Graham, it is absolutely the official company line, if two in depth reviews are to be believed. Warranty voided if aftermkt LPS spikes damage. Rob the designer is bullish his stock SMPSs can't be meaningfully impvd upon.
Tbh if I go down the Chord route, I'm not going to test this out. And I'll be v happy to start w TT2 dac alone and progress onto using it w the M Scaler
For me, choice of dac will be whether Chord w it's proprietary FGPA can do the detail/natural warmth balance, or whether a Ladder dac like Holo Springs, Lab12 or Aqua La Voce, achieves this better. I am very sensitive to any digital that is leading edge/digital sheen type presentation, and my Eera cdp is a great data point, as is my hugely non euphonic, fast and precise tt front end.
I’m really looking forward to hearing what you find on this set of auditions Marc.
Even just that you are using Innuos rather than Sotm will probably make differences in outcomes but still the data points are always interesting.
It’s hard to get a balance in short auditions in unfamiliar systems between doing research before hand to not come from completely in the dark to having thought too much and coloured the outcome with expectations.
One thing I’d never suggest is any kind of blind audition.
A mate I know a few years back did some major changes to his system and wanted me to come and hear. I turned up with a bottle of really good riesling because his wife had cooked a beautiful whole steamed fish with ginger (not relevant to the story, just a nice memory
) and we ate and laughed and had a fantastic lunch.
Then I went down towards the downstairs listening room where he had his Maggie 20.7s and my mate said he wanted to try it with me blindfolded so I wouldn’t react to the sound in the way I guessed he must have expected me to react.
So blindfolded I was. First thought I had, if he was a serial killer then I’m f$:*ed.... what if I take off my blindfold and he is doing a routine up on strippers pole (sorry Shakti, just couldn’t resist)... or what if he’s done a really scary upgrade, must be not a good one from what he knows might be my expectations.
Suddenly I had all sorts of horror cross my mind. Was he going to play me something on a class d amp. Shivers Marc literally ran down my spine.
The (in reality) slight anxiety caused by my being blindfolded actually didn’t open my mind to anything but instead was just unsettling enough to set the adrenals ever so slightly on edge which probably closed down any opportunity for any dopamine release so my usual music pleasure centre was completely closed down making it just more difficult for me to hear with any confidence.
In the end after saying how much I enjoyed the changes and how his system was sounding I was released from blindfold and realised that he now had a marvellously tasty valve preamp and two new hybrid (but not class d amps) in place driving his 20.7s better than ever.
Ps and am still here so the serial killer theory at least is quietly put to rest.
Is this story helpful for you... well no I just enjoyed reliving one of the many wonderful and weird things committed audiophiles will do in preparation for an audition. Antissipaastion is great... it is definitely good to go into an audition a little blind but not completely so you probably have now a good foundation to start from. So just a thought, I’d doubt that they’ll audition the TT2 on headphones since your using it as a dac but it does have one of the very best headphone amps available and while the TT2 isn’t portable it is enough so that if you go on holidays you can easily take some really high end music making with you... just another possible small factor to take into account in your decision making.
Am looking forward to your audition journey.
