[ubs28]

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

I have the same problem. It only happens with specific DSD files (so not all DSD music).

I have never encountered it with FLAC or mp3 though.

It is one of the many bugs.

 

[ubs28]

Anyway, I never brought this bug up on purpose because I wanted to see with the next firmware update if I was able to find more bugs (without me even trying) then all the employees working at Chord. And I am betting that they did not find everything with their own testing.

 

[Mark S]

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

will try it. Perhaps I messed up on that. Thanks.

 

[jlbrach]

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.

I ordered the 2go and eagerly awaited receiving it but cancalled my order after reading the forums here...my desire to use the 2 sd slots and carry my music with me to be able to be played simply as I would with a DAP...that for me would be perfect....all I wanted was a simple stress free way to fire it up and see my music without all sorts of aggravations and play it from the cards.....when it is possible to see both cards without complication and simply turn it on and play it i will be back in but until then I will watch....shame because I am a huge chord fan owning so many chord products

 

[Mark S]

I ordered the 2go and eagerly awaited receiving it but cancalled my order after reading the forums here...my desire to use the 2 sd slots and carry my music with me to be able to be played simply as I would with a DAP...that for me would be perfect....all I wanted was a simple stress free way to fire it up and see my music without all sorts of aggravations and play it from the cards.....when it is possible to see both cards without complication and simply turn it on and play it i will be back in but until then I will watch....shame because I am a huge chord fan owning so many chord products

Sorry to say, but I think you saved yourself some aggravation. Hopefully, things will improve (or users will find solutions).

I would love someone to tell me I am wrong about the sd cards and that files can only be played from one or the other (i.e., addressable storage maxes out at 2 tb not 4).

 

[Doody]

I would love someone to tell me I am wrong about the sd cards and that files can only be played from one or the other (i.e., addressable storage maxes out at 2 tb not 4).

2go can only read from one card at a time. You use Chord's GoFigure app to switch from one to the other. I have heard told (but not directly from Chord here) that they have a fix for this.

That said, I have two cards in mine - 1TB and 500GB - and the card switching is completely a non-issue. It works every time and takes a second. I thought this would be a problem for me too - it turns out I was wrong. FWIW, I tend to listen to albums - not to playlists with hundreds of disparate songs - I grok how that could be annoying in this instance. YMMV.

"Addressable storage" is maxed out today at 1TB, as there are no 2TB cards out there, AFAIK. 2go will support a pair of those, but only read from one at a time.

Doody

 

[edwardsean]

I have to say, even with all the frustrations, I love this little system. But, this is definitely not the choice for someone who wants a trouble free experience, at least not now.

A fix so that both SDcards could be read together would be amazing!

As for the album art issue. All my art is embedded in the metadata in the SDcard files. I though Glider could pull it from there. I still don't where I'm going wrong with that. I'm willing to go back and change the format or resolution and retag all my files, if I could only figure out the issue.

 

[Bill Chu]

2go can only read from one card at a time. You use Chord's GoFigure app to switch from one to the other. I have heard told (but not directly from Chord here) that they have a fix for this.

That said, I have two cards in mine - 1TB and 500GB - and the card switching is completely a non-issue. It works every time and takes a second. I thought this would be a problem for me too - it turns out I was wrong. FWIW, I tend to listen to albums - not to playlists with hundreds of disparate songs - I grok how that could be annoying in this instance. YMMV.

"Addressable storage" is maxed out today at 1TB, as there are no 2TB cards out there, AFAIK. 2go will support a pair of those, but only read from one at a time.

Doody

I don't think only read single sd card is a very bad issue, but the default of reading sd card always for the "right" sd card is an issue, why not the sd card of last status when power down?

 

[Sound Trooper]

I was initially keen to add the 2go to my Hugo2 as it would be a perfect roon end point for my 2nd system, however after reading the numerous complaints about software stability I decided to hold off and look towards another direction. In place of the 2go, I bought a sms-200 Neo and it has worked flawlessly thus far. Maybe the 2go will still sound better and hopefully the 2go’s issues will be ironed out so that I can try it next time.

 

[edwardsean]

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.

After a false start I hope that helps.

Hey Matt,

I got J River as per your recommendation. But, along with Doody, I can't figure out how to configure it to access files from the 2Go. It sees the unit, but I can't find the SD Card files in any of its options.

Could you point us in the right direction?

Thanks!

 

[edwardsean]

I have the same problem. It only happens with specific DSD files (so not all DSD music).
I have never encountered it with FLAC or mp3 though.
It is one of the many bugs.

I think you're right, I'm using upsampled files. I do hope these things will get sorted out eventually.

* Yeah, I actually just tested normal redbook, and the high pitched squeal during gaps is only with hi res files. I do expect more from premium devices, but honestly, I'm thankful the hi res files play as well as they do, and the squeal is just when there is no playback.

 

[InstantSilence]

Do the Sd function when controlled from phone work reliably?

 

[edwardsean]

I figured out my problem with album art as well. For some reason all the apps have problem with hi-res files. I'm using Hi Res files at 768KHz PCM and if I use AIFF, metadata comes up but no album art. If I use Wav, no metadata comes up at all including albums art. Standard Redbook works fine, with all metadata including album art.

 

[edwardsean]

As for sound quality, SDCard vs. streaming: I have to say, I think the best thing about this streamer is no the streaming, but the SDCard function. The SQ is significantly better from the SD Card, then streaming the same files.

I know there will always be people who say that bits are bits and that wifi streaming is lossless. However, we are talking about parasitic noise here and all its deleterious affects on sound. The SDCard, largely bypasses that to my ears. For convenience wifi streaming is really nice, but if you want to squeeze out the best sound the H2 can deliver, give SDCards a try.

 

[InstantSilence]

As for sound quality, SDCard vs. streaming: I have to say, I think the best thing about this streamer is no the streaming, but the SDCard function. The SQ is significantly better from the SD Card, then streaming the same files.

I know there will always be people who say that bits are bits and that wifi streaming is lossless. However, we are talking about parasitic noise here and all its deleterious affects on sound. The SDCard, largely bypasses that to my ears. For convenience wifi streaming is really nice, but if you want to squeeze out the best sound the H2 can deliver, give SDCards a try.

What is a quality SD card for music playback from Amazon?