Hicap or PSU for 2QUTE

hi,

I am using Tellerium Blue from amp to speakers, recommended by my Audio shop - Lintone in Gateshead. The USB cable is Audioquest cinammon and the RCA leads from Dac to amp are Chord Cobra.

cheers

Have you removed the mains conditioner yet?

Reading some of your later posts it seems that the issue is overpowering treble at higher volumes. This can happen if the speakers are pointing straight at your head. Are yours like this? Try them straight forward, and then toe in just enough to get a central image on vocals. Moving the speakers further apart can help too - it opens up the soundstage and becomes less like everything is coming from the same place, if you see what I mean. 

Hi, no haven't changed the mains conditioner yet but I have a simple mains block from Audio Friendly due in a couple of days so I can move the amp, dac and CD player on to it and leave all the av stuff on the monster conditioner. I couldn't find a spare one over the weekend as they are all taken up with trees, lights, singing Santa's and good knows what else ☺

I have played with speaker placement and a t the moment they have a slight toe in.  That's something I can mess about with more if I need to but I want to see what difference the mains block may make. 

Cheers

Well time for an update.  Playing with placement has made a subtle improvement to imaging and sound stage but not the overall nature of the sound. I purchased an Audio Friendly mains block of eBay.  I am a bit sceptical as to how much difference can be made by tinkering with mains,  power leads, power supplies etc. Therefore, I didn't want to invest too much on an experiment.  I set up the mains block on Saturday and beforehand listened to one song before switching leads etc. I must confess that I didn't spend a great deal of effort doing an A to B comparison thereafter. In fact I didn't switch back.  However, my initial impression was of a clearer bottom end and deeper bass. That seemed to open up the sound somewhat.  Now I Don't know if I heard what I wanted to hear or that the change was there.  What I Do know is that I told myself to stop stressing about every little nuance and just enjoy listening to some music.  Consequently,  I had one of the most enjoyable afternoons listening to music for a long time. Tracks just seemed more musical. I mean, when you consider what I've spent on it why shouldn't it sound bloody good! 

So I wont be changing back to the Monster mains conditioner anytime soon as i think thingshaveimproved. Should i get one for the av gear too?  

That leads me to my next question, do psu's make a difference.? Rob Watts thought not on the 2qute. Is this also dependant on the quality of the mains to start with? If you were going to add a psu would you start with 2 qute or supernait bearing in mind my original desire to smooth out the top end.

Cheers 

I would be surprised if adding a power supply to the 2qute made a huge amount of difference.  Quality cables on it, however, does make a big difference and this may be worth experimenting with if you can loan some options from a dealer.  Feedback on here seems to be that adding a hicap dr to the SN makes a big difference; I haven't heard and can't comment but I do know that a Hugo on my SN2 sounds fantastic through Focal 926s with a very smooth and analogue sound, and especially so since I added TQ Black cables

I've no experience with the Chord DAC so can't offer an opinion on that but I know from talking to several Focal users they are terrific speakers but notoriously difficult to get right.   I would at least look to try something from Neat or Kudos.  The dealer who recommended Focal - invite him round for a listen.

Below is all you'll ever need from a four-way block.  Despite wandering into mains conditioning and 'audiophile' power blocks briefly in my time, I always come back to this.  Yes, I pull it to bits now and again and polish everything, but it sounds better than any other block.  The same one has been powering my system for the last 30 years.  That's value for money!

That's interesting about speaker cable. I use TQ blue cable, I wonder if Black is very different to that? 

Cheers

Song s team,  that's why I didn't want to spend a fortune.  I spent £30 and it seems to have added some low end clarity. 

Strat - funnily enough I have already invited the dealer round. It's not happened yet but I will try to make it happen.  Can't face dismantling everything to take it into the shop for a listening session. I'd sooner he listened to my system in the context of my home.  But coming back to Saturdays listening session, I think we do get hyper critical at times of our set ups and sometimes need to take step back. Yes I would like a more natural top end but the set up is still great by most people's standards. 

The Supernait1 greatly benefits from the hicapDR. Your dealer should be able to loan you one for testing. No cost involved until you commit. Try it for a week or two..... don't rush and avoiding critical listening, especially AB compares.

As for power, assuming the 2qute is using a switching power supply, you will want to put it on the monster distributor and see if it makes any difference.

dayjay posted:

I do know that a Hugo on my SN2 sounds fantastic through Focal 926s with a very smooth and analogue sound, and especially so since I added TQ Black cables

+1

Douglass, is there any reason you can't demo the Hugo? I only raise the point again as it seems to be potentially the easiest cure for your issues as it would just be a simple like for like swap if you prefer it to the 2Qute. I find that if you start tinkering with lots of other bits you can quickly loose track of what it is that's actually affecting the sound.

Hi, the thing holding me back on the Hugo really is partly the look of it and how it will sit on my rack with heavy cables permanently attached and the fact that my main listening is via USB and reviews seem to suggest the Qute is better than the Hugo on that connection. I could get a USB to Coaxle adapter but that's also adding cost. I don't rule it out completely but I do want to try to get the best out of what I've got before looking to change source of speakers. 

Thanks 

I use a Teddy Pardo 12/4 power supply on my Qute EX and it's an excellent value for money  upgrade. I'm aware that Rob Watts says that attempts to improve the standard wall wart supply make no difference with the 2Qute. Knowing the difference it makes with a Qute EX I'm not sure I would accept that at face value, but I will have a freshly minted 2Qute arriving in January so we'll see.

Douglass posted:

Hi, the thing holding me back on the Hugo really is partly the look of it and how it will sit on my rack with heavy cables permanently attached and the fact that my main listening is via USB and reviews seem to suggest the Qute is better than the Hugo on that connection. I could get a USB to Coaxle adapter but that's also adding cost. I don't rule it out completely but I do want to try to get the best out of what I've got before looking to change source of speakers. 

 

Thanks 

Fair enough. I don't actually think it looks bad on the rack and the heavy cables can be sorted by anchoring with a bit of blue tac. My main listening is USB and I think Hugo matches 2Qute for USB performance so haven't bothered with and USB converters.

Good luck!

Thanks guys,

Alan, I'd be interested to know whether the TP makes a difference on the 2Qute when you get it as that is an option for me too. That or a TP for the Supernait. Of course I could use that money to trade up to a Hugo as well. Too many choices!

All my listening via my Hugo is by USB from Audirvana and a Mac Mini.  I replaced a Unitiqute 2 which was feeding the Hugo because it sounded better. I also added a USB regen which made it sound significantly better.  My advice would be to have a listen in your system if it's possible to do.

Hi, excuse my ignorance but what is a USB regen?  Cheers 

It is by a company called UpTone audio - probably easiest if you google it as I can't post links here.  Works very well with the Hugo, not sure it does with the 2qute as I suspect the USB does not need it on that device

'regen' is a generic term for a clock regenerator.  "USB Regen" (note the capital R) is a typical abuse of the trademark system by a company claiming to own a pre-existing generic term.

It's been a while so thought it was time to give an update. I've tried various things since I first posted and learnt a huge amount in the process. I had a few quick wins along the way; news mains block improved low end clarity; moving speakers improved imaging. 

I couldn't wait for a home visit from my dealer so dismantled my gear and took it in to shop.  I was looking for a few on what they thought my system sounded like in their demo room. I was keen to validate my purchases and to see if the top end issues were still there. I was very pleased to find that my system in a fully carpeted room sounded very very good. However, whilst the top end wasn't shout it was still more forward than I'd like. Certain tasks still sounded a bit sharp for my tastes. Having set the baseline we then set about trying some additional speakers. 

We started with some PMC23's. I enjoyed the combination and it did give a more analogue type sound. It felt more natural to me. But it didn't have the scale of my FOCALs nor did it capture the detail in the lower to mid bass as well. I was using an Elvis track as my reference,  a recently acquired recording of Little Sister on the FTD label which is a fantastic recording from 1961. The combination of the superb bass playing and the stinging fender  jazz master lead is a classic. The PMC s got the tone but not the clarity.

I next tried the 24's. To cut a long story short. They were fantastic! The combination now had the sound I was looking for,  a natural sound that could go loud without becoming harsh. It just sounded so right, lots of scale, lots of detail, a lovely bass definition with good highs without ant edge. A listened to lots of other tracks and could have stayed all day. We did briefly try some B&W CM9'S but they couldn't match the PMC'S Imo. We also swooped the CHORD for a uniti Qute as my dealer was keen to judge the 2qute. It was no competition the 2qute was superior in every way.

So I've learnt tons from coming on here and from the audition. I now know the supernait and 2qute are a great combo. I know with the FOCALs they make a very good system albeit a bit forward. I know the PMC 24's turns this into a great system. I am now actively saving up! In the meantime I've bought a very large rug and toned down the top end so that my current system sounds better than ever. I've sold my Audiolab to my  nephew who is building his first system. I put this towards an Oppo 103EU just because I'd always fancied one. It makes a good transport for when I play CD'S,  I'm having fun playing with the streaming aspects oh and it's a cracking bluray machine.

All in all its been a highly useful learning experience so thanks everyone for your previous advice. Can't wait to pick up some PMC24's.

Cheers