[iAudio365]

The 1.5 M cable is meant for playback, it also comes with a wall power socket Micro-USB cable for charging.

So the wall power socket comes as an additional cable to the 1.5M USB cable?

How long is the additional wall power socket cable?

 

[Chianti]

If I understand your take correctly you still place H2 pretty high in the pecking order in spite of your criticism of certain things like weird little light orbs rattling and such.
How high exacty?
Since I listen almost exclusively to large scale acoustic music and the human voice, I would like to hear if you could state which of your other DACs sound better with violin than H2?
You said "very good".
For me that instrument which I had at "arm's length" yesterday is apart from some percussion like cymbals with harmonics stretching well above the 20khz limit of low res pcm like 16/44.1 and 24/44.1one of the instruments where I still feel that direct cut LP still has a tendency to come the closest to how they actually sound live.
...

Christer, I think this thread is moving in a good direction with more people sharing their experiences.
My appreciation for the Hugo has improved a bit after replacing the iPhone as a source with Amarra 4 Luxe - I had hoped to be able to get by with the iPhone (... it's only rebook ... it will get reclocked internally ...), not the best idea ever.
General lesson learned: H2 is very resolving, quality of upstream and downstream components matter (including cables).

Updates:
- I would now rate Focal Utopia with Hugo 2 as "good-very good", rather than just acceptable. HD 800 doesn't see a similar performance improvement interestingly, sounding a bit thin now in comparison with Utopia
- Z1R not fully rehabilitated (with H2) but also improved. Not an issue with amp power (I can listen on almost the lowest volume, red color spectrum). If I were to grossly exaggerate to illustrate the concern, I might refer to what I'm hearing as a combination of lack of texture "plasticky" sound (e.g. human voices too "smooth") and "bathtub" sound (due to the way the DAC renders macro-dynamics, and not-as-good decay of sounds)
- Irrespective of sound quality, the H2 volume control orb is a PITA. Sorry, scrolling by a not quite predictable amount, usually in the wrong direction, then frantically whacking at the orb that seems not wanting to move back to lower volumes is not a great experience. As stated before using the remote is a good workaround
- I can't compare with Dave since I never auditioned it. My last Hifiman headphone was my HE-6, not looking to buy again from Dr. Biang.
- Best ever violin reproduction (with what I have) is with my Mark Levinson No. 585 (integrated amp, using the built-in DAC) via speaker taps. OTOH that thing weighs as much as multiple real instruments
- Notes on H2 for violin: Details are there, you can hear the up and down strokes of the bow. What's missing to some extent is an impression of the body of the instrument. H2 is good in that violins don't sound like cellos (as with some lesser DACs) but errs a bit in the other direction: Violin's sound a bit smaller than they are, if that makes sense? Right now listening to Gil Shaham, 1930s Violin Concertos, Vol. 2 - excellent artist and good recording
- H2 orchestral performance: Details are there (good!), spatial separation of instruments is OK but not as good as with Metrum Adagio. H2 doesn't emphasize ("exaggerate") macro-dynamics as much as some other DACs do - which to me keeps the music more interesting for focused listening (would also help with Z1R - don't listen to me if you're already satisfied ...)
- Shure 846 - some hiss (with no music playing), not too bad (not irritating when listening). Works IMHO relatively better than Z1R, brings some "fun" by playing well with the macro-dynamics as rendered by the H2. Ultimately noted lack of texture, which is a shortcoming of the 846 (white filter) and not helped by H2. Overall synergies so-so. Would rather sidestep the H2 to go more extreme and turn on Cowon Plenue filters with 846, giving up pretenses about objective critical listening and just diving into the music (on the go). Looking forward to getting my Kaiser Encore which is said to improve on the 846 on details while retaining dynamics.

Rating the H2 is too early for sure. Throwing a dart on the wall, it may sit slightly below the original Berkeley Alpha.
This rating is still quite good, given the H2s compact size and additional features (USB, headphones, battery mode).
On a scale of 100 (100=TOTL, 80=ZX2, 75=Cowon Plenue, 60=iPod 5.5), somewhere in the high 80s. How about that.

 

[jmills8]

Sorry for my ignorance.But what does EDM stand for?

Electronic Dance Music

 

[Dvdlucena]

Received my Hugo 2 today. Since I'll mostly use it in the office, I decided to use TIDAL on iPhone 7+ as my source ("real world").

tldr: Mixed impressions, with some headphones and IEMs H2 is good, with others miserable (= YMMV).
No "wow" moments, but achieved very good performance with HD800 (unmodified) - appropriate for $2k DAC class.

Headphone: Z1R, Sony Kimber cable
outch. Disappointing across the board. Try Pink Floyd, Time - drums sound numb (not even "comfortably" so ...), deep synths lack gravitas, drums sound like plastic, some sibilance "Digging away ...", ululating background chorus at 2:48 sounds too metallic. FAIL - I don't want to listen to this. You could pay me and I would refuse.
Also listened to a couple other tracks (including e.g. hi-res version of Daft Punk "get lucky": all very much 2D, not convincing, time to move on. At this point returning or selling the H2 would have been perfectly fine.
Unfair comparison vs. H2, all of the tracks sounding fantastic with Z1R: SU-1 into Metrum Adagio, Cavalli Liquid Fire, SR Apex interconnects.

CIEM: JH13 Pro v2

• "Get lucky" - good bass slam (vs. Z1R), much better showing for H2
• "Kashmir" (Physical Graffiti remaster) is tolerable (fail with Z1R)
• "Just friends" (Eliane Elias Live) has good piano - better than most of my PMPs (ZX2, Plenue 1, AK120)

Focal Utopia
Not a fail like Z1r, but sounds more Elear-level with the H2. All tracks are tolerable, no "yuck" (= skip) moments. No standouts (hence no particular tracks mentioned).
Main complaint is that the already small-ish soundstage is condensed a bit more by H2 (even with X-PHD off), making the result sound like a stack of pizza cartons.
For some tracks, e.g. Jazz trio, this may actually be OK, so take this more as a directional caveat.
Utopia with H2 is OK if you don't have alternatives, but you're wasting your money both ways (H2 sounds better with cheaper headphones, and Utopia sounds better with cheaper sources).

HD 800 (no mods)

• Torture Test (complex score, dynamics, horns, ...): Wagner operas 1950s-2010s recordings, starting with the recommended Solti collection. All sound good - no complaints.
• "Fast car" (Tracy Chapman) - close to what it should sound like on a reference quality system
• Tchaikovsky violin concerto in D, op. 35 (Ester Yoo) - sounds good. Violins are very good, but not reference class (I have two competitive violin players in my household, I know how the instrument is supposed to sound ...)
• Kleiber Beethoven's 5th - Good to very good. Balanced performance (yes, it's a single ended headphone ...) in every way that counts. Macro-dynamics (aka punch) could be better (cf. Metrum Adagio running circles around the H2), but I would still rate it very good.
• Eliane Elias live HD800 is better than with the Utopia, but one class below TOTL/reference. I found the X-PHD green setting nice on some tracks. With this recording, the bar for listening is "are you in the same room as the players" - this is achievable [I have been to multiple concerts by this artist, sitting 10-15 feet away from the piano ...]

General impressions:
H2 does better on attack vs. decay (observed with piano)
Filters don't seem to make a big difference on red book 16bit/44.1 kHz tracks
Case gets quite warm during use
I hate the haptics of the control orbs (they also rattle if you shake the otherwise solid case) - remote to the rescue
No objections to the remote. Plastic but ok, very light
USER BEWARE: Almost destroyed my ears and headphones by assuming that the red color on the volume indicates "dangerous" level, therefore moving the volume to the other end of the spectrum ... (yes, I'm a 1st time Chord customer)

I'll share more as I start to use the H2 for real. Other headphones and IEMs include Share 846, Noble Encore (incoming Tuesday), and KSE1500. KSE 1500 will provide an excellent opportunity to score H2 strictly as a DAC, by comparing the built-in KSE1500 DAC with H2 into the KSE1500 amp.

Hope this helps a little bit, not a "great" review, but perhaps worth your time given the overall scarcity of information at this time about H2 "in the wild"

What gear are you comparing H2 to better understand your review? Thanks

 

[iAudio365]

So the wall power socket comes as an additional cable to the 1.5M USB cable?

How long is the additional wall power socket cable?

Can anyone comment on this that owns a H2?

 

[Chianti]

Can anyone comment on this that owns a H2?

about 6' (1.8m). non detachable. you can use any other wall wart (or fancy lps) into the designated charging micro usb port (don't know what voltage specs, check Chord homepage ..)

 

[maxh22]

Yes there are three Micro-USB cables in total, one for charging, one for playback, one for on the go.

I haven't actually taken the wall charger out of the box/ packaging since I'm using a different but also long Micro-USB to charge Hugo 2 and Mojo; it looks to be at least several feet long, do not worry!

 

[Chianti]

What gear are you comparing H2 to better understand your review? Thanks

I have update my profile page somewhat, the true benchmark is always live music. Trying to catch at least one concert per month ...

 

[maxh22]

@Chianti I was just about to tell you that you should try higher end sources when judging Hugo 2's sound quality but you've realized it yourself.

Today I threw Hugo 2 into my father's 802D system in place of the Lamp Lite 7.

Sources consist of mRenu/LPS-1> Intona> Synergistic Research USB Active SE >Cinnamon RCA into VTL pre

Right away the sound was sweet but there was noticeably less body to the sound than what the Lampi was giving.

One of the things both of us agreed on was that Hugo 2's timing was as good if not better than the Lampi. We felt Hugo 2 rendered piano cleaner and more vividly than the Lampi, albeit with slightly less weight.

One of the songs that impressed me when listening was "Nardis" by Patricia Barber; Hugo 2 reproduced drums, high hats, and bass with a stunning realism that sounded just like the real thing. Goosebumps were felt frequency throughout the listening session

 

[Chianti]

@Chianti I was just about to tell you that you should try higher end sources when judging Hugo 2's sound quality but you've realized it yourself.

We felt Hugo 2 rendered piano cleaner and more vividly than the Lampi, albeit with slightly less weight.

Yes, going fully mobile with iPhone was too ambitious. Other PMPs via Toslink work better (tried Plenue and AK120).
Agree that Hugo 2 does Piano well, same is true for guitar (acoustic and electric)
The lack of "weight" or "body" is one of the not so strong points with Hugo 2, interesting to hear that in your case the VTL preamp didn't fully restore the sound

 

[Democritus]

When instruments are placed correctly, the farther instruments sound thinner and this make the whole presentation of chord dacs thinner than other DACs?

 

[WraithApe]

I picked up my Hugo 2 this weekend but my enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by apparent overheating issues. Straight out of the box, I decided to charge and play at the same time, as I always did with Hugo 1. Almost immediately the temperature went sky high and I kept getting thermal cut outs, with the device running so hot, it would switch itself off for protection. I know @JaZZ has reported similar problems, and have PM'd about it, but have no other Hugo 2 owners seen any issue with the device running very hot when charging?

I'm concerned I've got a faulty unit / charger at present...

 

[jmills8]

I picked up my Hugo 2 this weekend but my enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by apparent overheating issues. Straight out of the box, I decided to charge and play at the same time, as I always did with Hugo 1. Almost immediately the temperature went sky high and I kept getting thermal cut outs, with the device running so hot, it would switch itself off for protection. I know @JaZZ has reported similar problems, and have PM'd about it, but have no other Hugo 2 owners seen any issue with the device running very hot when charging?

I'm concerned I've got a faulty unit / charger at present...

Ooo no. Why not just charge it first ?

 

[WraithApe]

Ooo no. Why not just charge it first ?

I didn't think it would be necessary... maybe an error! It still seems to run extremely hot when charging though, even when it's switched off.

 

[Currawong]

I can't help wondering if that "Lack of body" thing isn't the same as the "Hugo sounds thin" other people, primarily headphone listeners, report. I do appreciate that the comparisons are with actual live concerts though. What I really wouldn't mind doing is recording a band playing and then listening to the recording on various devices.

And Currawong says he prefers Utopia with H2 over DAVE:

So do they both have faulty memory about the sound of DAVE or do they just prefer more distortion than DAVE?

Synergistic distortions?

Possibly the headphone amp is better in the Hugo 2. I should ask Rob for more details. The thing with the Utopias is that I feel strongly that they need extremely fast amplification, and reveal clearly the nature of upstream components. For whatever reason, I just didn't like the Utopias straight out of the DAVE. The DAC itself was awesome though, the first to give me a physical reaction as if the music had been injected into my blood. There is some of that with the Hugo 2 I'm finding.