Just thought I'd share a picture of my Hugo2 connected up to the powerbank that I just got as there were some posts recently about using powerbanks with the Hugo 2.
The powerbank is Krisdonia Laptop Power Bank 25000mAh. I have the powerbank connected to the mains at the moment to get the Hugo 2 into desktop mode.
The dc cable from powerbank to Hugo 2 is from ghentaudio (0.3m). I also have a DXP-1A5S on order which will go in between powerbank and the Hugo 2.
Very nice. It's refreshing to see someone start off their Hugo2 journey with a three-dimensional thought process. To take a practical, pragmatic and fundamentally sound approach. As Rob Watts mentioned, these problems are "three-dimensional and complex". 99% solve problems the one-dimensional way. They don't think beyond getting things to turn off and turn on. They just want things up and running.
That's why it's good to learn from the old school Chord fellas like ray-dude and romaz (they moved on to other audiophile websites a long time ago). Their impact tough is still felt on Chord threads to this day. Not completely follow them to a tee of course, but just to learn their thought process in applying their architecture. They have unlimited budgets and been through the ringer, so it's interesting to see their current designs.
For example, they learned to finally power their TT2 with a simple battery power bank after going through all the hype power supplies and USB optical cable (Monoprice SlimRun USB) after going through all the hype USB "audiophile" cables. They also use your DXP-1A5S to down convert to 15V:
The DXP-1A5S may also come in handy if you battery power your network gear (down convert to 12V). I'm assuming you are down converting to 5V:
The USB optical is proven (romaz OG solution). It's the backbone of their half a million dollar audio system. Since ray-dude has a unlimited budget, he completely gutted his Mains so he doesn't have to share Mains with his neighbors. He has his own isolated Mains which is not an option for most of us. I prefer passive power options (Super Capacitors, Batteries) anyways. I wouldn't touch any gear that uses Mains. Here they are connecting their $40,000 real-time low-latency Music Server to the Chord DAVE with the USB optical as the backbone:
So just throwing the USB optical out there if you are looking for USB cable options in the future. The USB optical needs 5V to power for optical and heat shrinks on both sides since it gets warm. USB optical is as neutral as you can get. USB cooper fiber cables colour the sound in addition to attracting RFI. Coming from glass optical toslink, I can't stand any Audiophile USB cooper fiber cables as they are warm and gooey. I want the pure Chord 'neutral' experience, not what the USB cooper fiber cable dictates by colouring the sound. Glass toslink is awesome BTW since optical is Chord Reference, but I only recommend SPDIF with State of the Art Oscillators (competes with $20K MSB clock for a fraction of the price, still SOTA, measures better than MSB). Otherwise, USB optical maybe a better option. I have both an pure i2S (SOTA clocks) rig and a USB optical rig. Both with real-time low latency Audiophile OS (again at a fraction of the cost of commercial big boys, competes with >$7500 Music Servers). Both powered by batteries and eventually Super Capacitors. I prefer mine over commerical offerings since it's off mains and you can't put a price on being off mains. It's all about decoupling, so battery + USB optical. That's all most need. For I, I also need to decouple the Source. I cannot listen to a Source via Mains for more than 5 minutes.
I look forward to how your journey progresses. Here's a recent Rob Watt's quote:
You do not get what you pay for in audio. There are two primary parameters to audio performance - design knowledge and parts cost. Knowledge is many orders of magnitude more important.
Audiophiles often buy vastly inferior and more expensive products because they ignore design knowledge, ignore their listening experience, and listen via their wallets/eyes/brand reputation.
This can apply too to your architecture as well as DAC design. Focus on your current practical foundation of knowledge, not the brand names. Decouple and you can build non-brand name at a fraction of the cost of brand name products that fundamentally and logically works better. Sure you cannot put that you have a Hugo Boss RC4 in your signature and brag how you have a RC4 and how listening to distortions is next level. But you have comfort in a fundamentally sound system and not a Marketing toolbox. I think Audiophiles just like buying for brand name 'exclusivity'. They are not concerned with what is fundamentally sound, but 'exclusivity' is priority.
