Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

Thank you so much! Great in-depth information! SBooster was what, I was thinking and you just confirmed it. =)

And lead us not into temptation… :rofl:

1 Like

Using Jriver too, over upnp for the spdif streamer and over the Chord Asio driver for the USB connection (no DSP activated), just checked and all settings are fine.

Hi Nico,

My issue with computer based audio is that I find it very fussy, lots of attention to detail required - although it can then sound superb. What I love about my current system, including the M-Scaler, is that it is excellent AND simple.

3 Likes

Hi Nick,

Let me ask an impossible question, what would you guesstimate the improvement is (in completely unscientific and unverifiable percentages) between each of these PSUs?

Cheers,

M

Well I spoke to the dealer (you know the one) and during the conversation I talked myself out of the deal, maybe a step to far for me.

The Qutest / Mscaler takes some beating so I’m out…

2 Likes

Everyone looks at these topics differently, but i personally hope that this thread isn’t going to turn into another cable / PSU shootout thread.

I think the Chord Electronics products and the technology behind them are really interesting and deserve their own discussion, but third party cables and PSU’s are perhaps a bit more subjective and may yield different results in different circumstances.

Just my opinion ofcourse so hope i don’t offend anyone, i would just hate to see a great topic go into the direction of the other threads that already exist in that territory.

1 Like

It came pretty close to being a computer audio thread not too long ago son I agree, nice to keep it on topic and open other threads for side discussions. Also no offence meant

You are strong @HiFiman!! :grinning:

You make a good point – if you are happy with your current set-up, no need to spend huge Dave monies. You might feel differently in the future – but no doubt, another Dave will come up. Or even better, Dave 2 gets released (only a matter of time…) pressing down Dave Mk1 prices… :rofl:

1 Like

Well if my Naim Core /ND5XS2 allowed me to output 705 KHz24 bit PGGB files,I would not need to use a computer to play them,and would not of even brought it up. Probably too much to ask in the next update,if we ever see one for the Core.

Or a Chord DAC at Dave level without headphone, preamp etc

Interesting stuff. With your Sean Jacobs DC4 on the Qutest, how close does it come, would you say, to the Dave with it’s stock power supply? Despite the high cost of the DC4, I think the DC4+Qutest combo still costs considerably less than a Dave.

Sorry but it is difficult to answer because I have not used the factory smps in the Dave since early in 2020 so any memory of how that sounded is difficult to judge. I don’t know where you live or even if you are in the UK but you are welcome to come and listen to my Qutest with a DC4 (although at some point in the next few weeks I hope the DC4 will be upgraded to the new DC4 ARC6 version :shushing_face::wink:).

Curious by the question - there is no ‘stock’ power supply with DAVE - there is only one power supply and it’s a primary custom made high frequency power supplies which are very much a key part of the DAVE product itself. I have spoken with R Watts a few years ago about DAVE and he was telling me the significance of the design of the HF PS’s in DAVE to the overall performance.
I also remember him saying the powers supplies were designed to be coupled and matched in such a way that there was no measurable or detectable noise on the ground plane with the test equipment then currently available - a pretty impressive feat.

The TT2 etc has a single separate power supplies providing a DC feed and these can be changed and are ultimately less critical.

I guess you could deconstruct a DAVE and replace parts of the design - but you would not have a DAVE - and it won’t be operating as designed or measured … and I’d be surprised if it genuinely outperformed DAVE - unless one was perhaps lucky - as one wouldn’t have access to the development infrastructure and test rigs as well as you may well need to modify the firmware to operate with your modifications to the design.

No problem, it was just idle curiosity really in my part, but thought it would have been an interesting comparison to hear about if you’d done it.

The missus hates it… it has pushed the FTR through the roof (foot tapping rate). Apparently it’s very annoying when she’s trying to work :rofl:

To my ears & system etc it’s worth every penny. In fact, probably one of the best value for money upgrades I’ve done. It’s worth getting a good USB cable though as it does make a difference. Deliver the best possible sound/data to the SRC.DX.

The effects? extremely low noise floor, beautiful rich bass, great detail in the lows, stacks of texture to strings… actually, the resonance, timbre of all instruments is excellent and that includes piano. Vocals sound very natural, real… Soundstage fills the room, imaging is very focused… very clear.

I love the sense of depth to the image, front to back as well as width feels very realistic. As if there are no boundaries. You can easily sit back and pick out individual instruments, vocals within a track but not to a point it’s a bunch of individual elements. You can just sit back and enjoy the music as a whole… it just sounds so fluid.

I think it’s probably something you need to hear. I honestly thought my system was sounding terrific before so this has been a very pleasant surprise.

I’ve also seen positive comments from people using it to convert USB from Innuos Phoenix and other reclockers into DACs and MScalers. It Would suggest that maybe Chord do need to look at using a different USB controller on their future DACS / MScalers. Thankfully, this is a small device that can easily sort it out. I’d certainly recommend anyone who uses the USB input on a chord DAC to have a demo of it.

2 Likes

Excellent news, did you convert your PGGB files to 24 bit to see if that makes any difference?

No I haven’t yet o be honest. I’ve mainly listened to HQPlayer which sounds superb with the SRC.DX into the Chord dual BNC connections.

I only realised the other day that the HQP upscaling was upscaling to 32bit as well. When I forced it to 24bit I didn’t really notice much so left it at 32bit. I’ll do another comparison with it but if its barely noticeable I’ll save myself the work of redoing the PGGB files and just do new conversions at 24bit.

2 Likes

and if having to use USB, then try and use USB 3. USB 3 acts more like duplex ethernet and so is totally balanced - where as earlier USBs break the balanced nature to manage frame flow control which obviously raises the transport noise level.
I use USB 3 with my music production equipment/DAW and it is acceptable there.

I’ve used USB3 in the past (iFi) but I was only able to use that as I had one of their DC purifiers at the time. It was good but not as good as TQ SD USB cable. It’s been the best sounding cable I’ve used.

The issue with USB3 without the DC purifier of course, is non of the Chord DACs or the SRC-DX take a USB3 cable.

Apparently, the Amanero USB controller that is used in Chord hardware has a very high latency and is quite noisy in use. This controller is used in the Qutest, TT2, Dave and the MScaler. Taiko SGM Extreme wouldn’t support the controller and it seems the SRC-DX came about to bypass it with a far better controller that converted the data to dual BNC. This in effect means the USB controller in the Chord hardware never switches on and as such, not used and doesn’t create extra noise from the processing.

The converter gives the option to convert to one or two BNC’s depending on the use. If you are feeding upscaled HQP data to the DAC. Or one bnc for those sending data via USB to an MScaler or, a DAC that doesn’t have dual BNC. So far the results have been extremely good.