[mcullinan]

To me.... doesn't it come down to tone control vs advancement. Perhaps each year some part of the aural spectrum is help up as the pinnacle of sound. Not unlike clothes and color. Blue is in. Blue is out as an example. Each year a company comes out with a new dac.. Is there an obvious improvement or is it trying to capture new sales. How much is actual advancement vs following a certain tonal trend or even creating one where there was none. I have a Theta Chroma from 1992?? and it has 1 bit for the bass handling and a step Dac for the highs. Most of the new Dacs are not as good. So that says something about technology and so called advancements. 
 
So is it tone as a trend, or is it a true step forward.

 

[jk47]

Has anyone ever thought that it's awfully telling about both products - particularly the iDSD micro - that's it's even in the same conversation as the Chord Hugo?

I mean, pros and cons of 5% or less: a little give here, some take there: but in the end either the iDSD micro is slaying the Hugo within a few percentages of its death, or the Hugo is simply priced too high.

A third option is that most people love the underdog that overachieves to some degree of victory.

Either way, I'm sure ze Germans won't stand for this much longer.

i've mostly noticed that nobody has heard the 2 to compare them.  it seems you either shop for a $2500 portable dac/amp or you shop in the $500 range, but no one shops or even listens across both ranges.  

 

[gr8soundz]

  i've mostly noticed that nobody has heard the 2 to compare them.  it seems you either shop for a $2500 portable dac/amp or you shop in the $500 range, but no one shops or even listens across both ranges.  

 
+1

 

[Dobrescu George]

i am interested in both. i will post impressions after i listen to both!

 

[EVOLVIST]

i've mostly noticed that nobody has heard the 2 to compare them.  it seems you either shop for a $2500 portable dac/amp or you shop in the $500 range, but no one shops or even listens across both ranges.  

Yes and no. I've read 3 written comparisons. They are out there. It's just that some you have to translate from the native language.

One review was a toss up; I think you can find it in this threads.

Another person got rid of their Chord Hugo for the iDSD micro. The 3rd one I can't remember, but it seems like it was in one of those massive iDSD micro threads.

But for me the price wasn't that much of a consideration, although the Hugo was as much as I would spend. I haven't heard the Hugo, but when I heard the iDSD micro the DAC section beat out many DACs that I had auditioned at the Hugo range and above...so I stuck with the iDSD. Consequently, I have very little qualms of shelling out the extra for the iDSD pro, when it comes out.

 

[Earbones]

i've mostly noticed that nobody has heard the 2 to compare them.  it seems you either shop for a $2500 portable dac/amp or you shop in the $500 range, but no one shops or even listens across both ranges.  

I don't think that's entirely accurate in that it appears you're suggesting people going for the Micro iDSD can't afford the Chord? (if I'm wrong, forgive me). As someone who also enjoys full-size systems, as I think a great deal of head-fiers do, I can say with certainty that the great thing about head-fi is that literally everything is inexpensive, comparatively.

Sure, one is literally 5x the cost of the other, but $2500 is already pretty cheap for the sound quality you're getting, compared to what you'd spend in full-size gear to achieve the same sound... And $500 is just insane. Bottom line, there are many people who have both in their budgets, but after comparing both, went for the IFI, and saved $2k.

Personally, I'd heard the Hugo, but didn't have a Micro, so I rolled the dice based on what I'd read. I was blown away, but just for laughs, I carted it over to listen to with the Chord. The reports are true... It's that good.

I'm not sure how long you've been into hi/head fi, but in my experience, most audiophiles at least listen -and often buy- across even greater price ranges. Price is a very poor indicator of performance indeed. Case in point- several years back, the Senheiser HD650 represented a flagship model. It can be had for $335 on Amazon, right now. It happens to pair best with Bottlehead Crack tube amps, which can be had for roughly the same price. Figure another $150 if you score ebay deals on good tubes. $30 for incidentals, I always like to pick up brass footers for isolation. That's $850 for a rig that is still one of the best sounds available, at any price. Do modern competitors beat it? Many do, sure. But many also don't. And most cost 4-5 times the price.

Second case in point- and this one is personal: probably my favorite headphone of all time (and I've owned HD800, LCD-2.2, Oppo PM2, and spent a good amount of time with my dad's Stax), is the German Maestro GMP 8.35 D. Available for $249 at Amazon. I got mine on flash sale for $189, shipping issues knocked it down to $130. That's less than a well-priced headphone cable. Sure, it's a closed back and doesn't have the sound-stage, nor the sophistication of the rarified cans mentioned above. But it has a magic quality- something about it's signature is just eminently listenable. People who hear it, love it. I always end up listening to it regularly, regardless of whatever top-tier can or IEM I currently have in my stable. Like I said, this one is personal, not many people are aware of the GM 8.35, unlike the widely recognized HD650/Crack combo, but the point is, I think many audiophiles have similar stories. That one can or amp that cost almost nothing, and just takes on all challengers.

Price just doens't work as a gauge of sound...

 

[jk47]

I don't think that's entirely accurate in that it appears you're suggesting people going for the Micro iDSD can't afford the Chord? (if I'm wrong, forgive me). As someone who also enjoys full-size systems, as I think a great deal of head-fiers do, I can say with certainty that the great thing about head-fi is that literally everything is inexpensive, comparatively.

Sure, one is literally 5x the cost of the other, but $2500 is already pretty cheap for the sound quality you're getting, compared to what you'd spend in full-size gear to achieve the same sound... And $500 is just insane. Bottom line, there are many people who have both in their budgets, but after comparing both, went for the IFI, and saved $2k.

Personally, I'd heard the Hugo, but didn't have a Micro, so I rolled the dice based on what I'd read. I was blown away, but just for laughs, I carted it over to listen to with the Chord. The reports are true... It's that good.

I'm not sure how long you've been into hi/head fi, but in my experience, most audiophiles at least listen -and often buy- across even greater price ranges. Price is a very poor indicator of performance indeed. Case in point- several years back, the Senheiser HD650 represented a flagship model. It can be had for $335 on Amazon, right now. It happens to pair best with Bottlehead Crack tube amps, which can be had for roughly the same price. Figure another $150 if you score ebay deals on good tubes. $30 for incidentals, I always like to pick up brass footers for isolation. That's $850 for a rig that is still one of the best sounds available, at any price. Do modern competitors beat it? Many do, sure. But many also don't. And most cost 4-5 times the price.

Second case in point- and this one is personal: probably my favorite headphone of all time (and I've owned HD800, LCD-2.2, Oppo PM2, and spent a good amount of time with my dad's Stax), is the German Maestro GMP 8.35 D. Available for $249 at Amazon. I got mine on flash sale for $189, shipping issues knocked it down to $130. That's less than a well-priced headphone cable. Sure, it's a closed back and doesn't have the sound-stage, nor the sophistication of the rarified cans mentioned above. But it has a magic quality- something about it's signature is just eminently listenable. People who hear it, love it. I always end up listening to it regularly, regardless of whatever top-tier can or IEM I currently have in my stable. Like I said, this one is personal, not many people are aware of the GM 8.35, unlike the widely recognized HD650/Crack combo, but the point is, I think many audiophiles have similar stories. That one can or amp that cost almost nothing, and just takes on all challengers.

Price just doens't work as a gauge of sound...

no, i wasn't suggesting micro buyers couldn't afford the chord.  and it's interesting hearing your report, since you are apparently one of the few people who actually compared them.  when you say: "the reports are true, it's that good" do you mean the chord is remarkably good, much better than the micro? or are you referring to the micro, saying it's that good as to be comparable to the chord?  i couldn't figure out which you meant.
 
i don't assume price implies quality and i don't assume there's some kind of contest to have the most expensive gear.
 
i bought myself a micro. i could have bought a chord but i'm likely to use a transportable [not something to walk around with] dac/amp relatively rarely, perhaps a few weeks a year.   so, having read enough good things about the micro i decided it was good enough, and that i wouldn't get enough use out of a chord to justify the expenditure in my own mind, even if the chord were markedly better than the micro.
 
similarly, i own a dx90 dap.  it suits my purposes and sounds very good.  might an ak-xxx, or a golden paw or whatever sound better?  maybe, and i could buy one if i chose.  but the dx90 is fine for my use case.
 
btw, to my ears the dx90 dac is slightly better than the micro's.  i ran a coax from the dx90 as transport to the micro dac and amp, and compared it to dx90 line out to the micro's amp via line-in.  i had to go back and forth several times, but the dx90's sabres sounded slightly more resolving than the micro's burr-browns.  

 

[maricius]

  i've mostly noticed that nobody has heard the 2 to compare them.  it seems you either shop for a $2500 portable dac/amp or you shop in the $500 range, but no one shops or even listens across both ranges.  

Quite a number actually, not plentiful but impressions are by no means sparse.

 

[Rayzilla]

How would you describe the sound signature of the two? I am thinking about the Micro and the Audio GD NFB-28.

 

[cronsell]

I wonder how much of the sound difference we hear at the level of DSD is due to the electronics versus the format itself.  Given that any compared products are reasonably well designed and implemented, perhaps the iFi just hits the perfect price point that satisfies the format without any excessive engineering or redundancy in its design.  Efficiency without extravagance may be the perfect solution when it comes to DSD...but how do these two compare in other formats?

 

[Dobrescu George]

DSD sounds exactly the same as redbook. 
 
At least to my ears. 
 
If you can hear the difference, the best for you! Redbook is the best i had heared. Good recorded redbook!

 

[cronsell]

I think well recorded redbook, with proper (world class) DAC implementation, can sound out of this world.  My stereo rig is based on that: Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated amp and Selah Audio Ottavios.  That being said, for $500 DSD through the iDSD sounds ridiculous!  

 

[EVOLVIST]

  DSD sounds exactly the same as redbook. 
 
At least to my ears. 
 
If you can hear the difference, the best for you! Redbook is the best i had heared. Good recorded redbook!

 
I get where you're going with this. My answer would be yes and no, really. We all know that every DAC uses a set of filters to get the job done. Call it cheating, or artificial, or maybe even psychological, but when I play DSD files using my iDSD micro, there is an analog filter - not digital, mind you - called "Extended;" it is the one in the middle of the three-way switch, and when I play DSD audio through this, (and you can't use the filter with redbook), it just sparkles and shines like no other audio I've ever heard. It kills the redbook.
 
So, what is it? Is it the analog filter that's bringing out a brilliant sheen to the audio, in a wholly natural way? I don't care really. It makes it sound better and more alive, and only the iDSD micro can do this with DSD, as far as what I've seen out there.

 

[cronsell]

If I hear it, it's there. I hear a more satisfying reproduction from DSD, whether it's well engineered or not. The format allows for more information, good or bad, and more information, if audible, is something I enjoy hearing. My two cents...worth little, but there you have it.

 

[ClieOS]

Just to mention: DSD, because of its 1 bit nature, must uses analog filter, as any kind of digital manipulation will eat into its bit depth and there is just no room to reduce in a 1 bit file.