Started with the Mojo+Poly, which was the starting point where I got really intrigued.
I have now the Hugo 2 together with my Innous Zen Roon server/streamer and they blow me away.
I only use it for headphone listening where I am a big Audeze fan but have of course different options in my home like the Audeze LCD X, Audeze LD MX, HifiMan Edition X, Focal Clear, and Shure SRH1540, all equipt with custom cables from Moon Audio.
For all cabling (even to power) I use AudioQuest Reds.
Next step would be the Hugo TT2 and a pair of Audeze LCD 4Z, but then again, how much do you really want to spend in the end
I have a Chord Mojo used as a desktop DAC. Mainly used for streaming Qobuz Studio via an Allo DigiOne Signature Edition. I love the transparent sound and excellent soundstage for classical material.
I will probably buy a Qutest within the next year.
I have a 2Qute using a signal via SPDIF from my Node 2i streamer, listening to Tidal via WiFi. This runs into a Moon 240i integrated. I could use the DAC in the amp but have no desire to switch from the dedicated Chord DAC. Next upgrade will be new floorstanders as I think Iâm ready for a step up from my Monitor Audio Silver 6s. Any thoughts welcome folks!
Very happy with the Poly with the latest firmware - significantly improved WiFi reliability and range, and the GoFigure app has made configuring/setup/firmware updates for the Poly much more friendly.
I got a DSX-1000 a few years ago and was very surprised at how much it improved my main system. Since then, itâs been pretty much Chord all the way for me on the digital side as I think they are very hard to beat for the price. I run a Blu II into a Dave into a SPM1200 MkII power amp in my main system.
I use a MojoPoly for wireless streaming into earphones and a Hugo II fed by an AK380 into headphones. The sound signature is consistent across all three set upâs, but with very obvious improvements as you step up through the Chord range.
Some feel Chord are expensive but I donât think so when you consider how much it costs elsewhere to obtain similar performance and the Mojo is actually quite a bargain when considering price/performance ratioâs. I think it is delivered cheap in order to suck people into the Chord range.
No Chord dacs at the moment but thatâs only because they are making an M Scaler + DAVE over the summer for our system. Fingers crossed that they arrive in late September.
We finally settled on this pairing after a fairly extensive audition of alternative streaming systems that could sound as musically engaging to us as our Naim CDS3/555PS cd player. It was only when the auditions started that we realised what a high bar the CDS3 set.
A Sonore OpticalRendu, Chord M Scaler + DAVE makes wonderful music to these cloth ears. A DCS Rossini with external clock and an MSB Premier both made even sweeter music. However, both the DCS and MSB streamers were circa twice the already considerable cost of the system that we have ordered and look forward to playing for many years to come.
The really interesting disruptor was the Dutch & Dutch 8C active speaker system, fronted by an RME API-2 Pro FS. If we only had a streaming source, we would have sold the rest of our system and bought the 8C. However, our current system reproduces music from vinyl to a standard that the 8C could never achieve, whether fronted by the RME unit or our serviced Naim NAC52 pre-amplifier. As we intend to use both a streamer and the turntable, we decided against the D&D 8C in the end.
I ordered a Hugo TT2 and a Nucleus + that I hope to have in a week or so. For cost reasons, I did not buy an M Scaler as well. I am hoping that the DSP/upsample functions in Roon might give me a poor mans attempt at M Scaler upsampling functions. Have you tried this? What do you think - obviously the M Scaler should do more.
Hey Jon, youâll love the TT2, it a great piece of kit and of course when paired with mscaler, the results are fabulous and it completely offloads roon core vs using roon to upsample which is another benefit. But you also can get really great results by using roon to upsample and have the benefit of trying many different options - upsample to dsd or pcm, try different sample rates and different filters - and see what your ears like best. I think youâll be very happy.
I also run a Nucleus to TT2 via USB.
Personally, I would leave the TT2 to effectively do the âupsamplingâ, using its WTA filters.
Yes, you can obviously set the Nucleus to upsample prior to feeding it to the TT2, but you will be absolutely amazed at what the TT2 can do with 16/44.1.
In my experience, there are no sonic benefits to upsampling in the Nucleus prior to feeding it to TT2.
Yeah I thought the whole point of getting a Chord dac is for Rob Wattâs custom upsampling. Doesnât make sense to bypass it. If using m-scaler youâre only bypassing it because youâre feeding his best upsampling program.
And just from experience roonâs upsampling falls short of HQPlayerâs when I used on my prior dac.
