[captblaze]

It's possible. Perhaps I am fantasizing too much about the TT2 sound packaged in a Hugo form factor.
But have we in 2024 already reached a technological plateau in compact DAC design?

Could be, but the technologic hurdles will eventually be overcome. It comes down to whether or not there are adequate resources and a large enough market to take get the project off the ground

 

[Whazzzup]

more importantly has the tt dave desktop form of 12-15 inches hit a plateau. then you'll know whether chord portables hit a plateau. with talk of new m scaler, looks like there's a plateau in dac/amps. for now

 

[miketlse]

It's possible. Perhaps I am fantasizing too much about the TT2 sound packaged in a Hugo form factor.
But have we in 2024 already reached a technological plateau in compact DAC design?

So you want to fit the insides of the TT2 into a volume that is maybe 25% of the existing TT2.
The amount of heat generated by the electronics would be enough to raise the internal temperature inside the case high enough to trigger the thermal shutdown circuits, and probably would harm the supercapacitors as well.

Rob works magic with the dac code, but cannot work miracles with the electronic chips, until the next generations of more energy efficient FPGA chips are available at an economic price.
He has posted before that he has been waiting several years for the chips to become available, and thinks that he will be waiting for several more years still.

 

[ChrisGB]

The development cycle of Hugo is puzzling. Seems like the issue is Rob Watts having no bandwidth due to high-end projects. I've heard a dealer complain about collapsing entry-level Chord sales due to the lack of new models.

One would think there would be a middle point between releasing a new model every year, and every 10 years. Is Chord really dependent on one man?

It seems to me that many manufacturers in all sorts of fields run a product mill that rolls out "new" but much the same as last year's product continually. My feeling is that Chord are to be applauded for their approach to sparse but meaningful upgrades.

 

[Patswalker]

It seems to me that many manufacturers in all sorts of fields run a product mill that rolls out "new" but much the same as last year's product continually. My feeling is that Chord are to be applauded for their approach to sparse but meaningful upgrades.

I agree. Chord by nature is a very high end brand that also makes a few products that are more affordable. They do a ton of professional studio work too so they don't need to keep physically updating consumer products. I am much more a fan of a company that either makes products that are designed so well that they don't need to constantly put out put out slightly new versions. It's a great business model. There are lots of us who even need to go to the used market for Chord's products like I did for the Hugo 2. I personally am much more willing to take time saving and spend my hard earned money on something when I know it is going to be so well engineered that I'll have it for years without it being outdone by annual new versions. Make it right make it once.