I was intrigued by the M Scaler and listened at a local dealer. Heard in conjunction with a TT2, it was a joy...the improvement in space, timing and staging was immediately apparent and obvious when AB'd. I own a Qutest and am confident that an MScaler will offer a similar improvement...so confident that I sourced a used example and it is being delivered tomorrow. I cannot wait!!!
I sourced both my pre-owned Qutest & M Scaler at less than 50% of the cost of a new TT2 & M Scaler and they sound utterly sublime...the Qutest with the M Scaler has taken things up significantly - much greater focus, separation and timing. The soundstage improving markedly...having much greater width and depth. The bass is so much more nuanced and textured. To articulate the change, I'd say it's almost as if the sound source (my speakers) just disappeared. The sound is much more relaxed, yet detailed and cohesive. I'm delighted I took the punt and bought...a cracking bit of kit! 👍
@@13thnotehifireviews7 - try and source such...it's nigh on impossible at that price. Given this (and having had a Qutest) it was a no-brainer to me to 'improve' my sound with an M Scaler...and of-course, a 'new' Chord (future) DAC can be deployed as a when funds allow. I think my approach makes excellent sense...I know my HiFi make excellent music!
I've been very fortunate in my time to own some excellent kit...I used to own an original Chord Blu Transport and DAC, full Naim amplification and some Sonus faber speakers...and all were chosen after extensive home dem facilitated by my dealer Doug Brady HifI in Warrington...I do know the value of such, and heartily agree with your assertion. I already owned a Mojo and am a fan of the Chord sound...I took a blind punt on a Qutest after reading and viewing many reviews...your own excellent reviews included 👍. As said, intrigued by the M Scaler, I had a dealer demo and loved it...I then sourced a used example (at an excellent price)...if it were a new purchase, I would dem at home 1st.
I purchased the Dave around 3 years ago and added the MScaler last year, along with the Auralic Aires G2. The Dave and MScaler combination does really allow the listener to hear into the recording. Cycling through the sample rates clearly shows the improvements the MScaler brings to the party.
Great Review Hans BUT IMHO what really interests the community is not whether the M-Scaler makes an improvement over no DSP processing, it clearly does ! but rather how that improvement compares with Roon or HQPlayer upsampling which are built-in and available options at no extra cost !
I didn't make the comparison with Roon upsampling simply since it is of a different class. Like asking to compare a Honda Civic to a BMW 7 series. HQ player is not for the normal people that watch my videos. Too complex to set up with Roon for instance. (Not for me, but for the majority of my public. They might be tempted by the affordability and end up with me with their questions.)
I have the TT2 & M Scaler, never thought I’d be at this altitude but you know how this game drags you in! Every listening session is a pleasure that I could never have conceived possible from recorded music. All the cliches, ‘you’re there’, ‘singer in the room’ all apply to the degree that at times the detail and intimacy are simply astonishing. This is my end game because it has to be but for years, hopefully, to come I have a window on the music I’ve loved that brings something new to every track and is pure pleasure. So many things in life are expensive but still fail to deliver value for money, these Chord products are crazy expensive for sure but I totally concur with Hans, if you’re gonna have to send these back don’t get them in the first place!
Another great review! I am sure many would be interested to see a comparison of Chord Hugo TT 2 + M Scaler vs. DAVE + M Scaler. Is it worth to spend the extra on the DAVE vs. the Hugo TT2 when combined with the M Scaler?
Very good, Hans. All I need now is money. How would you explain the presentation differences between the Chord Dave/Hugo M Scaler and the Denafrips Terminator-Plus/Gaia combinations?
Great video, Hans! I have the M Scaler and TT 2. It sounds amazing! My complete setup is in my home office. MacBook Pro, Roon, Tidal, Qobuz feeding the M Scaler and TT2, going to a Yamaha A-S2200 receiver connected to Harbeth P3 ESR XD's and an SVS SB-3000 sub. It's my end game setup for my home office. Love your channel!
Thank you Mr. Beekhuyzen for your work. This particular video made me listen and read all I could found on Rob Watts designs. I did listen many many times some videos to understand his theory… and finally bought a mojo2. I understood that Rob Watts designs are immune to jitters. Do you think I understand it right that Chord DACs are immune to source jitters? As I am a Apple airplay 2 user, i fed the mojo2 from a 99$ Belkin Soundform Connect with optical toslink(no rf noise problem) and it improved the sound very much. My system is in the range of your system setup 3, and now the instruments sounds real, clear, a veil is removed. I thought it might be usefull for the community.
Although I deeply respect Rob Watts and his work, I don't agree on two of his statements: his designs are not immune to jitter and better power supplies will improve the sound quality on a number of his designs. If his products are immune to jitter, how come I hear differences when I change the source from the very good Auralic Aries G2 to the Grimm Audio MU1 (upsampler switched off)?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel which inputs were you using going into the Chord products from those streamers? It could be totally plausible that it could be noise differences that caused the audible difference between them if you used coax or USB instead of the guaranteed isolation of optical.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannelalso it's possible that the switching supply's may upset your other equipment when being used with the Chords and therefore influencing the quality of the system. Using headphones to test the Chord equipment solely could negate that potential issue to help figure out the mechanism of why the quality difference of power supplies presents itself with Chord products, but I understand you don't like headphones which is perfectly fine of course. I'm only theorising here and would be interested in your opinions.
Great review Hans, I concur with the other guys about trying the M scaler with a TT2. I just wonder how close is that combo from the Dave alone, since the cost is almos the same for an Mscaler+TT2 vs the Dave, and how far is from the Mscaler+ Dave.
I've owned the M-Scaler with both the TT2 and DAVE at the same time and the DAVE alone was better than the M-Scaler/TT2 combo in my opinion. The combo gets close and does sound fantastic but it's a different sound, perhaps due to the difference in output stage. Some might prefer the combo to the DAVE based on personal preference of course.
Love your videos. Thank you for your great work. How does the MScaler + Dave combo compare to the Holo May KTE? I know you reviews the May a couple of months ago but I'm curious about your thoughts even based on memory. Thanks again
As I know it I2s/HDMI, S/PDIF opt, S/PDIF coax, USB are not "Bit Perfect". The only digital stream who is "Bit Perfect" is TPC/IP over Ethernet. Maybe there is some more "Bit Perfect" streams which I don't know of. Please tell me if that is the case.
"Bit Perfect" meas there can't be a faulty bit in the receiving end. That is done in TCP/IP by error correction and resending packets if necessary. In the other digital connections it is possible to use error correction but not resending faulty packets because they are only one directional so the recaiver can't tell the transmitter to resend. Error correction is probably not implemented because of that it can introduce gitter.
Paying as close attention to the digital source will likely improve sound quality even further, ie rather than streaming over wifi, use locally stored files played using JPlay software. Rob Watts +Marcin Ostapowicz = geniuses that complement each other
I disagree here. Connecting a computer directly to the DAC is about the worst solution. Especially in this class. Using a network bridge or streamer of equal quality sounds a lot better.
Thanks for the great review. In case room correction is wanted, would you recommend adding a miniDsp Shd Studio before M-scaler, or would the resample by the miniDsp would too much alter the benefit of the M-scaler? (In that case the choice would be miniDsp vs M-scaler and that of course would depend on how critically is room correction needed).
Thank you Hans for posting this. I am not technically pretty much a novice but I have a question: How much difference is there when using 96kHz and 192kHz files? Is it worth using the M-scaler if you are playing files at these higher sample rate files. Thanks.
If you watch the video again, you see I explain that the M Scaler uses an advanced way of reconstructing the analog audio. This offers better time resolution and thus better sound quality, also if files at higher sampling rates are used.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thanks Hans. I just purchased the M-scaler based on your review and it truly is remarkable, even with higher sample rate files. Best of luck with your surgery.
Very informative, Hans, thank you for this highly resolved review. I would definitely be into hearing more about what the m scaler can do for other dacs. My Mirus Pro has a max frequency of 384, do you think the m scaler could work well with this? It might be worth a try, I suppose. On the basis of your experience in this review, I’m tempted to give it a go.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel … decided on the Hugo TT2 for my main system. Just curious to know what the MScaler will do for it or better to get the Tambaquai. 😈 Love your videos!
Thanks for the great review. I heard the M Scaler in late 2019 and was very impressed. I have been looking at r2r Dacs and was really considering the Holo KTE May (maybe Terminator as well). The selection will be w/o a demo for those. It might be good to if the M Scaler would enhance the sound of the May?? Anther great informative video Look forward to what you have in store each week.
I have owned many DAC's and TT's and even tried the Bartok before buying the Dave. The Dave comes across effortlessly when played when you hear a piano play it sounds like it, and a great soundstage as well. I run my setup like so ZENith Mk3 > PhoenixUSB > Chord M Scaler > Dave > Woo Audio WA33 Elite > Hifiman Susvara's or Abyss 1266 Phi TC with this setup you get = H U G E S O U N D S T A G E
Hello Hans, Very good video! You should compare the Audio-GD R7-HE 2021 + Audio-GD DI-20HE + a good 10 Mhz Master clock feeding both vs the Chord Dave + M Scaler combo. I bet the Audio-GD combo should be similar in perfomance at a less than 50% in cost. Maybe you can ask Magna Hi-Fi to lend you the Audio-GD combo plus a good clock (if you don´t have one) for a review. You will be impressed, I asure you. Cheers,
I was intrigued by the M Scaler and listened at a local dealer. Heard in conjunction with a TT2, it was a joy...the improvement in space, timing and staging was immediately apparent and obvious when AB'd. I own a Qutest and am confident that an MScaler will offer a similar improvement...so confident that I sourced a used example and it is being delivered tomorrow. I cannot wait!!!
Congrats
I sourced both my pre-owned Qutest & M Scaler at less than 50% of the cost of a new TT2 & M Scaler and they sound utterly sublime...the Qutest with the M Scaler has taken things up significantly - much greater focus, separation and timing. The soundstage improving markedly...having much greater width and depth. The bass is so much more nuanced and textured. To articulate the change, I'd say it's almost as if the sound source (my speakers) just disappeared.
The sound is much more relaxed, yet detailed and cohesive. I'm delighted I took the punt and bought...a cracking bit of kit! 👍
@@13thnotehifireviews7 - try and source such...it's nigh on impossible at that price. Given this (and having had a Qutest) it was a no-brainer to me to 'improve' my sound with an M Scaler...and of-course, a 'new' Chord (future) DAC can be deployed as a when funds allow. I think my approach makes excellent sense...I know my HiFi make excellent music!
I've been very fortunate in my time to own some excellent kit...I used to own an original Chord Blu Transport and DAC, full Naim amplification and some Sonus faber speakers...and all were chosen after extensive home dem facilitated by my dealer Doug Brady HifI in Warrington...I do know the value of such, and heartily agree with your assertion. I already owned a Mojo and am a fan of the Chord sound...I took a blind punt on a Qutest after reading and viewing many reviews...your own excellent reviews included 👍. As said, intrigued by the M Scaler, I had a dealer demo and loved it...I then sourced a used example (at an excellent price)...if it were a new purchase, I would dem at home 1st.
your review format is amazing and you are always very thoughtful, thank you
I purchased the Dave around 3 years ago and added the MScaler last year, along with the Auralic Aires G2. The Dave and MScaler combination does really allow the listener to hear into the recording. Cycling through the sample rates clearly shows the improvements the MScaler brings to the party.
Great Review Hans BUT IMHO what really interests the community is not whether the M-Scaler makes an improvement over no DSP processing, it clearly does ! but rather how that improvement compares with Roon or HQPlayer upsampling which are built-in and available options at no extra cost !
I didn't make the comparison with Roon upsampling simply since it is of a different class. Like asking to compare a Honda Civic to a BMW 7 series. HQ player is not for the normal people that watch my videos. Too complex to set up with Roon for instance. (Not for me, but for the majority of my public. They might be tempted by the affordability and end up with me with their questions.)
I have the TT2 & M Scaler, never thought I’d be at this altitude but you know how this game drags you in! Every listening session is a pleasure that I could never have conceived possible from recorded music. All the cliches, ‘you’re there’, ‘singer in the room’ all apply to the degree that at times the detail and intimacy are simply astonishing.
This is my end game because it has to be but for years, hopefully, to come I have a window on the music I’ve loved that brings something new to every track and is pure pleasure. So many things in life are expensive but still fail to deliver value for money, these Chord products are crazy expensive for sure but I totally concur with Hans, if you’re gonna have to send these back don’t get them in the first place!
Very interesting this refinement about the importance of transients in audio perception.
Your knowlege adds a lot to the audio comunity.
Much appreciated!
Another great review!
I am sure many would be interested to see a comparison of
Chord Hugo TT 2 + M Scaler
vs.
DAVE + M Scaler.
Is it worth to spend the extra on the DAVE vs. the Hugo TT2 when combined with the M Scaler?
I would love to see a review of the M scaler and Qutest! Great video as always Hans
Very good, Hans. All I need now is money.
How would you explain the presentation differences between the Chord Dave/Hugo M Scaler and the Denafrips Terminator-Plus/Gaia combinations?
You would'nt. You would look into getting a GPU and just do your own upsampling.
Great video, Hans! I have the M Scaler and TT 2. It sounds amazing! My complete setup is in my home office. MacBook Pro, Roon, Tidal, Qobuz feeding the M Scaler and TT2, going to a Yamaha A-S2200 receiver connected to Harbeth P3 ESR XD's and an SVS SB-3000 sub. It's my end game setup for my home office. Love your channel!
Which music player are you using on the MacBook?
@@donr62 I’m running the Roon app on my MacBook Pro. The Roon core (server) runs on my iMac, which is the iMac’s primary function.
Thank you Mr. Beekhuyzen for your work. This particular video made me listen and read all I could found on Rob Watts designs. I did listen many many times some videos to understand his theory… and finally bought a mojo2.
I understood that Rob Watts designs are immune to jitters. Do you think I understand it right that Chord DACs are immune to source jitters?
As I am a Apple airplay 2 user, i fed the mojo2 from a 99$ Belkin Soundform Connect with optical toslink(no rf noise problem) and it improved the sound very much. My system is in the range of your system setup 3, and now the instruments sounds real, clear, a veil is removed. I thought it might be usefull for the community.
Although I deeply respect Rob Watts and his work, I don't agree on two of his statements: his designs are not immune to jitter and better power supplies will improve the sound quality on a number of his designs. If his products are immune to jitter, how come I hear differences when I change the source from the very good Auralic Aries G2 to the Grimm Audio MU1 (upsampler switched off)?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel which inputs were you using going into the Chord products from those streamers?
It could be totally plausible that it could be noise differences that caused the audible difference between them if you used coax or USB instead of the guaranteed isolation of optical.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannelalso it's possible that the switching supply's may upset your other equipment when being used with the Chords and therefore influencing the quality of the system.
Using headphones to test the Chord equipment solely could negate that potential issue to help figure out the mechanism of why the quality difference of power supplies presents itself with Chord products, but I understand you don't like headphones which is perfectly fine of course.
I'm only theorising here and would be interested in your opinions.
Why 9 thumbs down? For what, I don’t understand. Anyway another great review Hans. Thank you.
Thanks!
Great review. Could you maybe compare this experience with the Holo Audio May playing in NOS? Thanks alot
Great review Hans, I concur with the other guys about trying the M scaler with a TT2. I just wonder how close is that combo from the Dave alone, since the cost is almos the same for an Mscaler+TT2 vs the Dave, and how far is from the Mscaler+ Dave.
I've owned the M-Scaler with both the TT2 and DAVE at the same time and the DAVE alone was better than the M-Scaler/TT2 combo in my opinion. The combo gets close and does sound fantastic but it's a different sound, perhaps due to the difference in output stage. Some might prefer the combo to the DAVE based on personal preference of course.
Another great video Hans. I would love to hear your opinion on power conditioners/regenerators.
I limit myself to digital front-ends so no power conditioners or regulators.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Fair enough, thanks for replying.
Great video Hans!
Thanks!
Thanks for the mention, Hans! Yes, the video quality was dreadful and the sound not a lot better, but Rob is super knowledgeable!
and given the material you had to work with, id was done very well. It's a valuable video.
And he did the same editing glitch as you did in 10:41 onward. 😂
Hans B and Lachlan my two favorite UA-cam reviewers (well Sandu too) interacting at the same point.
Love your videos. Thank you for your great work. How does the MScaler + Dave combo compare to the Holo May KTE? I know you reviews the May a couple of months ago but I'm curious about your thoughts even based on memory. Thanks again
Hans - great video as usual. Can you give a qualitative comparison to the Denafrips?
About 1.75876 times as good. With a margin of 30%. The T-Plus is great, really great. But it is no DAVE.
As I know it I2s/HDMI, S/PDIF opt, S/PDIF coax, USB are not "Bit Perfect". The only digital stream who is "Bit Perfect" is TPC/IP over Ethernet. Maybe there is some more "Bit Perfect" streams which I don't know of. Please tell me if that is the case.
All the interfaces you mention are bit perfect. I don't know where you get your info but you're so wrong.
"Bit Perfect" meas there can't be a faulty bit in the receiving end. That is done in TCP/IP by error correction and resending packets if necessary.
In the other digital connections it is possible to use error correction but not resending faulty packets because they are only one directional so the recaiver can't tell the transmitter to resend. Error correction is probably not implemented because of that it can introduce gitter.
Hans. Thanks for the video. Is the Mscaler alone a worthy addition to an existing system without the Dave, going into a non-Chord DAC?
I might test that later on (no promise).
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel if so, Thank you kindly
At those combined prices you need to compare to some DCS dacs like the Bartok or Rossini.
Agreed. I will try to organise a DCS for review.
Looking forward a contest between tambaqui, bartok and dave!
The elephant in the room...how does it compare to your Termi/Gaia Combo? Thx for the interesting review...
Paying as close attention to the digital source will likely improve sound quality even further, ie rather than streaming over wifi, use locally stored files played using JPlay software. Rob Watts +Marcin Ostapowicz = geniuses that complement each other
I disagree here. Connecting a computer directly to the DAC is about the worst solution. Especially in this class. Using a network bridge or streamer of equal quality sounds a lot better.
Thanks for the great review. In case room correction is wanted, would you recommend adding a miniDsp Shd Studio before M-scaler, or would the resample by the miniDsp would too much alter the benefit of the M-scaler? (In that case the choice would be miniDsp vs M-scaler and that of course would depend on how critically is room correction needed).
I would use MiniDSP -> M-Scaler
Thank you Hans for posting this. I am not technically pretty much a novice but I have a question: How much difference is there when using 96kHz and 192kHz files? Is it worth using the M-scaler if you are playing files at these higher sample rate files. Thanks.
If you watch the video again, you see I explain that the M Scaler uses an advanced way of reconstructing the analog audio. This offers better time resolution and thus better sound quality, also if files at higher sampling rates are used.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thanks Hans. I just purchased the M-scaler based on your review and it truly is remarkable, even with higher sample rate files. Best of luck with your surgery.
Very informative, Hans, thank you for this highly resolved review. I would definitely be into hearing more about what the m scaler can do for other dacs. My Mirus Pro has a max frequency of 384, do you think the m scaler could work well with this? It might be worth a try, I suppose. On the basis of your experience in this review, I’m tempted to give it a go.
It should work according to the specs.
Great review. Really good. Would love to know what the MScaler will do for the Hugo TT2 😬
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel … decided on the Hugo TT2 for my main system. Just curious to know what the MScaler will do for it or better to get the Tambaquai. 😈
Love your videos!
I have not reviewed the Hugo TT2 (yet) so I can't say.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel … I wait for your review with bated breath. 😬
With house prices as high as they are and rising fast, this is a cheap option to get a "house twice as wide" 😁
😂
i wish Dave 2 has MScaler and the headphone output of TT2 built-in
Some say today is groundhog day :-) 10'24''
Have you compared the USB inputs on both or either device? I’m curious how much each of these can clean up a USB signal from a noisy source.
If you spend €15k on D/A conversion you use a clean source!!!!
How does the time smearing improvement compares to what MQA does ?
Does the M scaler do anything for jitter? I'm weighing up this vs an oversampling R2R dac with DDC on the front end. Thanks!
Sure. That is a result of the processing. I would choose the Chord anytime.
Thanks for the great review. I heard the M Scaler in late 2019 and was very impressed. I have been looking at r2r Dacs and was really considering the Holo KTE May (maybe Terminator as well).
The selection will be w/o a demo for those. It might be good to if the M Scaler would enhance the sound of the May??
Anther great informative video Look forward to what you have in store each week.
I think, i really add the M Scaler to my setup this year. 😊
I have owned many DAC's and TT's and even tried the Bartok before buying the Dave. The Dave comes across effortlessly when played when you hear a piano play it sounds like it, and a great soundstage as well. I run my setup like so ZENith Mk3 > PhoenixUSB > Chord M Scaler > Dave > Woo Audio WA33 Elite > Hifiman Susvara's or Abyss 1266 Phi TC with this setup you get = H U G E S O U N D S T A G E
hey hans thanks for all the video, at 10:41 u have a editing mistake, repeating yourself twice ,cheers
I love to hear myself😁
PS: once on line the video can't be edited easily so I leave it this way.
If it's difficult to let go of the kit Hans remember - possession is nine tenths of the law....
Did you remove "some" room modes in your listening tests?
???
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I meant to ask: did you treat your room modes or use any EQ in your tests?
No, I just use my two step approach to loudspeaker placement.
Hello Hans,
Very good video!
You should compare the Audio-GD R7-HE 2021 + Audio-GD DI-20HE + a good 10 Mhz Master clock feeding both vs the Chord Dave + M Scaler combo.
I bet the Audio-GD combo should be similar in perfomance at a less than 50% in cost.
Maybe you can ask Magna Hi-Fi to lend you the Audio-GD combo plus a good clock (if you don´t have one) for a review.
You will be impressed, I asure you.
Cheers,
If I were you I wouldn't crash any piggybank before trying HQPlayer upsampling.
Simply to confirm that the M-Scaler does it better? ;-)
I hate myself for doing it but let me do it
First one ☝️
Congress🥂