Chord Hugo M Scaler with Qutest DAC.

[AndyU]

From your posts this now seems a bit disingenuous as DSD is converted within the DAC to PCM?

But aren’t most DSDs disingenuous themselves, as they nearly all originate from PCM masters in the first place?

 

[TheDecameron]

But does it just get out of the way?

I’m afraid the pound per veil ratio ain’t what it used to be.

 

[TheDecameron]

It's the same thing.
Lower the noise-floor and you get more low-level detail including decay, ambience, mechanical sounds from the instruments, mouth noises, etc. (if they're in the recording).

In his talk, Watts concentrated on noise within the dac itself which was fascinating, though I wanted to ask him about noise in the rest of the system. You might have a pristine digital board but a mediocre analogue and psu arrangement, though that’s obviously not true of Chord. Going back to the theme of small signal quality, that’s the first thing that struck me when I took a punt on the first Hugo early on- just how natural it sounded and when I listened I could hear harmonics and decay missing from previous digital replay I’d owned. On the face of it at the time I thought £1400 for a little dac/headphone amp was a lot, until I heard what it was capable of, that is.
I’m scratching my head about what direction to take- more Devialet or the Chord route and the difficulty is, I have a dual data enabled Hugo 2 on to which it would be tempting to stick an m scaler.

 

[mikechadwick]

But aren’t most DSDs disingenuous themselves, as they nearly all originate from PCM masters in the first place?

Interesting point!

 

[mikechadwick]

I've just started a new thread regarding the "authenticity" of most DSD files!
https://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/dsd-rips-are-they-the-real-deal.228504/

 

[Fourlegs]

This thorough review of the Chord MScaler used with various DACs including the Qutest has just been published by Jay Luong at AudioBacon.

https://audiobacon.net/2019/05/31/chord-electronics-hugo-m-scaler-review-digital-disruption/amp/

 

[Foot Tapper]

What a great review!

 

[mattgbell]

What a great review!

I got as far as the third sentence. When a reviewer starts talking about components making digital sound "less digital", I give up. I prefer digital to sound more digital.

 

[clivem2]

I got as far as the third sentence. When a reviewer starts talking about components making digital sound "less digital", I give up. I prefer digital to sound more digital.

I have sympathy with your view but look past that to read the full review, it is reasonably comprehensive, these things require a lot of effort, I think he's gone that extra mile.

 

[mattgbell]

I have sympathy with your view but look past that to read the full review, it is reasonably comprehensive, these things require a lot of effort, I think he's gone that extra mile.

You're very persuasive. I read it.

He certainly did go to some effort, and it's relatively systematic. But having gone to all that effort, it's a shame he didn't calibrate his impressions against some blind tests. Without that, we have no way of knowing how much to trust his judgement.