[naynay]

Hi,

Currently using Auralic Aries Lightening Streamer to Chord Qutest Dac to Amplifier which from its tape out has a seperate headphone Amp connected.
My question is if i was to add the Chord M Scaler which has a remote control would it work the volume from the headphone amp when i am listening through headphones?

Thank you.

 

[Rob Watts]

No the Qutest does not have a DX input; of course it will accept dual data 768 kHz, but will ignore the volume control info in the user data.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Any insight as to which of these configurations would be best?
- PC to M Scaler via USB
- PC to Singxer SU-1 via USB, SU-1 to M Scaler via optical

 

[Whazzzup]

Not knowing these boxes but reading why would one need dsd512, a low jitter clock or anything inside these boxes that need to deliver bit perfect 16 41to m scaler.

 

[Whitigir]

Any insight as to which of these configurations would be best?
- PC to M Scaler via USB
- PC to Singxer SU-1 via USB, SU-1 to M Scaler via optical

I wouldn’t think a PC would help here. What you need is a Blue CDplayer from Chord, because Software matters. Unless Chord has it own software for PC

 

[Zagato]

Good afternoon all - my first post so be gentle!

With the advent of HMS are we now at stage where digital transport quality is unimportant. Rob has said that any jitter is a non-issue with his dacs. Does this mean that a 44.1KHz/16 bit signal from any source will sound the same after going through HMS/Chord dac?

 

[Whitigir]

Good afternoon all - my first post so be gentle!

With the advent of HMS are we now at stage where digital transport quality is unimportant. Rob has said that any jitter is a non-issue with his dacs. Does this mean that a 44.1KHz/16 bit signal from any source will sound the same after going through HMS/Chord dac?

Everything is important as it is a part of the chain.

 

[ZappaMan]

Good afternoon all - my first post so be gentle!

With the advent of HMS are we now at stage where digital transport quality is unimportant. Rob has said that any jitter is a non-issue with his dacs. Does this mean that a 44.1KHz/16 bit signal from any source will sound the same after going through HMS/Chord dac?

I don’t know, but the audio ‘stream’ as it comes from the source, is not the same stream from two different sources.
It seems hardware and environment make the stream cleaner or dirtier.
I wish I knew more, but it seems to me audio packets are not the same from normal data packets, as they’re not representing something concrete, like a word document.
The audio packets are echos of how the audio app dispatched those packets, how it interpreted the original data, and how that was mutated into electrical signals that in turn became packets.
As you can see, I’ve a lot of learning left to do.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I wouldn’t think a PC would help here. What you need is a Blue CDplayer from Chord, because Software matters. Unless Chord has it own software for PC

PC is just for convenience since it's what I use. Foobar2000 and ASIO drivers.

So I'm not sure if it matters which of those configurations I use but I'll test both anyway since I already have the Singxer SU-1 (which is unnecessary with my current DAC).

 

[Zagato]

Thanks for your input guys. As I understand it the HMS is able to "see" before and after a musical point in time to reconstruct the original analogue signal, so my logic was that if the same song is played from a) a CD or b) a ripped file of the same CD then they should sound the same after HMS/dac, or is my logic wrong?

 

[Whazzzup]

as long as 16 bit 41 is the same as 16 bit 41, in bit perfect

 

[Christer]

I don’t know, but the audio ‘stream’ as it comes from the source, is not the same stream from too different sources.
It seems hardware and environment make the stream cleaner or dirtier.
I wish I knew more, but it seems to me audio packets are not the same from normal data packets, as they’re not representing something concrete, like a word document.
The audio packets are echos of how the audio app dispatched those packets, how it interpreted the original data, and how that was mutated into electrical signals that in turn became packets.
As you can see, I’ve a lot of learning left to do.

I have not made any direct A/B comparisons side by side with different sources and 1Mtaps.
But I was very surprised when I very clearly heard how different my two cd players sound via optical connected to my Qutest.
Bits and tap numbers are obviously only parts of the puzzle here imho.
And although I have heard how good 1 M taps can sound via BLU2 only so far, I am also a bit puzzled over how say my Qutest or any other 32/768 capable DAC for that matter can "know" any difference between 1M taps from an M-scaler or rendered by other similar upsampling programs/codecs?

 

[Zagato]

Really interesting stuff guys - I'm sure Rob will chip in and put us all to rights

 

[Whitigir]

There are no mysteries in

Thanks for your input guys. As I understand it the HMS is able to "see" before and after a musical point in time to reconstruct the original analogue signal, so my logic was that if the same song is played from a) a CD or b) a ripped file of the same CD then they should sound the same after HMS/dac, or is my logic wrong?

Wrong.

1/ CD being played is on the fly conversion (live conversions where everything from hardware level to the software being used will matters). Therefore, different CD players will sound different and performances are not the same. An example is timing errors

2/ Ripped CD is depend on the software that is being used, the method of extracting the files. Once it is recorded as a FLAC files, whatever lost information remain lost forever, and whatever additional errors happen will remain forever on that file. Unless that CD is being ripped by a better methods. This is where software is more essential than hardware.

There are additional. Live conversion from digital music, be it DSD or PCM, they are being processed on the fly (in real time). Therefore, all of the supportive things will affect it differently. Including cables Characteristic impedance, interface, IC, clock....etc...etc....the only differences here is that if you were to use Offline conversions on your PCM or DSD (assuming you have perfected software and algorithm for the best performances), then your Files are the best it can be. The DAC will process the best information available in PCM and supposedly will perform the best result. The same as DSD Native, but slight differences is that the DAC don’t decode anymore but bypass into analog sections.

I am not sure how Pulse Arrays works in Chord products. But from what I have been reading, it is a system where it rely much on the DSP of Chord design, and minimize Timing errors, and this applies toward other designs such as Upscaling-Downscaling (44.1 or DSD) in the goal to achieve the best specifications of the files, and then feed PCM into Chord own DAC pulse arrays to output the best possible result (under Chord engineering and developments)

To answer your question. Once the PCM is recorded, whatever errors or lost info will remain. There is no way to see in the pass what had been lost. Whatever you are doing on this current file is just taking the best of it as possible. Therefore, In a sense, if you wanted the best possible, you have to get a Blue CD players to rip your file or to play live into M-Scaler.

 

[seaice]

Any insight as to which of these configurations would be best?
- PC to M Scaler via USB
- PC to Singxer SU-1 via USB, SU-1 to M Scaler via optical

I have Singxer SU-1 but I connect Dave directly to my PC via USB. No need for SU-1 with Dave.

BTW, my Singxer SU-1 does not have an optical out. Is there any SU-1 variant with optical out?