Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

Except headphone sound isn’t complicated by room, so one big variable out of the way. Personal choice applies equally to speakers.

Comfort? You don’t normally put speakers on your head for hours, do you… :wink:

would have to be black of course can’t have silver with black NAIM boxes…

3 Likes

My thoughts exactly.

While I like the silver M Scaler there’s no way I could have had the TT2 in silver. Love the black, goes well with the Aries G1 (with a touch of silver).

Ok, I know they say on Head-Fi that there is no burn in time for the TT2 & M Scaler but, everything is just sounding better and better as the days go by… Brain burn-in?

Hi Toon,

Who made the cables up for you? How much?

Thanks,

M

That would be Flashback cables for £35. These provide you with pins 2 & 3 (red/Black). They’re described as “2 X 3 POLE FEMALE XLR SPEAKER SOCKETS - 4 X 4MM IN-LINE”

They also do a set with three outs, one for each pin. The combinations you can use are

Pins 1 & 2 - Better for Low Gain or and also acts as a bit of protection from damaging the TT2 if you are heavy handed with the volume. There was a certain character on Head-Fi that had the volume two high using pins 2 & 3 and damaged the DAC.

Pins 2 & 3 - These two are better for “High Gain” apparently and for those who are not heavy handed with the volume control.

Never… as in ever, use pins 1 & 3 together. That will damage the DAC.

I tried both sets and preferred using pins 2 & 3. I do have the volume quite loud but in the size room I listen in the highest I’ve managed is -2db and that was for a very quiet track.

My Normal listening vol while working is -18db to -25db and -8db to -15db for when I’m concentrating on just the music. I recorded the surface temperature at this volume in my setup and it topped out at 29.7c which is well under the max temp. My system is generally on 7-8 hours in a day and never had any problems with the thing getting hot.

I think the guy who damaged his was running it at full volume (+22db) for prolonged period of time on pins 2 & 3. If you want the the option of 3 pins, the set costs £45.

Edit - Would there be a TT2 on it’s way?!?

Hi Toon,

Thx.

As I spend a reasonable of my time in my office I was looking at getting a headphone amp. This got me thinking of an old Benchmark DAC1.

THEN, a dealer I have used put up a Hugo TT1 at a very reasonable price, and then offered me a good trade in against the Audionote DAC I had bought from them …so I have a TT1 en route.

As I have an old pair of Wharfdale Diamonds in the roof I am toying with also trying them a nearfield monitors - That is IF you can use the TT in this way? If not I will bring down my trusty old NAP140.

M

1 Like

The TT1 does not have anywhere near the power output of the TT2. I think it is maybe 1 watt, compared to the the 18 Watts of the TT2. I would not think driving speakers would work well with the TT1, headphones, sure.

Thx NQ,

140 it is.

1 Like

Hadn’t realised there was such a big difference between the two!

Nice fallback! should make a great NF system.

The TT1 is basically a Hugo 1 in a bigger box, with better connectors on it.

Well have caved in putting deposit down on a DAVE and the sarum t rca-din cable next Tuesday. Been told 2 week or so lead time on the DAVE/cable upgrade

Have so say now DAVE not in the system is very noticeable and am very much missing it already which I thought was a good reason to cave in anyhow :smile:

5 Likes

Good stuff… I have largely gone headphone for immersive listening at present… I will be picking up loan tt2 and mscaler hopefully tomorrow… and I will also try again with DAVE with headphones.
I previously had a DAVE and bought it to use with my 552, but in the end returned it, it was initially impressive, but didn’t ultimately gel for me with the 552, might be very different as DAC headphone amp.

4 Likes

Entering this discussion a bit on the late side however I am curious, Simon and others, how are you feeding the TT2?
I am spoiled with my Linn KDS and now dCS Rossini in that both manufacturers maintain ethernet is the best way to feed them (both are also ROON friendly).
I had the chance to speak with Rob W at the NY CanJam in February and he maintained not to stress over things and simply feed his DAC’s with USB from computers, iPad’s etc. I am not quite sure I agree with that.

Best
Gregg

I am feeding my Mscaler/TT2 with the digital out of my Naim core (BNC), and it sounds superb. As to what Mr Watts said, I tried using my IPad as a source one time, and surprisingly it was quite good. I have some high res music on it, so used the Camera connection kit adapter, and put the iPad in Airplane mode, using the Onkyo player app. I may try this again, with all the talk about isolating the DAC from RF noise, and battery power on the TT2 and Mscaler, maybe the IPad is all one needs?

I am feeding my DACs with a NDX2

Why not feeding the DAC directly from an iPhone/iPad?

The iPhone being used as a Roon Endpoint.

In terms of “noise” the iPhone is a rather good compromise, when running on batteries.

I tried that with pretty good results.

I’m feeding TT2 & M Scaler with an Aries G1 via Optical, Wireworld Supernova 7 with Roon plus local from QNAP Pro NAS & Cisco 2960 switch.

I was trying to sort out some cabling to use my iPad main for when I’m away.

I have tried it, along with numerous computing type transports. They don’t sound anywhere near as good as a stable low noise feed into the DAC such as the NDX2… just try on immersive listens… those subtle textures and separations just disappear… and unexpected things like tightness and detail in bass vary between transports.
If they did sound as good I would have no hesitation in selling my NDX2, especially now as used prices appear to be at a premium. A good DAC scales well with a good transport in my experience.
However the OpticalRendu has caught my attention.

I use my iPhone/iPad to drive an AQ Cobalt…and that combination is fine… a good balance for the capabilities of the Cobalt… great portable setup. BTW I find the iPhone and iPad are relatively electrically noisy irrespective of power lead or batteries. Almost certain the partial shielding of the dense high speed digital electronics.

But having these different setups you do notice the difference in performance, however each has its appropriate use.

1 Like