[seeteeyou]

.

 

[zachchen1996]

I like this idea a lot, but can it be done?

 

[audionewbi]

Carbon fiber casing is great idea but i don't know of its heating/ cooling properties.

 

[Ross]

If you want to convert this to a desktop dac, even more critical might be replacing the battery with a linear psu. I have a suspicion this would improve dynamics considerably.
 
Interested to see how this turns out.

 

[audionewbi]

Dynamic is already measure insanely well, i think it is almost impossible to push it any further.

 

[Ross]

I'm not talking about dynamic range, but there is a sense of speed and impact that I have found battery powered components usually lack - and despite its many outstanding qualities, the Hugo is no exception. If I have one criticism of the Hugo, is that it sounds a tiny bit relaxed and polite. I have a suspicion that removing the battery and using a good quality regulated linear PSU would fix this one remaining issue (at least for me). Of course, I could be wrong.

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

Someone pls provide this service....

 

[zachchen1996]

Maybe Justin at HeadAmp?

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[SleepyOne]

When using my Stereovox Colibri-R mkII interconnect which has heavy duty Xhadow RCA plugs all my music's timing is off, too slow (I don't have this problem when using a cheap interconnect). Therefore If you want to change the phono jacks maybe go with something less heavy duty (metal wise), something lighter perhaps.
 

 

 
http://www.vampirewire.com/viewitem.php?productid=64

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

There really are quite a few ways to go for now, do you think Funjoe of CLONES audio and Hercules are familiar with Hugo by any chance?

I haven't been their customer so far and that's why you could have a little chat with Hercules if that were OK. Funjoe was already making great PSU for Mac Mini and now we owners of Hugo are basically looking for something like that. Swapping the chassis with a new case should be a piece of cake and almost no DIY skills are required. We just have to ask them how much would the whole package cost and what the minimum number of orders is expected.

For the carbon fiber part, obviously 1+2 and Ref 1 are made from that. Perhaps you could also help to ask? Thanks a lot.

 
Let me speak with Hercules about this. He is a sensible and honest guy, lets see if he thinks it is a good idea...  he is real busy most of the time fixing other people's problems
For CLONES, last heard that he is gonna design and develop a headphone amp. I think I will support because the 25i drives my Harbeth speakers, HE-6, Mad Dog so well..
 
on a second thought about this, shouldnt we wait for Chord to release the upgraded QBD instead?

 

[SleepyOne]

Completely different price point product, Hugo at £1400, QBD at £5000+

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

  Completely different price point product, Hugo at £1400, QBD at £5000+

thats why every penny counts towards the upgrade for me.

 

[SleepyOne]

Hugo will serve as nice stepping stone for you until QBD appears (whenever Mr. Watts thinks it is ready). You probably wouldn't even lost that much at resale (assuming the wait isn't super long) - could consider it as rental

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

  Hugo will serve as nice stepping stone for you until QBD appears (whenever Mr. Watts thinks it is ready). You probably wouldn't even lost that much at resale (assuming the wait isn't super long) - could consider it as rental

honestly, QBD will be a big stretch for me financially...
 
After owning Hugo, I have lost all interests in the DAP or portable amp market especially it is as "active"/"disposable" as the cellphone market... companies keep on putting out DAP every few months , change a little bit of SS then release another one....
 
It will be good if we can replace the battery of Hugo in the future though....cos I really use it for hours every day after work