[rkt31]

Hey guys...I just received my first piece of Chord gear...a Qutest and already I am addicted to the sound signature. The texture of my music just sounds more engaging compared to both my Gungnir MB and my RME-ADi-2. I am seriously considering selling off some of my other gear to buy a TT2 as a nice desktop headphone rig with plans to add the M Scaler after that. My primary headphone is the HD800 (I own both a modded original and the newer S model). I really enjoy the way they sound out of my Violectric V281, my Monolith THX 887 as well as my trusty Bottlehead Crack. My question is...does the internal amp of the TT2 have enough power to create a sound signature similar to my V281 or would I most likely be better off using the TT2 as a dedicated DAC and continue to pass the amp duties on to the V281?

I would love to hear the opinion of people running the TT2 with the HD800. If I still need my external amps to maximize the sound quality, I may choose to add the M Scaler to my Qutest first and add the TT2 at some point later down the road...thanks!

Tt2 does not have seperate internal headphone amp. It is like direct dac out. It is way too powerful for most headphones including hd800s. So I would suggest using tt2 in low gain mode for most headphones. I use hd650 with tt2 and HMS combo in low gain mode and I can barely go past -12L setting. It's a misconception that tt2, Hugo 2 or Dave need headphone amp. Since these chord dacs have extremely low output impedance, you need to be habitual of fast uncolored driving of headphones by the extremely low output impedance.

 

[Hooster]

Tt2 with m scaler is end game. No dac on earth can beat it, I can claim that.

No you can't, unless you can explain how it is better than a Chord DAVE with mscaler.

 

[bpcans]

No you can't, unless you can explain how it is better than a Chord DAVE with mscaler.

Hooster, can’t you let rkt31 have some fun? I do agree with him when he says that the “Tt2 with m scaler is end game”. The “no dac on earth can beat it” part, I’m not stepping out on that branch that’s swaying in the wind. But I will say that I’d put my TT2 up against just about any digital audio converter on the market today, save for the aforementioned Chord DAVE.

 

[SaddleSC]

congrats.
I can imagine how difficult it would have been shifting to chord, considering the hype and planned propaganda by some websites for substandard schiit gear. Can't believe how adamant can schiit supporters be who keep on harping superiority of r2r tech without any proof and measurements. Tt2 with m scaler is end game. No dac on earth can beat it, I can claim that.

After only two days with the Qutest, I absolutely agree with you. The differences in the texture of the music are larger than any other DAC change I have made in the past. Game changer.

 

[RCC HD Sound]

It does, but you have to get the hifi subscription. I think it's really just flac that's its pushing. Unless you mess with mqa.

Hi.
But according to what I have read in multiple reviews, MQA is not compatible with TT2.(FPGA)
Rob Watts also said it in one of his presentations

 

[rkt31]

Hi.
But according to what I have read in multiple reviews, MQA is not compatible with TT2.(FPGA)
Rob Watts also said it in one of his presentations

Tidal mqa is a big scam. Mqa is like made of two part. One lossless pass-through which can be passed through to dac by some players. It contains another part which is not lossless and together with lossless first part it creates first unfold in software players like tidal's own app, audirvana and roon etc. So this first unfold though not fully lossless but is better than pass through. For example there is 24 48 pass through, 24 96 first unfold. Second unfold (if original recording was 24 192) upto 24 192 takes place in the dac which is nothing but upsampling to tidal's specifications. So if you are getting first unfold from software you are not losing anything because chord's own upsampling is far more superior to tidal's specifications one inside the maq compatible dac. All this was done to reduce the data rate drastically and still fooling people that they are getting something which is master file which in fact far far from truth.

 

[RCC HD Sound]

RCC HD Sound, as you can see in the photo of my post the Turandot that I was listening to was a FLAC 48kHz 24bit, and MQA 96kHz recording. I have Tidal hi-fi so I get the higher bitrate. Of course the M Scaler just taps the crap out of it, and it ends up sounding really good. https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000397069-TIDAL-MASTERS

Yes, I saw the photos, they are splendid.
In the case of not having the MScaler (that is, TT2 only), is it possible? read MQA encoded files.

According to my understanding the TT2 (FPGA) is incompatible with the MQA protocol

 

[SaddleSC]

After owning the Qutest for only two days, I am in the process of selling off some gear with my sights set on the TT2 in my near future, I am torn between black and silver. Silver looks a bit more flashy and "Chord-esque" and black looks really badass and understated. So...how did you choose? Match your other gear (mine is mostly black) or stand out with the classic Chord Silver?

 

[rkt31]

After owning the Qutest for only two days, I am in the process of selling off some gear with my sights set on the TT2 in my near future, I am torn between black and silver. Silver looks a bit more flashy and "Chord-esque" and black looks really badass and understated. So...how did you choose? Match your other gear (mine is mostly black) or stand out with the classic Chord Silver?

Simple, with some real wood furniture, silver is the obvious choice. Or else black to go with existing gear. I have black tt2 and hms to go with my black benchmark ahb2. Speakers though I have wharfedale evo 4.2 in walnut finish.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

After owning the Qutest for only two days, I am in the process of selling off some gear with my sights set on the TT2 in my near future, I am torn between black and silver. Silver looks a bit more flashy and "Chord-esque" and black looks really badass and understated. So...how did you choose? Match your other gear (mine is mostly black) or stand out with the classic Chord Silver?

I went with the black to match most of my other gear and I am not disappointed one bit. It has that look like it was meant to be black. It confers a certain feel of extra solidity to the case.

 

[Progisus]

The koolaid is delicious . It is the way.

 

[Hooster]

The black one has a more stable sound, rock solid imaging and it may sound slightly darker. I would go with black.

 

[118900]

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[118900]

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[Gadget67]

The black one has a more stable sound, rock solid imaging and it may sound slightly darker. I would go with black.

Now, that’s funny!! Unfortunately I had to go with silver as I already had a Chord 2650 integrated amp and a MacBook Pro with two back up drives all in silver and the silver looks better with the wood desk I’m using. Black components don‘t always match up well when using components from different manufacturers. Silver seems better for that purpose. Here’s a picture of my silver components and one of my mismatched black pieces: