[zolom]

Sorry, guys — I've compared Flux FA-10 and FA-12 over my Violectric HPA-281 and it was nothing in flux to be anywhere better than 281..

I've sold Violectric 281 two months ago after three years of loving it, my new love is Beta 22 with Sigma 22 wich blows Violectric 281 away in terms of SQ.



I have long term experience with mojo, hugo and hugo 2. And it's cleraly hearable Hugo 2 > Hugo > Mojo. There is no surprize here..



Of course it does! H2 has a great headphone amp section, but it's not a dedicated headphone amplifier. Almost any good >1000€ aftermarket headamp will control you headphones better, will bring you increase in soudstage and speed.. Not resolution, but character of the sound.


Man, if only you could imagine what a great setup you actually have while not getting valuable price/performance results out of it! ((((

If only you has good balanced headphone cable from iFi iCan Pro to Focal Stellia!.. Really good I mean. Yes, balanced signal is twice the power (fullier sound) and twice clearer — you're not using it allready. But good cable is a good cable anyway.. And above this — all those connectors just killing your SQ.

Also I see USB input usage here in stationary setup, USB is a weakest part of Hugo 2, with great cheap coax transport you will hear another level of sound...

I use the Black Dragon balance cable connecting between my iFi iCAN pro and the Focal Stellia (better than the stock balance cable) .
I will use a coax cable as an input to the H2. The USB input is used to connect my Android phone's UAPP bit perfect Tidal hifi.
I am constructing a steamer (rasoberry pi + a JstBoom card) to be connected to the H2 via coax cable.

 

[jlbrach]

when I owned the utopia and stellia I found them both to be excellent out of the hugo 2 directly...I found an external amp overkill...obviously others disagree

 

[LCMusicLover]

when I owned the utopia and stellia I found them both to be excellent out of the hugo 2 directly...I found an external amp overkill...obviously others disagree

I use an external amp w/ my Utopia out of H2. Not that I don't think H2 can drive them, just that I like the 'flavoring' my BX2+ adds. Going by what RW says, apparently I like just a bit of distortion layered over my H2 sound.

Amusingly, I'm struggling to prefer this:

mScaler ==> TT2 ==> DSHA-3F ==> Utopia

over this:

mScaler ==> TT2 ==> Utopia

3F with the Amorphous core transformers adds a bit of air to the sound; opens up the headstage a little. 3F with Nickel cores adds a bit of warmth and softens the sound just slightly. But they're really small differences, barely surviving in memory, given the time it takes to swap cables etc. for an A/B test.

 

[WaveTheory]

when I owned the utopia and stellia I found them both to be excellent out of the hugo 2 directly...I found an external amp overkill...obviously others disagree

All the Focals I've tried on H2 sound pretty good directly off it, agreed. But H2's strength is in being a dac, IMO. It's "amp" isn't bad but it gets outclassed pretty quickly by most amps over $1K, I think. Even on Focals the big difference is in the subbass. H2 is a bit lean down low and external amps help recover that some.

 

[jlbrach]

at the expense of transparency ..also the chord dac/amp is better than advertised in fact..I do agree when it comes to harder to drives HP's

 

[Boldakov]

Black Dragon balance cable connecting between my iFi iCAN pro and the Focal Stellia

That must be a great cable, sorry — I thought you use unbalanced stock cable. But why those two connectors

I am constructing a steamer (rasoberry pi + a JstBoom card) to be connected to the H2 via coax cable.

Yes! It's indeed what I meant)
Also you can look on a BeagleBone Black solution -- it overplays the Raspberry Pi with absolutely no costs added, if not cheaper)

 

[surfgeorge]

I do not find the hugo1 topic, so does anyone here have the hugo1 and mojo? In my country the hugo 1 is about $700 and the hugo 2 is about $1300 (2nd), so if compares to mojo, is hugo1 better? (Overall), thanks!

I have the Mojo, a 2Qute ("Chordette") and the Hugo 2.
The 2Qute is the desktop DAC version of the Hugo 1, without battery and without headphone amplifier.

I have never done a detailed comparison between the three, but I’d characterize them as follows:

Mojo: Sweet, musical, mid focused, fluid
Bass has less definition, takes a little bit of a back seat, and is kind of warm and enveloping. Mids are the best part of the Mojo, very clean, detailed, slightly warm and very fluid. Treble is smooth and fluid, maybe slightly soft.

Hugo 2: definition and precision.
Every note is precisely defined, from sub bass to upper treble. Bass and treble are more extended and detailed, more textured. Each frequency is more defined, but the biggest difference is in the bass, second in the treble, then the mids. It‘s like notes start faster and have more texture. Stage is much bigger, deeper and more precise than on the Mojo.
The Hugo is very even from top to bottom.
A feature that I like a lot is the cross-feed filter, which works great for improved stereo imaging when the recording has too much separation.

2Qute/Hugo (1)
I am guessing a bit here, because my 2Qute plays in the stereo system rather than the Mojo and H2 which are used for IEMs and headphones.
But IMO the H1 sits right between the Mojo and H2, with a flatter, more even presentation and somewhat improved stage over the Mojo, but lacking the definition of the H2. It's more like a more neutral Mojo.

If it's worth spending the $1300 for the H2 over the $700 H1 only you can answer...
Hope that helps.

 

[theoblue80]

Maybe already discussed here, but would it be a good idea to connect H2 directly to Focal Solo6 BE via RCA to XLR cables?
I think Hugo can work also as a Preamp, but I don't know if this connection is inferior to a pure ballanced one.

My other option would be a Topping D90SE / Topping A90 stack.

I already own H2 and A90 and I am wondering if it's worth buying the D90SE in the future for my desktop setup with the Focals.

PS: Is it verified that H2 can work flawlessly even without a battery, via socket?

 

[ZekeAdebayo]

Does turning off the Hugo 2 every now and then have a significant impact on the longetivity of the product vs leaving the unit on all the time? I ask because I know for some units the act of switching it on and off causes the internal parts to wear a bit faster. All answers are appreciated especially @Rob Watts. Thanks in advance!

 

[iFi audio]

The iFi ican pro's analog xbass adds more oomps without sacrificing details or bloating lower mids.

Thanks for noticing it. XBass was purposely tailored only to elvate low bass without touching its upper registers, just to keep any potential smear and bloat away.

 

[Lohb]

Anyone got a source after-market seller in UK for shorter very thin optical cables for the hugo 2...like 15cm range ?
Like the one in the box that is short, but same toslink on both ends.

 

[miketlse]

Anyone got a source after-market seller in UK for shorter very thin optical cables for the hugo 2...like 15cm range ?
Like the one in the box that is short, but same toslink on both ends.

I think all optical cables loose some performance once you start to consider short cables which are used in scenarios where the bend radius is very acute (lots of reflections of the light beam, off the side walls), so maybe the decision becomes do you diy a cable based on the sort of high performance optical cable that is used in optical endoscopes (lifatec cable?) + standard end fittings suited for your optical sockets.
I am just trying to flag up the engineering decision about trying to include the optimum cable + end fittings.

 

[technobear]

Anyone got a source after-market seller in UK for shorter very thin optical cables for the hugo 2...like 15cm range ?
Like the one in the box that is short, but same toslink on both ends.

...or you could stop overthinking this and buy a chinese one as they work perfectly well.

See here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-15878741

And here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-15878791

...but you will need a different termination on one end than I did.

Makes for a great portable setup with a case like the iFi Audio iTraveller:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-16262721

 

[Lohb]

...or you could stop overthinking this and buy a chinese one as they work perfectly well.

See here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-15878741

And here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-15878791

...but you will need a different termination on one end than I did.

Makes for a great portable setup with a case like the iFi Audio iTraveller:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-16262721

I'm not over-thinking anything, I never asked for a boutique magic pixie dust cable source, just a size and a thickness.

 

[technobear]

I'm not over-thinking anything, I never asked for a boutique magic pixie dust cable source, just a size and a thickness.

I tried all the UK makers. They all have their heads in the sand. They make nothing like this. They don't even realise this market exists.