Chord Qutest vs Hugo2

[NO-QUARTER]

Which Chord did you demo?

[MoonDrifter]

TT2 and Ultima 6 amp

[NO-QUARTER]

Yeah, see I had an Mscaler and Wave Storm cables with my TT2. All these different components will give you different sound.
I think Simon and maybe ChrisSU used the Ultima Amp for a while, but both went back to Naim amps. Chris even got rid of his Dave I think.
A lot of this comes down to wanting to try new gear for me. I find that to be part of the fun.

[HiFiman]

I once owned an MScaler / Wave Storm (with Dave) cables using an ND5XS2 as source, in the end I moved on the MScaler and kept Dave / ND5XS2, felt the Dave on its own sounded more muscular, warmer and natural. Since the Naim firmware debacle I’ve ended up with an Innous Pulse feeding the Dave. To me this is the best Ive heard from my streaming setup, but I do occasionally wonder how an Mscaler would perform with a Pulse feeding it.

[Bluesfan]

A few months ago, I listened to music stored on a Grimm MU-1 feeding DAVE, with & without M Scaler, into a Dan D’Agostino pre-amp, Chord Ultima 5 power amp and Kudos Titan 808 speakers.

The bare DAVE set-up sounded a bit synthetic, slightly coarse/granular and failed to let music flow. It was somewhat disappointing, reminding me of bare DAVE when I first heard it in a Naim 500 series system.

Then the dealer put the M Scaler back in and pressed play. We just looked at each other, very surprised. Given the claims made about the Grimm MU-1 making M Scaler redundant, this experience was the very opposite. Streamed music went from synthetic hifi to wonderful, immersive, engaging music. I could have listened to music via that set-up for hours on end.

Each to our own, I suppose.

Best regards, BF

[glasnaim]

I think the Chord amp was the Etude, I also had one with the Dave/Mscaler. I went to active ATCs and also moved on my Dave/Mscaler. I preferred the Mscaler in the chain.

[badlyread]

Just arrived. Let’s see how this plays out…..

[GlenJ]

Let us know!

[badlyread]

I’m going to just play the Hugo 2 for a while before switching in the DAC-V1 again. Could be some time though as there is a little plastering that I need to do and the Hifi will be removed from the room for that.

[GlenJ]

So how well does it play?

[badlyread]

Hi Glen

Apologies but I’ve had little time to play! Initial finding are good but the Hifi was soon packed away for some plastering that I needed to do in the living room which has subsequently been delayed but the Hifi is still boxed. I’ve been listening via the usb input and my iPhone going to Grado 325x and it certainly sounds good. It’s a little quirky in operation but everything (including powering on) can be controlled from the remote. I’m not going to go all Hifi superlatives on you but I think it is going to stay. Worth a listen.

[normsbigwindow]

Just been on a similar journey since the start of the year. Here’s the potted history.

I got rid of my nDAC/555DR after trying Mojo v1, Qutest, mscaler, TT2, Dave and wave cables.

My system changed from 272/250DR to along the way to 282/SC/250DR. Speakers remained PMC DB1 and so did a Lumin U2 mini streamer.

I found the qutest a very accomplished dac vs ndac/555DR. In the end I preferred the qutest after 2 months of back and forth. Got the mscaler/tt2. TT2 another level up in terms staging and over all sound quality and very noticeable whereas I needed to listen hard with headphones to notice the mscaler effect. Jury still out on the mscaler.

Then the Dave which lived up to expectations. Prefer it without the mscaler when listening through headphones so mscaler will probably go. I want to find a reason to keep it but not feeling it.

I’ve loved my tinkering, but in hindsight, I’d stick with the TT2 without the mscaler and save some money. Not sure my ears noticed anything with the wave cables either. In the last 6 months three bits of kit to have a very noticeable impact to my ears vs what I already had, the 282, TT2 and unsurprisingly Dave.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

@normsbigwindow

Then the Dave which lived up to expectations. Prefer it without the mscaler when listening through headphones so mscaler will probably go. I want to find a reason to keep it but not feeling it.

Me too.. I found myself having my Mscaler sitting there out of circuit… and gathering dust … in the end I thought it was silly, it’s just depreciating on my rack.. so sold it and bought some RK speakers.

With regard to digital interconnects, I find Gotham cables 75 ohm BNC to BNC cable performs best between my Naim streamer and DAVE.. significantly more favourable compared to the DC1 for some reason.