[Toonartist]

There was a thread on the Naim forum called Qutest/Mscaler/TT2 which had a lot of posts, and also chronicled quite a few Naim streamer/amp users that ended up switching to all Chord gear. Toonartist, PM’d me earlier that Naim finally had enough and deleted it.
Sure enough, it is now gone…hopefully we can continue discussing the TT2 over here, and all the different ways to utilize it, whether that is with Mscaler, PGGB files, HQplayer, feeding from a Laptop, Pi, dedicated streamer (like me) or something else entirely.
I know Toonartist and Simon in Suffolk from the Naim forum post here occasionally, maybe there are actually more members from that forum posting here, with different names? One that comes to mind is Triode-user, known as Four-legs on the Naim forum.
In the end, I guess someone might of posted something over there that either broke forum rules, or got under Naim’s skin.

I believe there were a couple of posts that would've probably pushed them over the edge. One explaining that they'd been considering a Naim 555CD or other CD but after reading the thread, changed their mind to looking at the other CD into MScaler & TT2 DAC. That and that there had been a number of Forum members converting from Naim power amps to Chord Etude & Ultima range.

I suspect that Naim had had enough. Go back a few years to when the 2Qute was released, and the Naim forum contained posts about Naim owners replacing their Naim dacs with the 2Qute. I am surprised that Naim have taken so long to spring clean their forum - it must have been frustrating to their marketing team to have posts praising Chord dacs, on the Naim forum.

Very true... had to happen in the end I guess but as has been pointed out by a few, they do say on the forum header, "The main room for general hifi and audio related discussion. The emphasis is of course on Naim Audio, but we welcome discussion of any and all hifi, regardless of age or brand."

This sort of leaves them open to this situation so they may have to revise that stance.

The other problem they have is that they don't have standalone DACs or streamers. If they did, they may find that people wouldn't ditch their entire Naim source in order to use Chord or other DACs.

I had the ND5 XS2 for a while but felt I was paying a lot for the DAC in it that I wasn't using. I'd rather spend the same money on a better transport. It was a great piece of kit but if it was just transport only, they could use a smaller case and make that even better for the same price if they didn't have to include the DAC each time.

Maybe they'll learn from this and we'll start to see some high end separate Transports & DACs from them... provided they can rag themselves away from the restrictions of a single BNC at 24/384.

 

[Toonartist]

It seems that, "Qutest/Mscaler/TT2" lives on in the Chord GroundARRAY discussion. As in, why it should/should not be returned.

For me, it makes little difference as I've now deleted my account as I don't want to post in a place where I feel like I could have my wrist slapped for discussing the TT2 etc. I'd imagine some may think it was a post from me that triggered the closure. All I can say is I never received any warnings from them and my last post was more than 24hrs before it was closed... it was not me guv

Anyway... back on track. Still loving the TT2 performance with HQPlayer + OpticalRendu + SRC.DX +TT2 + Etude. It's been nearly 3 months now since the MScaler left the building. Now that the Mac mini M1 has taken it's place in my fibre network as my headless HQP server, I have finally stopped looking for tweaks and enjoying the music (I know... till the next one )

Listening to Amplified - A decade of reinventing the Cello by Apocalyptica on the Empyrean at the moment and it sounds stunning!

 

[N Quarter]

Now that the Mac mini M1 has taken it's place in my fibre network as my headless HQP server,

Hi Toon, I see you have the M1 mini in the system now. I was thinking about getting one of those at one time to gargle blast, or PGGB my stored music. I know you have a powerful computer that you use for that, have you, or can you try blasting some music with the M1?
I think I mentioned on the Naim forum that ZB advised against the M1 mini for blasting duties, and recommended a Windows solution for blasting.

 

[Toonartist]

Hi Toon, I see you have the M1 mini in the system now. I was thinking about getting one of those at one time to gargle blast, or PGGB my stored music. I know you have a powerful computer that you use for that, have you, or can you try blasting some music with the M1?
I think I mentioned on the Naim forum that ZB advised against the M1 mini for blasting duties, and recommended a Windows solution for blasting.

At the moment of course there's nothing on it other than HQP. Because the licence is for a specific piece of hardware the original licence may not work but leave it with me and I'll see if I can get it to work.

My gut feeling is it'll work. So far it has managed HQP better than my MacBook Pro.... or even my main computer for that matter. Ultimately, it won't be as fast as a top end pc but if you're only needing the top end for PGGB files and an M1 is more than you need most other times then taking a little bit longer maybe something that is easy to live with!

 

[Toonartist]

Hi Toon, I see you have the M1 mini in the system now. I was thinking about getting one of those at one time to gargle blast, or PGGB my stored music. I know you have a powerful computer that you use for that, have you, or can you try blasting some music with the M1?

Ok... I've installed the software on the Mac mini M1 16gb. I've PM'd it too you rather than taking up space here but it didn't do badly at all given the 16gb restriction.

 

[dcpillai]

I own a Hugo TT2 and a M-Scaler. I have run into an issue when linking my Hegel Mohican CD player and my Marantz Ruby SACD player to the BNC1 and BNC2 (respectively) inputs of the M-Scaler. Essentially, when I use my Hegel alone OR my Marantz alone, there is no issue. However when I have them both switched on together and connected to the M-Scaler at the same time (with the Hegel on the BNC1 input, and the Marantz on the BNC2 input), there is immediate distortion and buzzing from my speakers. The light also changes colour to light blue/cyan (which I have never seen before). The moment I switch one of the players off, the distortion stops.

The following video will hopefully demonstrate the issue that I face.



I have searched for similar examples and have found none. There are a couple of forum postings that do address the light blue/cyan light, but not the problem that I have described. As such, I would greatly appreciate if anyone is able to shed some light on this issue.

In particular, I would be interested to know whether this is a known design limitation of the M-Scaler or not, and what is supposed to happen in a situation where there are 2 digital sources plugged into the M-Scaler via BNC1 and BNC2 respectively and they are switched on together?

Thanks!

 

[ra990]

I own a Hugo TT2 and a M-Scaler. I have run into an issue when linking my Hegel Mohican CD player and my Marantz Ruby SACD player to the BNC1 and BNC2 (respectively) inputs of the M-Scaler. Essentially, when I use my Hegel alone OR my Marantz alone, there is no issue. However when I have them both switched on together and connected to the M-Scaler at the same time (with the Hegel on the BNC1 input, and the Marantz on the BNC2 input), there is immediate distortion and buzzing from my speakers. The light also changes colour to light blue/cyan (which I have never seen before). The moment I switch one of the players off, the distortion stops.

The following video will hopefully demonstrate the issue that I face.



I have searched for similar examples and have found none. There are a couple of forum postings that do address the light blue/cyan light, but not the problem that I have described. As such, I would greatly appreciate if anyone is able to shed some light on this issue.

In particular, I would be interested to know whether this is a known design limitation of the M-Scaler or not, and what is supposed to happen in a situation where there are 2 digital sources plugged into the M-Scaler via BNC1 and BNC2 respectively and they are switched on together?

Thanks!

I wonder if it's treating that as dual-BNC the way the MSscaler outputs to the TT2. Looking over the manual though, it doesn't look like that should be the case. I would reach out to Chord with the issue. One thing you could do in the meantime is to use TOSLINK from your CD player instead of the BNC.

 

[TopQuark]

I know this is not under Rob but it will be nice to see a TT version of 2Go.

2 BNC outputs = Awesome.

 

[dcpillai]

I wonder if it's treating that as dual-BNC the way the MSscaler outputs to the TT2. Looking over the manual though, it doesn't look like that should be the case. I would reach out to Chord with the issue. One thing you could do in the meantime is to use TOSLINK from your CD player instead of the BNC.

Thanks for the suggestion to get in touch with Chord. I have done so and am waiting for them to revert. As for your suggestion to use TOSLINK, I will try that out too in the meantime. Once I find out what the issue is, I will post an update here.

I did not find the manual very helpful. It is a tad light on detail. I also found it strange that the light blue / cyan light (which was activated when I plugged in two digital sources via BNC 1 and BNC 2) is not specifically addressed in the manual.

Appreciate the suggestions!

 

[Mh996]

It seems that, "Qutest/Mscaler/TT2" lives on in the Chord GroundARRAY discussion. As in, why it should/should not be returned.

For me, it makes little difference as I've now deleted my account as I don't want to post in a place where I feel like I could have my wrist slapped for discussing the TT2 etc. I'd imagine some may think it was a post from me that triggered the closure. All I can say is I never received any warnings from them and my last post was more than 24hrs before it was closed... it was not me guv

Anyway... back on track. Still loving the TT2 performance with HQPlayer + OpticalRendu + SRC.DX +TT2 + Etude. It's been nearly 3 months now since the MScaler left the building. Now that the Mac mini M1 has taken it's place in my fibre network as my headless HQP server, I have finally stopped looking for tweaks and enjoying the music (I know... till the next one )

Listening to Amplified - A decade of reinventing the Cello by Apocalyptica on the Empyrean at the moment and it sounds stunning!

Can I ask how HQPlayer works with the Rendu? The recent discussion of the SRC.DX has me very interested in its potential as a cheap alternative to the M Scaler.

 

[Mh996]

Boy, what a journey this has been. I’d upgraded my way up to a TT2–>TToby—>AB1266 Phi TC, but ultimately decided to give up my pursuit of the most resolving system in favor of better timbre and a slightly warm tonality. I’ve just got the TT2+HD600/650 now and truthfully, in addition to them being more comfortable, I think I’m enjoying my music more instead of hyperanalyzing it. Yup, I have a $5500 DAC/Amp with $550 worth of cans. Is that crazy?

 

[alekc]

Boy, what a journey this has been. I’d upgraded my way up to a TT2–>TToby—>AB1266 Phi TC, but ultimately decided to give up my pursuit of the most resolving system in favor of better timbre and a slightly warm tonality. I’ve just got the TT2+HD600/650 now and truthfully, in addition to them being more comfortable, I think I’m enjoying my music more instead of hyperanalyzing it. Yup, I have a $5500 DAC/Amp with $550 worth of cans. Is that crazy?

No it is not as long as you are happy. Price tag does not equall enjoyment or sq in every case.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

I’ve just got the TT2+HD600/650 now and truthfully, in addition to them being more comfortable, I think I’m enjoying my music more instead of hyperanalyzing it.

Try Meze Empyrean. Meze have similar dark and comfortable sound, but of higher class.

 

[DJJEZ]

Boy, what a journey this has been. I’d upgraded my way up to a TT2–>TToby—>AB1266 Phi TC, but ultimately decided to give up my pursuit of the most resolving system in favor of better timbre and a slightly warm tonality. I’ve just got the TT2+HD600/650 now and truthfully, in addition to them being more comfortable, I think I’m enjoying my music more instead of hyperanalyzing it. Yup, I have a $5500 DAC/Amp with $550 worth of cans. Is that crazy?

IMO You haven't found the right headphone then, Try some others

 

[Mh996]

IMO You haven't found the right headphone then, Try some others

I'm not sure I'm looking for a single "right" headphone, but instead several that each do a couple things well. I'm really happy with vocals and instrumentals on the HD650, and I may get an HD800 for resolution and soundstage and LCD-2 (possibly closed) for thunderous bass and relaxed sound. I've demoed the Empyreans and liked them, but I'd have to put almost all my eggs in a basket to afford it, kind of like I did with the 1266. If you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them.