Chord Electronics - Hugo 2 - The Official Thread

[Scrum92]

Moon Audio makes a good one.

I should have been clearer: in the UK.

 

[435279]

I should have been clearer: in the UK.

One option is a cable with BNC to BNC and a BNC to 3.5mm converter.

A cable:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0792C3LBN/ref=dp_cerb_3

A converter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MainCore-C...HJTY3XJ5P5Q&psc=1&refRID=SR0NYB7ARHJTY3XJ5P5Q

 

[Scrum92]

One option is a cable with BNC to BNC and a BNC to 3.5mm converter.

A cable:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0792C3LBN/ref=dp_cerb_3

A converter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MainCore-C...HJTY3XJ5P5Q&psc=1&refRID=SR0NYB7ARHJTY3XJ5P5Q

Does the fact it's mono make any difference?

 

[Scrum92]

If you use the USBridge, you have a suitable cable that came with your Hugo. For the DigiOne, you would need to get a cabe. Chord Company has one in their Clearway range.

Thanks, and so do Atlas by the looks of it. Not cheap mind...

 

[435279]

Does the fact it's mono make any difference?

No its a digital signal, the Hugo 2 coax input has two channels but the mono plug I linked to should get you a digital connection for your source.

Also don't fall into the trap of spending £100's for a digital cable, cos its digital, it will either work or it won't, spending more won't get you better performance just bragging rights down the pub.

 

[Scrum92]

No its a digital signal, the Hugo 2 coax input has two channels but the mono plug I linked to should get you a digital connection for your source.

Also don't fall into the trap of spending £100's for a digital cable, cos its digital, it will either work or it won't, spending more won't get you better performance just bragging rights down the pub.

I've been down that path before now. It is not as simple as "it will work or it won't" - there aren't 1s and 0s travelling down the cable but beyond an appropriately shielded and constructed cable, I'm with you. I personally use a Supra cable which is reasonably priced and sounds no different to the cables costing triple figures I've tried.

That's just my view and certainly not a can of worms that's worth opening in this thread or indeed appropriate for this thread.

 

[tonehk]

For a digital cable you can consider this one for the Hugo 2, not too expensive.

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/custom-cable-cc35-3.5mm-coaxial-cable.html

 

[435279]

For a digital cable you can consider this one for the Hugo 2, not too expensive.

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/custom-cable-cc35-3.5mm-coaxial-cable.html

That is a good option, I like it.

 

[474194]

...

I know this is the last thing you want to hear and want to make your HDCDs work out, but these recently-released SACDs are limited edition so thought I post. I love holy grail sources so completely understand.

You can just utilise the CD/Redbook layer only versus the more complicated process of trying to extract the SACD layer.

There was a positive comment on the RBCD layer here:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/mfsl-grateful-dead-sacds.885913/

https://www.mofi.com/product-p/udsacd2198.htm

https://www.mofi.com/product-p/udsacd2196.htm

Read there's also a MFSL CD...

 

[Rob Watts]

Thank you very much for your elaborate comment. The Chord website states 16 to 32 bits for the H2, which would mean 16, 24, 32 in case you are right. I guess the only safe answer would be from Chord itself, e.g. @Rob Watts.

So I think we should wait for Chord to give a definitive answer. Thank you so much for your willingness to perform tests on an e-mailed file of mine! I guess it will be the least effort to first wait and eventually turn to such tests a bit later. But you might have physical HDCDs yourself; Reference Recordings is the prime candidate label for such, then Grateful Dead.

Technically SPDIF is always 24 bits; it's just with a 16 bit it's sent as 16 plus 8 zeroes. 20 bit would simply be 20 plus 4 zeroes. On USB it's 32 bit, so 16 bit data is 16 plus 16 zeroes. So Hugo 2 can handle any bit depth sent to it automatically.

 

[474194]

@AC-12 your post is fantastic, thank you very much for taking the time and effort to write that up.

I've been looking into these rPi based solutions for streaming to my Hugo 2, considering either the HifiBerry or Allo route.

I wouldn't be looking to transport it. In fact, it would sit on the desk beside the Hugo 2 and I would swap between USB (PC for YouTube, Discord etc) and Optical (rPi for serious listening) with the rPI running Pi MusicBox so that I can use Spotify.

Is that something you have experience with? Anything I should know?

Thanks

I'm in the process of writing out a rPi + HAT guide and will post the thread once I'm finished (est. 1-2 weeks). I take the DAC designer's advice seriously so I'm sticking with optical (reference) and keeping things simple. Two things he continually stresses.

I'm only focused on transportable optical solutions, so you will have a whole other world of options with desktop. If I went desktop, I would still stick with this route unless I went Chord Summit-Fi. It's a everyman HQ streamer solution and it doesn't make sense to go with a higher-end optical streamer unless you go Summit-Fi (diminishing returns).

The Allo route is sexy, but to me it's a trap. I would of probably feel in that trap if I went for a desktop solution. Luckily, I took a step back and considered do I really want a coax solution that is not immune from RFI? Why do more cable makers do not offer coax cables? Do I want to add brightness/shrillness to my system with potential RFI? Do I want to ferrite-roll? Notice the really nice, expensive coax cables have ferrites covering 50% body. I have ferrite-rolled, it's not fun.

I'm done with USB and Coax Frankenstein rigs.

This is a simple everyman solution that only costs a little more than an Apple CCK cable.

I recommend you try this route out after I finish the guide. Swapping Pi HATs is almost as easy as swapping microSD cards. Just change output from HifiBerry Digi+ to Allo DigiOne in the future if you later decide to go coax. It's that easy, just change a software setting. Once you go through the software learning curve, if you want to try coax later, just change HATs. You don't even have to redo software install. I switch microSD rPi A+ with a rPI Zero w/ a different brand optical HAT and everything works perfectly just changing out the output.

For a coax solution, you are paying 6X the HiFiBerry, 4X for the coax cable (RFI Antenna) and then you need a LPS like an Sbooster which is 11X the HifiBerry. So you are dishing out like 20x the cost for coolness. The rPi is a sunk cost, so you are just laying out $40 for the optical board. Not much risk.

Impressions from this Summit-Fi post by adding a streamer is similar to my impressions with this solution:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.879425/page-552#post-15406632

Only rPi store in the world (UK):

https://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-store/

The money you save can be allocated to a Chord Mojo for YT && Discord since they are lossy formats. Saves you from hitting the input button to swap optical and USB on the H2.

 

[474194]

With this icing on the top pure optical solution I'm motivated to compare SACD layer versus Redbook layer this summer. I brushed off Redbook in the past, but I'm a believer now with Chord Dacs.

Since SACD is considered 'soft'. I hope I can listen for the difference since my system is complete now.

 

[ZappaMan]

I'm in the process of writing out a rPi + HAT guide and will post the thread once I'm finished (est. 1-2 weeks). I take the DAC designer's advice seriously so I'm sticking with optical (reference) and keeping things simple. Two things he continually stresses.

I'm only focused on transportable optical solutions, so you will have a whole other world of options with desktop. If I went desktop, I would still stick with this route unless I went Chord Summit-Fi. It's a everyman HQ streamer solution and it doesn't make sense to go with a higher-end optical streamer unless you go Summit-Fi (diminishing returns).

The Allo route is sexy, but to me it's a trap. I would of probably feel in that trap if I went for a desktop solution. Luckily, I took a step back and considered do I really want a coax solution that is not immune from RFI? Why do more cable makers do not offer coax cables? Do I want to add brightness/shrillness to my system with potential RFI? Do I want to ferrite-roll? Notice the really nice, expensive coax cables have ferrites covering 50% body. I have ferrite-rolled, it's not fun.

I'm done with USB and Coax Frankenstein rigs.

This is a simple everyman solution that only costs a little more than an Apple CCK cable.

I recommend you try this route out after I finish the guide. Swapping Pi HATs is almost as easy as swapping microSD cards. Just change output from HifiBerry Digi+ to Allo DigiOne in the future if you later decide to go coax. It's that easy, just change a software setting. Once you go through the software learning curve, if you want to try coax later, just change HATs. You don't even have to redo software install. I switch microSD rPi A+ with a rPI Zero w/ a different brand optical HAT and everything works perfectly just changing out the output.



For a coax solution, you are paying 6X the HiFiBerry, 4X for the coax cable (RFI Antenna) and then you need a LPS like an Sbooster which is 11X the HifiBerry. So you are dishing out like 20x the cost for coolness. The rPi is a sunk cost, so you are just laying out $40 for the optical board. Not much risk.

Impressions from this Summit-Fi post by adding a streamer is similar to my impressions with this solution:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.879425/page-552#post-15406632

Only rPi store in the world (UK):

https://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-store/

The money you save can be allocated to a Chord Mojo for YT && Discord since they are lossy formats. Saves you from hitting the input button to swap optical and USB on the H2.

Would a basic rpi sound any better than a cca?

 

[Triode User]

With this icing on the top pure optical solution I'm motivated to compare SACD layer versus Redbook layer this summer. I brushed off Redbook in the past, but I'm a believer now with Chord Dacs.

Since SACD is considered 'soft'. I hope I can listen for the difference since my system is complete now.

I posted this today in the MScaler thread regarding files and how in my experience there is still an advantage in going higher than redbook cd for sound quality.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...official-thread.885042/page-659#post-15408130

 

[474194]

Would a basic rpi sound any better than a cca?

No, according to Darko the analog output of a barebones Pi by itself sounds worse than a CCA. But that's like listening from a laptop's 3.5mm output. You can't expect much.

https://darko.audio/2019/12/darko-audios-product-s-of-the-decade-2010-2019/

The RPi’s analogue output leaves a lot to be desired. Its sound quality is inferior to even the Google Chromecast Audio but its ability to emulate a Squeezebox, a Spotify Connect streamer or Roon RAAT endpoint means it doesn’t suffer the Chromecast’s deal-breaking flaw: non-gapless playback.

The CCA is more like a player/repeater.

This flaw eventually gave rise to HATs (Hardware Attached on Top) designed by manufacturers who had designs on improving the quality of the RPi’s audio outputs. A HAT is an add-on board that attaches to the RPi’s 40-pin connector that, via i2S, pulls upwards the digital audio stream arriving at the RPi to electrically isolate, reclock, convert or decode it using bespoke circuitry.

By adding a HAT add-on (HiFiBerry) to the 40-pins on the rPI, it is a whole different beast. No Pi USB is involved. The digital signal only travels via i2S straight to the optimised SPDIF chip with dual oscillators (44 & 48). Depending on RBCD or Hires, it will determine optimal oscillator to utilise. Electrically isolated. I believe I read in the HiFiBerry support forums that their is a mini LPS on board.