[Bonesy Jonesy]

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.

Thank you ecwl. Much appreciated.
I have tried the Toslink from my Blu MK1 into my Hugo2 at 88kHz sampling rate and to my ears the dual BNC from my Blu into my Hugo2 giving me 176kHz sounded much better. I also tried Blu MK1 into my Mojo (when I had it) and my Hugo2 with 44kHz sampling rate and both the 88kHz and 176kHz sampling rates gave a far better sound to my ears.
I find the T5P Gen 2's to be a great headphone beating thre T1 Gen 2's and HD800S's to my ears. Only negative for me is they can get a bit uncomfortable after about an hour of constant listening and I need to to take them off for 10mins or so before using them again.

Blue Mk1 with dual XLR or BNC giving me 176kHz into my QBD76 DAC is great for my two Chord Choral speaker systems but with the QBD76 connected to a dedicated Headphone Amp, the Mojo and Hugo 2 both used just as a DAC into a headphone amp and on their own as a DAC and heapdhone amp sound far superior with the Mojo and Hugo2 just used on their own the best for listening just to headphones. The Mojo and Hugo2 gave a much clearer sound connected to my speaker systems than the QBD76 did but not as much body and depth.
Im guessing if I bought the Dave it would serve me two purposes i.e. a great sounding speaker system and a great sounding headphone system although no good for portable use. Only problem is I would have to always travel with the Dave and my Hugo 2 for portable use as one of my Chord Choral speaker systems is in UK and the other one in my home in Spain.
Also as a couple of other Head-Fi members have pointed out, buying the Dave would hopefully stop any further required upgrades on the source for a good few years to come, although always in the back of my mind would Chord come out with a Dave2 this year with a more powerful headphone amp to match the TT2.

 

[endre83]

Hi All,

I am thinking about buying the Hugo 2 for one and a half reasons and I have a quite good pre-owned option now for under 1k €

first reason: instead a DAP to function as a DAC/AMP with my mobile phone
- can the Hugo 2 drive an Audeze LCD 2 Classic and a ZMF Verite Open to "enjoyable" or "sufficient" standard?

and the half: to use it occasionally as a DAC only in my desktop setup with my Burson Audio Conductor 3X
- is the DAC as revealing or even better then ESS9038 Dual DAC in the Burson - would it be an improvement?

Thanks all in advance

 

[musickid]

you won't need the conductor. hugo2 is a better all in one dac and headphone desktop amp. plenty of power.

 

[endre83]

Would the small Hugo 2 beat the Conductor 3 X really in all aspects?

Wow - OK then I need to think about selling this and buying

 

[highfell]

Been getting lots of listening time now due to the lockdown

Beautiful picture with lovely colours and a very nice set up. Quick question though, how does Hugo 2 into your McIntosh compare to using the McIntosh as a DAC/Amp only and also compare to using the Hugo2 as a DAC/amp only ???

 

[joshuachew]

Beautiful picture with lovely colours and a very nice set up. Quick question though, how does Hugo 2 into your McIntosh compare to using the McIntosh as a DAC/Amp only and also compare to using the Hugo2 as a DAC/amp only ???

Using the Hugo 2 to the McIntosh as compared to the Hugo 2 alone and McIntosh alone really showed me that the Hugo 2 is an excellent DAC and McIntosh is an excellent amp and then they come together they combine both their strengths for an amazing sounding system. But each in its own shows its flaws, Hugo 2 in its aplilfier capabilities (yes, I know it doesn't have an amp stage, but you know what I'm talking about) and the McIntosh in its DAC section.

 

[alekc]

I am considering Hugo TT2 but I went through series of Hugo 2 post and I wonder does it really make a sens to invest into H2 with M Scaler? Could those of you who are actively using or were using such setup (especially if you upgraded to TT2 later) recap your experience please?

 

[DaddyWhale]

Yes, I thought of that, too - I've looked into a lot of devices. But the 2go does not work for me. I've got more that 2tb of music and using an external hard drive is just easier than a couple of expensive microsd cards. Who knows whether there'll be a new standard for microsd cards when 2tb cards finally become available. The fact that one loses the usb input when the h2 is paired with the 2go is also a (minor) problem. And 1tb microsd cards are still $200+ each (a 5tb external HDD costs about $100). So the price of the 2go goes up quite a bit, with a microsd solution that may not be relevant when larger storage finally shows up

Again, I'm not saying that my approach is right for everyone. I'm hoping it works for me! I'm not trying to proselytize. Just following up on a question I put to this thread

@kkrazik2008 and others who've tried to help: I need to eat crow!

I received the Lindemann Limetree Bridge yesterday. What an absolute piece of garbage! Spent 4 hours trying to get it to work. The software and firmware are terrible! Half the time the (Android) app would not see the Bridge. Worst of all, the USB input would not connect to any of my external hard drives. The dlna rendering was flaky at best. Firmware updates do not seem to work properly. And, to put salt in the wound, the sq was not as good as connecting my phone to the Hugo 2 via USB (worse imaging, bass bloat, reduced treble detail)!

Needless to say, I'm returning it.

And... I've placed an order for a 2go with Moon Audio. I know that I said that I wanted to stream from a hard drive rather than from the microsd. But with dlna support on the 2go, I should be able to stream directly from my Google Drive cloud storage, where I safely keep terabytes of music, whenever I want to.

 

[kkrazik2008]

@kkrazik2008 and others who've tried to help: I need to eat crow!

I received the Lindemann Limetree Bridge yesterday. What an absolute piece of garbage! Spent 4 hours trying to get it to work. The software and firmware are terrible! Half the time the (Android) app would not see the Bridge. Worst of all, the USB input would not connect to any of my external hard drives. The dlna rendering was flaky at best. Firmware updates do not seem to work properly. And, to put salt in the wound, the sq was not as good as connecting my phone to the Hugo 2 via USB (worse imaging, bass bloat, reduced treble detail)!

Needless to say, I'm returning it.

And... I've placed an order for a 2go with Moon Audio. I know that I said that I wanted to stream from a hard drive rather than from the microsd. But with dlna support on the 2go, I should be able to stream directly from my Google Drive cloud storage, where I safely keep terabytes of music, whenever I want to.

@DaddyWhale no need to eat crow!
You tried the solution, as Pearl Jam said it’s evolution. Hope the 2GO works out for you.

 

[DaddyWhale]

@DaddyWhale no need to eat crow!
You tried the solution, as Pearl Jam said it’s evolution. Hope the 2GO works out for you.

You are right. If I hadn't tried the lindemann, I would not have learned that I could use dlna to directly access my cloud storage (using BubbleUPnP). There are easier ways to learn this. But that's what returns are for

 

[musickid]

@alekc
the hugo2/mscaler is effectively a 1 million tap dac so superior to the tt2 on its own. without doubt IMHO. go hugo2/mscaler then sell hugo2 later to add tt2. no rush and enjoy the process. i did that. the only exception is if you have very difficult to drive headphones like abyss or lcd 4 than you need tt2 first.

 

[Egoquaero]

hey guys, is it normal that my Hugo 2 makes mechanical clicks and noises when I slightly shake it with my hands as If its internal components are not properly welded or tightened? I had that since day 1 and I didn't bother much since the sound quality seems not to be affected, but still I'm curious and I might need to check that out before warranty time runs out

 

[musickid]

probably the round ball shaped control buttons. just check nothing is rattling around loose inside.

 

[NYanakiev]

That’s exactly it

 

[joshnor713]

hey guys, is it normal that my Hugo 2 makes mechanical clicks and noises when I slightly shake it with my hands as If its internal components are not properly welded or tightened? I had that since day 1 and I didn't bother much since the sound quality seems not to be affected, but still I'm curious and I might need to check that out before warranty time runs out

Hold down the four balls with four fingers and shake. When I do I hear nothing.