[Lornecherry]

In our search for audio nervana I can say this.
I have both an offramp and ap1/pp. They both help almost any DAC it connect them too
But our hearing does adjust to sound with out the USB converters.
If you play the music with out them and then connect them the change is very apparent. However if you just at the music and stop thinking
About every detail it seems fine. What they do is fine tune the entire presentation from bass to treble
But mostly increase soundstage if in speakers. With headphones this is less obvious
I do not own a Hugo so I do not know how much it will help. But the above post makes sense to me
For the money the ap1/pp is better but the offramp has ore outputs
With either device the USB cable or a USB add on card does not seem to Matter.
So it's a good return. As I have a PPA USB PCI x card and psu and there PPA red cable
And I could not hear a change with it or connect red to the mother board USB. But without the devices there was an improvement but not as dramatic as with the devices.
I very much would like to listen to Hugo with my I device
Al

...very much watching your posts, as I'm looking very seriously at the OR5 (probably wait for OR6). I've recently been comparing my portable system (AK120 + Hugo) to my main system fully-loaded Overdrive SE DAC driving a Stax setup...and while not all that fair (the Overdrive DAC is over $6K, and the Stax walks on B&W P7 portable phones), the Hugo is certainly good value...and it's portable. I can imagine the 0R5 (or AP1 + PP) would certainly bring the Hugo up a notch. Jitter is the glare in digital...getting rid of it gets you closer to analogue with all the benefits of digital. IMHO.
 
I will say that the FPGA in Chord's DACS (I also owned a DAC64, Chord's original implementation), works, and works well. Paul McGowan's (PS Audio) new DSD Direct Stream DAC also uses the Spartan FPGA. I  heard that at the Chicago show and it's the full system DAC to beat. 
 
Paul McGowan, John Franks, Gordon Rankin and Steve Nugent (Empirical Audio) are all bringing digital closer to what it was really supposed to be when the CD was announced as "perfect and forever" back in the 80's. Maybe not perfect yet, but getting damn close to a good turntable setup.
 
By the way, the Overdrive and Hugo DAC sound completely different. The Overdrive is very special (airy, full, detailed with great Bass extension) and the only DAC (other than the PS AUDIO DSD) that can humble the Hugo for under 10K. That said, I'm sure adding a OR5 to the Hugo will close the gap significantly. Fun times are ahead indeed.

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

guys, apparently this wireless 2TB hdd from LACIE is PORTABLE... and considering ipod touch also has wifi and can install 8player?...so if i just throw in the hdd in my bag, I can actually have 2TB of music on the go? way too cool for my little brain....is that correct?

 

[Lornecherry]

You are right! I guess that Hifi-Nutter and I have something in common as I have been pretty nuts myself over the years.

But because of my way of life these days I have focused more on head-fi rather than speaker systems.

(I even have to build me a listening room before I can put up my speaker system.. and it will be some time to get it all finished)


So to my liking I found top of the line head-fi systems to be much more affordable than top of the line speaker rigs.

I waited a long time for something like Hugo to show up in the portable market, and I must say that I was very glad when Chord talked about the coming Hugo for the very first time. And I am glad that it exceeded my expectations of how good it could be.


So now I want to optimize around Hugo. And I have comed up with a plan..

First step will be headphones that are top of the line and ultra portable. The T5P's are not that portable I'm afraid, and the HD800's are not that practical beeing open and all.. not perfect for every type of music either, but impressive in many ways.

So I will put my faith in Noble's Kaiser 10. The K10's are described as a very musical CIEM, and that they can play whatever you throw at them, and make every music type sound exceptionally good. They are super detailed and musical at the same time and got all the stuff I would ever want in a headphone sound wise. Pretty much the same could be said about the Hugo, so I guess it is not a coincidence that Chord and Noble are doing stuff together these days.

Next would be the Audiophilleo1 with PurePower, to optimize the signal chain and get the best possible feed for Hugo while still beeing portable. I guess the AP1 (with 384kHz and DSD128 over DoP support) together with PP it would be a perfect fit for the Hugo, but the "power draw feature" (for the iPad Mini) must be implemented in the AP1 to make this work as a compact setup. And Philip Gruebele has said that it is doable.

Everything is supposed to be in this little bag from Kangaroo Kingdom (size M):

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/New-Free-shipping-kangaroo-kingdom-Men-s-Genuine-Leather-PU-Shoulder-bag-Black-M154/109215_548175467.html



It fits the iPad Mini Retina perfectly (but not an iPad Air).
And it is allmost enough room for this thing, a Cocoon GRID-IT (Small):

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H9269LL/A/cocoon-grid-it-organizing-system-small?fnode=0d68fc7eb3b2c7ea37fec31206f4f4ba34a6955a9c838850040660342e9599ccef6d599ad083d52ff9b4b78659cb5cd99dcbb6f8829f914d187c4c8231d19511bb50102c2a9c5c9bb139bea04cc730f74fc0d6018b6d2cfb57c92ae2ea77b8e3

It will not fit so I have to modify it, or make my own.


The plan is to hook in Hugo in the rubber net, directly coupled to the AP1 and with PurePower nicely placed beside attached to the board, and on the back a spot for a rugged little case for the K10's while not in use, and also room for all chargers and extra cables needed.

It looks like I need an angeled Micro USB plug and a angeled mini jack plug for the K10's to fit everything perfectly. So while in the bag there will be no strain to any contact points and no contact to the bottom or the sides. This way I don't have to be so overly careful with it.

(And at last I will opt for the better K10- and USB-cable)


With this setup I can have an extremly good audio experience while on the go and in a very compact package. And it will last about 10 hours with continous play before some of the components might need a recharge.

And I can watch movies and series lying on a hotel bed, in a tent, or wherever.

And it will be an end game portable setup for me, and only upgrade when stuff breaks.

Why?

I don't listen to my desktop rig anymore. The Hugo has made me more focused on the music. I have spent a lot of time listening to eqipment and not to the music.

Most of my music is in 16/44.1 and Hugo plays 16/44.1 extremly well, as it gets me drawn into the music while at the same time make all the details of the recordings available for me.

And with the K10's and AP1 with PP in the setup, it should achieve something pretty close to audio nirvana for me, and in a very compact package.

If something a little bit better would appear one day, I would not feel any urge to upgrade..
And that is my compliments to the Hugo. It has my urge to upgrade tamed. I enjoy music instead.


It will be a while before I can afford everything, but it is nice to have something to look forward to isn't it, and doing so while enjoying music at the same time?

Edit (beside typos):
I even enjoy music I don't even like.. if that makes any sense at all?!

thatis....really, really close to my setup. Though I'm 56 my kids think my setup is very "stylish". I have all three sizes of those Kangaroo bags...I use the smallest with my AK120/Hugo/B&W P7
 
I have the larger Kangaroo to use with an iPad or notebook (working on that implementation). BTW, heard Noble 10's with AK240/Hugo at the Chicago show...it was good...but I still think that B&W over-ear bested the best of the IEMs that I tried (granted, I'm not an IEM fan anyway). That said, try the P7's they are one of the few over-ear phones that both sound good and don't look geeky or "Beats-like). Very curious how the AP1 + PP = IPad works. I will try the same thing with the Surface 3 when it comes available. - Lorne

 

[ted_b]

My $.02: I spent quite a bit of time with Paul McGowan at his Boulder, CO HQ getting a personal demo on the DirectStream.  I am due to get my review unit from Greg (PS Audio) next week or so.  I own a Hugo (and several other DACs).  "Humbling the Hugo" (strong words) is not what I heard, but will report back when I get it settled into my system.  What Ted Smith (a great designer in his own right) is doing with FPGA's, by the way, is entirely different than Rob and company. 
 
These differences of opinion are what makes the world go 'round I guess. 

 

[Sonic77]

  My $.02: I spent quite a bit of time with Paul McGowan at his Boulder, CO HQ getting a personal demo on the DirectStream.  I am due to get my review unit from Greg (PS Audio) next week or so.  I own a Hugo (and several other DACs).  "Humbling the Hugo" (strong words) is not what I heard, but will report back when I get it settled into my system.  What Ted Smith (a great designer in his own right) is doing with FPGA's, by the way, is entirely different than Rob and company. 
 
These differences of opinion are what makes the world go 'round I guess. 

Can't wait, been waiting for this inevitable comparison of DAC's.
Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to go to T.H.E. Show in LA, woohoo!

 

[ALRAINBOW]

I do not own a Hugo but I do own the direct stream and msb disc thet direct stream is a good dac. I have not had time to do a comparison as yet. . But the offramp did help the direct steam in fact it took away it's magic. I do not know why. But I did that test several times. And ted I very much look forward to you review as always . I had compared the direct stream to the Pwd mkii I and wow how much better the new one is. This is why I am asking who has a Hugo and has tried the ap1/pp or offramp . As it should improve things it did not with direct stream .
Al

 

[ted_b]

Al, I know several folks who place the Hugo prowess/sound somewhere between the MSB Analog ($8K) and your MSB Platinum DAC IV stack ($30k+), so I would be very interested in your Directstream opinions, too.  And compared to your Lampi 7 on DSD. 

 

[R Scott Ireland]

This is the bag that I have been using for awhile now with different equipment:
 
http://www.kgear.com/store/a/a200.html
 
It's made by Kinesis Photo Gear.  I add one of their shoulder straps and am good to go.
 
It's not going to win any fashion awards, but it's small, practical and it works well. I made a padded separator and put the Hugo on one side and the DAP on the other. They lay sideways well, which allows you to almost completely zip the case closed while walking around (small opening on one side to allow the headphone cable out.
 
 

 

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Damn ted you have reading a lot hahahah
Np I will it's all about time and it will happen soon
Thanks
Al

 

[bmichels]

  ..I'm looking very seriously at the OR5 (probably wait for OR6).

sorry to ask, but what us OR5 & OR6 ?
 
thanks

 

[SleepyOne]

Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 usb interface. As for 6, it is not out yet.
 
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/off-ramp-converter

 

[bmichels]

  Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 usb interface. As for 6, it is not out yet.
 
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/off-ramp-converter

thanks

 

[vert]

Has anyone tried the Audioquest USB micro adapter and gotten good results?
 
I emailed Chord and they mentioned it shouldn't degrade the sound, but it would put undue stress on the micro connector.

 

[ted_b]

  Has anyone tried the Audioquest USB micro adapter and gotten good results?
 
I emailed Chord and they mentioned it shouldn't degrade the sound, but it would put undue stress on the micro connector.

Yes, I mentioned several posts ago that I use it with great results (with one of three USB cables, the PPA original, the JCAT and the TotalDAC D1).  It does hang there, though, and put stress on the micro.  My Hugo doesn't move from its spot, so I'm not worried.

 

[Sam Edwards]

  guys, apparently this wireless 2TB hdd from LACIE is PORTABLE... and considering ipod touch also has wifi and can install 8player?...so if i just throw in the hdd in my bag, I can actually have 2TB of music on the go? way too cool for my little brain....is that correct?

Do you have the La Cie Fuel? That's the one that works with the Seagate media app. I use the Seagate 2TB Wireless Plus and it works great.
 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seagate-media/id431912202?mt=8
 
The seagate media app will help you connect your ipad. It's a decent no frills media app and it's free.