kennyb123

More than just the difference in taps between the two DACs. Quoting Rob Watts: "There are a lot more differences apart from the PSU - on the DAC side, it has better noise shapers on the FPGA (better depth and detail resolution) very much more advanced reference circuitry (taken from Dave, giving a darker and more full bodied SQ). On the analog side we have the second order analogue noise shaper topology, which eliminates HF distortion, and allows no high frequency distortion at all once a load is attached." Source: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-qutest-dac-official-thread.869417/page-220#post-14833398

First off, no firm date yet on the TT2. Apparently Chord has still not fulfilled some orders placed in Nov/Dec. I'll respond to your question about the Shunyata products later.

I’ve had my HMS for a little over a month and a half. My opinion of it has evolved since it landed. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I was impressed with the improvements I heard when I first connected it to my Hugo TT using the OEM BNC cable that Chord provided. The improvements from the WTA filter at a half million taps were easy to hear and made my music more enjoyable to listen to. But did I think the improvements I first heard justified the amount I paid for the HMS? I didn’t really consider that question initially because I was anticipating the soon arrival of a Hugo TT 2. The TT2, with its dual BNC input, would allow me to hear the HMS scaling up to a million taps. There were many who reported that the big leap comes when making that jump. I think my answer to the question as to whether the HMS justified the price at that point would have been "TBD". But then news came that my TT2 would be delayed, as Chord was having trouble meeting demand. My TT was going to be with me longer than expected, so I stared thinking about making another planned move sooner. There were many who reported hearing greater than expected improvements from upgrading BNC cables, so I figured I’d delve into this while I still had the TT. The first BNC cable I tried was a preowned Stereovox HDXV, which I had purchased from an Audiogon seller. This cable had at one time retailed for $100. Many years ago I had used the predecessor to this, the Illuminati, which was a very well-regarded cable back in its day, so I was optimistic that I’d hear good things from the HDXV. Well, it would be an understatement to say that the HDXV exceeded my expectations. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never heard a cable at this price point bring about such a big level of improvement. If I would have been asked at this point whether the HMS justified the price I paid, my answer at this point would have been “it might come close to justifying it's price, even when only tapping into a half-million taps, but a better digital cable must be used”. 6Moons reviewed the HDXV very favorably back in 2003 and had this to say about it "The [HDXV] remained steadfast in the face of truly challenging material and showed itself to excel in the realm of retrieving minutiae.” That’s what I heard too. To be able to fully appreciate what the HMS brings to the table, I believe it’s critically important to use a BNC cable that can pass on all the goodness coming from the HMS. The OEM cable that Chord provides is not even close to being able to do that, in my humble opinion (at least not when scaling to only a half-million taps). The HDXV did not remain in my system very long. I’ve been super-impressed with the bang-for-the-buck I’ve gotten from the Shunyata Alpha series, so I just had to hear what would happen were I to use their Alpha S/PDIF cable between the HMS and the TT. I’m using an Alpha USB upstream of the HMS, so I figured the Alpha S/PDIF would compliment it very well. My dealer was able to arrange to have a cable sent to me last Friday. It arrived on Saturday, and roughly within an hour I told my dealer that there was no way that cable was ever going to be leaving my house. HMS plus the Alpha S/PDIF have brought about the biggest step change from any upgrade I’ve made to my digital source. Given their combined price, one would hope that would be the case - and it most certainly was. If you were to ask me at this point whether the HMS justified the price, my answer would be “hell f’n yes - it’s a game changer when used with cabling that’s up the task, even when only tapping into a half-million taps." As impressed as I am with the HMS, I think I may even be more impressed with my Chord Hugo TT. It’s truly stunning how much its performance was able to scale with the HMS. I can now honestly say that I’m in no rush to receive my TT2. What I’m hearing now already far exceeds what I thought was possible to achieve - especially from 16/44.1 files. Chord is really on a roll right now - and I'm a very happy customer.

This is what the Zenith Mk2 looks like on the inside: And now this is the Zenith SE I don’t have a pic of the Zenith Mk3, but what follows is actually the less expensive Zen Mk3. The Zenith has the same power supply board, but those empty spaces are filled so that there are three supplies in the Zenith vs two in the Zen. To my eyes it appears that Sean Jacobs certainly had a hand in designing the Mk3’s power supplies. Darko reviewed the Zen Mk3. You should check it out. I can’t recall the exact wording, but he concluded that the Zen came awfully close to the SE. https://darko.audio/2019/02/a-short-film-about-the-innuos-zen-mk3/ I own a Zenith Mk2, but plan to someday move to a Zenith Mk3.

I'm surprised that the Hugo TT has responded so well to the HMS at a half million taps. All the improvements reported at a million taps are present here too. I think I've been most amazed with the improvement to bass articulation and tone. As far as BNC cable length, I believe the standard specifies a max length of 10m. But your best bet is to post to the HMS thread on HeadFi on the with a callout to Rob Watts. He's good about answering questions there. HMS thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hugo-m-scaler-by-chord-electronics-the-official-thread.885042

My Hugo TT accepts up to 384kHz via a single coaxial BNC. But you could be right that most other DACs only go up to 192kHz via coaxial BNC. A very nice improvement can be heard from just the half-million taps. I'm expecting a bigger bump though after my TT2 finally arrives.

No I did not, but I did try the ISO Regen between Zenith and my DAC. While the IR did bring a significant improvement to the mR 1.4, it didn’t bring any discernible improvements to the Zenith. Given the quality of the USB signal out of the Zenith, I can’t imagine there’d be a benefit from throwing the mR back into the mix.

Here’s what the Zenith Mk2 replaced: - Mac Mini powered by JS-2 running Roon - mR 1.4 powered by LPS-1.2 - ISO REGEN powered by LPS-1.2 The Zenith was a nice upgrade over all this. I’m very pleased with the move. The Zenith digs out more details, has less glare and sounds more musical. At one time I did power the mR off the second rail of the JS-2, but preferred the LPS-1. The LPS-1.2 was an improvement over the LPS-1, but made a bigger improvement with the ISO REGEN. I’m also really pleased with the reduction in clutter from the swap. While I have a greatest appreciation for the Uptone and Sonore products, all those little boxes and SMPS were something I was never able to properly situate on my audio rack. I am thinking of buying an EtherRegen, but wish it could be only a single box containing the board, an LPS-1.2 and charging supply. My audio rack as it stands now (pun intended). A Hugo M-Scaler will take the open spot next week. And hopefully soon I will receive the Hugo TT2 that will replace the Hugo TT that’s pictured.

I had tried both a JS-2 and and LPS-1.2 on my mR 1.4. I got a nice bump in sound quality with the LPS-1.2. I think I might have also preferred the original LPS-1 on the mR as well. I'm now using a Zenith Std Mk2. This offered a really nice bump in sound quality over the mR 1.4 plus LPS-1.2.

Cool to see this review and the conclusion reached I should be receiving my HMS next week and my TT2 next month. 😊 Really excellent job @austinpop!!

I think this is good advice with one caveat. I decided recently to try to get myself off the merry go round - but only after taking one more step. I swapped a bunch of pieces for a single box: the Innuos Zenith Std Mk 2. The pieces included an ISO Regen, microRendu 1.4, several LPS-1.2s, a JS-2, and a Mac mini. The improvement to SQ was obvious and not at all something needing a careful a/b to sort out. Even more obvious was the reduction in clutter on my audio rack and the improved reliability. I have no doubt there are further benefits to be gained on the server side, but I am hoping I’ll be able to keep myself off that particular merry go round - with the exception of potentially pursuing the Mk 3 upgrade if that becomes available for a reasonable price. That merry go round will continue to spin at a high rate with the “best” choice changing often. But I’m now at the point where it’s easier to ignore all that because of how much I’m enjoying the music.

My perspective as well.

It wasn’t too long ago that Rob posted that he hasn’t even started work on that. I believe his focus is on the DAVINA A/D and the DX amps. DAVE just got a huge upgrade with the M-Scaler. A new version of DAVE isn’t really needed now. As far as the Qutest, my dealer (who was a close friend long before he became a dealer) was blown away by Hugo M-Scaler (HMS) plus Qutest. I have an HMS on order and hope I’ll see it next month, It will drive a Hugo 2 initially, which is on order as well.

All good now.

I ran into this loop with another product (RealVNC). My guess is that this is Apple’s bug to fix...and Roon and others are simply waiting for Apple to do that. i used to work at Microsoft on the Mac Office team. We would occasionally be in similar situations where customers would complain about something not working on a new OS. The fix was not ours to make so it put us in a bad spot.