Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

Hi Toon,

Yes, between my Meridian 210 and the M-Scaler.

How would you characterise the effect of the battery pack on the sound quality?

When using speakers, I’d say it’s slightly darker the highs seem more focused. The only way I could describe it, is by comparing it to removing astigmatism from vision. It’s as if the high mids, highs lost a bit of glare and the note edges became more focused. It also felt like there was an improvement in terms of soundstage depth. Some sounds, instruments felt like they were placed further into the room while others further back… more space. It may have narrowed the stage a little… not much though

The overall impact felt smoother, focused and a little less fatiguing over longer listening sessions. Hopefully that makes sense as I’m not the best at describing what I hear.

As I say, that’s with speakers that are connected directly to the TT2. With my Empyrean I notice similar improvements but the extra detail in the lows is more obvious… tighter bass. Although, they’re not fatiguing with power supply due to their warmer nature.

1 Like

I’ve been running the M Scaler on the power supply for the last 6 days while running in the Empyrean HP and I’ve just popped the power bank back on.

Soundstage / Image placement better defined and tight bass… sounds very good.

Hi Toon,

This makes complete sense to me. The WAVE cables bring a tonal correctness to the Chord served detail. The musical picture in my room was more present, extended and 3D. Adding the DC4 added to these attributes. Better focused bass is something that I notice with improved power.

Thx for your PSU recommendations, I will give it a go.

M

I’m glad you brought this up as it prompted me to put it back on as I was thinking about saving it for the speakers only but yes… 3d image. I’m hearing small sounds at the edge of the stage that weren’t obvious before. Bass sounds terrific.

Edit… if you want to experiment, go for the Krisdonia 25,000mAh as it comes directly from Amazon and is easier to return if necessary. I found that one lasted a good 5-6 hours.

Hi NQ,

One issue with the Opto-DX option is adding yet more wires and power supplies. I do like the theory behind such media bridges.

The TT2 is preferred by many people, but not all, over the Qutest + PSU. I think it is far from clear whether the TT2 beats a Qutest/MScaler.

By going my route I will consider a TT2 or Dave in the fullness of time, probably …perhaps.

M

I understand what you mean about all the cables, that is a reservation of my own about the Opto-Dx. I think you misunderstood what my suggestion was though. I meant that with the price of three Wave cables, you could upgrade the Qutest to a TT2, if they take the Qutest back on trade. Then you would have Mscaler/TT2 with stock cables…like me.:grinning:

:wink:

Not for just the spdif cable though; and I would need to prefer the TT2, which is not a slam dunk.

Hi Toon,

Krisdonia arrived, rather larger than I anticipated.

The effect is the same as adding the Sean Jacobs DC3. In fairness the DC3 was only in my system for a few hours and may well have had more to give. It is similar to adding the WAVE cables. The effect?

Improved bass definition;
Slight upper sheen further reduced;
Lower noise floor, allowing a tad more detail.

Two albums I have enjoyed listening to on my nearfield system (Hugo TT > 140 > Sound Artist LS3/5a) are: Pat Methany - From This Place; Melanie de Bliasio - A Stomach is Burning. I didn’t enjoy these quite as much on the main system as although there was more detail and better bass they lost a sense of relaxation …no longer!

Just enjoying Rachelle Ferrell, Sista.

Great VFM upgrade.

M

1 Like

Did you go for the 50,000mAh version? It is a reasonable size :grinning: about the size of a hardback book.

I’m glad you’re hearing the same thing… I was starting to think I may be going mad as the power bank is a fraction of the cost of other upgrades that do the same thing but doesn’t get as much coverage. It’s been a few days now since I last charged mine and given it only takes 3hrs to recharge means it’s not to inconvenient to use.

The bonus is, it’s an upgrade that you can take with you on your travels… that will keep your phone, iPad and even your laptop charged as well!

The thing that stood out straight away for me was the lack of sheen and lower noise floor. Great addition… enjoy!

1 Like

Yes, the 50,000 mAh.

Thx for the push!

M

You’re welcome… it’s always fun to experiment and share the positive results!

thought would post an update having got DAVE into my system with my upgraded sarum T RCA-DIN cable

having previously demo’d it knew what was coming but previous to last time had removed some stuff out of my network chain so is now modem with LPS > audioquest cinnamon ethernet > Etherregen (with its supplied PS) > CHORD super sarum ethernet > innuos zenith mk3, CHORD super sarum USB into DAVE

also put my old XPS DR powerline onto DAVE aswell

finally got some Cera-discs for better isolating the NAC282/Hi CAP DR (£150 for 4)

so plumbed DAVE in and first listen was yeah nice jut like i remembered, over next few days kept improving then 4 days or so in was like WOW what a sound, it had lost any residual digital harshness you sometimes get on tracks and the clarity, depth and low end bass was amazing whilst still getting that naim boogie factor from the 282/250

sorry to gush but getting the DAVE properly set up has resulted in it far surpassing my demo experience and the other revelation is how sensitive DAVE is to any digital/power induced noise, as a result see my other thread on what powerline to use :roll_eyes:

anyhow thought would share the end of the journey as system is in a great place and never sounded so good , so one happy camper here :grinning:

5 Likes

Curious, don’t you mean 50Ah… it seems strange to use an overly large value and then use a small unit prefix… it’s almost like trying to exaggerate for the layman… and after all unit prefixes are used to avoid the need for very large or small numbers. I assume the term was used by the vendor/manufacturer, but to my mind questions their motivations.

2 Likes

I am happy to report that I have secured a pair of Nick’s Wave Storm BNC cables to go between my Mscaler and TT2. I was considering making my own pair, so posted a few questions on head-fi about them. Nick saw my post, so contacted me privately to let me know he has some “like new” ex demo cables available at a significant discount. We are just getting started on processing the transaction, so it may be a couple of weeks before I have them.
I thought about the Opto -DX, but these cables are just plug and play, with no faffing around with extra power supplies etc. Hopefully I hear the improvement that Mr Underhill did, I have not seen one bad review of them, so fingers crossed.

1 Like

Glad you are enjoying DAVE. I have found it more robust at rejecting digital noise than the Hugo 1 and TT2, but I still find using a quality streamer such as the NDX2 provides benefits… alas I am now waiting for my new DAVE to be manufactured, what with COVID etc, there has been a huge backlog, and my loan one was wanted back and then subsequently needed repairing.
So slumming it with the Hugo1 currently.

But I know what you mean with the bass and sub bass on the DAVE … it’s phenomenal, and the upper mids and trebles just sound so right … you forget often you are listening to a recording.
It’s funny going from DAVE to Hugo1… there is a house sound, but the bass is softer and fast sub bass less pronounced (slam) and the upper mids and treble just sound comparatively rounded and distant.

2 Likes

That’s how it’s advertised so it’s easier to use that figure so people know which one of their range I was referring to.

1 Like

Indeed I wasn’t criticising you … but it’s a trend I am seeing more in consumer products.
Another one is capacitance… you see huge 200,000uF as if to stress the ‘hugeness’ as opposed to correctly writing 0.2F which perhaps looks too small for the poor consumer :grinning:

Haha… no problem. I think it stems from earlier power banks that were 9000mah etc… they decided to stick to that format so people could tell it was bigger… now the number of zeros is getting a little silly!

1 Like

rather than streamer plan on adding the phonix USB reclocker to go with my innuos zenithmk3 seen plenty of reviews and read up a lot on head-fi etc is supposed to be a rather special combo when fed into the DAVE or DAVE/MSCALER

will demo first but leaving that till next year as fear what may hear will mean will not want to give it back…

hopefully you will get your DAVE a bit quicker than mine :smile: