Chord Electronics - Hugo 2 - The Official Thread

[psikey]

Well two first hour with Hugo 2 and immediate impressions from me with the UK Tour unit.

...................

I'm currently using a Fidue A83 remote cable with my Shure SE846's and with nothing playing I'm hearing intermittent background hiss on the RHS ear but don't from any other source. If I use the IEMatch it clears that noise up but was surprised the SE846's could pick anything up from the Hugo 2 unless the remote control adds some noise. No wifi/cellular close to the CH2. Going to try with the standard Shure cable tonight.

Tried my SE846's with the standard Shure cable rather than the Fidue cable and can hear low level background noise/hiss in both ears. Thought I'd read it had less noise than the Mojo but I find the Mojo quieter. Not just constant hiss but like electrical noise of things switching etc. This can only be heard in a totally silent room with no music playing or in tracks with a large pause in the music such as some classical. Totally eliminated if I use my iFi IEMatch and made me realise just how good the £50 IEMatch actually is as not only eliminates the background hiss but sure it sounds more alive/dynamic too. Hear this noise no mater which phone (in Airplane mode) or PC I use as source.

I must not have "Golden Ears" as I can't detect differences with the filter settings.

I'm really glad I got to demo the CH2 as its convinced me for my usage requirement I don't need to be chasing the "White Rabbit" any longer when it comes to DAC's. Its certainly the best audio output I've ever heard through my SE846's but the improvement over the Chord Mojo doesn't justify me going from a £280 Mojo (bought as a "Like New" in Amazon Prime sale) to ~ £1800 (or £1650 if haggle for discount) for the CH2.

I'm sure with demanding headphones or a high-end home sound system it will be more justifiable.

I was surprised just how good audio can sound over standard aptx Bluetooth. Next best I'd heard prior to this was the B&W P5 Wireless which itself was significantly better than any other BT audio I'd heard including Sony LDAC

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I am listening to apple lossless and some 320 mp3s Here are some examples.

George Harrison All Things Must Pass 24 bit 96 kHz
Bob Dylan Triplicate 24 bit 192.000 khz
McCartney McCartney 16 bit 44.100 kHz
Eric Clapton Complete Abandon 320 44.100 kHz
The Audiophile Classical 24 bit 48.000 kHz

This is going directly from MacBook Pro (iTunes) to Hugo.

It will show the original color but not change when I change songs.

I downloaded NePlayer and it works, but not with MacBook Pro. Guidance?

 

[audi0nick128]

Hey Peter,

Did you ask someone from Chord?

 

[Peter Hyatt]

Hey Peter,

Did you ask someone from Chord?

I updated my post above. It works with NePlayer from iPhone, but not from MacBook. I am thinking it is not H2 but something with the MacBook??

 

[Currawong]

I am listening to apple lossless and some 320 mp3s Here are some examples.

George Harrison All Things Must Pass 24 bit 96 kHz
Bob Dylan Triplicate 24 bit 192.000 khz
McCartney McCartney 16 bit 44.100 kHz
Eric Clapton Complete Abandon 320 44.100 kHz
The Audiophile Classical 24 bit 48.000 kHz

This is going directly from MacBook Pro (iTunes) to Hugo.

It will show the original color but not change when I change songs.

I downloaded NePlayer and it works, but not with MacBook Pro. Guidance?

iTunes and MacOS wont try and match the sample rate output to the song, instead re-sampling to whatever the device output is set to in Audio Midi Set-up. You need a program like Audirvana Plus, Vox or similar which can auto-change the sample rate to match the track.

 

[miketlse]

I updated my post above. It works with NePlayer from iPhone, but not from MacBook. I am thinking it is not H2 but something with the MacBook??

I just checked post #3 in the Mojo thread, because I know that there have been posts about apple having the default behaviour of upscaling/downscaling to 48k.
I couldn't find anything relevant in post #3, apart from the need to use hires music players to output music at greater than 48k (Hiby, Onkyo) - I think Neutron is also used as well.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

iTunes and MacOS wont try and match the sample rate output to the song, instead re-sampling to whatever the device output is set to in Audio Midi Set-up. You need a program like Audirvana Plus, Vox or similar which can auto-change the sample rate to match the track.

Thanks, all. I hope to eventually go the route of SD card for 2Go (?) when released.

Recommendation of which program recommended? Audiovana plus has free 15 day trial.

It looks like iTunes is just for storage now. I bought the NePlayer today for the iPhone.

 

[headfry]

Thanks, all. I hope to eventually go the route of SD card for 2Go (?) when released.

Recommendation of which program recommended? Audiovana plus has free 15 day trial.

It looks like iTunes is just for storage now. I bought the NePlayer today for the iPhone.

Audirvana is superb...... sounds excellent and in terms of features, functioning and consistency, best music playback sw I've used. Also supports Audio Units - I use Marvel GEQ eq.

 

[x RELIC x]

+1 for Audirvana

 

[miketlse]

Thanks, all. I hope to eventually go the route of SD card for 2Go (?) when released.

Recommendation of which program recommended? Audiovana plus has free 15 day trial.

It looks like iTunes is just for storage now. I bought the NePlayer today for the iPhone.

You might get some program suggestions from @musickid and @Whazzzup who use apple hardware.
This post may also provoke some ideas for the mid-term as well https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.831345/page-216#post-13456802
The context would be that if it is say 12 months before the 2Go starts shipping, you have the opportunity of several months to try Roon on your Macbook pro, and use a poly as the Roon endpoint, with a cable to your Hugo 2.
I presume that if many Poly users provide positive feedback about using the Poly as a Roon endpoint, then the same functionality will be incorporated into the 2Go.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

Thanks, all.

I have recently purchased a few albums from HD Tracks during a sale, in anticipation for H2's arrival. I have much to learn. This is a good place for it. I'm giving the Audiovana + 15 day trial a run. I think it only shows up as a player, not a full interface during this trial period, but H2 recognizes the changes immediately.

 

[miketlse]

I noticed that too and actually became a bit suspicious just seeing the name "trusted reviews."
And then my virus protection raised the red flag and blocked it so I actually never got to read anything from it.
The only thing I trust are my own ears with regard to HIFI and SQ.
But I have to add that the BBC are actually doing quite a good job with the Proms relays this year in better sQ than ever before and also several in binaural form specifically mastered to be lisgt3ened to via headphones


Hello Jawed, Yes of course the stereo mic'ing is multi-mic'd but this year it sounds better than ever to me. But the REAL SURPRISE is that there are about ten broadcasts from the Proms online done binaurally, and the ones I have heard so far, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Sibelius's 2nd symphony and Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto are the closest I have heard from any broadcast to actually "being there".
Simply wonderful, if you can cope with people coughing around you a bit too often and too loud too at times of course.
And the actual very realistic 3D depth, width and height, soundstage opening up of the normally rather flat and dry soundstage is intoxicating via my HE 100V2 and Benchmark DAC 2 and slightly less intoxicating, but still very good via HUGO 1 too.
I know that a lot o things I say or recommend here seem to fall on "deaf ears".
But in the case of "The Proms in binaural sound"
the old teacher in me,simply has to dig in his feet and firmly say to his reluctant students.
This is compulsory homework!
You simply have to hear this if you have any real interest at all in SQ and how close to real live, high information content, acoustic music can sound via a good dac and good headphones.
This is not like playing your scales on the Piano ,this is pure joy, I promise.
For "students" with either Mojo,HUGO or HUGO 2 or DAVE I have to add equally firmly as the other part of the homework,DO NOT FORGET to turn OFF the crossfeed completely!!!!!
Next live BBC Proms broadcast in binaural is Beethoven's 9th at 20.000 hours tomorrow night according to the binaural homesite.
I for one know what I'll be doing tomorrow night again.
Of course nothing beats actually being there. But BBC RADIO 3 saves me at least 200 Pounds a day ,and still allows me to enjoy the great music and performances of the Greatest Music Festival in the entire World.
Cheers Christer the boring educator.

The September issue of HiFiNews has just become available. Page 111 contains an article by Steve Harris which compares the binaural recording technique used at the Proms, with the use of a Neumann KU100 dummy head.

 

[jbsu30]

Hi, I'm curious about drivers and Windows 10 (Creators Update).
First thing, I only need Windows10_Creators_Driver768kHz.zip found on this page : https://chordelectronics.co.uk/product/hugo-2/, is that right ?
Second thing, I read with a the Mojo a user had an issue with steam sound : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-mojo-issue-solutions-thread.788913/#post-12126994
Do you happen to know if it also may happen with the Hugo 2 ?
Last thing : how to setup the Hugo 2 with windows 10, drivers and settings wise ?
Any help will be much appreciated.

Any help ?

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

As we suspected we got the Silver in today! If anyone is interested PM me. If not this will be our demo unit and I can get my grubby hands on it. lol

We have more coming in, but like every big dealer here your order comes in spurts so availability is low.

EDIT: forgot to mention- free fed ex ground, NO sales tax y'all

 

[sling5s]

I've had my Hugo 2 for couple weeks now and all of sudden, I'm getting these really loud static sounds. It comes and goes but it's disturbing.
I tried disconnecting from the amp and power source and trying my headphones directly from Hugo 2 and I still get the static. Anyone have these issues?