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Looking forward to your impressions Sime, I'm getting a TT2 & M-Scaler for my second system (via a relative who's coming down from England in a few weeks). Feedback on Headfi on the M-Scaler has been interesting, with some users not hearing a difference and others claiming it's night and day, when not used with the TT2.

 

As a Chord DAVE + Blu Mk2 owner I can confirm that the old adage of garbage in garbage out applies. A BluMk2 or M-Scaler isn't going to make your YouTube or SoundCloud stream sound like a 24bit high-resolution file,  but feed it high-quality source material and prepare to have the combo take your breath away. 

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@Galactic Soap yes, I’m prepared actually to not be hugely blown away, I’m keeping my expectations limited. It’s one of those devices that I like the novelty of, even at its price (I got a surprisingly good deal) and it might take some time to hear its benefits. But if it’s as good as one may hope, awesome, if not (system incapability) I’ll simply sell it at a good price to someone else. 

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I also haven’t seen any info on how the Qutest reacts to a dual BNC input. Do you simply select one of the two inputs and it automatically uses both?

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I have the Dave & Mscaler , the Dave I have had for 2 years now and Mscaler for 6 weeks .

The scaler needed 85 hours before it sounded good , dull , flat and very little bass all that has changed now , its very hard to describe how much it has improved .

Not a night & day difference for me but a very clean natural sound still changing for the better . Went back to using just the Dave to remind my self of how the dave sounded but could not

bring myself to stay very long with that set up , it just sounded not right . Putting the scaler back in made all the difference , others have had a more dynamic change this all system dependant .

Cables , I use dual connection and this was a big head ache for me the supplied cables kept on dropping the signal about every 45 seconds , on the Head HiFi forums they have more details on 

others having the same problems , I did what Rob suggested and used the Toslink input and that was good until I got some cables to try .

I was lucky that I did not have to buy all the cables I tried because some of the more expensive cables also had that problem , so be aware that price alone does not mean it will work , I ended up using 

Beldon BNC cables for now I will stay with this cable until I am more accustom to sound of my HiFi before changing to another NBC cable .

looks like the scaler will need carefull choice of cables just like I did with the Dave .

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Well the only thing that I don’t like so far is that is cuts out and clicks here and there during frequency changes, say from red book to 96kh for example. 

 

But, boy is it smooth. The music seems more relaxed……………

 

@shihan171 can you enlighten me on what those 3 buttons on the right actually do, nothing in the instructions about them. 

 

 

Edited by Sime V2
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The Two on the right do nothing for now they are there for future up-grade when the Divina Project gets finished .

As for the clicks you are hearing I never had that problem , I know that has been talked about on the Head - Fi forums others have had that click sound .

Worth your while looking there its a long thread I remember reading about this starts being mentioned there when they first went on sale in the UK so not

at the start of the thread but later on round about page 100 I think ?

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Apart from the SR issues during changing, I’m currently talking to Rob Watts about it, here are my first impressions. 

 

The change isn’t subtle at all, it’s very noticeable, and I’m so glad it is (didn’t waste my money ?)

All the digital glare that some tracks had has gone. One thing I noticed was that it’s a tad quieter when engaged, and I’m guessing because of how much cleaner the tracks are. It’s extremely more noticeable when I use it on my Mytek Brooklyn. The best thing about that dac is that you can instantly A/B it, but funnily enough, the improvement doesn’t need such a radical test. 

On the Brooklyn using 1 COAX out of the M Scaler, it up samples Redbook to 352Kh and I also have the Node2i connected  directly to the Brooklyn via Toslink. I played a track I knew well firstly through the M Scaler and yeah, it was great, but then I switched over to the Node2i directly and all the harshness that’s plagued my system since the 8805 was introduced came back, switched back and all gone, replaced with a very smooth sound, with more detail ( 8805 is a more brutally honest pre over the 8801) 

It’s fully obvious to me when Rob watts lectured that this device brings digital audio closer to the original source. It’s very relaxing to listen to. Music also “seems” like it’s playing at a slower pace, but that’s because it’s a lot calmer than before. 

Imo, anyone who has a decent dac, especially a dual input Chord DAC, should at least give it a go. I even think that the digital hating, all vinyl listeners might turn an eye, if even slightly ?

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59 minutes ago, dolphy said:

Um, so when is the "get together"? I really want to sample the M Scaler, although I'll never be able to afford it ?

Actually, if you want a get together, organize one I’ll bring the M Scaler with the qutest to yours if you like.  

Edited by Sime V2
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4 hours ago, Sime V2 said:

Apart from the SR issues during changing, I’m currently talking to Rob Watts about it, here are my first impressions. 

 

The change isn’t subtle at all, it’s very noticeable, and I’m so glad it is (didn’t waste my money ?)

All the digital glare that some tracks had has gone. One thing I noticed was that it’s a tad quieter when engaged, and I’m guessing because of how much cleaner the tracks are. It’s extremely more noticeable when I use it on my Mytek Brooklyn. The best thing about that dac is that you can instantly A/B it, but funnily enough, the improvement doesn’t need such a radical test. 

On the Brooklyn using 1 COAX out of the M Scaler, it up samples Redbook to 352Kh and I also have the Node2i connected  directly to the Brooklyn via Toslink. I played a track I knew well firstly through the M Scaler and yeah, it was great, but then I switched over to the Node2i directly and all the harshness that’s plagued my system since the 8805 was introduced came back, switched back and all gone, replaced with a very smooth sound, with more detail ( 8805 is a more brutally honest pre over the 8801) 

It’s fully obvious to me when Rob watts lectured that this device brings digital audio closer to the original source. It’s very relaxing to listen to. Music also “seems” like it’s playing at a slower pace, but that’s because it’s a lot calmer than before. 

Imo, anyone who has a decent dac, especially a dual input Chord DAC, should at least give it a go. I even think that the digital hating, all vinyl listeners might turn an eye, if even slightly ?

Hi Sime

 

You raise an interesting point in your ABing of the Qutest vs the Mytek. I had asked Chord a question about the M Scaler which they hadn't got back to me on. That question was, does the M Scaler output from the dual BNCs and S/PDIF at the same time? Not necessarily to play at the same time, but so that you can leave both cables connected and not have to do any switching. Can I assume from your testing that it does have this capability?

 

I was considering getting one to help me use a single output source (Aurender N100H) to drive two dacs, one to be a dual BNC input Chord in my listening system and the other a good headamp/dac at my desk for those times when I am sharing the study.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited by markm1111
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19 minutes ago, markm1111 said:

Hi Sime

 

You raise an interesting point in your ABing of the Qutest vs the Mytek. I had asked Chord a question about the M Scaler which they hadn't got back to me on. That question was, does the M Scaler output from the dual BNCs and S/PDIF at the same time? Not necessarily to play at the same time, but so that you can leave both cables connected and not have to do any switching. Can I assume from your testing that it does have this capability?

 

I was considering getting one to help me use a single output source (Aurender N100H) to drive two dacs, one to be a dual BNC input Chord in my listening system and the other a good headamp/dac at my desk for those times when I am sharing the study.

 

Thanks in advance

Yes mate, all 3 outputs run simultaneously. 

Its good with the Brooklyn, being as it has a display that shows me easily what the Scaler is outputting. The Qutests light indicator colors in that frequency range are to similar to distinguish between 705 and 768. 

 

By the way, the Scaler isn’t bit perfect with its bypass, so it won’t bypass MQA. 

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