Qutest, Hugo TT2, Mscaler

I love my Mscaler and wouldn’t sell it, but then I have a Qutest. Having listened to both, I think the Mscaler/Qutest doesn’t get too close to what DAVE is capable of. My understanding is that the DAVE can upsample to roughly half the maximum output of what the Mscaler can muster (sure someone will correct if I’m wrong), so in theory you should hear an uplift, even if it is subtle. Maybe it’s your cables? But in the end if you prefer your DAC without, get rid!

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Same experience here. I was really gobsmacked at the changes that these upgrades brought to the system. I was hoping to hear a difference with these upgrades where most people would consider as snake oil and was shocked that they transformed the whole system for the better. The changes are not subtle.

Here are some photos of the Furutech products and Acrolink cables.

The NCF booster for the amp :-

At some of point I may acquire another NCF booster to support the plug going into the Chord QBD76. Currently a piece of dense foam is temporarily used to provide some form of support to the plug.


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I haven’t heard of any but, that doesn’t matter really. What matters is what you think and if after demoing different cables etc… maybe the ones from wave or elsewhere and you still don’t like it then it would make more sense to get rid of it to fund something you do want.

Personally, I’ve tried taking it off the TT2 and I found I missed its effects. The extra transients, soundstage depth and smoothness. Overall, it just makes the music sound right for me. Did it make the biggest impact, no. That goes to the Etude, then the TT2. The M Scaler is the icing on the cake.

But, I now use all Chord and like Naim, Chord gear does have a certain synergy with its own gear. That said, there are plenty of people that mix Chord M Scalers with Naim amps so it could be something else completely. If it’s not doing it for you though, don’t hang on to it for the hell of it… use it to get something you do like.

I really like the build quality of the Furutech gear. I bought two pairs of their Rhodium BNC plugs and the design of them is excellent, very clever. Only three screw barrel parts, the pin section makes for easy fitting to the cable and soldering the conductor. There connected to Furutechs finest pure silver 75ohm cable. Burning them in at present.

The power cable holder looks good… I’m also using kayak high density foam cut out to create a U shape cradle for my DC purifier on the M Scaler but the thickness and rigidity of the cable is keeping the power cable in place.

Edit…Your rack looks really good… any full shots of it? Looks rather unique!

It’s the Finite Elemente Spider rack. Discontinued many years ago.

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Oh yes, very nice indeed… goes really well in that very nice room of yours!

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The power cable holder has an effect to the sound. The primary reason I bought the NCF booster is to improve the sound. Support to the plugs is secondary. I have lived with this cable holder for 8 months now and occasionally removed it from the system before reinstating it to ascertain the differences. Again,not subtle. After some comparison I concluded it is essential to the system in terms of sound quality. Too many of these stuff may be an overkill for the system, that’s what I was told. I may attempt to try another one in the near future.

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It will be added to the fine tuning list :joy:

I’ve been enjoying these smaller tweaks and cable building… nice to make your own gear, very satisfying!

For anyone who is interested, here is my experience on the Furutech NCF booster (cable holder). It’s currently used on the amplifier.

The full implementation of this cable holder feels like Dolby NR is enabled. Some annoying background noise and hiss which some may associate with detail is filtered and eliminated. The overall sound becomes more controlled ie. less smearing, less looser sound as everything sounds tighter and more controlled. This added control may cause the sound to appear dead in some systems. In my system it didn’t sound dead. The overall presentation sounds more dynamic and lively.

To revalidate my positive impressions, I removed the top piece of the cable holder, then the whole thing completely from the system. The result is music sounds more open but it is smeared with less control. The presentation is flatter and pale without the NCF booster, less dynamic also. With the NCF booster in place the sound surely gains more control especially in the bass.

The full implementation :-

Without the nylon band (current configuration) :-

Without top piece :-

There is a difference between all these configurations.

Edit. A second or third use of this ‘cable holder’ in the system may prove to be too much of a good thing, causing the system to sound dead. Imagine excessive or heavy Dolby NR applied. Since I only have 2 components in my system I can still try one more…

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Love the design (cables going into the top) on these mains plugs but they need to be about £50 cheaper !

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I have read reports on this forum that fou d little or no difference, others that said big difference, and shades in between. One hypothesis was that it may depend on the feed, some given that people use a variety of renderers. It would be interesting to compile a list of degree of improvement with different renderers into Dave (or lists with each different DAC), to see if there is any correlation

I found the affect fairly subtle on my TT 2, however it is improved. My Innuos Phoenix had a greater impact and the audioquest Niagara I’ve just fitted even more so. Put them all together and magic happens. I won’t be selling mine, pretty sure, baring a few power cables, I’m at my end stage system

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Interesting, I think Naim designers subscribe to the opposite view, and let the mains lead connector case couple tightly to the chassis, but then let the cable and connectors loosely couple… which is so I understand the basis of the Powerline connector.
With Dave I prefer the Powerline approach, as opposed to a tightly coupled connection (though I have not tried the referenced contraption) … I can’t say it’s night and day…but the Powerlines seem to give a slightly more solid presentation… I notice this with headphones and speakers.

Yes, I am aware of this after perusing the threads here on the Powerline connection to sockets of Naim components. With Naim components there is no issue with the connection if standard Naim power cords are used. The connectors of the standard Naim cords form a good tight fit with Naim components. I’m not sure about the Powerline though.

In my case, the loose connection occurs with the use of aftermarket power cords on Chord and Luxman gear. The connectors are not perpendicular to the component and are inclined at an angle even though they have gone into the sockets of the components. There is a risk the connectors may fall off any time, particularly the power cord that’s connected to the Chord QBD76 DAC. I have no choice but to use a dense foam to support and secure the connector at of the cord near the socket as shown in the photo above.

That would be nice! … that said, the straight up design did save me buying an extra metre of cable though! If it had been a standard plug I would have needed and extra 20-30cm to allow for the bend from horizontal to vertical which would mean 1m of cable would not have been enough!

Same here… sort of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s now in terms of sorting out the cabling. Getting what I have sounding it’s best.

The two areas of interest for me in terms of future upgrades would be the Innous Phoenix and Dave. They’ll have to wait though, a few jobs around the house this year so unless someone is going to offer me an absolute bargain, then they’ll have to wait! Given the shortage of parts etc at the moment, I can’t imagine there will be many bargains for a while.

That’s not too bad then.

Doing a little more digging I’ve found the non-rhodium FI-1363 SILVER one for £99.99 which is a little more palatable vs. £146.

@gav_sw20 Checkout MCRU as they have the silver one for £90 in a sale. Look under DIY, mains plugs.

That was one of my shortlist plugs so I remember the price… just checked and it’s still the same!

It’s a good place that for a lot of DIY bits and bobs!

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Awesome - going to get a couple bought. One for the SN3 and one for the ND5XS2 when I get one.

The ergonomics are so much better when you can plug in from the top.

Great shout, thanks again.

They should be similar to the one I got in terms of the mechanics. The cable clamping for the wires inside and the cable going into the plug is excellent. And, MCRU were very fast in terms of delivery as well!

Edit… some more Furutech Rhodium goodness. A pair of these made up and burning in. Made with furutech fx-alpha-ag pure silver cable. Sounded a little brittle at first but after 28hrs of burning in (on mute), they’re sounding a lot better already.

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