[Whazzzup]

Wonder if anyone who's owned both the H2/TT2 here can make some kind of "Buy this one if" type of comparison list? for example, buy the H2 if you want portability, or buy the TT2 if you need connectivity.

yes ones portable ones a desktop. TT has superior analogue components, more this and that, super caps, more slam. its also almost 2-3 times the cost. So pick your poison.

 

[21qz]

yes ones portable ones a desktop. TT has superior analogue components, more this and that, super caps, more slam. its also almost 2-3 times the cost. So pick your poison.

Right, but how much better than the H2. I know sound is subjective, but there has to be a rating most would agree to. If the TT2 is a 8 or 9/10, h2 would be?

 

[GreenBow]

I tried chip ferrites in the ground of the coax but they couldn't be used as the data became corrupted. You can put ferrites in with USB ground because it's differential signalling, so you don't need ground directly to extract the data (but the DC value of data must be roughly midway between GND and VBUS). This is why for the M scaler it has to be isolated at the transmit side, so that ground is not connected directly.

Thank you. I think I remember this vaguely now, from the M-Scaler thread. (In the end I googled for devices to remove noise from coaxial cabling. There were results. Anyway for now, I am OK with two optical inputs and USB.)

 

[ZappaMan]

Right, but how much better than the H2. I know sound is subjective, but there has to be a rating most would agree to. If the TT2 is a 8 or 9/10, h2 would be?

I’d say it’s about twice as good, because it sounds much more realistic. Even though h2 sounds amazing, I found tt2 sounded very different. But there is the caveat that I was without h2 for a week as part of the trade in.
H2, I thought was good, better separation then mojo but not substantively that different.
But I didn’t feel that way with tt2.

 

[seedubchris]

Because it’s not burdened with having to be portable the tt2 brings a much bigger set of tools to the party. Bigger caps , more power , twice the taps . The Hugo2 sounds great for a portable but the Tt2 presents the music with a raw yet organic purity that has to be heard to believed . The Hugo 2 sounds a bit crispy in its highs which some folks love but the Tt2 has this ability to frame the highs with absolute solidity . No etching here yet the highs are perfectly formed. It has a sound that puts it in the big dog camp where money is no object in rendering audio . The Hugo 2 is king of the portable world .

 

[musickid]

I envisioned Rob tuning his DACs with lossless and high Res music. I for sure would not use a 4K DAC for gaming here mojo seems more appropriate. These are my choices and I am not inferring anyone else is wrong. Music enjoyment and discovering new sounds and artists is all I need.

 

[GreenBow]

I have just discovered that I made a bit of a mistake when evaluating TT2, for music playback. Am using Jriver and I recently installed it again, as I moved from Win 7 to Win 10. by default, it puts some sound effects on (grrr). I just tonight found that I had some effects on.

Under Player, DSP Studio, Environment > Effects, it had Concert Hall - on.!

This added some bloom, and moved sounds forward in the soundstage. While this would have been in effect for my Hugo 2, also, it was really vivid with TT2.


I will now have to go back to Hugo 2 for a while and readjust, then return to TT2 evaluation. However as of right now, am fed up and so just listening with TT2 anyway.

 

[Skyhawk182]

Wonder if anyone who's owned both the H2/TT2 here can make some kind of "Buy this one if" type of comparison list? for example, buy the H2 if you want portability, or buy the TT2 if you need connectivity.

I bought the H2 a little over 18 months ago. It was great, vastly better than what I had before. I used the H2 with Focal Utopias. The sound was fast, and rich, very engaging. I found myself hearing things I never heard before on tracks I've always loved.

That said, the H2 needed more authority greater grip on the bass. The TT2 came out and it was substantially better, primarily because of the output stage.

I recently added mscaler, but I'll save that for another time.

If you don't need to move around I'd say TT2. I travel a lot, the added weight of the TT2 is quite noticeable in my carryon tech bag.

The Hugo 2 was amazing and very easy to take on the road. But my Utopias, like other loudspeakers, really came to life with more current.

 

[GreenBow]

@musickid

I did take on board some of what you say about gaming etc and whether to use a TT2. I actually agonised over that a lot, when I was thinking about buying TT2. I was torn between whether to use TT2 for gaming only sometimes, or all the time.

If I keep my amplifier in my system, then I can use my Meridian Explorer DAC for gaming sometimes. (Computer > Meridian Explorer > amplifier > speakers.) That's how I used my Mojo, and Hugo 2. I would often use the Chord DAC for gaming though, and it was always better. For speech, sound effects, of just music, Chord were way better. However I felt sort of guilty using my Chord DACs for gaming. I preferred the idea of preserving Chord DACs for music and TV/DVD/Blu-Ray.

Meanwhile there was always the pull to use Chord for gaming. The example of music in gaming, which I mentioned, in The Division 2, was exceptional an example. I had music set at half, and loved The Division 2 music from the start. The music when situations got heated in set missions, the music was often excellent. The way they created the same effect that you see in movies, was electric. It helped project the effect that the player was an agent.


If I go ahead and lose my amplifier from my chain, then I will be purely digital. Everything will go through the TT2 then on to speakers. It's a tough choice. On one hand, I'd like to preserve my Chord DACs. On the other hand, you only live once so enjoy it, and use Chord for everything.

Sorry if I sounded unnecessarily off. Just that gaming and films TV are outstanding on Chord. Neither should sound in either, be underestimated.

 

[Deftone]

I envisioned Rob tuning his DACs with lossless and high Res music. I for sure would not use a 4K DAC for gaming here mojo seems more appropriate. These are my choices and I am not inferring anyone else is wrong. Music enjoyment and discovering new sounds and artists is all I need.

Games do use high quality lossess audio files, high dynamic range and sometimes binaural sound.

Its not music quickly made for the sake of their being something to hear in the background, depending on the vision of the developers it can be extremely important to the experience.

Great music is great music regardless of its intended purpose as game score or film score.

 

[GU1DO]

Hi all ,,
Does anybody use the M2Tech HiFace Two with the TT2 ?
i am using it now with my Hugo 2 and am amazed how it improved the sound so much.

 

[GreenBow]

@Deftone I think for quite a while, music in games has been of exceptional quality. It's a real strong case for using quality sound hardware for gaming.

I can think of a few examples of game music that stood out:
1. In a particular place in Serious Sam: The First (or Second) Encounter, there was this amazing bass note sequence playing. I hung around and played it over and over again. I actually managed to blow the sub-woofer in my gaming laptop doing it. (Was not using Chord then.) Had to get on Ebay and buy another sub-woofer for my laptop, straight away.
2. At a certain point in Wolfenstein, in either The New Order or The Old Blood. I liked some harmonious sounds being played. It was a bit like really high quality dance trance stuff. I had to hang around and play it a few times. (I think I was using Mojo at that time.) Then keep going backwards a bit to go forwards again, and trigger the music again. Eventually you have to move on, and shoot more enemies.
3. Morrowind had some good music.

Often though I will lower music volume in games. It can be loud and distracting when concentration is needed. I have it audible enough to know when to turn it up for good music. It's not just music though, as sound effects are all part of the parcel. Atmospherics like as someone mentioned wind. There's a point in Metro: Last Light, where you cross a bridge. The cross wind is excellent, and the driving horizontal rain on the gas mask is the icing on the cake. It's powerful imagery, and audio imagery too; a memorable moment. ...… Then there is speech too, which the better that DAC, the more immersive conversations are.

I do think gaming is worth using an expensive Chord DAC for. I will for sure be trying out my TT2 in gaming. The transparency of Chord DACs, makes the whole gaming experience more life-like. Immersion in gaming can be like 'forgetting everything that's going on around the player'. Rather than feeling like playing a game that's software running. All on a monitor with sides, and wondering what it really should sound like.

All said and done though, gaming is the prize. Therefor we should play on whatever we have, whatever the quality. Although, I do think some games should be saved to play on more powerful hardware.

 

[Amberlamps]

Right, but how much better than the H2. I know sound is subjective, but there has to be a rating most would agree to. If the TT2 is a 8 or 9/10, h2 would be?

THIS MUCH BETTER

TT2 FTW

 

[miketlse]

THIS MUCH BETTER

TT2 FTW

That is before the 9pm watershed.

 

[Amberlamps]

For Teh Win

Not the world