Day of DACs and cars on the side

Yep, a great day, great to catch up with friends and get stuck into some great food as well.

NDX is still an involving sound, but it is silly to hear what the Chords bring to the party.

Yep, it is a Chord Signature Tuned ARAY USB lead, really is silly how much difference it makes. My brain says it shouldn't make any difference, but my ears are what count when it comes to music. 

I thought it would be fun for me to jump from the passenger seat of the 7 to the one in the Elise, if only to see how far H's head stuck over the roll bar of the 7!

John

Interesting stuff chaps, particularly with regard to the USB cable. I'm a great sceptic but I trust you guys. Mostly.

Any photos of Howard getting in & out of Jules' 7?

Have to agree Tony, I was sceptical about USB & Ethernet cables as well.

When I told Julian I had a Sig TA USB I think he was surprised as well.

It was quite funny yesterday, the three of them trying to pick their jaws off the floor, while I was giggling in the corner. I knew what was going to happen.

No pics of H negotiating his ingress & egress form the 7, would have been too cruel.

John

What exactly are you comparing here? Were you using the Chords as an upgrade to the NDX internal DAC, or did they have a different source?

Julian had copied some of his WAV rips, (of CDs, so no high res, only redbook) onto his Macbook

So, Macbook to 2Qute/Hugo via USB vs NDX. We didn't bother trying NDX into Hugo, as that was a combo that none of the other three peeps were bothered about trying yesterday.

When I compared a Naim streamer & power supply last year, I went Hugo instead, so I didn't need to repeat it.

John

Thanks John, I'm just curious, given the popularity of the HDX/Hugo amongst some forum members. It's an option I might consider - unless I get a 272 instead then I'll no longer need to think about it.

Chris

Just a question on those usb cables, did they fit the Hugo or did you need an adapter?

Quite correct, the Hugo has micro B USB for its input, the 2Qute has standard B.

The Sig USB is standard B, and I use an Audioquest B to micro B adapter.

John

Thanks John, I've been pondering a lead for mine for ages but there are very very few that fit it without an adapter.

The adapters are about £9.

Funnily enough, at one point we had three of them to hand at one point last year, so it was decided to compare them.

There is a nice stake with my name on it, with a pile of wood to keep my feet warm....

If you do go that way,  you can get some heat shrink to, very carefully, hold the adapter onto the cable.

I choose to leave mine separate, and I plug the apter into the Hugo, and then plug the cable into the adapter, IYKWIM

John

John, that is a shame, as that is the combo that really sounds the best with the Hugo in my experience. The USB from a quality transport into Hugo can sound fab, but the SPDIF from a quality transport sounds fabber... at least to my ears... I suspect there might have been more giggling in the corner... 

Anyway sounds like you had fun.

Simon

Was the NDX 4.3?

G

Hi Simon

As it is not a combo I use much, the best S/PDIF lead to hand would have been a Chord Prodac RCA-RCA, so wouldn't have been a fair fight.

There again, when doing the comparison at leisure last year, between an NDS/Dual Burndy/555PS and the Hugo, that I preferred the Hugo by a goodly margin.

And, TBH, the one thing I have always hated is the conversion to/from S/PDIF so I wouldn't go that way if I could avoid it. I'm happy to use it for the sound from the TV, or occasionally plugging in other bits temporarily, but not for primary use for me.

John

Have a listen to an Aurender player via USB it may change your mind , i stress may

John, thanks for your reply.. I didn't understand the the bit about conversion to SPDIF. SPDIF protocol is a transport framing protocol that usually simply carries the PCM samples channel by channel in frames with headers etc.. There is no actual conversion of the specific sample data... Just like isochronous mode USB transfer of asynchronous media... Although the USB framing transport protocol is more complex as it is in fact a type of network protocol and has more overhead than SPDIF. Yes the NDS/555PS is a mighty fine driver for the Hugo.. I use the NDX and I feel I get > 95% of the benefit.

Simon

Sounds like a good day out Howard. The was a slight difference between the Hugo and 2Qute when I compared them but it was only minor. The Hugo seems to have a sweeter mid range. The USB cable differences I'm surprised about. I've tried the Chord Silver and found it no better compared with a micro USB cable that came from Amazon that I used to use to charge my Kindle. I'll borrow a Signature TA cable and see if I hear the differences you describe. 

One cable that really lifts the performance is the Super Lumina RCA-Din. You should give it a listen. It's definitely worth the price, even if it's nearly twice the price of the DAC.

I'm using the 2Qute ATM as a stepping stone to a possible upgrade to Dave in the near future.

ATB

Steve

PS Were you using Audirvana during the 'test'?

I'm as interested in the 7!!  A friend has a Caterham track car.  I don't know if anyone is importing the 7 to the States.

http://www.super7cars.com manufacturing in Canada. recent US$ appreciation likely helpful.

Peter

No Audirvarna just ALAC ? files off a macbook, USB cable straight into NDX or Chord Electronics.

I was flabbergasted at the difference the input and output cables made.

Obviously you can stop at any time but inferring that cables don't make a difference and you can make up the difference with room correction, imagine what cables AND room correction could do? 

I given up counting the times I've said I'm contented with my system as it is.

One of the most disappointing items was my Ultraviolet USB it just muddied the sound, and this was a well vaunted cable a few months ago.

NAIM HDX was no mean item just that the improvement  from the Chord products, and  especially with the cost taken into account fabulous VFM.

Obviously the 2Qute and Hugo don't do all the things that the NAIM box does.

There seems to be an increasing amount of "evidence" that these cables do make a difference, and some goodly improvements can be got for a small outlay, and bigger gains for bigger outlay as with most Hi_Fi products.

It seems foolish to just advocate a system nobody else seems to be interested in, even the keep telling people stuff and eventually they will believe only seems to work with politics.

A lone voice in the wilderness? Or is it look at my son he's the ONLY one in step? 

As I said earlier I have a few items to test in my own system so we'll see if the differences persevere.

TonyM you should have seen the car change over, as slick as any Le Mans 24 hour pitstop, blur of activity, NOT!

One likely would have a very difficult time getting it through the US inspection and certification process for import.  A non-starter for that reason.  Unless the manufacturer has US certification, it won't be registerable in any of the 50 states.  Not a problem for a track car, but a big problem for a street car.  But thanks for the link! Really interesting.

+1 . The Chord Silver Plus really worked for me out of the 4 cables i tried (Belkin 1m, Wireworld UV, and a 5m cable that came with my Concept 2 rower) 

Before spending big amounts on a USB cable, I would recommend the Uptone Regen - with this in the loop differences between USB cables were markedly reduced in my system. 

Thanks James. I followed you Uptone Regan topic with interest and look forward to your final verdict. Interesting that you say it reduces the difference between USB cables rather than improving each cable in it's own right

Thanks James. I followed you Uptone Regan topic with interest and look forward to your final verdict. Interesting that you say it reduces the difference between USB cables rather than improving each cable in it's own right

Hi MW - I'm not quite saying that. As well as a general SQ improvement, it reduces the SQ differences between cables (so the DAC is effectively more cable agnostic) hence my recommendation to try this rather than splashing out on an expensive Ethernet cable. Both will improved but the bang for buck may be greater on the Regen. Saying that, mine now has a new owner due to a change in source for me. Hopefully its new owner will be able to chime in with their experiences as i know they use a hi-end USB cable and i'll be interested in their findings