CHORD ELECTRONICS DAVE

[Mojo ideas]

Interesting, well i know my next DAC purchase will be the successor to Hugo (whenever it comes)

Here speaks a wise man!

 

[x RELIC x]

I also prefer my HF filter turned off (playing exclusively redbook files). Ever so slightly more transparent, but the difference is too subtle for me to worry about this setting - and I haven't yet discounted imagination on this one. So I'm not too bothered if it's on or off. Unlike the absolute phase switch, which my OCD side is compelled to check for each album I play.

Speaking of subtle differences, which of the 4 Display options do you guys prefer for best SQ?
This is not entirely a joke question

Lol, blacker background with option 4 when the screen turns off, of course!

 

[Crgreen]

When I first got my Dave, I didn't pay to much attention to what was upstream. After all, it was supposed to be pretty much immune to jitter, mains feed and different USB cables. In fact, after having bedded it, and my ears, in I found that such matters could make an appreciable difference. I'm no expert, and whether this is down to better RF rejection and/or something else I cannot say. But in my view, there are definite improvements to be had.

 

[DaveRedRef-III]

I went through a change of opinion on the HF Filter.

Originally my sound was overly warm in the first place due to Olympica III speakers being slightly too much for my hifi room. The Filter added warmth and I kept it off because I didn't wish to compound the bass overload problem. Because of this it also had a negative affect on musicality for some reason. However, once I had the bass under control I found switching it ON (bear in mind also that I am only using Red Book frequency btw) gave a more relaxed presentation as well as being warmer. This was similar to my SQ experience of 88.2 kHz upsampling with the Red Ref III compared to basic 44.1 kHz. Warmer and more natural (relaxed), with the 'lower' frequency upsampling.

 

[analogmusic]

Here speaks a wise man!

so is there a Hugo 2 on the way?

 

[bmichels]

 
so is there a Hugo 2 on the way?

 
that will be great if I could upgrade my 3 years old HUGO but I do not think this will hapend in the near future...

 

[Christer]

 
so is there a Hugo 2 on the way?

I  really wish there is a better HUGO Mark 2 on the way soon too.
My HUGO, good as it sometimes is, rarely gets used in my 400 Pounds heavy-weight  speaker based main HIFI system, but will of course be in my handluggage together with my HD800 next week again.
But after all the "moody behaviour" very unpredictable  SQ it has given me with speakers I really wish they will include proper galvanic isolation and proper rca connections coupled with even better SQ next time around.
My  initial love affair with HUGO is definitely over.
If M2 is sold  at a reasonable price I would sell HUGO one and buy Mark 2 if it  approaches SOTA in a portable format and is  still reasonably light weight.
I am sure there must be  many things learnt both from MOJO and DAVE that could go into a HUGO MARK 2 with ease if there is a will to do so from Chord.
And I am sure there will be a market for an improved HUGO M2 too.
One more important thing I think is to bring out a new portable DAC where the battery once dead CAN  easily be changed without having to send the unit to Chord. It has not happened to me yet. But I think that together wih the RF problems and the flimsy  rca plugs and akwardly placed  far too small buttons are the main design flaws of an otherwise in many ways still quite good product when it works as intended.
Even at Hugo´s current pricing I don´t expect to have to buy upgrade usb cabling and various jitterbugs and other add on isolators at all. Those things should be part and parcel of the product in the first place.And not as now, payable extras.
Finally if  increased taps are actually the main reason behind the things all three current Chord Dacs do so well ie transients and timing and depth imho, there are obviously much more powerful  Xilinx FPGAs than when Hugo and even Mojo and DAVE were actually built.
So yes please bring on  Hugo M2  asap, please.
Can I audition or even buy one in Singapore next week?

 

[miketlse]

 
I  really wish there is a better HUGO Mark 2 on the way soon too.
My HUGO, good as it sometimes is, rarely gets used in my 400 Pounds heavy-weight  speaker based main HIFI system, but will of course be in my handluggage together with my HD800 next week again.
But after all the "moody behaviour" very unpredictable  SQ it has given me with speakers I really wish they will include proper galvanic isolation and proper rca connections coupled with even better SQ next time around.
My  initial love affair with HUGO is definitely over.
If M2 is sold  at a reasonable price I would sell HUGO one and buy Mark 2 if it  approaches SOTA in a portable format and is  still reasonably light weight.
I am sure there must be  many things learnt both from MOJO and DAVE that could go into a HUGO MARK 2 with ease if there is a will to do so from Chord.
And I am sure there will be a market for an improved HUGO M2 too.
One more important thing I think is to bring out a new portable DAC where the battery once dead CAN  easily be changed without having to send the unit to Chord. It has not happened to me yet. But I think that together wih the RF problems and the flimsy  rca plugs and akwardly placed  far too small buttons are the main design flaws of an otherwise in many ways still quite good product when it works as intended.
Even at Hugo´s current pricing I don´t expect to have to buy upgrade usb cabling and various jitterbugs and other add on isolators at all. Those things should be part and parcel of the product in the first place.And not as now, payable extras.
Finally if  increased taps are actually the main reason behind the things all three current Chord Dacs do so well ie transients and timing and depth imho, there are obviously much more powerful  Xilinx FPGAs than when Hugo and even Mojo and DAVE were actually built.
So yes please bring on  Hugo M2  asap, please.
Can I audition or even buy one in Singapore next week?

 
Rob Watts has already explained many times that you cannot have galvanic isolation in a mobile battery powered unit, because the increased current drain greatly reduces the time that the battery will last before needing recharging.
So if you want a DAC with Hugo type sound quality, and galvanic isolation, then you have to buy a desktop based solution, and the two products already exist - 2Qute and Hugo TT.

 

[maxh22]

 
I  really wish there is a better HUGO Mark 2 on the way soon too.
My HUGO, good as it sometimes is, rarely gets used in my 400 Pounds heavy-weight  speaker based main HIFI system, but will of course be in my handluggage together with my HD800 next week again.
But after all the "moody behaviour" very unpredictable  SQ it has given me with speakers I really wish they will include proper galvanic isolation and proper rca connections coupled with even better SQ next time around.
My  initial love affair with HUGO is definitely over.
If M2 is sold  at a reasonable price I would sell HUGO one and buy Mark 2 if it  approaches SOTA in a portable format and is  still reasonably light weight.
I am sure there must be  many things learnt both from MOJO and DAVE that could go into a HUGO MARK 2 with ease if there is a will to do so from Chord.
And I am sure there will be a market for an improved HUGO M2 too.
One more important thing I think is to bring out a new portable DAC where the battery once dead CAN  easily be changed without having to send the unit to Chord. It has not happened to me yet. But I think that together wih the RF problems and the flimsy  rca plugs and akwardly placed  far too small buttons are the main design flaws of an otherwise in many ways still quite good product when it works as intended.
Even at Hugo´s current pricing I don´t expect to have to buy upgrade usb cabling and various jitterbugs and other add on isolators at all. Those things should be part and parcel of the product in the first place.And not as now, payable extras.
Finally if  increased taps are actually the main reason behind the things all three current Chord Dacs do so well ie transients and timing and depth imho, there are obviously much more powerful  Xilinx FPGAs than when Hugo and even Mojo and DAVE were actually built.
So yes please bring on  Hugo M2  asap, please.
Can I audition or even buy one in Singapore next week?

A Hugo MKII with double the tap length and same objective performance as Mojo would be Excellent!

 

[Crgreen]

If I've understood matters correctly, you can provide galvanic isolation to the Hugo with a device such as the Regen. I used this when I had my Hugo, and it did improve the sound.

If the Hugo can't have galvanic isolation built in due to its use of batteries, how does the TT achieve this, as it also runs on batteries?

 

[ubs28]

It's more of a design choice rather than a limitation probably. I believe Rob has said that mobile devices don't need galvanic isolation which is why the Mojo and Hugo don't have it. 
 
But shouldn't you guys be discussing this in Chord Hugo thread rather than in the Chord Dave thread? 

 

[miketlse]

If I've understood matters correctly, you can provide galvanic isolation to the Hugo with a device such as the Regen. I used this when I had my Hugo, and it did improve the sound.

If the Hugo can't have galvanic isolation built in due to its use of batteries, how does the TT achieve this, as it also runs on batteries?

 
Taken from Robs post #22815
 
"So with toslink we do not get these problems as there is no common ground - so no RF noise, no distorted signals on the ground, and it will sound smoother with better depth against a noisy PC. But the problem can be almost eliminated by using a power efficient USB source that is battery powered - such as a mobile phone. But with noisy PC's the only way of solving it is to use galvanic isolation on the USB - but this draws power from the source, and we can't do that with mobile devices. All of Chord's desktop DAC's have galvanic isolation on the USB, and then you can't hear whether its a noisy PC or a mobile phone. In this case, USB sounds slightly better than optical, because we have the (tiny) timing benefits of USB."
 
i should have also said the source batteries, so for mobile/portable devices like Mojo or Hugo, galvanic isolation will drain the phone or dap battery much faster.
For desktop devices like 2Qute, hugo TT or DAVE, the power source comes from the mains power, so the batteries are not an issue.
If the Regen needs to be powered by a mains power supply, then you are restricting the hugo to desktop use only. It was originally designed/marketed as a portable dac, and not a desktop dac.  

 

[Crgreen]

I only ever used my Hugo as a desktop device, as do many.

I thought that the TT, like the Hugo, was powered by batteries, not mains power, but I stand corrected.

 

[kennyb123]

If I've understood matters correctly, you can provide galvanic isolation to the Hugo with a device such as the Regen. I used this when I had my Hugo, and it did improve the sound.

The Regen, while beneficial in many cases, does not galvanically isolate.

 

[Deftone]

Here speaks a wise man!

 
Why thank you Mr Franks.