[Rob Watts]

That's weird - the only way that makes sense to me is if the cable has a left right short. Hugo 2 can drive a short for about 15 minutes (don't try this at home) whereupon the thermal trip will function. You would hear this as mono if its a direct low impedance short.

 

[-HaVoC-Tzu-]

That's weird - the only way that makes sense to me is if the cable has a left right short. Hugo 2 can drive a short for about 15 minutes (don't try this at home) whereupon the thermal trip will function. You would hear this as mono if its a direct low impedance short.

Hey Rob,
I thought it was strange also. I’ve never heard it in mono.
I’ll test it more to confirm, but this is the first time it hasn’t overheated for me when used as a DAC and I just happened to have new RCAs that I bought for something else, so I thought I would give it a try..
-Joey

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Hi Hugo 2 Owners,
I am currently using my Hugo 2 connected to my Chord Blu MK1 CD Transporter with Moon Audio dual BNC giving me 176kHz sampling rate to my Hugo2 and my Beyerdynamic T5P Gen 2's.

Just wondering what you would do if you wanted to upgrade and what would you spend your money on with looking at keeping the Hugo 2 with a budget no more than £4,000 at this current moment in time i.e.

1) Upgrade the sampling rate into the Hugo 2 with buying a Chord M Scaler to give max 700+ kHz sampling from my Blu MK1 and Macbook Retina running audivana software. Keep my Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

2) Upgrade my headphones selling my T5P's to buy a hi-end headphone i.e. Focal Stellia, Focal Utopia, Meze Empyrean or Audeze LCD4z etc..

3) Sell the Hugo 2 (will miss it's portability and versatility though when I need to travel in the future, although currently using it just as desktop rig) and buy a Chord Hugo TT2 to use with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen2's

4) Wait for some time to save extra funds until I can afford a Chord Dave which will replace my Chord QBD76 DAC for my speaker system and using as a headphone source, using it with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

5) Wait for some time to save extra funds until I can afford both a Chord TT2 and M Scaler using them with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

I listen to many different genres of music although I listen to pop, rock, R&B music more than classical, jazz etc.

Would sincerly appreciate from Hi-Fi.org members there experiences and recommendations with the above different spending options and the best "steps in the dance" regarding upgrading options.

 

[DaddyWhale]

Hi Hugo 2 Owners,
I am currently using my Hugo 2 connected to my Chord Blu MK1 CD Transporter with Moon Audio dual BNC giving me 176kHz sampling rate to my Hugo2 and my Beyerdynamic T5P Gen 2's.

Just wondering what you would do if you wanted to upgrade and what would you spend your money on with looking at keeping the Hugo 2 with a budget no more than £4,000 at this current moment in time i.e.

1) Upgrade the sampling rate into the Hugo 2 with buying a Chord M Scaler to give max 700+ kHz sampling from my Blu MK1 and Macbook Retina running audivana software. Keep my Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

2) Upgrade my headphones selling my T5P's to buy a hi-end headphone i.e. Focal Stellia, Focal Utopia, Meze Empyrean or Audeze LCD4z etc..

3) Sell the Hugo 2 (will miss it's portability and versatility though when I need to travel in the future, although currently using it just as desktop rig) and buy a Chord Hugo TT2 to use with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen2's

4) Wait for some time to save extra funds until I can afford a Chord Dave which will replace my Chord QBD76 DAC for my speaker system and using as a headphone source, using it with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

5) Wait for some time to save extra funds until I can afford both a Chord TT2 and M Scaler using them with my Chord Blu MK1 and Beyer T5P Gen 2's.

I listen to many different genres of music although I listen to pop, rock, R&B music more than classical, jazz etc.

Would sincerly appreciate from Hi-Fi.org members there experiences and recommendations with the above different spending options and the best "steps in the dance" regarding upgrading options.

If I were in your position, I would upgrade the headphones first. But what amp would you be using? If you're planning on using the H2's headphone jack, some headphones might be under-powered

 

[-HaVoC-Tzu-]

That's weird - the only way that makes sense to me is if the cable has a left right short. Hugo 2 can drive a short for about 15 minutes (don't try this at home) whereupon the thermal trip will function. You would hear this as mono if its a direct low impedance short.

Was unable to replicate the problem by switching back to the original RCA cable... trying different charging cables/ports and usb data cables, etc now.
Hugo2 is not overheating anymore... still trying to figure out why, but for the past year it was overheating.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

If I were in your position, I would upgrade the headphones first. But what amp would you be using? If you're planning on using the H2's headphone jack, some headphones might be under-powered

Hi DaddyWhale,
Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.
I find the Hugo 2 6.5mm headphone jack is fine and more than loud, powerful and authoritative enough to drive my 35 Ohm impedance Beyer T5P Gen 2's.
The headphones which I have listed (with the exception of the Utopia's) have similar impedances. So I think the Hugo2 should be ok with majority of the headphones I have listed along with the great reviews majority of these headphones have had with the Hugo 2.

 

[dontfeedphils]

Hi DaddyWhale,
Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.
I find the Hugo 2 6.5mm headphone jack is fine and more than loud, powerful and authoritative enough to drive my 35 Ohm impedance Beyer T5P Gen 2's.
The headphones which I have listed (with the exception of the Utopia's) have similar impedances. So I think the Hugo2 should be ok with majority of the headphones I have listed along with the great reviews majority of these headphones have had with the Hugo 2.

I'd tend to agree with DaddyWhale and would upgrade headphones.

 

[DaddyWhale]

Hi DaddyWhale,
Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.
I find the Hugo 2 6.5mm headphone jack is fine and more than loud, powerful and authoritative enough to drive my 35 Ohm impedance Beyer T5P Gen 2's.
The headphones which I have listed (with the exception of the Utopia's) have similar impedances. So I think the Hugo2 should be ok with majority of the headphones I have listed along with the great reviews majority of these headphones have had with the Hugo 2.

I agree. I mentioned power just in case. Clearly you specified (for example) the lcd4z because it has lower impedance than the non z version

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Hi DaddyWhale,
Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.
I find the Hugo 2 6.5mm headphone jack is fine and more than loud, powerful and authoritative enough to drive my 35 Ohm impedance Beyer T5P Gen 2's.
The headphones which I have listed (with the exception of the Utopia's) have similar impedances. So I think the Hugo2 should be ok with majority of the headphones I have listed along with the great reviews majority of these headphones have had with the Hugo 2.

Ooops correction..."6.35mm (1/4") headphone jack".

I actually compared both Hugo2 headphone output jacks with the Violectric V280 (balanced and single outputs) and Beyerdynamic A2 dedicated headphone amps connected to the Hugo2 in DAC mode both with my Beyer T5P Gen2's, Beyer T1 Gen 2's and Senn HD800S's. I much preferred the Hugo2 6.35mm output Jack for all these headphones. I found it to be a much clearer, cleaner sound with little sacrificing of the sound stage, bass, mid's, treble etc..

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

I'd tend to agree with DaddyWhale and would upgrade headphones.

Thank you dontfeedphils for your reply. Much appreciated.

 

[musickid]

go for the very best source first i.e. dave. you already have stellar world class headphones with the beyer t5p gen 2. once you have the dave that will then be the centre of your new system and the missing parts will follow one by one. my best forecast here. mk

sell hugo2 to fund the dave. if you go for a lesser option there's always the what if itch. i'm there now as i consider trading my tt2/hms for a dave. if anyone thinks my logic is flawed in any way please do add to what i've said here.

 

[greenkiwi]

@musickid I think that converse can also be true. Headphones / speakers can often have the largest impact on sound. But I do agree with the principle of going big enough that you aren't going to want to upgrade that portion later (unless you're buying/selling used and not taking much loss on the trade up).

@Bonesy Jonesy If I were in your position, I'd start listening to all of the options you have and figure out which changes have an impact on the experience that improves it most for you. Since it's your ears and your preferences. Also, it will help you see what you're missing and what you might want changed.

 

[ecwl]

Hi Hugo 2 Owners,
I am currently using my Hugo 2 connected to my Chord Blu MK1 CD Transporter with Moon Audio dual BNC giving me 176kHz sampling rate to my Hugo2 and my Beyerdynamic T5P Gen 2's.

Just wondering what you would do if you wanted to upgrade and what would you spend your money on with looking at keeping the Hugo 2 with a budget no more than £4,000 at this current moment in time i.e.

I think the first upgrade is to connect your old Blu Mk1 via Toslink at 44kHz into the Hugo 2. Upsampling on the old Blu Mk1 is inferior to the Hugo 2 upsampling. Toslink is less likely to lead to subtle noise leaking into the Hugo 2. So it makes more sense to bypass the upsampling.

I’m not a fan of T5p so that’s would I would upgrade next but you must have chosen it for a reason so maybe that should be your last upgrade.

Since you own the QBD76 too, here’s another question for you, what do you like more?
Blu with dual BNC into QBD76 or Blu via Toslink into Hugo 2. If you like the former, you should upgrade to DAVE first. If you like the latter, you should upgrade to M-Scaler first.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

go for the very best source first i.e. dave. you already have stellar world class headphones with the beyer t5p gen 2. once you have the dave that will then be the centre of your new system and the missing parts will follow one by one. my best forecast here. mk

sell hugo2 to fund the dave. if you go for a lesser option there's always the what if itch. i'm there now as i consider trading my tt2/hms for a dave. if anyone thinks my logic is flawed in any way please do add to what i've said here.

Thank you musickid. Much appreciated.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

@musickid I think that converse can also be true. Headphones / speakers can often have the largest impact on sound. But I do agree with the principle of going big enough that you aren't going to want to upgrade that portion later (unless you're buying/selling used and not taking much loss on the trade up).

@Bonesy Jonesy If I were in your position, I'd start listening to all of the options you have and figure out which changes have an impact on the experience that improves it most for you. Since it's your ears and your preferences. Also, it will help you see what you're missing and what you might want changed.

Thank you greenkiwi. Much appreciated.
Yes I agree, I need to listen to the different options to see which sounds better to my ears especially when we are talking these sums of money.