Caveats for testing preferences

1) Although I am a Chord fan from the launch of CH1 and TT, I am not an extensive audiophile with 4 dacs, 8 HP, 4 amps etc..May not have golden ears either.
2) I am doing this review from the perspective of what interests me. Is Ch2 worth the upgrade from CH1 and was all the hype mean for my TT
3) I will be fair and honest but I am picky so what gains or not gains my desk space depends on audio experience primarily and dollars secondary.
4) What i like or dislike may have little bearing on what the reader likes or dislikes.

Methodology and equipment used for evaluation.

Studio

Furman Linear power supply SM2>iMac 5K roon core> audio quest jitterbug> audio quest cinnamon modified for Hugo> Ch1 or ch2> Full modded La900 or Double Helix Cables V3 type 4 litz 8 braid cable> Noble encore

Outdoor

Iphone 7 Plus 256 gig I tunes>CCK> CH1 or CH2> DHC V3 type 4 litz 8 braid>Noble Encore or fully modded LA900

I did test Hd800S using double helix Compliment 4 SE cable and susvara production SE, but this was for curiosity as I use Hugo as a portable and find encore and La900 the perfect easy to drive monitors for it.

Would like to start by thanking Chord and Xrelic for putting together this program Tour. Much appreciated and valued.

Methodology. Genres tested where electronic, jazz, vocal jazz, R&B soul, Classical and Ambient. Examples are Ruff Cherry, james Hunter, cecile mclorin salvant, The headhunters, Peter Gregson, Biosphere. In order of genres mentioned. Frankly the song list was extensive at over 40 hours so lets just leave it at that.
I would listen to a track complete for CH1 then CH2 Then TT focus 20 hours on noble encore, 10 hours on La900, 5 Hours on Hd800S and an hour with Susvara. I Only tested TT via hd800S for a few hours as Conclusions were drawn fairly quickly that its a desktop and will remain my main desktop. It was important to get back to CH1 and Ch2 as a portable. I then went exclusive for hours of CH2 on its own, to let it sink in what I was hearing and yes it did grow on me.

Build. although the balls rattle and the volume wheel can spin without effect until pressure is just right. ( its not a problem) but ch1 balls are way tighter if thats a good thing.
The build in every way is better on Ch2 from the volume being memorized to the micro c input sturdiness to the overall look weight and feel.

Filters. My gosh why? used white only and don't use cross feed on any chord device although roon does have some in its software that I modified to be less.

Conclusions. At first i found it difficult to understand the differences between Ch1 and Ch2. Ch1 rougher edges or distortion or whatever having less pulse arrays and taps does, gave me the perception of more bass impact, edgier mids and more distinct vocals and keyboards. This given a lot of the genres I like, was not really negative. But as listening went on I started to get the nuance, the tighter bass had a bit more colour and depth, the distinct mids gave a pinch more width and the smoother presentation and gave the notes a more rounded feel, smooth vocals became appealing and detailed. Is it a night and day difference, no. Chord did a very good job on the original. But it is a smoother less edgy more colourful wide presentation, albeit subtly so. The longer I listened to ch2 the more i liked it, then again the longer I listened I listened to CH1 the more i liked that as well. CH2 I had to conclude was my preferred dac over time.

La900 was scrumptious under Ch1 and Ch2 with the same subtle differences that I noticed with encore. Hd800S was the same as la900 and encore with the subtle differences between CH1 and CH2, TT played hd800S best.

While I can't speak for anyone else but concerning the burning question of should I upgrade from CH1? Well it depends on how easy one can part with 3 G CAD, how much the smoother detail is desired or the edgy colour of ch1 bothers you. Myself I will not for now, but every black friday or boxing day sale where i can get 20 or more % off I will think about it, so don't be surprised if my signature changes from ch1 to ch2 in the future.
Concerning new customers from no Dac or Mojo or whatever, just do CH2 and be done with it.

Concerning TT well Im sure CH2 will find its way on to desktops as a portable replacement, more than CH1 has, but TT will stay as my desktop until TT2 is launched. It was just better for the job all around, course I'm not sure if it was as refined but it was preferable for the job of playing my full size cans, period.

Now i can go back outside and enjoy my Encores through CH2