[alekc]

@Jawed and @ecwl thank you guys for your insight view. I do appreciate it and this is why we all love head-fi: one can always find all those crucial, tiny details that are missing from the most internet pages. I've pulled a trigger on Lumin U1 Mini and hopefully it will come tomorrow. Testing M Scaler with TT2 out of TT2 amp. Later my beloved Aurorasound HEADA will come into play. Wish stock Chord BNC cables were better.

 

[new2mus]

@Jawed and @ecwl thank you guys for your insight view. I do appreciate it and this is why we all love head-fi: one can always find all those crucial, tiny details that are missing from the most internet pages. I've pulled a trigger on Lumin U1 Mini and hopefully it will come tomorrow. Testing M Scaler with TT2 out of TT2 amp. Later my beloved Aurorasound HEADA will come into play. Wish stock Chord BNC cables were better.

Would love to hear your thoughts about how everything compares.

 

[alekc]

Would love to hear your thoughts about how everything compares.

Will do that with pleasure @new2mus .

So far I am listening to one of best albums I have that can reveal both dac and amp transparency, separation, stage and micro-details and overall control:

This really shows how HTT2 needs upsampling IMHO in one or another form: be it M Scaler or other software based solution. For me M Scaler adds smoothness and air TT2 alone is missing. Still if you would listen to it without M Scaler, it would be great experience. The problem is I have a Rockna Wavelight and IMHO it beats HTT2 even when M Scaler has been added to the chain and it needs no external upsampling.

I still didn't turned HEADA for a sec today, but I know I will do it eventually.

 

[Triode User]

Will do that with pleasure @new2mus .

So far I am listening to one of best albums I have that can reveal both dac and amp transparency, separation, stage and micro-details and overall control:



This really shows how HTT2 needs upsampling IMHO in one or another form: be it M Scaler or other software based solution. For me M Scaler adds smoothness and air TT2 alone is missing. Still if you would listen to it without M Scaler, it would be great experience. The problem is I have a Rockna Wavelight and IMHO it beats HTT2 even when M Scaler has been added to the chain and it needs no external upsampling.

I still didn't turned HEADA for a sec today, but I know I will do it eventually.

Thanks for that album suggestion. Just listening to it now.

 

[maxh22]

I think this is more complicated than that. I think the statement is true because Chord Pulse Array DAC is so jitter immune that it can take Toslink optical signal with fairly high jitter and still get no jitter on DAC playback. This is definitely not what I've found with my previous non-Chord DACs in the past where a low-jitter USB/S/PDIF source always beat out a Toslink source. The real problem is that Chord DACs are so revealing, it's very easy now to hear the noise from USB or S/PDIF sources whereas with some other non-Chord DACs, the sonic differences are still there, but they're dwarfed by other distortions.

Chord dacs definitely sound great via toslink but there are still huge differences between sources. My gaming pc via toslink even with a better power cable and isolation doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as my Msi laptop even connected to its mains cable . The gaming pc has this digital edge to it that overtime makes listening to it slightly fatiguing. The Msi laptop sounds much warmer and relaxed while having a pitch black background. But even the MSI laptop needs to be optimized by making sure background software is closed out, keyboard lighting needs to be disabled, screen off, vibration pucks underneath improves focus and imaging, Audirvāna makes a difference too.

Even having google chrome open can make the sound brighter. Every optimization makes the music sound more real with Dave.

 

[alekc]

Thanks for that album suggestion. Just listening to it now.

@Triode User you are welcome. Let me know what you think please.

 

[dac64]

Chord dacs definitely sound great via toslink but there are still huge differences between sources. My gaming pc via toslink even with a better power cable and isolation doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as my Msi laptop even connected to its mains cable . The gaming pc has this digital edge to it that overtime makes listening to it slightly fatiguing. The Msi laptop sounds much warmer and relaxed while having a pitch black background. But even the MSI laptop needs to be optimized by making sure background software is closed out, keyboard lighting needs to be disabled, screen off, vibration pucks underneath improves focus and imaging, Audirvāna makes a difference too.

Even having google chrome open can make the sound brighter. Every optimization makes the music sound more real with Dave.

Thanks for the insight!

Yes, I always have a doubt of computer music. Is optical the solution?

According to your findings, what and how have sneaked into the computer music (data)?

Thanks and wish everyone a happy new year!

P/S: some swear that even optical is directional, you could give it a try.

 

[Currawong]

I've found that bad optical cables can be awful, presumably causing transmission errors.

 

[Christer]

Thanks for that album suggestion. Just listening to it now.

And?
Is it any good?
The title makes me think of hi-tech and IT, Gurgaon is northen India´s Silicon Valley, a relatively new pilot city not far from the Indira Gandhi International Airport of Delhi.
Where did you find the album?
Is it acoustic Indian music ,or modern synth stuff?
Happy New Year CC

I've found that bad optical cables can be awful, presumably causing transmission errors.

So,any suggestions of good quality optical cables?
I am curently using the optical cable suppllied with my mscaler playing cds from a cheap cd player and my current take on that is: Can cds sound better than this ?
Yes with TT2/HMS or Dave /HMS but with Qutest /HMS after Rob´s recent post on this subject I suspect as long as the dac gets bit perfect signal to play what improvement could I expect?
Cheers and Happy New Year CC

 

[Widell]

And?
Is it any good?
The title makes me think of hi-tech and IT, Gurgaon is northen India´s Silicon Valley, a relatively new pilot city not far from the Indira Gandhi Inernational Airport of Delhi.
Where did you find the album?
Is it acoustic Indian music ,or modern synth stuff?
Happy New Year CC

So,any suggestions of good quality optical cables?
I am curently using the optical cable suppllied with my mscaler playing cds from a cheap cd player and my current take on that is: Can cds sound better than this ?
Yes with TT2/HMS or Dave /HMS but with Qutest /HMS after Rob´s recent post on this subject I suspect as long as the dac gets bit perfect signal to play what improvement could I expect?
Cheers and Happy New Year CC

Hi Christer and Happy New Year,
I have and use the below, not to expensive and works flawlessly.
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html

 

[Christer]

Will do that with pleasure @new2mus .

So far I am listening to one of best albums I have that can reveal both dac and amp transparency, separation, stage and micro-details and overall control:



This really shows how HTT2 needs upsampling IMHO in one or another form: be it M Scaler or other software based solution. For me M Scaler adds smoothness and air TT2 alone is missing. Still if you would listen to it without M Scaler, it would be great experience. The problem is I have a Rockna Wavelight and IMHO it beats HTT2 even when M Scaler has been added to the chain and it needs no external upsampling.

I still didn't turned HEADA for a sec today, but I know I will do it eventually.

Thanks a LOT!

Just found it on YT and I have listened to one track so far.
Even on YT it sounds quite good via Qutest HMS and via my electrostatic speakers.

Absolutely Wonderful Music that reminds me at first listening of my top favouite Indian musician, Anoushka Shankar.
I am Very grateful to you, on this very last day of the Year,to get a recommendation of really good music on this dry tech thread.

That does NOT happen often!

When I do not listen to Western Classical I listen a lot ,and I mean really a LOT, to Indian music.

Via speakers I listen to more Indian and other World Music, than Western Classical these days.
Trying to squeeze a Symphony Orchestra into a normal sized living room is NOT easy.
I could at best squeeze in a Chamber Orchestra but without instruments and with all standing ,no more.
To get back on the "dry tech trail" topic I think I understand what you mean about TT2 alone.
Imho all Chord dacs absolutely need the Mscaler to sound really good with acoustic instruments and the human voice.

Cheers and Happy New Year CC

 

[dac64]

https://guybuttery.bandcamp.com/

However, could not find th info on download format

 

[maxh22]

Thanks for the insight!

Yes, I always have a doubt of computer music. Is optical the solution?

According to your findings, what and how have sneaked into the computer music (data)?

Thanks and wish everyone a happy new year!

P/S: some swear that even optical is directional, you could give it a try.

So far the best playback I achieved was when I had music loaded on my SD card plugged into the MSI laptop , it sounds the most analog to me with the blackest background. I am not entirely sure how but somehow this noise makes its way even through toslink. Even playing from an NVME SSD or SSD one can hear a greyer background and slightly brighter sound. The SD card makes far less noise when playing back files, even though ultimately all of it should be loaded onto the ram.

Seems like just reducing the internal noise can have a big effect on the sound, less noise in less noise for Dave’s optical receiver.

 

[jarnopp]

And?
Is it any good?
The title makes me think of hi-tech and IT, Gurgaon is northen India´s Silicon Valley, a relatively new pilot city not far from the Indira Gandhi International Airport of Delhi.
Where did you find the album?
Is it acoustic Indian music ,or modern synth stuff?
Happy New Year CC

So,any suggestions of good quality optical cables?
I am curently using the optical cable suppllied with my mscaler playing cds from a cheap cd player and my current take on that is: Can cds sound better than this ?
Yes with TT2/HMS or Dave /HMS but with Qutest /HMS after Rob´s recent post on this subject I suspect as long as the dac gets bit perfect signal to play what improvement could I expect?
Cheers and Happy New Year CC

Christer, this is the optical cable I am using. It allows me to keep the Raspberry Pi well separated from the mScaler. It was highly recommended at one point around here, by Romaz, I believe.
https://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Clearlink-Optical-Cable_p_1228.html

 

[alekc]

Thanks a LOT!

Just found it on YT and I have listened to one track so far.
Even on YT it sounds quite good via Qutest HMS and via my electrostatic speakers.

Absolutely Wonderful Music that reminds me at first listening of my top favouite Indian musician, Anoushka Shankar.
I am Very grateful to you, on this very last day of the Year,to get a recommendation of really good music on this dry tech thread.

That does NOT happen often!

When I do not listen to Western Classical I listen a lot ,and I mean really a LOT, to Indian music.

Via speakers I listen to more Indian and other World Music, than Western Classical these days.
Trying to squeeze a Symphony Orchestra into a normal sized living room is NOT easy.
I could at best squeeze in a Chamber Orchestra but without instruments and with all standing ,no more.
To get back on the "dry tech trail" topic I think I understand what you mean about TT2 alone.
Imho all Chord dacs absolutely need the Mscaler to sound really good with acoustic instruments and the human voice.

Cheers and Happy New Year CC

@Christer You are welcome Sir! Check out another Guy Butter album - it brilliantly demonstrates how great Chord dacs deal with live music recordings (guitars and vocals in this case):

Again, adding an M Scaler to the chain makes this brilliant recording sound awesome.