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Article: My Quest for a New DAC, Part 5: Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler & Hugo TT 2


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9 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

I'm afraid I can't do (afford) that DAVE...

Great review!!

 

A model of its kind!

Looking forward to your  upcoming take on  some of these upmarket headphones

 

Since almost 4 months now, I am using my M Scaler with a Qutest ,not TT2. Via my old battered but still  very good HD800  and a  battery powered headphone amp I found the Qutest /M Scaler better than TT2 on its own with similar, actually  only acoustic/classical 90 % hi res material  like you used in your excellent review.

No pop  on my playlists really ,Austin

TT2 / M Scaler even better than my choice.

But I also know that DAVE/M Scaler beats even TT2/M Scaler so I am waitning for the next upgrade from Dave or a  VERY heavily discounted DAVE before upgrading any  further.

 

Interesting also  to read about your take on power supplies and BNC cabling.

I have taken one such step with my Qutest driving it on a battery powered LPS instead of the supplied one And yes it is  definitely better than  the supplied one

.

Having read your take on these things, I am now quite keen to try something similar with M Scaler which is the only link in my chain connected to the grid while travelling.

MBP on batttery via usb to Qutest on battery and battery powered headphone amp is the best travelling kit I have had so far.

Bulky yes with the big heavy  M Scaler. On the other hand I don't carrry it around other than on flights. But  I get very good sound quality with well recorded material.

 PS How does Vänskä's 24/96  Mahler 2 compare to Fischer's on Channel or MTT's on SFS, musically and SQ wise in your opinion?

With BIS's Sibelius series  from the same venue/orchestra  M Scaler makes a BIG difference,basically  turning them from already very good to basically SOTA 24/96 PCM imho.

Cheers Chrille

 

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6 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

I would say Vänskä is #3 in my list of Mahler 2nd, both in terms of performance and SQ. #1 is the Kaplan/Vienna Phil on DG (DSD), #2 is SFS/MTT, also on DSD.

 

For those scratching their heads, DG == Deutsche Gramaphon, SFS == San Francisco Symphony, MTT == Michael Tilson-Thomas. :) 

 

 

The Vänskä Sibelius cycle on BIS is head and shoulders the best SIbelius cycle I've heard.

Hello austinpop, 

and thanks for your rapid response.

I think I 'll stick with the ones I have .

Vänskä's Mahler recordings  from Minnesota have received   quite mixed responses from some reviewers and I am not really in desperate need of another M2.

 

From a performance perspective I prefer Fischer's  M2 from Budapest on Channel Classics and it is also  a  good native  DSD 64 recording.  Jared Sacks balances very naturally and realistically compared to DGG's normal  style of a bit  too much of  multimiking. Kaplan's  VPO M2 though available as SACD in DSD is actually a native  24/96 PCM recording. Quite good by DGG standards ,but at least via my SACD players not as good as Channel Classics M2 on SACD. Or for that matter  when played as DSD 64 download via Q/HMS.

Via my home system I can play the channel M2 louder without congestion than the DGG/ Kaplan which has a tendency to congest and harden a bit  at climaxes  via my electrostatic speakers.

But the Channel Classics M2  sounds really impressive at  very loud levels too.

But I may change my mind on the Kaplan one  if I get to hear it in its native 24/96 version via M Scaler.

I'll start by playing the rbcd layer of my SACD via M Scaler  when I get home again to hear how that fares. And if it sounds good enough I may go for the 24/96 download.

Good as 16/44.1 can sound via M Scaler it is still not hi res imho.

M Scaler has changed my opinion of the SQ levels  on quite a few recordings. Mainly for the better. But not always. Revealing as it is,it can also make  the bad aspects of a recording  more noticable. 

 

PS a bit OT maybe but how did you like the Maggie 3.7s?

 

IMHO Maggies can sometimes  be a very  good alternative to large electrostatics for large scale symphonic music.

Enjoy your TT2 /M Scaler Cheers Chrille

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