[griff500]

Boys boys boys. Chord is an se dac, end of. It’s designed like this on purpose. The balance out for xlr or for an se rca pre amp or amp are on the back. You plug an se 1/4 or iem in the front. Haven’t we come to grips about this after 6 years?

That's far too simple.

 

[jrakesh]

I have recently acquired chord tt2 and paired it with mscaler and it sounded very good than from my previous DAC. Especially more details, but last week i added etherregen to the chain and there was a big improvement, mostly i could sense the instruments floating in the air, i like it very much, now i m curious as to what other improvements can be made. And where to start from. I have read here and in other forums about connecting to mscaler spdif input than usb, upgrading the bnc cables etc etc. I feel that next changes should be powering my server/endpoint with a good LPS first, Please suggest.

 

[Hooster]

I have recently acquired chord tt2 and paired it with mscaler and it sounded very good than from my previous DAC. Especially more details, but last week i added etherregen to the chain and there was a big improvement, mostly i could sense the instruments floating in the air, i like it very much, now i m curious as to what other improvements can be made. And where to start from. I have read here and in other forums about connecting to mscaler spdif input than usb, upgrading the bnc cables etc etc. I feel that next changes should be powering my server/endpoint with a good LPS first, Please suggest.

Rather than messing around with cables etc. etc. I would just buy a DAVE. Probably simpler and more cost effective.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

I feel that next changes should be powering my server/endpoint with a good LPS first, Please suggest.

From all possible upgrades ferrited BNC cables is one of the most effective.

 

[Gadget67]

Rather than messing around with cables etc. etc. I would just buy a DAVE. Probably simpler and more cost effective.

...and it might be more cost effective if we all weren’t searching for that last little bit of improvement! I occasionally read the DAVE thread and need to get out my calculator when I read about “improvements” to the DAVE. Let’s face it; we are NEVER happy. Now, back to my cable research...

 

[griff500]

I have recently acquired chord tt2 and paired it with mscaler and it sounded very good than from my previous DAC. Especially more details, but last week i added etherregen to the chain and there was a big improvement, mostly i could sense the instruments floating in the air, i like it very much, now i m curious as to what other improvements can be made. And where to start from. I have read here and in other forums about connecting to mscaler spdif input than usb, upgrading the bnc cables etc etc. I feel that next changes should be powering my server/endpoint with a good LPS first, Please suggest.

I tried SPDIF input to the M-Scaler and I did not detect any significant difference. Outputs from my Aries G2 are galvanically isolated. BNC cables provided a significant improvement. Power supplies are certainly important in my opinion.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Guys, reasonably, after selecting the headphone(s) you want (50% - I am going to arbitrarily assign this percentage to the difference it makes to the sound quality), the amp you want (30%?), the DAC you want (15%), the upscaler (4%), just how much "significant improvement" can there be left?

I mean, with the M-Scaler the improvement is audible, but we are talking about the very last percentage, pretty much last percentage on some tracks. I am wondering what on Earth is left to still allow for audible, let alone "significant" improvements via ferrites with garden hose accessories, linear PSUs, power conditioners, and now... Ethernet regenerators!

Don't get me wrong, I asked about after-market PSUs because safety could be a consideration (does the stock one cause TT2 failures), I know there are aesthetic and ergonomic reasons for changing other stock parts in the chain, cables etc., but I think with the Ethernet regeneration unit at €600 I reached some sort of disbelief point. And then there's some older Dutch fellow on YouTube speaking with authority making it sound like without it you might as well listen to AM radio...

Unless you genuinely have a crap electrical system in your house that is adding noise, etc., are you sure these things are not just changing the sound signature, adding distortion as Rob says with adding external amplifiers, instead of actually "significantly" improving sound quality?

 

[Gadget67]

Guys, reasonably, after selecting the headphone(s) you want (50% - I am going to arbitrarily assign this percentage to the difference it makes to the sound quality), the amp you want (30%?), the DAC you want (15%), the upscaler (4%), just how much "significant improvement" can there be left?

I mean, with the M-Scaler the improvement is audible, but we are talking about the very last percentage, pretty much last percentage on some tracks. I am wondering what on Earth is left to still allow for audible, let alone "significant" improvements via ferrites with garden hose accessories, linear PSUs, power conditioners, and now... Ethernet regenerators!

Don't get me wrong, I asked about after-market PSUs because safety could be a consideration (does the stock one cause TT2 failures), I know there are aesthetic and ergonomic reasons for changing other stock parts in the chain, cables etc., but I think with the Ethernet regeneration unit at €600 I reached some sort of disbelief point. And then there's some older Dutch fellow on YouTube speaking with authority making it sound like without it you might as well listen to AM radio...

Unless you genuinely have a crap electrical system in your house that is adding noise, etc., are you sure these things are not just changing the sound signature, adding distortion as Rob says with adding external amplifiers, instead of actually "significantly" improving sound quality?

Well, there is always ear surgery; maybe something on this list will help! Perhaps the particle repositioning maneuver!
https://www.upmc.com/services/ear-n...nd-hearing-center/treatments/surgical-options

 

[Hooster]

You know what can bring about a "huge improvement" and it is totally free? Just increase the volume by a tad. You will hear more bass, attack, space, detail, yada yada yada.

 

[GreenBow]

Guys, reasonably, after selecting the headphone(s) you want (50% - I am going to arbitrarily assign this percentage to the difference it makes to the sound quality), the amp you want (30%?), the DAC you want (15%), the upscaler (4%), just how much "significant improvement" can there be left?

I mean, with the M-Scaler the improvement is audible, but we are talking about the very last percentage, pretty much last percentage on some tracks. I am wondering what on Earth is left to still allow for audible, let alone "significant" improvements via ferrites with garden hose accessories, linear PSUs, power conditioners, and now... Ethernet regenerators!

Don't get me wrong, I asked about after-market PSUs because safety could be a consideration (does the stock one cause TT2 failures), I know there are aesthetic and ergonomic reasons for changing other stock parts in the chain, cables etc., but I think with the Ethernet regeneration unit at €600 I reached some sort of disbelief point. And then there's some older Dutch fellow on YouTube speaking with authority making it sound like without it you might as well listen to AM radio...

Unless you genuinely have a crap electrical system in your house that is adding noise, etc., are you sure these things are not just changing the sound signature, adding distortion as Rob says with adding external amplifiers, instead of actually "significantly" improving sound quality?

Not sure anyone has any info on the stock TT2 PSU being the cause of any problems.

 

[nwavesailor]

Boys boys boys. Chord is an se dac, end of. It’s designed like this on purpose. The balance out for xlr or for an se rca pre amp or amp are on the back. You plug an se 1/4 or iem in the front. Haven’t we come to grips about this after 6 years?

I see that your posts @Whazzzup go back to page 1 (May, 2018) of this thread so you have seen this issue come up many times. There are always newer owners of the TT2 here that have not heard the XLR chatter for 6 years. You know how topics come and go over time on forums and this one is quite interesting since it may allow for balanced output and higher power even if this was not the intent of the XLR's. Yes, I do understand that the TT2 was designed as a SE DAC / amp as the Qutest is just a SE DAC.
There are many posts from members here that have found using the XLR's to be positive. With the addition of a hard to drive hp, I find this to be an interesting topic that I may want to explore.

 

[Hooster]

Boys boys boys. Chord is an se dac, end of. It’s designed like this on purpose. The balance out for xlr or for an se rca pre amp or amp are on the back. You plug an se 1/4 or iem in the front. Haven’t we come to grips about this after 6 years?

Clearly not, since:
a) To many people it sounds best using the balanced outputs.
b) It has a redundant 1/4 socket on the front.
c) Wiring up a balanced headphone output on the front would be a piece of cake and to not have done so from the get go is to me an oversight.
d) A future version will most likely have a balanced headphone output on the front. (Why? Because it sounds better and is that not the whole point?)
e) "Chord is an se dac, end of. It’s designed like this on purpose". Who cares? This is about getting the best possible sound out of the equipment, not design dogma.

 

[Hooster]

Not sure anyone has any info on the stock TT2 PSU being the cause of any problems.

I would suggest contacting Chord directly on this. Constantly bringing this up in the forum no longer seems helpful since Chord appears to have decided not to provide any information here. (If you do contact Chord, please feel free to share the information they provide.)

 

[robo24]

My experience with it connected to the Pro iCAN via RCA & XLR at the same time, in DAC mode is that I can't hear any difference. When I switch inputs it is instantaneous. A couple times I convinced myself that maybe there's a little something extra via XLR but then I switch to the single ended input and it's exactly the same. Since I just got an adapter, tried in amp mode high gain via XLR direct to headphones and didn't see any benefit with the headphones I have.

 

[nwavesailor]

@robo24 I wouldn't be surprised if I found similar results using ZMF VO or Empy's, but may need the XLR's to drive the Susvara.