Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 & M Scaler: Yes, it Really is That Good
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ย. 2022
- Analogue addicts look away now! In this episode, Mike and David discuss Chord's mid-range DAC, the Hugo TT2, and how well it works with the optional M Scaler upsampler.
This combo has become David's go-to reference DAC, and is one of his all time favourites - it's even reducing the wear on the stylus of his beloved Lyra Delos moving coil cartridge!
The guys agree that it's a great combination, but wonder if the M Scaler is worth the extra? They point out that the price takes it close to the dCS Bartok - which is another amazing digital audio number cruncher.
Each episode of Hi-Fi Riff features the guys' unedited, unexpurgated views about all manner of weird and wonderful hi-fi designs. Mike has a wealth of knowledge from his hi-fi retail years, and David has written about hi-fi for thirty years. Now Editor-in-Chief of StereoNET, he's picked up a few things along the way.
So brew up a cuppa or crack open a can, and relax and enjoy some one-take hi-fi riffing - and please leave your comments below. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button, this one goes up to eleven!
The eighties-tastic title tune is called ‘UFO/Mike’s Jumper’, and used with the express permission of our old pal and rights holder Simon Lythe. - เพลง
Hiya chaps.....good discussion again.🤗😺
The addition of the Hugo M Scaler with its 768 kHz resolution potential, really does make this a knockout combination, getting music lovers closer to the original recording than ever before.
Agreed, it's a cracking combo. Although the TT2 by itself is really strong and will sit happily in a very high end system by itself.
It is a fantastic DAC with an amazing upscaler. Most people have no idea how the technology works and resort to people in forums measuring frequency response. Rob Watt's approach to digital is by using Shannon digital theory, which is based on Sync Function over X and using a long digital filter (taps) to approximate the proper decay of each impulse in the music. If you study Shannon theory you realize that mathematically a perfect sync function over X needs infinity, this is not practical so a long enough digital filter is used by using a unique windowing function to crop the impulses at the proper decay of time. Another aspect is the fantastic noise shaper performance, which most sites don't know how to measure. What is incredible about these Chord DACs is the lack of ear fatigue, most other DACs at high volume one hour is most that can be tolerated before your ears can't go on. The Pulse array is something else entirely, Rob is being ridiculed, because he has his beliefs. It is funny that I listened to these DACs before I heard Rob say what they do and when I finally listened to him speak it was exactly what he was saying. Some just can't stand the man for his beliefs, I say interview him again, as it is fascinating to hear him speak. Ignore the nay sayers and the trolls in the sites ridiculing him.
We will indeed interview him at some point. As far as I'm concerned, his actions speak even louder than his words - and it baffles me why some folks take against him. I've known him since the early 1990s and he's been highly consistent in what he's said, all along.
12:20 case sounds solid 😂
Really enjoying your excellent vlogs…: The TT2 is on my wish list and realistically will own one within 10 years when the secondhand prices reduce to my level 👍
Thank you for another interesting discussion, I enjoyed as always.
Chord have been at the top of my 'wish to listen' to list for some time, and your conversation has served to cement that feeling. Unfortunately Im unlikely to be in the market for an £8.5k dac anytime soon, so I will have to rely on your excellent analysis and descriptions to provide my experience. Much as I love the funky design, im sure in practice Id wish a more conventional control design before too long...
If funds are tight then a used Chord Hugo 2 or new Mojo 2 would be where I'd look first - if it's just a DAC you want.
But you're right, that 'funky design' is a right pain in the jack socket!
@@MrVinylista That's great advice, David. @Titntin Handmade in the Kent, Chord Electronics' devices, however small, have a well deserved reputation for being built to last. A used device would make a lot of sense, plus importantly, warranties are transferrable to new owners for added peace of mind.
Hello:
I have had TT2 and M Scaler for a couple of years now and agree with your review. Listening to M Scaler in Bypass Mode and then switching it back on makes a considerable difference, and is in no way subtle. What I've found on MY setup however is the Highest Gain (white) on M Scaler does not increase it's affect on TT2; in fact quite the opposite as there is (again on my setup), a diminshed afffect. Green or perhaps Blue (the 2 lower settings) sounds the most "airy" and spacious. Others' results may vary as things can in this hobby. That's why I'm hesitant to say Item X or Item Y is "the best". It may be for me, but no for others.
The TT2/M Scaler pairing seems to take the music apart then reassembles it back into dicreet instruments, vocals, or whatever is being played.
Recordings such as most Eagles or Doobie Brothers songs were quite stubborn before I tried the Chord units and sounded largely congealed. They have a realistically open sound now!
A great pairing with my Source, Amp and Speakers.
Great to hear your thoughts on this combo. I want these but it must be said the price is high so could be a while before I can afford them.
Great review. What is your reference Dac at the moment?
Great review guys, really enjoyed it. Have you listened to the Weiss DAC501/502 yet? Thanks
Not as yet, but I have a good friend who moved from its predecessor to a Chord DAVE and has never looked back.
Silly question really, I imagine they all sound incredible compared to my current set up. Thanks again
Brilliant
Dear Chaps,
Excellent channel. Keep going.
What is the model name or number for the Sony Blue Ray DVD player you mentioned? You were using that as a CD transport, I gather.
I have a Sony BDP-S3700. £88 on Amazon currently, and a very good digital transport if you can't afford fancy stuff.
I also use it to play Blu-ray Audio discs and of course music DVDs, etc., but it does great with CDs going into decent DACs.
@@MrVinylista Many thanks, David. Best wishes, Anthony
Anthony, I have the UBP-X800
It's seriously impressive for video quality too!
Mike
@@michaelevans7015 Many thanks, Mike. Best wishes, Anthony
Dont remember the model number, but I spent few years running a sony bd as my front end. The one I used played sacd too, so that was a result. It also played the sadly defunct bluray audio discs, which was my first real exposure to high res digital audio.
Itsca great option for a front end device!
👍🧑🎄🎅
I had the TT2 & M-scaler combo for a few months. I would rate the TT2 very highly, it had lovely “air” and speed etc. but I have to say the m-scaler did very little to improve things. I only used the supplied cables for the connection between the 2 units and I know some say u need to through a couple more grand at the cables but I decided if the scaler didn’t make much difference I wasn’t going further down that rabbit hole. I am open minded enough to admit that a far more transparent system may have picked up differences as that’s the nature of hifi. If u think of adding the scaler I would say borrow a dem unit first. And, I can’t understand why chord products don’t measure well when ASR measure them. Rob Watts insists the measurements are world class so I just don’t get it. Chord need to respond to this to put its customers minds at ease IMHO. By the way if anyone posts saying a product is either rubbish or fantastic it would be nice if they mentioned what other gear they used it with to give context. At the time I had BS node (no sniggering at the back please) TT2/scaler, N-core 1200 based power amp, PMC2024 speakers, and TQ cables in a normal untreated lounge. Try this: toggle thru the upscalibg frequencies with your eyes closed until you loose track of what frequency you are on and then try to predict what sample rate you are listening to. I couldn’t! Cheers. Richy.
well said and such honesty,mscaler does zilch for sq.
@@user-es3hq5zk4e I really try to understand to what equipment you listening to for godsake? I listen to musical fidelity high end amp and electrostatic Martin Logans ESL speakers, and the difference was huge, with or without mscaler. So no judgement here, but I could hear it with my eyes closed I let my wife enable or disable the mscaler, kept picking it out without even trying hard when it was of???
I really try to understand to what equipment you listening to for godsake? I listen to musical fidelity high end amp and electrostatic Martin Logans ESL speakers, and the difference was huge, with or without mscaler. So no judgement here, but I could hear it with my eyes closed I let my wife enable or disable the mscaler, kept picking it out without even trying hard when it was of???
I did explain to what equipment I was listening to in my comment. And I humbly said that a more transparent system may well produce different and therefore more noticeable results. It sounds as though your system can make the most of the scaler and in that case it may be worth the investment. For me it wasn’t. The TT2 was enough to get the most out of my system I had at that time. It has since changed but I haven’t got the scaler now so can’t retest it. Kind regards. Ricardo.
Hello to you both, it's great listening to you both just chatting about Hi-Fi and your insights into the Hi-Fi world, i've been a subscriber to your channel since the beginning and also really enjoyed David's column in RA connected magazine, however chaps please stop worshiping at the alter of Chord DAC's there are other DAC's available don't you know?, as good as Chord DAC's maybe they only use very cheap Walmart power supply's which is totally mad, as power supply is what gives Hi-Fi components life Chord DAC's would have much better performance with proper high quality PSU + finally a high-end quality CD transport is extremely important because what you put into any DAC matters an awful lot as it gives the DAC much less work to do! But please keep up the fantastic work love hearing you both chatting about my favourite hobby 😃
Thanks Nick, I'm well aware that there are other DACs, as it feels like I've reviewed most of them! I understand though that many feel Chord stuff gets saturation coverage, and they're not totally beyond criticism - the power supplies being a case in point. Still, as ever, let your ears decide for you. Buy in haste, repent at leisure, etc.
Mike was using the Hugo TT2/M Scaler with a Sony CDP-XA20ES, which has an excellent transport, and it sounded great. I've tried it with many silver disc spinners and to my ears, it's less fussy about digital transports than many DACs. Still, you can easily hear that a decent CD transport going into the TT2 sounds better than any streamer at 16/44. Anyway, I'd better shut up now before I blow up the internet! ;-)
Hi David, many thanks for your reply and I do appreciate your position as a top hi-fi reviewer, i didn't mean to so sarcastic with my Chord worshiping quote, I have an old naim dac + 555 dr psu and I totally love the sound signature but for some reason Naim haven't followed it up and even discontinued it madness IMHO keep up the fantastic work both of you are a great duo who I'd love to chat about Hi-Fi done the pub 😀
@@nickevans3190 Thanks Nick, absolutely no offence taken - believe me, I've had worse on hi-fi forums! 🙂
The Naim DAC is an interesting product that we hope to cover soon, and a very good one for its day.
@@nickevans3190 Chord Electronics has guidance on this: The problem is audiophile linear PSUs have no RF filters at all; the designers are not cognisant of the RF noise problems. The supplied Chord Electronics PSU on the other hand, has RF filters built into the output and the mains input. So, if connecting a linear PSU, it will most likely sound worse due to the increased RF noise, but the extra brightness can deceive the listener into thinking it is ‘better’.
@Dan George thanks Dan this is my issue chord days are fantastic detailed precise sounding days but a little too clinical for me, they don't have as much solidarity as the naim but of-course like alot of things sound is very much subjective
It sure looks good. So will the amount of space in your wallet!
Snake oil.
Seriously expensive
Please not another Watts interview or presentation talking about taps, -300db differences, the importance of transients, his subjective listening with no supporting objective info and how everybody else but him is looking at the problem the wrong way! Please spare us, there are too many Watts interviews and techno-marketing rants going around already.. His products are good but there are other good products around too. Can you put him against another designer? What about Putzeys or an ESS guy? That would be interesting but wishful thinking. Btw could you please review the Tambaqui? On another note, would you attempt to convince the nice lady over at Proac to provide you with some of their speakers to review? I understand they tend not to like to work with youtube reviewers so if you manage to convince them based on your print press credentials that would be an exciting youtube first.
Hi Razisn - sure, I should be able to whisk up a chat with Bruno Putzeys, John Westlake or Andy McHarg given time. Don't worry, liking Chord DACs isn't compulsory and there are some who don't - and yes we can call in a Tambaqui in due course. We have a dCS Bartok 2.0 review coming next though, in terms of fancy DACs. I should be able to procure something ProAcy too - but be prepared for 20 minutes of Mike drooling over it!
@@MrVinylista Thanks. I don't mind Chord dacs, I own a Mojo2, it is Rob Watts drivel I'm tired of...
@@razisn Fair enough!
audiosciencereview has set you free! 😀
@@garyb2507 has set him more biased. Nothing more.
Mscaler = at best a toy,otherwise its junk.
Did you try it with the TT or the Dave?
@@Hi-FiRiff yes did a borrowed TT and my own Topping; did zilch then I read up about it at ASR,no change to SQ, I really wanted it to work,glad I saved my cash.
Had the M-Scaler. It adds precisely $0.00 worth of improvement. An absolute joke.
That's surprising. Did you connect it up properly? What system were you using?
Am surprised, i use with lcd5 headphones, with mscaler it is vastly different
I really try to understand to what equipment you listening to for godsake? I listen to musical fidelity high end amp and electrostatic Martin Logans ESL speakers, and the difference was huge, with or without mscaler. So no judgement here, but I could hear it with my eyes closed I let my wife enable or disable the mscaler, kept picking it out without even trying hard when it was off??? there was only one situation where it was les hearable (on my cheaper integrated amp, where the amp lacked the quality to let me hear every detail)
@@Cestmoi50 Headphones
@@thelastrhino2581 headphones a little less noticable yess, with my hifiman’s. But my full hifi system very noticable