Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

Hi Toon,

You got me to check the sensitivity of my SBLs yesterday …88db :wink:

M

Reading the INCREDIBLY long Head-fi thread the maker of the Wave cables recommends that with the M-Scaler you need 20 solid core ferrites per cable …doesn’t say which ones/values though.

Which ferrites are you using?

Cheers,

M

Yes I think overall I prefer the upscaling off… I find the low bass and slam better without… it feels a bit softer with the upscaling.

3 Likes

Yeah… for me there was a couple of guitar riffs that I often listen to and they felt less musical… it just felt like the timing wasn’t quite there… lost a bit of flow.

The thing is, the likes of the Hugo, Qutest and tt etc all do a certain amount of up scaling when they receive bit perfect streams… it just feels like those DACs do a better job than Roon etc.

2 Likes

I think he did say at one point he was hoping to get it down to about 12! Still seems a lot

Good man … I wonder why that would be :joy:

Edit… just to say, when working my system is normally between -18 and -25db. If I’m relaxing and concentrating on a track, I’ve settled between 10-15db. Quiet tracks maybe -5db.

Also, I prefer XLR pins 2&3. Slightly louder but my sysem doesn’t heat up. Measure the working temp of the TT2 while sat at 20 and its 29c. Well within operating temperatures

What did you set the dac frequency limit to 192 mhz or higher

Already noticed when running dave pure sounds smoother using simon in Suffolk roon upsaling settings :smile:

They do say the solid core ferrites work better, I do not know because I never tried them. A friend of mine ordered a bunch off the big river, so I bought half of them off him, the Werth clip on ferrites. I have probably sixty of them total, of various sizes for various cables. I use them on the ethernet cable going into my Core, and on the dual BNC cables between the Mscaler and TT2. No DBT’s were ever done, so can not really comment on what they are doing I guess.

1 Like

I use Würth Elektronik (74271633S) ferrites (<=8mm, 100 Ohm @ 100 MHz)

1 Like

Well those DACs use an FIR approach with their own windowing function whilst Roon uses IIR… these days FIR tends to provide the better performances, (I know I am being slightly simplistic) although Naim remain wedded to IIR with their current architecture… and there is a lot of happy users of Naim DACs.

But it does get you thinking… if Naim continued to use the PCM1704K in off chip filter mode… but redesigned their reconstruction and oversampling architecture to use FIR filtering with current very low power highly performant micro controllers or FPGAs… I suspect that venerable PCM1704K and analogue current to voltage conversion, and analogue filter and output stage may sound even better… sadly I suspect we shall never know.

1 Like

True… I think the Naim DAC sound has a place. It provides an alternative. The only thing I would have liked with their streamers is the inclusion of optical & USB digital out. That way you could make the most of other DACs though their favoured connection types rather than just BNC. I found a big difference between BNC & Optical with the Qutest, much preferring the optical option.

I doubt it will ever happen but, if Naim produced something like the Aries G1, pure digital transport, I’d jump at trying it and given the quality of the ND5 XS2, SN2 etc etc, it would replace the G1 for the quality and that it’s made in the UK. Here’s hoping.

1 Like

Don’t get me wrong… the approach I suggest would still have that Naim characteristic sound, but the performance would be potentially enhanced to better convey micro timing and micro transients… ie get that Mandelbrot effect that some of us enjoy… which unfortunately I just can’t get for the most part from the current players such as the ND555…
Though I would like to try this again using Empyrean headphones and high end phone amp… it may be there to some extent albeit very subtle that you miss with loudspeakers.

On Head-Fi it had been mentioned a few times that the BNC cables that come with the M Scaler, while functional, are not really a good fit. Literally. The cables do have a bit play in them from side to side etc.

So, I had a spare Mark Grant HDX1 Pure Copper Digital BNC Coax cable spare. This fits a lot better within minimal movement. The connectors seem a lot better. I’ve ordered a 2nd one to replace the stock cables. Only £30 each so I’m not expecting big changes here… but they are well made. This will tide me over for a while I feel. Once both are in (and ran in) I’ll check to see if they over a SQ improvement as well as a better fit.

Well if you buy professional industrial grade BNC to BNC 75 ohm 50 cm patch leads made from brass, they cost under £2 on single quantities… and from a reputable electronic component supplier such as Farnell these are going to be of a high quality, performance guaranteed with design drawings and full specifications…
You don’t need to spend a lot in consumer terms for top notch quality.

2 Likes

Not worth going for the Mark Grant cables then? The stock ones do shift quite a bit when connected.

I wouldn’t worry with slight play … the brass pin is centred into the socket receptacle, the shield twisted and locked … that is all you need to do

1 Like

Ok… might just cancel the order then! No point wasting money!

Final update on an enjoyable demo journey

Tried DAVE as a preamp into the 250 direct and felt it gave better clarity but a more compressed/less open sound stage than with the 282. Outcome I personally preffered the 282 with DAVE in dac mode.

Then in regard to adding the Mscaler felt it gave the DAVE marginally more detail but main thing it did was smooth the sound out and made a very enjoyable combo (not very good description but not sure how else to describe it), again as before most noticeable improvement was with cd rips which I felt sounded exceptional in this set up.

After this went back to pure DAVE which still gives a wonderful natural sound by itself and I felt when using the ROON upscaling method mentioned by simon in Suffolk above brought it a little bit closer to the Mscaler combo when playing cd rips.

Outcome I want the DAVE (started trade in talks with dealer on DAVE) and mscaler, although the mscaler will have to wait a year. One final thing I would love to try with this setup would be the innuos phoenix usb reclocker, as I noticed that when I stuck my etheregen in front of my innuos things improved further, so curious of same thing for the usb digital stream side feeding either DAVE/mscaler.

2 Likes

I know exactly what you mean and it does describe it perfectly. Its smoothness really stands out… the other words that sprung to mind were effortless, relaxed… real. Ask me why and hell, I don’t know why but it just does.

I’ve never heard Dave and I can only imagine how it would sound like given how good the Qutest & TT2 sound… especially with the M Scaler, it must be something else!!!

Hope you enjoy your Dave when you get a hold of it!

2 Likes

thx

dealer offered £5k trade in on my NDS/XPS DR vs a New DAVE, would cost me £3.5k… also willing to knock some money off having my super sarum cable being upgraded to Sarum T RCA - DIN, :flushed: :flushed: :flushed:

3 Likes