What Chord gear do you have?

Audio Gear Talk Chord
81

These comments were in response to @Jon_Saperia who only has a tt2 and does not have a mscaler.

82

@Craig_Palmer, Thank you very much. At the risk of going off topic, I will say that I was a bit surprised to read that the TT2 converts DSD to PCM for playback. I am a DSD fan - I know many do not like it. This is the opposite approach from PS Audio that converts PCM to DSD if I have read the material correctly. I went for the TT2 since it had such good reviews and it was highly recommended by people I trust.

83

@Martin_Kelly, thank you for the advice. Since I have not received the equipment yet, I have not tried it. I forgot about the upsampling capability in Chord. I will see how it goes. In any event, the Nucleus + with the TT2 should be a marked improvement as they replace an Auralic Aries Mini - a good device for the money.

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84

@Martin_Kelly is absolutely right about the TT2s upsampling. Itā€™s really good. Try it and Roonā€™s and see what you like best.

Re converting DSD to PCM for playback ā€“ Rob Watts (Chord) and Ted Smith (PS Audio) have been on opposite sides of the fence on this for a long time. Thereā€™s lots of material out there on why each of them thinks they are right. Iā€™m not qualified to comment on the technical merits of their positions but I have quite a few releases in this format and Chord products (I have both a Dave and a TT2) sound fabulous playing them. I donā€™t think youā€™ll be disappointed.

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85

Thanks very much. @Craig_Palmer. It will be fun to check out.

86

I may have the opportunity to get an mscaler to use with my H2 or TT. Right now I use HQPlayer and sinc-m or closed form-m to imitate the mscaler. Unfortunately I am unable to trial an mscaler were I live.

Has anyone compared the mscaler to HQPlayer? Do they think it is an upgrade worth considering?

87

Have you tried the xtr filter in HQPlayer? That is supposed to be closest to the Chord filter. Iā€™ve only heard most people think Chord sounds better without using outside upsampling.

88

Thanks, I will give that another listen. Isnā€™t the mscaler also upsampling outside the chord dac?

89

Yes but itā€™s using the same custom upsampling but with over a million taps. Youā€™re paying for Robā€™s unique filter that supposed to get as close as possible to the original sound from a 44/16 file.

90

Iā€™m back to using an optical cable with my Hugo 2. Find it more musical. The usb seems to give more detail but with a harsher edge. The optical gives a smoother presentation and music flows betters.

When I first upgraded from the original Hugo I was surprised I preferred it to the Hugo 2 using the usb connection. Thought maybe it could be a bad fit for my headphones. Once it switched to optical, I found the sound I was looking for.

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91

Hi there
I just got a Qutest which I currently run USB from my laptop, considering getting a streamer like the Innuos Zen III or mabe the mscaler. Not sure which would yield the best bang for buck ideas welcome, MScaler is pretty pricy but looks like great tech.

IMG_5949
IMG_5949.jpg3024Ɨ4032 2.8 MB

Thanks
Sean

92

You canā€™t really compare the M-Scaler with an Innuos, as they do completely different things - I guess you could use both of them together!
The M-Scaler is purely about improving sound quality, and I would guess it would be a bigger improvement than replacing your Mac with an Innuos server. After all, if it canā€™t achieve that, itā€™s a completely pointless device. The Innuos, on the other hand, may does a load of stuff that your Mac can also do. It may or may not sound better than the Mac, and I suppose you have to ask yourself whether or not you really need to free up the Mac from audio duties.

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93

Just received my mscaler yesterday. I donā€™t have the Moon dual coax to Hugo2 cable yet. I think Dorian is messing with shipping from Raleigh. Soā€¦ I have been using it at 500k taps into the Hugo TT(1). That is a fantastic improvement on itā€™s own. The instrument localization is so much improved you can concentrate on that musician. I have really enjoyed following Chris Squireā€™s bass line on the Yes Album for instance.

Iā€™ve been told to expect another level yet at 1m taps into the H2.

I do enjoy the effortless power reserve of the TT1 with the Utopiaā€™s.

BTW - bought it from Charles at the Headfoneshop in TO. It was a very enjoyable long distance purchase.

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94

Ha, me too! Chord Hugo TT2, M Scaler, Sonore Signature Rendu SE (Optical), and Sonore OpticalModule (sadly no Dave/Bluā€¦). My TT2 connects directly through balanced XLR to powered speakers (PSI Audio A21M, which are superb). ROON running on a dedicated computer connected via CAT6. I am considering replacing my ROON server with something like a Small Green Computer SonicTransporter although Iā€™m not convinced this will make a signifant difference in my setup.

Happy listening.

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95

My observations with my new mscaler connected to H2 and TT1.

Firstly it would be hard to return to listening without it.

It is superior with 1m taps and H2 as compared to 500k and TT1 but not by a power of 2. Maybe 20%.

It was not a waste of time to try with the TT1 and anyone considering using with a TT1, I would say you could be happy with that combo. The TT1 still has more body and driving ability than the H2. If I was to find another use for the H2 (2GO maybe), I could easily be happy with the 1. I will not be considering the TT2 unless the Loto comes in.

Wow! I am listening to Dream Theater - Metropolis which used to be a muddy mess and just looked up as I thought someone was talking to me over my shoulder.

BTWā€¦ the Moon cable to H2 is fantastic build. I contacted them as to which connector went to which bnc output. They came back immediately with ā€œthey are autosensingā€.

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96

I have the Hugo TT2 connected from my iMac Pro via a 10 meter extension cable with a booster and an audio quality usb a to b cable. Even with this kludge, the difference is stunning and yes it does play back DSD very well. It solidifies my belief that the higher DSD rates, e.g., 128 and 256 (perhaps someday 512) sound better than their DSD64 counterparts. Not an exhaustive or ā€˜scientificā€™ survey but enough so I have a focus based on bitrate.

I have two questions:

  1. How do I do upsampling with the TT2 (remember I donā€™t have an MScaler). It was suggested that the TT2 might be better than messing with Roon for this function. There is nothing in the manual that leads me to think it does.

  2. The only thing it can do is changing filters. The default that I am using is FIL 1. Do you have any suggestions about which one might be best for DSD. It says these filters do help with Hi Rez files but the closest it gets is

FIL2 ā€“ Incisive neutral with HF roll-off:
contains the same fundamental filtering characteristics of FIL1, however, the
HF filter is intended to remove the
HF noise from HD (88.2 to 768 kHz) recordings.

Seems like a good choice.
Thanks

97

Chris,
Cheers for the reply , yes I guess the Mscaler should make a bigger improvement to the sound overall. Appreciate the input.
Sean

98

I havenā€™t heard one myself, and Iā€™ve heard a wide range of opinions of it, ranging from very good to a small improvement thatā€™s not really worth the money. Maybe worth a demo though.

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99

True, its a lot of coin id be hoping to hear God :joy:

100

Hey,

  1. I have the mojo that I use for mac + Audirvana + Graham Slee Solo Ultra linear + Denon D7000

  2. My new setup is macbook pro - LMS - SOtM SPS500 - SOtM SMS 200 + 2Qute + graham Slee Solo Ultra linear + Denon D7000

Iā€™m addicted to Chordā€™s DAC for the first time Iā€™ve listen to it. (other dacs: Belcanto and W4S)

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