Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

Simon,

I did consider the Hugo 1 due to your strong endorsement …but, I seem to remember you saying that your experience is that other Hugos you have tested on your system did not sound the same as your own, so I demurred.

M

Well the SBooster Ultra didn’t arrive, they sent me four MkII 5v SBoosters instead! Forcing me to be HONEST, for goodness sake.

So, rather than test the Ultra I have bought the R-Core LPSU back downstairs which I am feeding through the 3 1A LT3045s I have made up. In the Headfi Qutest thread Rob Watts says that 1A is sufficient, but his SMPS gives 2.1A and I find having more juice on tap is never a constraint.

There are a number of files that produce badly in my system. A number I have solved through better/different PSUs, cables & grounding; some have continued to be problematic. Last night a tried Thunder Child from War of the Worlds through the Qutest, oh dear - ouch.

Today I thought I would work my way through a number of the problem files and see how the Qutest in my current system copes.

Problem Files

  1. Dido, No Angel, Here With Me - CD, NAS - M
  2. Phil Collins, Tarzan, Son of Man - CD, NAS - B
  3. Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water, El Condor Pasa - CD, NAS - B
  4. Queen, Made in Heaven, Too Much Love Will Kill You - CD, NAS - M
  5. Sting, Brand New Day, Desert Road - CD, NAS - B
  6. Jeff Wayne, War of the Worlds, Thunder Child - CD, NAS - B
  7. Elkie Brooks, Pearls, Superstar - CD, NAS - B
  8. Beach Boys, Good Vibrations - CD, NAS - M
  9. Jeff Wayne, War of the Worlds, Thunder Child - LP rip, NAS, HD - OK

The issue with these tracks is production of sibilant / fricative sounds. I have rated the tracks as (B)ad, (M)edium of OK.

BC = microRendu, PSU > Bel Canto 3.5vb WITHOUT any tweaks;
AN = Audio Note 2.1;
Q/S = Qutest + Sbooster & LT3045;
Q/R = Qutest + RCore LPSU & LT3045.

Listening experience = Argh, (M)edium or OK.

Track >> BC >> Q/S >> Q/R >> AN
1 >> M >> M >> OK >> OK
2 >> Argh >> Argh >> Argh >> M
3 >> Argh >> M >> OK >> OK
4 >> Argh >> M >> OK >> OK
5 >> Argh >> OK >> OK >> OK
6 >> Argh >> Argh >> Argh >> M
7 >> Argh >> OK >> OK >> OK
8 >> Argh >> OK >> OK >> OK
9 >> OK >> OK >> OK >> OK

I spent ten minutes lining this table up, and then noticed it made NO difference in the preview pane, what a pain!

I admite I was a tad disappointed when I listened to the War of the Worlds CD rip last night, but mightily relieved when I listened to the other tracks, apart from Son of Man which is the other MOST problematic track in my system.

2 Likes

It might be worth trying your luck ordering a TT2 from them :joy:

As I mentioned above, I should try out a LPS at some point… not sure if it will offer anything over the power bank though.

I’ve come up against a couple of tracks that I thought were a bit lacking but non that presented sibilance. The Audiolab M-Dac+, that DAC had detail but also plenty of sibilance at times.

Looks like the Qutest is doing well overall though!

Not sure if it’s quite the same problem but when I had a 2Qute I found the digital to analogue conversion algorithm was susceptible to a phenomenon known as “intersample overs” resulting in distortion in the high frequencies. I first noticed this on an Agnes Obel track where some of the high frequency content was really pushing the limit. For those albums where it was a problem, I could cure it by reducing the gain in the digital domain by a coupe of dB’s. At the time I was using Audirvana so it was straightforward to to use the built in digital volume control for this purpose.

:laughing:

Hi Allan,

I have tried a range of solutions, but it is very specific tracks. I am coming down to room acoustics. If I listen to these tracks on other systems I can hear the fricatives, but they are better handled.

The War of the Worlds is the first edition CD. I’ve got the SACD in the loft, I ought to try and find it and rip both layers, but at least I’ve got my LP capture at 9624.

I have just been shown through Dirac by my dealer and I’m probably going to use REW to produce a Convolution file which I can then plug into Minimserver, should be interesting.

Yes. The Qutest gives further insight, dynamics and an expansive sound field. The Audio Notes wins are that it is slightly kinder to bad recordings and that it slight added mid-range weight can slightly improve vocals.

This afternoon I have been comparing my MkI SBooster against a ZeroZone 6A R-Core LPSU, both via 3 x 1A 5V LT3045s. The ZZ has better extension in the Hi and Low frequencies, and I prefer its low end which has slightly better power and control. Hi end is more open and detailed.

Hmm… that is a fair observation… however I went for a walk on the web recently looking for recent comment on the Hugo1 and it appears my observations are shared in several quarters, so I assume it’s not a case of a one of.

i have never seen that at all with my tools - in fact it looks like local streamed data as far as media transfer is actually concerned. Using tools like Roon you can see ‘non technically’ it is the same - this holds true for Tidal as well at 44.1/16. With FLAC it is a file you are transferring - you can’t throttle back without it sounding like noise and playout stopping due to corruptness.
So to ‘throttle back’ it would need to restart playback with a lower sample rate or drop to 8 bits - and with sample rate your DAC would report or again it would sound like noise.

I really only use Qobuz now - and listening on my Empyreans with my Hugo USB DAC/Amp it sounds out of this world - music has never sounded this good. Cant wait to get my NDX2 transport back for it to sound perhaps even better.

2 Likes

Where’s it been?

Hopefully its on the repair desk at Salisbury

Hopefully it makes it’s way back way back quickly then!

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Fair enough, I received this info from a friend when I mentioned what I was hearing.

Simon, if you get the chance could you monitor it at 1730 & 2030 a couple of times; those are about the times when I get sound quality degradation? Thx.

No, but it did make it impossible to know whether I would be buying one that was standard or breathed upon.

Those are peak internet times. I’d imagine some ISP’s throttle during those times if their network is under stress. If you’re on a high speed internet account, and throttle by 25% you’re unlikely to notice but if you have a lower speed connection plus other people in the house using it for browsing etc then you may well see a reduction if Qobuz identify your network can’t handle the bigger files. Might limit to CD or MP3.

In the IOS App you can select different stream rates for mobile and wifi. I have it set for 24/96 for mobile as I have a bigger data package… but, if the network speed drops, it limits it to CD. Maybe something similar happens for wifi/home networks?!?

If it does, it’s a problem with the ISP rather than Qobuz.

Hi Toon,

I agree.

My pipe is nice and wide, although never quiet as large when I test it vs advertised rate; 100mbps.

A friend does have a piece of string, and he does notice peak time Qobuz degradation.

How do apps report the data rate? Based on what they see, or a carrier signal of some sort? When Qobuz see high contention might they switch us to lower rates?

Again, how do Qobuz produce the streamed data? Might they store the files at the highest rates and then produce a downsampled streaming file on the fly?

If @Simon-in-Suffolk is willing to do a bit more digging I would be interested - having said that perhaps I should be proactive & have a play with a network monitor myself.

Cheers,

M

I have heard from various sources that that is normal, whether deliberate planned throttling or simply the effect of dynamic data management, and I certainly have experienced the effect on (non-streaming) internet activity at peak times. This would suggest that the problem is far more likely to be the ISP, or the specific service to which you subscribe, than the music streaming provider - though they of course might have their own times of peak demand that need managing.

On a related matter, I have been told by someone who has done a range of testing that every one of the lower cost unlimited data 4G services that they have tested in UK throttles the flow after a certain amount of data (you don’t get something for nothing!).

I’m with Virgin and should be unlimited. Just tested my bandwidth via the Which site = 38 mbps!!

M

Had a GREAT listening session last night. All from my NAS going through some favourites, I am falling in love with the little box!

M

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Upload speeds, more than download, are something I monitor for my work. I supply 4k footage as well as stills to agencies so uploading 500gb - 1tb at a time isn’t unusual. I’ve had to go with the largest download speeds just to move from 20mbs - 40mbs upload but I do see large fluctuations in max up and download speeds.

Normally when I’m uploading the network is quieter… everyone in our neighbourhood is out. At those times download speeds are normal 50-100mbs above my paid for service (400mbs) but in the evening, can drop to 250-300 if it’s busy. Thankfully, even at this speeds it doesn’t cause problems. I would be happier with less but you can’t increase upload speed on it’s own… no idea why not.