The kentbased audio electronics firm has dropped a friday th shocksurprise into our laps. How do i get bit perfect with roon playing tidal tracks at the highest quality level. April 11, 2017 audiohead 0 comments chord, hugo 2 i had a good time visiting the chord booth at canjam this year. I havent tried the hugo 2, but i used the hugo tt before i switched to the dave there is a significant difference. Our first look and listen to the new chord hugo 2 dac. Coaxial and optical digital inputs will connect to a variety or source components. I use foobar2000 wasapi event or dsd wasapi event to play audio files via usb2 to chord dave via rca phono cables to chord ttoby via ordinary copper speaker cable to focal 1008 be speakers. Settings for roon with chord hugo and tidal playback. Thats why the toslink feeding the mojo looks better than ipad 2 usb feeding the chord mojo which looks better than john atkinsons laptop usb feeding the mojo. The 2qute is a desktop hugo so it will work well in your application. Hugo is quite better than naim v1, especially as dac, but i think the amp too. Three years ago at ces 2014, chord electronics unveiled a revolutionary portable dac and headphone amp that became a landmark product in the audio landscape.
Dacs can be the most boring pieces of gear in the world something that even audiophiles will only buy under protest. If chord says wavs are better for hugo, maybe they know best. The hugo accepts input signals up to 32bit384khz, but only through one usb input. When chord hugo was released, i was impressed by the sound quality from that small unit then, chord decided to go even smaller with even newer technology with chord mojo.
For a start the coloured marbles make selection and identification of input and settings far. Verdict perhaps hugo s most satisfying application is simply plugging an iphone 5 via a thunderbolttousb adapter into the hd usb port and enjoying highresolution audio on the train. My user manual and box says nothing except 4 hours, yet. Sep 24, 2017 chord electronics hugo 2 is the second generation transportable amp and dac with an improved wta of 49,152 using a 10 element pulse array design. Sep 17, 2017 the hugo 2 carries the very latest iteration of watts interpolation filter which sees its tap length extended from the original hugos 26,368 to 49,152 and, in tandem with a revised alldiscrete output stage, promises lower measurable distortion than its forerunner according to chord.
The one odd thing i noticed about the hugo 2 is their leather case doesnt have a loop to carry it on your belt or a detachable shoulder strap. So, if youve got a hugo dac and you want to use it in your main system as well as a portable device, the chord company can offer you a range of cables that will help you realise just how good this little dac is. Jul 15, 2014 reluctantly selling my chord hugo due to an unforeseen bill that can not wait. Contact your chord retailer to place an order, making sure you specify the plug modifications as above. With the sem9, i was listening at the green level with. I drive my jbl lsr305 active monitors with a hugo and it works well. The hugo tt is a larger, more hifi rack friendly version of the chord hugo including also some significant improvements. Thats an awful lot to pay for a pocketful of music.
Chord hugo is recognized as topnotch in dac sound, has enough amp power to drive these headphones, but requires a separate source transport. For portable driving of grado 32 ohm headphones with occasional excursions into the hd 800 and he, what are the plusses and minuses of a chord hugo dacamp vs. We thank the team at chord electronics for giving us this opportunity. A notable change are the selector sphere buttons, which are the same as those found on the mojo. Yet many of my audio pals swear by the sound of chord components, and ive heard them shine in many respectable showrooms. The chord hugo is an exdemo unit kindly loaned by a headfi forum member and the ak240 is a demo unit loaned by customcable. It pairs up well with my astell and kern 240 media player. Hugo 2 adds new features, stateoftheart performance, plus an allnew chassis design. The chord electronics hugo 2 sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. Even ignoring inflation the 2qute is cheaper but it will have a better fpga as the prices have come down so i am curious to see if it is better. Mar 12, 2015 anyone tried either chord hugo or chord hugo tt as a pre and if so what you reckon with a solid state 120 wpc power amp.
The chord hugo 2 transportable dac headphone amplifier builds on the groundbreaking original. In order to get the most from your product please, take a few moments to read these instructions. The worlds most advanced table top dac just got better. Indeed, i also didnt say that sp couldnt keep up w the hugo 2. Oct 21, 2015 the british company chord electronics has always seemed to me to be audios crazy uncle. Any suggestions on strengths and weaknesses on the products. The chord hugo 2 fits, though tightly, into the chord hugo case designed for the hugo 1. The topping dx7 and hugo 2 do the same but at much lower amplitude. Chord electronics released the chord hugo referencelevel portable headphone amplifier three years ago at ces 2014. The new design of the buttonslights on the hugo 2 allow incase access by simply pressing the edge of the case. The two british gents including sales manager colin pratt were very amicable, even a bit entertaining as far as boothside stop and chats go.
I ended up buying the teac ud 503 which uses fpga chips. Hugo should support any format out there if i remember correctly. Chords iconic view glass to indicate samplingrate has been incorporated too, as well as the volume control that was featured on the predecessor. I own a v1, and a chord ok, its a qbd76, but same technology as the hugo. Its a functional handset, bogstandard where hugo 2 itself is wildly individual, but its presence suggests chord knows full well hugo 2 is as likely to end up as a dacpreamp in. Lets say that ive narrowed it down to the benchmark 2, the mytek and the chord hugo.
I have a mac mini, a sonic frontiers line 1 preamp which i would take out of the system with the benchmark and mytek, a vac 100100 and focal 918s. It can sometimes seem tricky to keep pace with the changes in the chord electronics range, but its hugo 2 claims technical and spec advances over the original dacamp for a relatively small specialist audio brand well, by the standards of some of the huge companies the industry seems determined to keep constructing these days chord electronics has its bases covered in fairly. Dec 22, 2017 chords dacs have populated my stereos for over a decade and my enthusiasm for the original hugo was enormous. On paper, the ex can do the same as the 2qute and the hugo but it has an older chipset. Coaxial and optical digital inputs will connect to a variety or. Very nice job chord with the hugo 2 if i were to describe the sound, i would say. Chord hugo gets the dac, crack, and sack treatment.
A chip from a newer architecture at 28nm that is more power efficient is used in mojo, hugo, and hugo 2. Mar 12, 2016 i too found that the chord mojo and hugo tt dacs overemphasised the bass and artificially boosted the volume. Its hard to use a single name for this device, because it does so many things, that i dont know where to categorize it. Rob works from the assumption that only 10% of what we hear happens in our ears. I finally had time to give these two guys a better a comparison for those still interested. Chord electronics hugo 2 the official thread page 223. Chord hugo reexamined page 25 dac digital to analog. Chord cpm 2800 mkii amplifier to feature hugo fpga dac. As it turned outtwas my first chord assignment so i had some reading up to dorob watts is a designer of analogue and digital chips to consult with actual chip makers.
So i would love to hear your impressions of the hugo 2 vs. The chord hugo was a gamechanger in dac technology and sound as referenced here in my original blog post chord continues to focus on creating a more convincing sonic replication for the listener, and the new chord hugo 2 is another example of. Page 1 hugo portable headphone amplifier with advanced dac thank you for purchasing the chord hugo. Headphone measurements i measured the output impedance of hugo 2 and compared it to others on. I hooked it up to my lenovo ideapad y510p using the always on usb 2. If you are looking at this, then you already know all about this little silver box of magic. From the launch of the dac 64 over 20 years ago to the introduction of the qutehd, and now the hugo, chord has helped pave the future for high quality digital audio. The volume control is fiddly, but setting the volume by colour does grow on you after a while. Chord has now improved to a hugo 2 with even better sound and an incredible array of inputs and outputs, including bluetooth streaming.
Crazy like a fox, maybe, but definitely marching to their own tune. Page 2 flashing red recharge operation turn on the power switch to the right. The manual for the 240 indicates what we all know, which is the. Chord electronics hugo tt da headphone amplifier page 2. He also invented class z digital power amp tech, the pulsearray dac tech and the watts transientaligned aka wta algorithm. Chords original hugo was something of an unusual revelation for me. The original hugo dac quickly became a referencelevel component for many headphone lovers. As digital conversion with any serious degree of accuracy requires a very high degree of precision in the components. Anyone tried either chord hugo or chord hugo tt as a pre and if so what you reckon with a solid state 120 wpc power amp. Hugo is a multiawardwinning mobile dac and headphone amplifier of unrivaled quality. Designwise the hugo 2 is a blend of the original hugo and the mojo. Step inside to find out if the new ak240 hires portable player from iriver can. Choose all ak players except ak jr to chord hugo option or go to the silver dragon toslink digital cable page.
The 120ii is made out of aluminum and the 240 out of aircraft grade duralumin. In addition, the player can be used as a usb dac for a mac or pc, and can also. Oct 07, 2016 does anyone have any opinions on how the original dac 64 compares to the newer 2qute. Designed for both home and mobile use, hugo 2 transforms headphones and audio systems sound. Page 2 operation turn on the power switch to the right. Mostly headphone jacks or usb input becoming loose or failing. As you can see, chord mojo and likely chord hugo 2 is actually quite sensitive to noise on the usb input because they are meant to be portable dacs and are not galvanically isolated. Better transparency, wider soundstage and resolution power delivery is similar. Hugo instruction manual portable headphone amplifier with advanced dac thank you for purchasing the chord hugo. The ak is more about dynamics while the chord is about resolution. The first chord hugo set the world on its audio ear for great performance. You can hook up your cd player to the 2qute via a coax cable and you play your computer files through the 2qute usb input.
Think of this as a complete reinvention rather than a simple mk 2. I have never heard anything sound this good regardless of what headphones i have put with it. Are the cables made by you or did you get them from one of the many custom places. Chord hugo page 534 see post 8001 best to set the volume of the hugo as high as possible when using it as a dac only, leave it there and control system gain using the knob on a preintegrated amp. Chord electronics hugo 2 transportable dacheadphone amplifier price. To our eyes the hugo 2 addressed any and all issues that whilst minor could become niggles. Are fpga capabilities the bottleneck for chord dacs. Review and measurements of chord hugo 2 dac and headphone. The manual the angle podcasts giveaways advertise with us. Their casework design often borders on the gratuitously provocative, challenging audiophiles ideas about good taste. Doesnt this mean im not getting the hugos higher level rate. Put simply, it is the worlds most advanced headphone ampdac, offering five digital inputs including a2dp aptx bluetooth, plus advanced 384khz pcm and dsd 128 playback for todays highresolution music files. There is quite a jump between the 2qute and the dave in price with.
For example, i was surprised to find that dave does not use the latest and most expensive xilinx architecture but an older one called spartan6. Chord has tacitly acknowledged as much by including a remote control with this latest hugo. Yet it is both at the same time, a battery powered headphone amplifier come converter and a 32bit3834khz and dsd128 audiophile dac. Chord hugo 2 transportable dac headphone amplifier. Chord mojo usb dacamp official thread official ampdac. Unlike the ak240 it is a bit big to fit in a pocket, especially given it requires. Hugo2 is generally better than v1 in almost everything. They also manufacture esoteric kit the teac was perfectly balanced and beautifullyanalogue. If you were thinking of adding a chord hugo, or the recently released hugo tt, to your existing amplifier you might want pause for a moment. I couldnt resist and i actually bought one for myself. A pitch black background, huge soundstage with incredible layering and detail, from the very low sub bass all the way up to the highest treble. Battery powered for use on the go, the hugo also has everything you need for home use as well. The auralic vega had a hard time living up to its hype, and the chord hugo was like pepsi vs coke in the 80s taste test nice in small doses, but could not live with it over the long haul.
This department of hugo 2 can be labelled as unrivaled. The biggest benefit of having the chord electronics hugo 2 is the microusb. Nextgeneration hugo 2 revolutionizes chord electronics gamechanging debut portable dacamp. Hugo will cycle through the sequence of colours and then be ready for operation. Ak s build quality should be the reference for all other companies out there. The chord hugo 2 is a portable headphone amp and dac that has quickly become one of the bestselling products of its kind. Also have heard that the chord hugo is amazing, being in the uk the ak240 costs about 2200 pounds, while i can get a chord hugo for 1200. Im not saying the chord hugo 2 is going to replace big desktop headphones but i ended selling my woo audio wa22 when i upgraded my old dac to the chord hugo 2 as a dac. The other is saved for use with tablets and phones, and is limited to 16bit48khz. In order to get the most from your product please take a few moments to read these instructions. Chord hugo, overrated or dac of the century pink fish media. Everything is presented exactly as the artist intended, with plenty of layering and separation between each musical. I was quite used to thinking that highend dacs had to be big, powerhungry beasts in heavy aluminium cases, and indeed topoftheline models generally are.
A new benchmark has been unveiled today and is coming in the autumn. When i say allinone, i really mean it hugo is a dac, preamp, and headphone amp, with dsd and highres pcm capability, crossfeed, and even aptx bluetooth as one of the five input options. Refer to page 41 of the manual for more information on. Sep 24, 2017 however, the flow picks up a little more rf than the hugo 2 hugo is not rf free though on otg, something i think the chord learned a lot from with the mojo rf feedback using smartphones. It features a state of the art fpga dac design with our latest wta filter algorithm. Both the greater width and the raised volume control surround make the fit into the case tight.
In the end it came down to the wyred4sound dac2 and exasound e22, the former from california and the latter from canada both north american. Jul 09, 2015 so, on roon with a chord hugo and a windows 7 pc, i am using the chord zone, and, when playing, my chord hugos sample rate detection light always turns red, meaning 44. I couldnt drive my he6 but i never used them and ended up selling to a friend but the rest of my headphones work amazingly well with the power output of the huge 2. The sony zx2 and ak240 are portable digital audio players capable of playing studio. Oct 21, 2015 the little guy squeezes the last ounce of music out of digital recordings and, its portable, and beats my analogue sources. Despite its highres capabilities, the hugo is as at home with a 320kbps spotify stream as it is with a meaty pcm or dsd file up to dsd128. Hugo can also be used as a standalone dac with rca phono outputs to connect into a hifi system. Its a functional handset, bogstandard where hugo 2 itself is wildly individual, but its presence suggests chord knows full well hugo 2 is as likely to end up as a dacpreamp in a static system as it is to get out and about. Go to the silver dragon toslink form fit cable page. Both devices are musical and technically very capable. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. This is the official place to discuss the chord mojo. Impedance output impedance on the hugo 2 is really low at 0.
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