Interview with Chord Electronics' Rob Watts - Part 4: Why Up-Scaling is Better and Why MQA is Not

Подписаться 39 тыс.

Просмотров 9 тыс.

50% 1

This is Part 4 of a lengthy interview with Chord Electronics' DAC designer, Rob Watts, a legend in the audio industry and a leader in DAC design theory. I recommend watching Parts 1 through 3 first.
In this episode we discuss why higher sampling rates are beneficial, why reducing noise floor modulation is a big deal, why MQA and similar linear or minimum phase filters are potentially the wrong approach, and whether a Chord M-Scaler is a better upgrade than a Chord Hugo TT2 for someone already using the Qutest.
This series was only made possible by the generosity of Rob Watts who shared his time and knowledge for free and for the betterment of the audiophile community - thank you Rob!
If you enjoyed this video series and want to see more, please remember to subscribe and maybe consider supporting me on Patreon: / passionforsound
PASSION FOR SOUND GEAR LIST
Desktop Sources
Playback software: Roon roonlabs.com/
Primary DAC: Chord Qutest amzn.to/303FAL7
Secondary DAC for active speakers: Topping D50s massdrop.7eer.net/AVbG1 or amzn.to/2T2GExr upgraded with Muses02 op-amp amzn.to/2FtPmNj
USB cables: AudioQuest Diamond amzn.to/35AX4Qf and AudioQuest Coffee amzn.to/3059qiA
Active Speakers
Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 3 Speakers
Amps
Massdrop x THX AAA 789 Amplifier massdrop.7eer.net/J0xWa
Bottlehead Mainline DIY kit tube amplifier bottlehead.com/product/mainli...
Headphones
Open: Meze Audio Empyrean (may or may not be available at this link) amzn.to/2tDs19h
Open: Focal Clear amzn.to/37Ihgky
Closed: AudioQuest NightOwl Carbon (these may have been discontinued)
Closed: Meze Audio 99 Neo amzn.to/2FxOHKQ
Portable
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S10+ amzn.to/37MzTUA
DAC for phone: Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt amzn.to/36AzpAB
Digital audio player: Pioneer XDP-300R amzn.to/2FwGnL5
Earphones
Noble Kaiser 10 custom IEM (discontinued) - universal version available via Drop massdrop.7eer.net/vkaWy
Campfire Audio Andromeda (may or may not be available at this link) amzn.to/39WFxpd
FitEar ToGo! 334
SIMGOT EN700 PRO amzn.to/304xO3R

Наука

Опубликовано:

31 дек 2019

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 55

@jeffhampton6972 4 года назад

Oh my goodness, this is seriously some of the best audio related stuff I've seen on RU-vid. Thank you and Mr. Watts SO MUCH for doing this. It was extremely informative and I loved watching it. So many questions answered!! Anyway, have an awesome weekend!

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Glad you liked it, Jeff. I'm in the process of trying to arrange another interview with a different perspective on the same topic.

@jeffhampton6972 4 года назад

@@PassionforSound That's awesome! I subscribed so I'll be really excited to see it. :D Thanks again.

@pewwpew 3 года назад

This interview series has been a massive eyeopener, having an insight into how DAC's work and the theory behind it from someone so knowledgeable is very interesting!

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

Glad it helped, Lewis!

@jbrownson 4 года назад

Thanks for the great interview. I've read a lot of Rob's writings and get a high level gist of what he's saying, but your explanatory interludes helped a few things click that hadn't before.

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Hi Jake, glad it helped. Speaking to Rob is like drinking from a firehose of knowledge. I struggled to keep up on more than one occasion!

@gjtube37 2 года назад

What a great interview and your added commentary was very helpful! Thank you so much!

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

So glad it was helpful 🙂

@robjuhala5364 3 года назад

Fantastic interview! I'm new to your channel and I think you do a really great job. Perfect balance of technical detail and explanation.

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

Thanks Rob! So glad you're enjoying the content

@TiagrajI 3 года назад

Very good interview esp on the sampling rate. Thank you

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

You're welcome. I've got another one coming soon I hope with Jason Stoddard from Schiit

@lulululu4912 2 года назад

Brillant from first episode to this one. Thanks you very much for this. Very good and dense info, Rob's work and yours are very good.

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

So glad you found it useful!

@BentRasmussen 4 года назад

Excellent interview. And super intereesting material.

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Glad you're enjoying it!

@ruudstet3186 4 года назад

Brilliant interview. I share your opinion that It is remarkable how much different highly knowledgeable technicians approach conversion of digital data. I own a poly/mojo that I really like and several (not very expensive) mqa dacs and renderers that I also like a lot. I don't hear mqa as being veiled or muddy. In fact, room information and small details are great. Only if both stages of decoding and rendering are used, that is. Only doing decoding leaves a half way house feeling. So I'm a bit at a loss about my next step. Qutest would be an option (and this interview affirms the deep knowledge about what causes audible result that mr. Watts has). But losing the immersive and relaxing quality mqa has for me is not something I'm looking forward to. But my sincere thanks for the interview. Just how fast and sensitive hearing works was new for me. And I understand mr Watts's reasons for using only his filter-style a lot better.

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Hi Ruud, I'm glad you found this helpful. Having bought myself a Qutest, I haven't really missed MQA. Tidal MQA albums still sound great even without full decoding/rendering, etc. but it's probably worth seeing if you can demo it for yourself before taking the plunge.

@dmartyn3809 4 года назад

Excellent review. I will be buying the M Scaler & the TT2 Dac combination and then calling it quits!

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Thanks for watching - glad you enjoyed it. I reckon I might join you on that decision!

@pwhittak88 4 года назад

That’s what I did and have never looked back.

@andreassilverbris9924 2 года назад

I am also about to buy TT2 and the M Scaler. But I am wondering if i should go for Auralic Aries G2.1 as a music transport or a more simple setup; Chord 2Go+2Yu. Which music transport setup do you guys prefere?

@dmartyn3809 2 года назад

@@andreassilverbris9924 I have not yet acquired a streamer but will look at the new Bluesound Node purely as a transport to feed the M-Scaler via Coax. Keep us posted on what you eventually acquire? So far I just stream from my ssds connected to MB Pro. Direct USB connection from the laptop to the M-Scaler.

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

My limited experience with streamers and PC audio using the M-Scaler and TT2 would suggest that the streamer used makes only a slight difference. I'd personally be choosing based on your feature requirements and interface preferences more than worrying about absolute sound quality. When A/B testing two streamers you might hear a difference, but in isolation, they'll all sound great with the TT2/HMS combo

@vivianvaldi7871 2 года назад

What Rob Watts says about the optical interface is a bomb & it's free. From personal exp. If u start a system it's a no brainer. If u have optical between source & DAC, rush to it. Get the highest Q real mineral optical multiwire medical grade u can afford. U'll be much safer & will save time, with less investment. It's limited to 192 Khz & 24 bits... so already high compared to available sources. And with Chord DACs, no oversampling from sources, so you're good. PFS : do you or did you use optical once ?

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

I do use optical sometimes with streaming sources like Raspberry Pi, etc. What I've found is that optical isn't always the best input on all DACs, but it can be a great choice to avoid noise introduced from the environment

@vivianvaldi7871 2 года назад

@@PassionforSound Thx for your xp PSF. Must say, Q of the optical cable must be top noch. Don't even look under best grade. WATTS confirmed : I wanted USB to reach the optical level. This guy designs one of the best DAC of 2021.

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

A good optical cable is definitely important!

@johnwilliamson6442 2 года назад

I run the USB input to my 2Qute via a Sonora MicroRendu which provides galvanic separation plus being the Roon endpoint. I am still enchanted by this DAC (which I run in parallel with the well regarded Sabre 32 DAC in an OPPO 205…..and the 2Qute wins reasonably easily). So perhaps one of the driving forces to upgrade to the Qutest is gone. Now I will start investigating the M-scaler as upgrade path.

@PassionforSound 2 года назад

Nice setup, John. The M-Scaler is wonderful!

@ruudstet3186 4 года назад

Hi. A question: Being in Europe, I would like to contribute financially to your work. I don't want a credit card linked to my Pay pal account, but only want to use Paypal as a debit card for occasional expenditure worldwide. Becoming a patreon to your channel requires a credit card linked to my pay pal account. Is it possible to make a paypal donation, without becoming a patreon? I don't mind not having extra chances in your give-aways, since being in Europe, transport and taxes takes a lot of fun out of winning anything if it would occur. But the depth and clear explanations, especially in the current string of interviews, makes you the go-to channel for learning more about the hobby I like. My compliments. Greeting from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Ruud

@PassionforSound 4 года назад

Hi Ruud, thank you so much! It's amazing for you to make the effort to do this when the system doesn't suit your needs. You could send a gift manually to my PayPal account if you would like to. That way you can just use funds from your bank account. My PayPal email is lachlan@lachlanfennen.com Once again, I really appreciate the gesture!!

@JohnLee-db9zt 3 года назад

Range of human hearing under age 18 is 20-20,000 Hz. For us over 40, we’d be lucky if we could hear past 12,000 Hz. If you are a frequent jazz or rock concert goer, you’d be lucky if you could hear above 8,000 Hz. 😂😝

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

Haha. Very true, John. What's your reason for raising this? Are you referring to the use of higher sample rates?

@JohnLee-db9zt 3 года назад

@@PassionforSound The assumption that most people could hear to 20,000 is false, especially golden eared audiophiles who are for the most part 50+ yo. But since 90% of music is below 10,000 Hz, does it really matter if you can hear to 20,000 Hz? This is debatable, but I like to think to reproduce the finest nuances in music requires a system that resolves music not only in frequency domain, but time domain as well. The latter I believe is more important to resolve imaging/soundstaging queues, micro dynamics, and timbre. I can forgive some infidelity in frequency response but errors in time domain irritates the hell out of me. I think use of higher sample rates do make a difference if you have a highly resolving audio system. However, oversampling or upsampling is a no no to my ears. NOS music to my ears sounds more natural and less fatiguing. But then again I made me blowing smoke out of my butt and don’t know what I’m talking about. So listen to me now and believe me later. 😉

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

Hi John, I agree about our abilities to hear above 15-16kHz and what you say about high sample rates improving timing accuracy may be true. As for NOS vs upsampling/oversampling, the upsampling that Chord does is 100% focussed on fixing timing errors in transients so the result is a much more natural and accurate sound which, in my experiences so far, is one of the best reproductions available.

@JohnLee-db9zt 3 года назад

@@PassionforSound I’ve always been disappointed any upsampling or oversampling devices. It extends freq response at the cost of natural timbre. I have my doubts but if I get a chance I’ll take a listen.

@PassionforSound 3 года назад

Definitely try a Chord DAC if you can, John. To my ears, they're timbre is excellent