[musickid]

+1 for the PM1.

 

[AndrewOld]

I rarely post here but think Head-Fi is a fantastic resource and read the useful information posted often. I have heard all of the existing Chord DACs and think Rob Watts and Chord bring a superb line to the marketplace, and I have been fortunate to experience extensively many of the world’s best DACs as reference points.

In addition, I own a Hugo 1, numerous high end daps, many high end headphones and a high quality home headphone system. I feel comfortable saying the Hugo2 is unquestionably a solid performer as a transportable and is probably best in class from everything I’ve listened to. It does not, however, rival true high end headphone amp/dac rigs, but it is very, very good for something users can carry around. And I will ignore the minor hardware defect that will require me to return my unit for a replacement, because that defect didn’t impact the SQ, which was solid and better certainly than Chord’s Hugo 1 and Mojo for sure (but does make me question Chord’s quality control).

But (MAJOR BUT) the 2Go simply is not ready from prime time. In fact, my experience, in a word, would be - abysmal. In another word - disappointing. In a third word - frustrating. The software is just awful. It is extremely glitchy and poorly organized and implemented from a UI perspective. I am pretty surprised Chord didn’t team with a real developer to create a good app. They’ve had plenty of time since the Poly. The 2Go is supposed to be a premium product. The software is the furthest thing from premium; it’s amateurish. Maybe some users are willing to compromise, but there shouldn’t be a need to compromise for a $4,000 product offering. I had read some posts expressing similar views, but I didn’t think it would be this lousy.

Unfortunately, I had consistent problems with the 2Go hardware too. I could not get the 2Go/Hugo2 to play for more than about 90 minutes without shutting off totally, and it was plugged in the entire time. The Hugo2 alone played unendingly, as expected. Moreover, on many occasions I suddenly lost network connectivity and needed to reboot. I have no network issues, and I know a fair bit about networking and am connecting the 2Go to 2.4 WiFi (which is itself a complicating limitation). I had to make substantial adjustments to my home network, including changing router security settings, just to get the 2Go to even connect to my network using a high end linksys router.

I hate to say it because of my respect for the Chord product line, but the 2Go just isn’t ready for prime time. I will be returning everything. Unfortunately, I cannot return expensive custom headphone cables and sd cards that I purchased on the belief that I would use them with the Hugo2/2Go, so I am out money for being a beta tester for Chord. That part is my fault I suppose. I might keep the Hugo2, but my primary anticipated use case was with the sd storage, which implicates, among other problems, the poor software (p.s. I didn’t find any high quality iOS player that did everything I wanted, but there are a few decent ones mentioned in posts here, and no player can see both sd cards at the same time, so users need to basically memorize what’s on each card and potentially change a setting deeply buried in menus too frequently to access other music).

My bottom line would be buyer beware on 2Go.

What a total disaster. I am potentially in the market for a 2Go/2yu to front-end my M Scaler, but it seems like this product has a long way to go before it is worth considering.
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[MSXX]

I'm afraid I can't as I'm a PC user and don't have Audirvana .
Edit - I didn't realise there is Audirvana for PC now!
Edit 2 - Yes I can confirm Audirvana works to play to 2Go from local storage and streaming services but similar to Roon it will not allow you to play from the SD cards inside 2Go. It doesn't appear to support DLNA server access.
J River will support DLNA renders and servers so you can play to and from 2Go

Hi Matt

Thank you for all your effort, your time here on the forum and for great products. As I have shared before I have several problems with the 2go. Pops and clicks, random shutdown and connection issues with go figure, but most of all problems with getting a stable connection to stream Tidal thorough various third party iOS apps.

I am awaiting a firmware update to tackle the "pops" and some of the other bugs, but my question to you is: where do I go for support when 8player is just skipping all my selected tracks in tidal, and when mconnect only can play 3-5 of the tidal songs I have queued up before it randomly just stop or shuts down? I am not using wifi but the ethernet and have tried three different iPhones with the same result.

My dream scenario is to be able to use 1 stable app instead of now fiddling with 3 different unstable apps. 1 app that can play from SD-cards and is able to stream from online services like tidal. I can not find a stable and user-friendly one, so which app do you use and how is your experience with it?

I am also wondering, have you tried partnering with a app-developer or why wouldn't you wanna go that route?

Last, can you explain to me why it is not possible for using Roon or audiovarna to "see" the sd-cards files and play them. Is it something that you are actively pursuing or working on with maybe Roon to get to work in the future or is it not possible technically? - I am not very tech-savvy, so pardon these dumb question. I am just curious to understand why I need some many different apps or services like Roon to be able to just play music from an sd-card or stream from tidal.

Thanks!

 

[Doody]

I for one would definitely reserve the use of superlatives such as "total disaster".

2go can and will be improved. 2go is not a version 1.0 product yet. It's beta. But it is close.

For many use cases it is ROCK SOLID. In all cases (pending the pops-and-clicks bug which Chord says is identified and being fixed) the H2go sounds EXCEPTIONAL.

The reliance on third party software by Chord was, in retrospect, not a brilliant decision. That intensified by the fact they probably should have learned this from the Poly experience. It's either a problem of being too hopeful of cutting-edge ecosystems - or a problem of scrimping on software development. Probably a bit of both.

When I use H2go away from my listening room, the GoFigure and MConnect app switching and various glitches associated with all that are annoying. But they're hardly crisis-inducing. It's not a superlative-laden 'disaster' by any stretch of the imagination. This will all be addressed.

I've been listening to the new Jason Isbell album this morning. Streaming it over Tidal to my 2go Roon endpoint to the H2 driving my Omega speakers and sub. The experience was 100% trivial, flawless, and FECKING LOVELY.

Doody

 

[Doody]

Last, can you explain to me why it is not possible for using Roon or audiovarna to "see" the sd-cards files and play them. Is it something that you are actively pursuing or working on with maybe Roon to get to work in the future or is it not possible technically? - I am not very tech-savvy, so pardon these dumb question. I am just curious to understand why I need some many different apps or services like Roon to be able to just play music from an sd-card or stream from tidal.

I don't speak for Matt or Chord - nor for Roon. But I do know from numerous posts in the Roon forums that Roon has no intention fo supporting DLNA and its ilk - in large part for exactly the reasons we're all pulling our hair out over these various phone and tablet apps. It's a messy protocol with messy software. Roon has stated repeatedly that while the audio quality produced is perfectly acceptable, the control mechanisms are a crap-show (my word, not Roon's) and they don't want to end up in that mudpit. I think many of us here - even those of us who are futzing with these protocols for the first time - can see the logic in that decision!

Doody

 

[edwardsean]

I just got the H2Go, and so far it's been a mixture of rapture and pain.

Straight off, the sound is glorious.

However, there have been a host of issues to deal with. I'm playing files off of the SDCards, but I'm still getting the regular drop outs as many have reported. There is also a high pitched squeal when there is no track playing and in-between tracks.

Where I'd really like to ask for help is with album art. I can't get album art to show up form my SD Cards whether I use Glider, MConnect, 8Player, etc. I'm using Wav and AIFF files. Are you guys getting album art off of the SDCards from Wav or AIFF?

As for sound quality, do you find there is no difference between streaming files off a network server and the internal SDCard? My assumption is that the SDCard should sound better from previous experience with streaming vs local files.

At any rate, it's early days for me, and though there's been a bunch of issues, the sound is so spectacular, I'm willing to put up with anything at this point.

 

[miketlse]

With my current unit, I have now experienced 2 instances in 4 days where the hugo2go shuts down even though it was plugged in - with the hugo2go very hot to touch. It was driving Oppo PM-1 headphones. Also noticed a couple of times when the hugo2 is not getting charged even when the original Hugo2 charger is connect to the 2go.

That is usually indicative of trying to play music, whilst trying to charge batteries at the same time.
This can cause thermal protection circuits to operate.
Check Matts posts, because he has described which battery gets charged firrst.

 

[Doody]

That is usually indicative of trying to play music, whilst trying to charge batteries at the same time.
This can cause thermal protection circuits to operate.
Check Matts posts, because he has described which battery gets charged firrst.

Thankfully, I haven't experienced this one AFAIK. This sure sounds like "not a feature". Anybody now if Chord is planning to address it?

Doody

 

[Doody]

However, there have been a host of issues to deal with. I'm playing files off of the SDCards, but I'm still getting the regular drop outs as many have reported. There is also a high pitched squeal when there is no track playing and in-between tracks.

This "high pitched squeal" is a new one to me. Are you sure you don't have some substantial RFI problems going on somewhere?

Doody

 

[edwardsean]

This "high pitched squeal" is a new one to me. Are you sure you don't have some substantial RFI problems going on somewhere?
Doody

Positive. It's low level but still piercing. It occurs when I pause a track and persists until I play another track. If I skip a track I get a burst of it until the next track starts. If I just let the tracks play without touching the controls it's fine. I'm seems like it has something to do with instructions being sent from my IOS device to the 2Go.

 

[MSXX]

It's low level but still piercing. It occurs when I pause a track and persists until I play another track. If I skip a track I get a burst of it until the next track starts.

I am sorry to say, and don't know if we by chance are neighbors but that low level piercing sound could be coming from me trying to get the 2go and mconnect app to stream tidal in one steady stream

 

[Mark S]

I just got the H2Go, and so far it's been a mixture of rapture and pain.

Straight off, the sound is glorious.

However, there have been a host of issues to deal with. I'm playing files off of the SDCards, but I'm still getting the regular drop outs as many have reported. There is also a high pitched squeal when there is no track playing and in-between tracks.

Where I'd really like to ask for help is with album art. I can't get album art to show up form my SD Cards whether I use Glider, MConnect, 8Player, etc. I'm using Wav and AIFF files. Are you guys getting album art off of the SDCards from Wav or AIFF?

As for sound quality, do you find there is no difference between streaming files off a network server and the internal SDCard? My assumption is that the SDCard should sound better from previous experience with streaming vs local files.

At any rate, it's early days for me, and though there's been a bunch of issues, the sound is so spectacular, I'm willing to put up with anything at this point.

I’m using mconnectHD to stream Tidal and Qobuz and Glider to play files from the sd cards. I agree that nothing’s perfect, and the album art thing is annoying for an anal sob like me, but I deal with it. I can’t figure a way to get art either, including having the cover.jpg in each folder, which I thought was the way it was supposed to work.

 

[Bill Chu]

I’m using mconnectHD to stream Tidal and Qobuz and Glider to play files from the sd cards. I agree that nothing’s perfect, and the album art thing is annoying for an anal sob like me, but I deal with it. I can’t figure a way to get art either, including having the cover.jpg in each folder, which I thought was the way it was supposed to work.

Have you tried to change your cover from "cover.jpg" to "Folder.jpg"? So far I don't have any issue of cover art.

 

[fidohead]

That is usually indicative of trying to play music, whilst trying to charge batteries at the same time.
This can cause thermal protection circuits to operate.
Check Matts posts, because he has described which battery gets charged firrst.

Thats interesting. Sounds like the Hugo2 charger may not powerful enough to simutaneously charge both devices and play music without depleting the battery.

Incidentally, I am yet to hear any of the pop/clicks others have been reporting thus far.

 

[edwardsean]

My 2Go only seems to connect with MPD is there a way to change the mode to DLNA?