Had a bit of a listen to the Chord Hugo TT today at my favourite dealer. Actually, I was having a first listen to two bits of kit - the TT and the LCD-4.
I spent a couple of hours listening to the LCD-4 (with LCD-X SE lead and 110 hours run-in), my HE1000 and the dealer's HD800 on the TT (running from battery); the source was my AK380. My musical tastes are wide-ranging (from classical to dubstep, jazz to rock), and with hifi I tend to lean towards detail (even if cold and clinical) more so than towards lush warm heavy sounds. It almost certainly needs a bit more running-in (I think up to 300 hours is recommended) but I have to say I found the LCD-4 slightly disappointing in not showing a clean pair of heels to the HE1000 in areas a number of reviews had led me to expect it would (e.g. jazz, female vocal, dubstep etc). I perhaps just preferred it to the HE1000 with Miles Davis, and maybe with Skrillex and Michael Mayer, but it was oh so close. I was surprised I didn’t clearly prefer it with Joni Mitchell, Carmen Lundy and Cecile McLorin Salvant. Yes, it was warm a nice sounding but it didn’t have the detailed edge to their voices, which is there with the HE1000 and which makes you think the ladies are actually there in front of you singing. With most everything else the HE1000 was the winner (didn’t even bother trying the LCD-4 with classical).
Question – leaving aside the issue of run-in, is the TT a good pairing with the LCD-4, or should I really be considering something else to drive the Audeze in order to bring out something like its best?
I then put the Audeze to one side and concentrated on comparing the TT with my portable Hugo through the HE1000s. At no point was it night and day, and often I struggled to tell much of a difference (there was some background noise in the shop and it certainly wasn’t the relaxed experience of evening listening at home, on the sofa and with subdued lighting). But there were times when there was an important difference in the TT’s favour. For example, the piano with Keith Jarrett was more lifelike and authoritative; the orchestral playing with Vaughan Williams was more assured and coherent; and Spem in Alium by the Tallis Scholars was just sublime and it was easier to pick out the individual voices.
Question – Should I expect to be able to tell the difference between the portable Hugo and the TT with some types of music more than others, and does it make any difference to the sound quality running the TT from batteries instead of the mains?
I will also post this on the Chord Hugo TT thread
Thanks.