[miketlse]

Just aslong as it's black, as they sound better than the silver ones, something to do with the particles in the paint.

I thought that you were already on one yellow card, for that genre of humerous posts https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.885042/page-335#post-14721241

 

[CRITICALSHOT]

Just aslong as it's black, as they sound better than the silver ones, something to do with the particles in the paint.

I thought that you were already on one yellow card, for that genre of humerous posts https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.885042/page-335#post-14721241

You have to use your ears and come to your own conclusions. I find the silver one to be brighter than the black one.

 

[GreenBow]

Since I bought the TT2 I have run it in DAC mode 95% of the time. It got just mildly warm running at DAC mode 2.5V output, when our UK temperatures were 21'C in my room. However we recently had a burst of hot weather, and my room temp went up 27'C at peak temperatures. (Then settled at around 25'C.) The TT2 got quite hot, and the underneath even hotter. (I can run an air-con but prefer not to if I can cool my room with open window overnight. For the obvious reason, CO2.)

What has me worried now is how hot the TT2 would get if I ran it in high gain mode driving speakers. I could easily see me doubling voltage out. Possibly more but I don't know. It's impossible for me to judge, because as yet I don't know how much gain I would need. I know Hugo 2 alone could power speakers, so I imagine the TT2 doing similarly. Then more power gain needed for quieter sources like video sometimes, or quiet tracks. E.g. My copy of Beethoven's 6th Symphony is a little quiet.

Also if I bought some hard to drive headphones, they might require high gain. Probably not though since I am not a loud junkie.

I know this is speculative. I don't know if pushing e.g. double voltage, would dramatically increase heat output. However I was very surprised how hot the TT2 got in the heat. It surprises me now also, why the TT2 doesn't have venting like the Ttoby power amplifier. I suppose I am asking really how hot some folk found their TT2s, when driving speakers louder. Or driving high ohmage headphones.

I mean, I don't think of peak temperature of 27'C, as particularly hot. I think I may end up building a TT2 stand to create airspace underneath the TT2. Underneath is clearly where it's hottest, and most of the heat gets reflected back at the TT2 case.

After more thought, I guess much of the heat is from the FPGA. Increasing voltage output might not necessarily be much more heat output.

TT2 only really gets warm after being on long, and on hot days though.


EDIT: My TT2 has been on for hours today, in a room at 22.5'C. It's still barely warm on the top side.

 

[CClose]

Guys, just ordered my TT2. Any recommendations regarding the M Scaler?

I’ve had my TT2 for about 4 months now. Love it! I just ordered an M Scaler yesterday! I’ll provide a review once it comes in next week, and I get some listening time in.

 

[CClose]

You have to use your ears and come to your own conclusions. I find the silver one to be brighter than the black one.

Too bad P2Q isn’t around to enjoy these tribute comments!

 

[Amberlamps]

I thought that you were already on one yellow card, for that genre of humerous posts https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.885042/page-335#post-14721241

And ?

 

[GreenBow]

I have only heard the TT2 in shops.

The realism, spaciousness and imaging is outstanding.
My next upgrade will be the TT2 versus my Qutest and amp. (Taurus MKII at the moment.)

While the TT2 sounds thinner it is much more lifelike not just in timbre but in realism and space.
Sure, £4000 is a lot of money versus £2000 which is the price of Qutest and a good secondhand amp like the Taurus.

I am quite happy with Qutest+Taurus MKII until TT2 becomes more affordable (Below £3000).

I am still interested in hearing thoughts about Hugo2 alone versus amp combos like mine. I hear convincing opinions on both sides. Wish I could have a Hugo2 to try it against my Qutest/Taurus combo.

I would be sceptical about judging the TT2 thinner than Hugo 2, from a shop audition. It took me days to get used to its signature at home, after replacing Hugo 2.

When I got my TT2 I was able to take out the Hugo 2 and put in the TT2. Same music - same partnering kit. Immediately, I could hear that it was no way thinner, it was richer but that took time to really appreciate. I could hear the TT2 balance was perfectly neutral. However there was so much going on with the TT2's performance, that it took days to get used to.

Initially I think, maybe the TT2 could be mistaken for being thin, because it's more transparent. It's really quite surprising how it can be richer, but a darker background. It's transparency is also completely evident when listening off axis, which I do quite a lot. It is richer in tonal palette than the Hugo 2, but the TT2 is even more 'hear-through'. That's quite hard to believe given how hear through the Hugo 2 is, and off axis.

I don't think of the TT2 as thicker blobs of sound in space, compared to Hugo 2. I think of the TT2 as like the Hugo 2, but moderately richer sounding. (Additionally the TT2 has quite a bit more precision, clearer, cleaner, smoother, more emotive, more detail, texture, cohesion, etc.)

Another quality to enjoy with TT2, is when you get tracks with nice timbral sounds popping about in the music. Sounds with space around them, and clear difference in timbre to other sounds around. E.g. In Love is to Blame - from Dido. On the Hugo 2 those sort of acoustical moments sounds blissful and smooth. On the TT2 they sound genuinely extraordinary; (at CD quality of course). Here is (the low resolution) YouTube of it.


Generally though, it took me a while to hear all the new texture and detail, as music as a whole. All this new stuff sounded separate to sounds in music that I heard with Hugo 2. (I think on that point, one could be forgiven for suspecting thinness, as new sounds seemed detached.) That was on music I knew off by heart. Some transients were just so fast, and it took me by surprise. Like transients on vocals starting with the letter T, came up so fast and exact, genuinely startled me first time. (That was on music I knew well with Hugo 2.)

On new music it was just what it was as I had nothing to compare to; it sounded brilliant of course.

I was sure on one occasion clearly, the TT2 made a note that I knew well on the Hugo 2, sound lower pitched. I heard that a few times marginally in various music. The TT2's more accurate tonal palette, provided more detail of the notes, and that seemed to include some fractionally lower tone. However this all just might be a richer presentation not pitched lower, but to me on occasion sounding lower.

Early on with the TT2, I honestly sometimes would be listening and thinking, "What?". Stuff sounded really quite new. Occasionally is sounded even bizarre, but in a positive way. Like, "What really, that is what parts of this music sounds like.". On this bizarre theme, the TT2 is also analogous to watching HD TV, compared to SD. The TT2 is sometimes so detailed that it seems unreal, or over the top, or too good to be true. Again, it was the whole sonic landscape taking time to get used to.

These points are in no way critical of the Hugo 2 either. Hugo 2 is off the charts!

EDIT: Additionally, in the UK we have something called 'distance selling regulations'. Since I paid my TT2 deposit by telephone, my TT2 purchase fell under those regulations. It was because I was committed to the purchase by deposit, before I could evaluate the TT2. This entitled me to fourteen days grace after taking the TT2 home. By law I can check over the TT2 thoroughly, and decide freely if I wanted it. I could legally return it just over a 'change of mind'. If the TT2 had a thin or thinner signature than the Hugo 2, I would simply have returned it, no question. I would not have bought and kept a £4K lemon. …… Also because my TT2 had a slightly out of alignment DX coaxial output, I additionally had a thirty day return window. In the UK if we find any fault, (even minor defect), within thirty days we can return the item for a refund. (After thirty days it's either repair or replace, at retailer discretion.) I had easily enough time to evaluate the TT2, and it was going nowhere.

 

[miketlse]

And ?

And everything went deathly quiet on the threads last night. You must all have been watching the audiofest that is Eurovision.

 

[GreenBow]

Chord threads always go quiet on Saturday. I noticed it a long time ago. I used to be impatient for folk to post because I liked the Chord DAC chatter.

 

[Triode User]

And everything went deathly quiet on the threads last night. You must all have been watching the audiofest that is Eurovision.

Err, well you might have been but I downloaded 'Thor: Ragnarok' and watched that.

 

[miketlse]

Err, well you might have been but I downloaded 'Thor: Ragnarok' and watched that.

I forgot all about it.
I was more interested in trying out my new headphones - Aeon Flow Closed.

 

[Amberlamps]

I was watching Roger Water's "The Wall".

Taking the movie to the stage was some feat, one that eclipses the eurovision song contest.

So how are your new headphones, you like them ?

 

[miketlse]

I was watching Roger Water's "The Wall".

Taking the movie to the stage was some feat, one that eclipses the eurovision song contest.

So how are your new headphones, you like them ?

I am growing to like them.
Yesterday, straight out of the box, there were sections of tracks where they sounded fine, but others where it sounded like one was listening through a veil.
Maybe that is why posters claim that Chord dacs need an extra amplifier to drive planar headphones.
Today with the volume raised from red to yellow, the veil has gone, and they provide a very enjoyable listen to jazz music - notes start and stop very crisply, but I am not hearing the shimmer on cymbals that you can get with Beyer Tesla drivers.
If I already had an expensive pair of Beyers, I am not yet convinced that I would consider selling them and keeping the Aeon.

 

[Amberlamps]

I am growing to like them.
Yesterday, straight out of the box, there were sections of tracks where they sounded fine, but others where it sounded like one was listening through a veil.
Maybe that is why posters claim that Chord dacs need an extra amplifier to drive planar headphones.
Today with the volume raised from red to yellow, the veil has gone, and they provide a very enjoyable listen to jazz music - notes start and stop very crisply, but I am not hearing the shimmer on cymbals that you can get with Beyer Tesla drivers.
If I already had an expensive pair of Beyers, I am not yet convinced that I would consider selling them and keeping the Aeon.

Cool, cool. Give them a few days and you will grow into them.

I have yet to get a pair of planars, I was looking at the lcd range but I keep seeing/reading about driver failures, that and their weight. I would like a pair of from Mr speakers or from focal's line up, however I would like to try a pair of stax.

I could do a p2q and order 500 pairs of headphones using the distance selling regulations and once I've opened and destroyed their boxes, send em all back for a full refund once I've found the pair that suits me, suits you sir!

The headphone game is a scam, a bloody expensive one at that.

 

[miketlse]

I could do a p2q and order 500 pairs of headphones using the distance selling regulations and once I've opened and destroyed their boxes, send em all back for a full refund once I've found the pair that suits me, suits you sir!

Sadly you read of so many posters doing that, especially in the US with their short return windows.
Receive the headphones from the courier, listen for 2 minutes, then decide that you don't enjoy the sound signature, and hand back to the courier to return.
Those posters will never find the headphones that they like, because for them (like p2q) the thrill is in the chase, and the euphoria fades quickly once they have the item in their hands.
On the bright side, that does mean plenty of b stock or open box bargains for others.