A couple of days ago I came across a a deal on a Chord Hugo TT2 and... now I am waiting for my TT2 to go with the my M Scaler.  I had in mind to get the Dave and still likely will.  So why the TT2... because it's a sickness??

It all started with the Lumin2 Mini, Muon System, assorted cables and the Chord Qutest to see if digital and then the Chord "sound" would work for me, putting it as briefly as I can.  It did especially after I added the M Scaler, way beyond expectations.  In fact up until this experience I would not have thought that I would really get into digital.  As you can see that has all changed!

Recent discussions regarding preamps and passive volume controls got me thinking about getting and EMI.  The TT2 can drive high impedance headphones and has a preamp stage.  The Dave cannot drive high impedance  headphones.  So besides the DAC section, which is supposed to be a major jump over the Qutest, which is no slouch, I'm going to be checking out the preamp stage as well as the headphone amp in the TT2.

That should help considerably in deciding what to do next as the next steps are going to hurt... bad!

Quote:


Hey CA, Yes that is correct.  Based on my experience with the Qutest and the M Scaler, the M Scaler takes a Chord DAC to an altogether different level.  The better the DAC the greater the result, as I understand it.  

The Hugo M Scaler was physically sized to sit under the Hugo TT2.  Reportedly the combination of the two is equal to the Dave sans the M Scaler.  Add the M Scaler to the Dave and the effect it makes is greater yet according to reports.  Which goes counter to the established view, or at least my view, that the better the DAC the smaller the effect of an upscaler.

But the M Scaler is not your typical upscaling device and that I can attest to.  I never gave much credence to upscaling and became somewhat dismissive of it.  It's rather unnerving when ones long held conclusions soundly trashed.  In my case it has once again opened my thinking so that now I'm testing out that which I thought I knew and being well rewarded in the process. It's worth reading up on what the M Scaler does and Rob Watts design objectives.

Quote:

No kidding!

The interesting thing about the M Scaler is what it does and what it does is not what I heard from upscaling devices before and so its effects as an upscaler were completely, well... shocking? It makes things much more real.  Timing, transients, staging, space and position of vocalists, musicians and instruments and space between them within the stage are presented in a way that I've yet to year from a digital front end and it doesn't seem to be contrived or artificial.  It improves clarity and at the same time eliminates grain and edginess or brittleness.  Don't confuse this with "warmth" or "smoothing".  If I were to put a word on it it would "liquid" and "clean" or "clear". There's much more that I won't get into at this time.

As a result my taste now has attached many more $$$$$$$$$$ signs, 😥.  You are SO correct in your summation.

FINALLY, the system is set up in the new room and for the first time I'm able to hear the HugoTT2/M Scaler combination through my UFO25 and speakers.  Up till now it's been limited to headphones.

This is an initial report on the combination.  I've been at this "hobby" for over 50 years and, at times, have had to let go of long held conclusions.  One such conclusion was (past tense now) that a combination unit like the Hugo TT2 (DAC & pre amp with digital volume control and remote) must be full of compromises and not worth considering.

After spending the money on these units I'm happy to say that conclusion was completely erased.  Actually a better word to describe the manner in which my conclusion was removed by the Hugo TT2/M Scaler would be... annihilated.

I ran it in DAC mode and AMP mode.  I preferred the AMP mode and I didn't have to think about it.  The AMP mode engages the the pre section and volume control.  It also gives one the ability to work with the gain structure (ride the gain).  Low gain setting with the single ended outputs gives a max gain of 3.3 Vrms and the Hi gain setting gives a max gain of 9.3 Vrms.  I'm running it Low gain and adjusting the gain controls on the UFO25 to about 75% on the "scale".  Also take into account that the input tube in the UFO25 is a CryoTone 12AU7WCL - Long Plate which is a lower gain tube the stock tube.  Yet, density and solidity are not compromised at all, I'd say that they're better..

I'll leave a review of the sound for a later time as there were other changes that I made.  I'm running the DHC power cables to the Puritan Filter and to the UFO25.  I also changed the plugs that came with the DHC3 (what a PIA that was).  However, the typical audiophile descriptive adjectives are here in spades, the emotional connection is immediate and with the UFO25 the end result is not solid state at all!!.

I still do believe that to get this level of performance it will cost, what IMO, is a lot of $$$$$$.  But taking into consideration that you now have a very versatile pre amp and an excellent DAC combination, it's really not that much more than a traditional set up.