Top Reference Class mscaled portable dac .Or at least a very reasonably priced SOTA one in a black little box made for people who primarily LISTEN to music and could NOT care less how their HIFI toys look.

"You can choose any color you wish as long as you choose black" is absolutely fine with me.

90% of my music listening is with closed eyes both via my big electostatic speakers and via headphones . The main exection being when playing my piano.


In my youth I built some amps and put them in the cheapest grey boxes I could buy. I spent my money on the best possible internal parts I could get instead!
So to be honest I 'd be ok with duller grey too.
I hate having to pay ridiculous money for Designer Made Eye Candy HIFI.
For me HIFI has got one important thing to deliver: to be as transparent to what is actually on the recording as possible within reasonable costs involved.
Personally I do not really like any of the design choices of Robs dacs .
I use them only ,for their SQ in spite of the VERY steep pricing even of Qutest , not to mention Mscaler.
By the way one of those really annoying little coloured balls on my Mscaler is stuck and does not respond when pressed. But my HMS still works as it should via the remote.
And WHY, OH WHY does it have to be so big and heavy??? Isn't most of what it does, done on a small fpga via code inside ?
If and when CHI-FI catches up in SQ I would not hesitate even a second to buy CHEAP HIFI and sell my expensive Chord toys.
Luckily I bought my Chord toys in SE-Asia where prices are not as ridiculoulsy high as in Europe or the US. But here in Sweden I think TT2 costs at least 4 times as much as a Qutest.
PS. Sorry about the long rant.
I have had a tough week this most miserable of winters here in cold Sweden ,and I am more than a bit grumpy."But for good Beer's sake". Oops sorry again, I meant good music's sake,I am very reluctantly still suffering through yet another one.

Cheers Christer
.

Christer, please keep your spirit up, from a Swede to another! I paid 2000 Euro in Electricity for December so lets so lets mourn and have Glögg and lets overcome...

Give me an option of a Chi Fi product that could rival a TT2/HMS combo whatever ASR is ranting, and I will be there to listen to it and if it is better I will sell mine as well, though I doubt this will happen short term though...

That said HMS is a subtle experience and need time to realize, and I am not sure it is in the category of value for money but nevertheless it is noticeable and best together with the TT2", I do not regret getting it, but is an item it would be more missed if it was removed from my system than I would say that I would say WOW when it was added, as said it will take some time to realize it and appreciate it...well my 20 öre...

 

[Progisus]

I paid 2000 Euro in Electricity for December

I thought my January electricity and gas bill of $450 CAD was horrendous. I feel for you guys.

 

[Christer]

Tack

Christer, please keep your spirit up, from a Swede to another! I paid 2000 Euro in Electricity for December so lets so lets mourn and have Glögg and lets overcome...

Give me an option of a Chi Fi product that could rival a TT2/HMS combo whatever ASR is ranting, and I will be there to listen to it and if it is better I will sell mine as well, though I doubt this will happen short term though...

That said HMS is a subtle experience and need time to realize, and I am not sure it is in the category of value for money but nevertheless it is noticeable and best together with the TT2", I do not regret getting it, but is an item it would be more missed if it was removed from my system than I would say that I would say WOW when it was added, as said it will take some time to realize it and appreciate it...well my 20 öre...

Tack! I feel better today, the sun is shining and I might even get my first chance of downhill skiing this winter, tomorrow, so things could be worse.
2000 € is a lot more than I could handle.
Regarding the Mscaler I have to praise Rob for making it, albeit at a VERY high cost.
But to me with my acoustic music it both immediately WAS and still IS a WOW experience.
I have tried to go back to both Qutest on its own and even my Hugo 1 as a travel option. But even though I may travel for a month or two without my way too BIG and heavy Mscaler I can easily hear how much more effortless and real acoustic music sounds when it is added.
There could be a rival though, PGGB which sounded promising via Qutest when I tried it.
It seems PGGB is now taking a different route than adding more and more taps. And according to the latest update can upscale to 256 bits. But I hate to think of the file sizes that would mean.
Moreover THE really good thing with Mscaler is that I can even listen to some stuff online via YT and enjoy it via Mscaler.
The latency is still a BIG PITA so with piano music videos and when I want to enjoy a conductor who beautifully draws the music in the air with his or her hands I have to use Hugo or my Benchmark dac 2.
My latest YT conductor discovery the young polish woman Marzena Diakun is a joy to watch on the podium. And with standard repertoire works she conducts without a score . Dvorak's 9th and a dress reahearsal of mov 1 of Tchaikovsky's 5th are wonderful to watch and hear with her.
One thing I have kept wondering about is why photo editing tools like my Photoshop has been available at 64 bits for many years, but music is still recorded at only 24 bits except for some test recordings?
And if I understand the hints Rob has given adding taps above 2M seem to matter less than his WTA filtering or upscaling to 32 bits 768.
Cheers Christer

 

[OCC7N]

Christer, please keep your spirit up, from a Swede to another! I paid 2000 Euro in Electricity for December so lets so lets mourn and have Glögg and lets overcome...

Give me an option of a Chi Fi product that could rival a TT2/HMS combo whatever ASR is ranting, and I will be there to listen to it and if it is better I will sell mine as well, though I doubt this will happen short term though...

That said HMS is a subtle experience and need time to realize, and I am not sure it is in the category of value for money but nevertheless it is noticeable and best together with the TT2", I do not regret getting it, but is an item it would be more missed if it was removed from my system than I would say that I would say WOW when it was added, as said it will take some time to realize it and appreciate it...well my 20 öre...

Im going to give you my honest opinion on TT2(XPHD, FILT1) vs Chi-fi(AGD, NOS). I was actually going to post it yesterday, but I decided to wait. I wanted to be sure that my blind test yesterday was correct. True. 24hour warm up of both systems. This is not going to be a "FAIR" comparison.

Price:
My AGD(DDC, DAC, MCKL, HEADAMP) system actually cost a little more than my TT2, even with the new prices.

(To make this short I ended up comparing them on musicality, they both have there wins in there frequency ranges)

Musicality:
What I notice is I only gave the win to AGD on the layering/seperations/textures-thickness and they actually have pretty much the same musicality, AGD just had that extra "swing" I like very much, which I think is the secret of the DDC/DI20HE, because the DAC/R8 does not do the same on its own. This is actually a big win for TT2 almost makes it even with:

DDC: DI20HE
DAC: R8HE MK2
MCLK: LHY OCK-2
AMP: HE-9 LE

TT2 on its own is worth the price, it mobs the floor with my ADi-2 easily!

When saying all this, I am trying to justify/worth my TT2, and I have to be true, the small differences makes the AGD atleast a class* over the TT2, but as said before TT2 was all alone!!!

(*Every element on AGD, felt like independently playing, giving me the vibe of being in the music with the musicians. I don´t know if TT2 is a dS, but it gives me the same character. dS feels like 1 track/side is playing even when the layering is good like it is on the TT2.)

_______________________

There are so many details to compare like dry and wet etc. In the end is what you like that counts. If the DAC you have moves you, its doing its job.

 

[kennyb123]

It seems PGGB is now taking a different route than adding more and more taps. And according to the latest update can upscale to 256 bits. But I hate to think of the file sizes that would mean.

Higher precision has no impact on file size. It’s no longer about more taps either. I would encourage anyone who has tried an earlier version to give it another try. Processing is much faster and at the same time less memory is required. The sound quality improvement over the former versions is significant too. So much so that I opted to reprocess everything. It’s one of the true bargains of hifi if one has the right DAC and they’ve taken steps to ensure a low noise floor in their system.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Hmm, what you are describing is basically how I would rate them too. And instead of spending the very steep price of TT2 alone in a big heavy ,shiny ,fancy looking box, I spent that money on an Mscaler.
Unfortunately in an almost identical looking fancy box as TT2! But I like Qutest/Mscaler MUCH more than TT2 on its own. To my ears and with my 99% Acoustic Music listening habits, Qutest/Mscaler brings more realism with acoustic instruments than TT2 .
ALL Chord dacs EVEN Dave need mscaling to sound more natural ,effortless and "less digital" imho.
I do not know for sure but I suspect both the added number of taps and upscaling to 32/705 or 32/768 with mscaling matter more to me than other things like output stage of TT2 over the cheaper Qutest.
Ideally I would REALLY want Rob to design a Top Reference Class mscaled portable dac .Or at least a very reasonably priced SOTA one in a black little box made for people who primarily LISTEN to music and could NOT care less how their HIFI toys look.

"You can choose any color you wish as long as you choose black" is absolutely fine with me.

90% of my music listening is with closed eyes both via my big electostatic speakers and via headphones . The main exection being when playing my piano.


In my youth I built some amps and put them in the cheapest grey boxes I could buy. I spent my money on the best possible internal parts I could get instead!
So to be honest I 'd be ok with duller grey too.
I hate having to pay ridiculous money for Designer Made Eye Candy HIFI.
For me HIFI has got one important thing to deliver: to be as transparent to what is actually on the recording as possible within reasonable costs involved.
Personally I do not really like any of the design choices of Robs dacs .
I use them only ,for their SQ in spite of the VERY steep pricing even of Qutest , not to mention Mscaler.
By the way one of those really annoying little coloured balls on my Mscaler is stuck and does not respond when pressed. But my HMS still works as it should via the remote.
And WHY, OH WHY does it have to be so big and heavy??? Isn't most of what it does, done on a small fpga via code inside ?
If and when CHI-FI catches up in SQ I would not hesitate even a second to buy CHEAP HIFI and sell my expensive Chord toys.
Luckily I bought my Chord toys in SE-Asia where prices are not as ridiculoulsy high as in Europe or the US. But here in Sweden I think TT2 costs at least 4 times as much as a Qutest.
PS. Sorry about the long rant.
I have had a tough week this most miserable of winters here in cold Sweden ,and I am more than a bit grumpy."But for good Beer's sake". Oops sorry again, I meant good music's sake,I am very reluctantly still suffering through yet another one.

Cheers Christer
.

Chi-Fi will not catch up bud, you'll stay with Chord.

 

[kennyb123]

Chi-Fi will not catch up bud, you'll stay with Chord.

I don't know what counts as Chi-Fi, but I will say that the Gustard x26pro was a significant upgrade over the TT2 (powered by a Farad Super3). It wasn't even close. PGGB played a big role in that, but even HQPlayer's sinc filters had the x26pro sounding superior to the TT2.

 

[Articnoise]

Chi-Fi will not catch up bud, you'll stay with Chord.

The TT2 is a very good AIO. As a pure DAC it's not bad but OTOH nothing special either IMO.

 

[oronymo]

The TT2 is a very good AIO. As a pure DAC it's not bad but OTOH nothing special either IMO.

Yeah… compared to the qutest I tend to agree. I have been a/b-ing them back to back design into an Enleum amp-23r and Susvaras.

I realized that you need to level match the output voltages (tt is 2.5v in dac mode compared 2 or 3 on qutest, so I use amp mode with -6 level setting).

Once I made that precise adjustment (using dev meter across different frequencies to match within .2 db) I find that going back and forth there is virtually zero difference - maybe 5% more clarity and soundstage on the TT.

 

[Reactcore]

maybe 5% more clarity and soundstage on the TT.

Were already in the land of diminishing returns.. it pays off more to go after better recordings/ADC masterings of a same music..

Thats what im doing.. replace my music with greater quality (original)content

Time consuming but rewarding

 

[Kentajalli]

Were already in the land of diminishing returns.. it pays off more to go after better recordings/ADC masterings of a same music..

Thats what im doing.. replace my music with greater quality (original)content

Time consuming but rewarding

Very true.
I have four versions of Pink Floyd Animals, with sound quality differences from say a cheap phone sound, to Dave sound!
If the quality is not there to begin with, then ....
Old expression GIGO , garbage in garbage out.

 

[chesebert]

Im going to give you my honest opinion on TT2(XPHD, FILT1) vs Chi-fi(AGD, NOS). I was actually going to post it yesterday, but I decided to wait. I wanted to be sure that my blind test yesterday was correct. True. 24hour warm up of both systems. This is not going to be a "FAIR" comparison.

Price:
My AGD(DDC, DAC, MCKL, HEADAMP) system actually cost a little more than my TT2, even with the new prices.

(To make this short I ended up comparing them on musicality, they both have there wins in there frequency ranges)

Musicality:
What I notice is I only gave the win to AGD on the layering/seperations/textures-thickness and they actually have pretty much the same musicality, AGD just had that extra "swing" I like very much, which I think is the secret of the DDC/DI20HE, because the DAC/R8 does not do the same on its own. This is actually a big win for TT2 almost makes it even with:

DDC: DI20HE
DAC: R8HE MK2
MCLK: LHY OCK-2
AMP: HE-9 LE

TT2 on its own is worth the price, it mobs the floor with my ADi-2 easily!

When saying all this, I am trying to justify/worth my TT2, and I have to be true, the small differences makes the AGD atleast a class* over the TT2, but as said before TT2 was all alone!!!

(*Every element on AGD, felt like independently playing, giving me the vibe of being in the music with the musicians. I don´t know if TT2 is a dS, but it gives me the same character. dS feels like 1 track/side is playing even when the layering is good like it is on the TT2.)

_______________________

There are so many details to compare like dry and wet etc. In the end is what you like that counts. If the DAC you have moves you, its doing its job.

AGD is not the typical chifi. He (that’s the owner’s last name) has been doing his own things for almost 2 decades now. His house sound is more old school analog flavor and nothing like the modern clean, sterile, anemic, and studio sounds of “chi fi”. Chord sounds more like “chi-fi” IMO.

Disclaimer: I have not heard a modern AGD so these are just some dated observations and memories.

 

[OCC7N]

AGD is not the typical chifi. He (that’s the owner’s last name) has been doing his own things for almost 2 decades now. His house sound is more old school analog flavor and nothing like the modern clean, sterile, anemic, and studio sounds of “chi fi”. Chord sounds more like “chi-fi” IMO.

Disclaimer: I have not heard a modern AGD so these are just some dated observations and memories.

Im so sad that my DI20HE spdif/bnc/acss can´t connect to my TT2, because TT2 is transformer coupled.....Why? because I suspect my whole AGD system secrets is in the DI20HE = real music! the right amount of time and tempo - analog sweetness! = which I hoped my TT2 could benefit from
__
I tried my R8HE MK2 on its own, its clean and very like on point, but the DI20HE is a game changer!w
(it´s soo good even a Synergestic Research USB Active SE won´t better the sound, decent usb cable is much better!! because of the super isolation)
__

And I have not mentioned the master clock input yet on the DDC DAC........which leads me to believe Kingwa must be thinking of some wonders to come(Master Clock)
- I do use a LHY OCK-2, but I don´t feel its a part of the AGD signature sound.

 

[piguetpolo]

Im so sad that my DI20HE spdif/bnc/acss can´t connect to my TT2, because TT2 is transformer coupled.....

What? DI-20HE can't connect to spdif/nbc/acss to TT2's BNC inputs? Like, it won't read the signal at all?