Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

I have tried Canare L4E6S star quad XLR between my Dave and my fully balanced signal path Pass Labs power amps but found it a bit bright and I preferred Belden 8760 twisted pair with normal Neutrik XLR connectors. I also use this in my other system where the Dave is connected directly to a pair of ATC 150 active speakers. The Belden 8760 will do more than just tide you over and you might never want to change it. I used to have Chord Sarum Super Aray and swopped that out for the Belden.

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We’re these something you made up yourself or was it a specific cable?

My gut feeling is I’ll need something with a similar tone to the tellurium Q black range as silver interconnects and speaker cable maybe too much.

Just listening to as many different genres at the moment to get a feel of the amp with the Van den Hul Orchid XLR cables. They’re described as being rich… not necessarily very warm but I don’t think I’d want something brighter than them!

Have you spoken to Chord on this?.. I’d be surprised if doesn’t need servicing after a while just like Naim amps and other higher end manufacturer amps. Components, especially electrolytic deteriorate with age unfortunately.

Asked the dealer and they said no, doesn’t require the same servicing that the Naim amps require. I specifically asked with the comparison to Naim.

I think I’ll drop an email to Chord for clarification as well! Just in case :+1:t2:

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Have you thought about trying a 250DR, and compare against the Etude?

Perceived wisdom suggests that won’t work, but it might be worth a shot. We don’t hear all the same…

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Yes perhaps not as regularly… but there are three internal PSUs.
BTW I am using a Naim Powerline on the Etude… and for what ever reason it seems to perform better than the supplied mains lead in my opinion in terms of depth and punch, worth a try.
I have been playing The Wall this afternoon loud and immersively to the point it annoyed my son in another part of the house :grinning: … and the Etude remained composed and musical all the time, and the ATCs retained their control and grip… it was a great performance and heard details of the bass drum in Another Brick in the Wall Pt2 I have not heard before … the amp got rather warm, but I couldn’t hear the fan when I was standing by the amp and muted the sound… I assume it’s extremely quiet, or only comes on when hot which it wasn’t.

Also moved the mscalar to a different separate mains feed from the other audio components… and I think that has ever so subtly increased the sense of realism.

I’ll add that to the playlist… listening to some jazz at the moment and it sounds incredible. The soundstage is amazing but cymbals just sound so dam real… and, bass guitar :flushed:

@Simon-in-Suffolk thanks for the Floyd prod. Listened to the Wall Pt 1&2… wow! Pt 1 was extremely atmospheric and the playground in Pt2 was real. I could be wrong but it feels like it’s bringing more transient detail from the M Scaler?!? Seems to like I notice a bigger difference now flipping between frequency rates on the M scaler🤔

Beautiful winter sunshine today, Floyd, King Crimson, Caravan, Kevin Ayres and Soft Machine through the Dave/Etude, where have all these new instrument parts appeared from ?
Curious about the MScaler, although I could happily live with the Dave I anticipate the addition will turn it up a notch.

I made them up myself, not as part of my cable making but just as a bit of DIY for my own use. I would struggle to see how they can be beaten by much and I say that having compared to a pair of Iconoclast Gen2 OCC XLR in my system.

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The other alternative is to consider using the Sean Jacobs DC4 to power the Dave rather than going the MScaler route. It is more money but it brings something different to the Dave party compared to the MScaler.

As @MrUnderhill suggested I am well and truly down that rabbit hole with a DC4 powering my Dave and also now one powering my MScaler. In true rabbit hole fashion this afternoon I have been comparing various dc cables between the DC4 and MScaler with interesting results!

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I did think about it but given I loved the change in the mids and highs when moving from SN2/HiCap to the M Scaler and TT2 direct I sort of discounted it. I was sort of looking for an amp that imparted as little character as possible and to reveal what the TT2 and MScaler was doing… I may try it someday though!

Edit… it’s also nice and compact. Should fit most spaces large and small. Although a bit of Naim would’ve been nice as well!

Interestingly when I had a 25 year old well used MF P270 amp serviced they changed just a handful of small caps, and none of the big ones saying they tested right in spec - and that is an amp that has an internal temperature of 60C+ once warmed up. I was surprised as I expected the big electrolytics to be prime candidates for replacement!

Yes I am surprised too… chemistry in electrolytic capacitors changes over time, and their internal resistance increases (ESR)… which is not good for reservoir caps, not least they loose their regulation capability and also can start to heat up themselves hastening their demise, and in extreme circumstances explode or ideally internal device fusing blowing.
Best practice is usually to replace electrolytic capacitors every 15 to 20 years for key functions.
But it doesn’t mean a capacitor will definitely fail after a period of time, it’s just the probability increases and after a while rapidly increases and its performance will decrease.

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Go on Nick, what did you hear?

Have you tried the Krisdonia, a rather cheaper option :wink:

M

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Thanks I’ll look into that, might be good synergy with my Zen, so many choices, interesting.

Rather than ask whether they need regular recapping, ask Chord how long they can recap for.

Linn always claimed no recapping was necessary but the truth was that Linn did need recapping but Linn simply wouldn’t do it on anything discontinued over a decade old so recapping became something dealers did with aftermarket parts.

I’d suggest just asking Chord about long term service capability. Can they give an Etude some love when it’s old as a 140?

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i also find roon experimental better as stated simple to switch back an forth to do some a/b comparisons

Thanks… I’ve sent a question to Chord asking exactly that.

  1. Do they require regular servicing i.e. every 10 years or so.
  2. If not, do they provide a Recapping Service.
  3. If yes, will this be available for as long as you have the product or, will it be limited in any way. i.e. discontinued items not supported or, not supported after a certain time after they’re discontinued.

We’ll see what comes back!

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FWIW Chord have a sterling reputation so I expect all the answers will be satisfactory. But it is always good to sanity check rather than assume.

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Yeah, not concerned if you see what I mean… probably just good to know & have on record so if XYZ happens you know what to expect.