Thanks, I had read this, I emailed Innuos and asked about the best upgrade, they said the addition of the Phoenix will lift the Zen performance above the Zenith, so this would seem the way to go.
From what I’ve read use it at the end of the cable that leaves your server / streamer and goes to your DAC and then use the shortest cable possible from it to the M scaler / DAC. Something about 10cm long. Unlike the ifi iPurifier, the jitterbug doesn’t have the right socket to plug into the DAC / M Scaler directly.
And a great source for the M Scaler
What about plugging the jitterbug directly into the server/player usb out, then the usb cable to dac? Issues there?
It will work but the longer the cable from the jitterbug to the DAC, the greater the chance/opportunity for interference that the Jitterbug could remove being picked up by the cable.
I think Rob Watts has been quoted as saying he uses any bog standard cable before the Jitterbug then a good very short cable from it to the DAC.
I was a long standing skeptic regarding USB cables to the Mscaler especially with the background of what Rob Watts said on the subject. I therefore just used a well built Supra USB 2.0 cable and was very happy. I did compare it to a Chord Sarum T USB but could not hear any difference. However a friend loaned me a Sablon 2020 USB cable and that changed my mind. This uses two separate cables to keep the 5V line away from the signal. I immediately bought one and have been very pleased. YMMV of course!
Hi NQ,
A ‘friend’ asked me to give him a second opinion on the Network Acoustics ENO Filter and the Streaming Cable. When I came to remove it a few weeks later my system sounded ever so slightly …broken.
I use a brace of 2960s and ended up moving FMCs and an EMO EN70HD from the path. I don’t have any HiFi switches.
If you head over to the WigWam I wrote a review at greater length. Bottom line is that I opened up my wallet again.
They do a 30 day money back offer.
Another interesting product to consider then Mr U, thanks for the info.
The thing is, as Ray-dude found out, if you buy one of these high end servers ,(I think) a lot of this technology is built into them, as far as isolation from noise etc. So you have to ask yourself if you want 20 little nic Nac s, battery’s, etc. In the chain, or go with one box that supposedly does it all…at a price.
True… but, it’s easier to buy a few things at £1k over a period of time than it is to buy one item at £26k. I’d have to save for a while to get that
Besides, we always like to tinker with stuff… part of the hobby I guess, so if it’s all done in one box, what next… listen to music
Hi NQ,
Absolutely, which I why I mentioned the context.
M
Well I have been listening to DAVE with Mscaler to recordings up to 96/24…
Now the extra performance really is evident on my Empyreans driven by DAVE… and less so by the Etude / ATCs… I suspect that is due to my room speaker interactions.
So back to the Empyreans … interestingly the uplift is not equal to all recordings… many modern studio recordings seem to offer less extra info… but play a recording of a live performance … either old or new, and wow that extra insight and feel and sheer feel of actuality and performance is impressive… and most importantly it brings that silly enjoyable grin to your face.
It’s funny at this level, it is not about timbres, bass/treble, timing, mid smoothness, sharpness etc, it more about sheer presence and reality… and being transformed to the mix studio.
Listening to the Johnny Cash Folsom Prison recording in 96/24 , a favourite of mine, and I am enjoying even more … I can hear Johnny moving around the microphone, the guitars slightly retuning as the recording proceeds, and real clarity from the audience with a lot being very audible, and June Carter sounding even more bubbly.
That is what I like about the Mscaler, it makes live performances better than studio recordings for the most part. Back in the day, I never listened to live albums, I always thought they sounded bad. Simon, since you are in the UK, why not give the Wave Cables a try? I have a feeling that poster Fourlegs might be Nick, the owner of the company. One thing I commend him for, he never pushes his products on forums, he lets users do that for him.
This makes sense, though I hadn’t considered it before: I wonder if to some extent this may explain different people’s experiences of the degree of effect of MScalar - I had previously only thought in terms of the system/room with which they were using it, but the recording, and maybe the type of music, in particular perhaps the scale of the ensemble and acoustics of the studio/venue in which they are playing.
Thanks Simon that’s interesting, I don’t really use headphones much so will be interesting to see if the M Scaler improves the Dave/Etude/PMC’s.
And that was my conclusion decades ago (classical excepted), so I learnt to not bother with them unless they were the only recording of particular pieces.
I sure it will, but in my experience it will most likely be less so than with high end cans.
Ok, I must admit I wouldn’t say they sound bad, far from it… but I guess there is so much audio/digital processing in a modern productions that some of this finer info that the mscalar can retrieve is simply filtered away at source I guess… but you can often hear production techniques which if you are into that sort of thing, which I am, can be interesting.
That right there is probably the best way to describe the effects of the M Scaler.
I’m absolutely loving it with the Empyreans… stunningly real and engaging.
Welcome to the M Scaler Simon. Now you’ve got it.
A previous post of yours indicated a degree of healthy scepticism about the audible impact of M Scaler’s 2GHz RF emissions down the BNC cables to DAVE. Now that you are hearing the benefit of M Scaler, you might consider suspending the scepticism for a few days and follow-up on @NO-QUARTER 's suggestion. Those Wave Storm cables are quite something…
Best regards, BF
I have put HF / VHF chokes on the dual BNC. HF is 3 MHz to 30 MHz and VHF 30 MHz to 300 MHz and that has more impact with audio RFI and at the lower end will conduct along shields etc without much loss. [Permeability #43]
Luckily at the microwave frequencies as you indicate, conduction along cases or shields will be very lossy… kind of physics, for efficient electrical transmission at those frequencies you will need a fixed wave guide. I would ensure you have good physical separation though, and I do.