[miketlse]

That would be cool. But the moderators dropped in a few hundred posts ago to nix the colour commentary jokes.

Just in case anyone still thinks it is fun to joke about the colours.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.831345/page-380#post-13596938

 

[Light - Man]

Just in case anyone still thinks it is fun to joke about the colours.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.831345/page-380#post-13596938

Thanks Mike, whats the weather like over in France at the moment?

Here at the moment, we have a glittery silver frost on the ground with patches of black ice, rather dangerous indeed!

Are you heading back to the UK for Christmas (with your H2 of course)?

 

[IamMathew]

I'd just like to know which Aeon's Rob Watts likes.

Open ones doesn't seem so far from Nighthawks though. They have -3dB at 20 Hz and +5 dB at 1000 Hz compared to Nighthawks. So they should have a bit less sub-bass rumble and bit fuller and more forward female voices.

Aeon has nicer and cleaner impulse response.

 

[miketlse]

Thanks Mike, whats the weather like over in France at the moment?

Here at the moment, we have a glittery silver frost on the ground with patches of black ice, rather dangerous indeed!

Are you heading back to the UK for Christmas (with your H2 of course)?

Weather is not too bad here, compared to the stories that I read from the UK.
It is warm in the sun if you are out of the wind, but the bitterly cold wind does make it feel well below 10C. We are at 200m here, but everywhere above 500m has had snow for a week or so, and you can see the snow building up on the Pyrenees - so I guess the early season skiers will be hoping to get a pre-Christmas trip.
I tend to spend Christmas in France - travelling back to the UK is full of hassle, and firms trying to charge £150 a day for car hire. Many of my Irish friends will be travelling back in a few days, so this Saturday is reserved for our meal in the Killarney bar, and a drink or two.
Christmas will provide plenty of opportunity for music, so i have lined up a few albums to explore.
A time to relax for us all, because the new year will soon roll around, and it will be back to work.

It does feel slightly early, but Christmas wishes to you all, even if we have occasional differences of opinion on headphones, dacs, amps, albums, whatever - it would be a dull world if we all agreed on everything.
I shall have to leave you, because I have taken a tray of chocolate brownies out of the oven, and they are probably cool enough for the first taste-test.

 

[Hooster]

Newer music that is well recorded seems like I barely have to touch the volume. But with anything else I am having a harder time hearing it, and have to bump it up

Did it occur to you that the recordings where you have to bump it up are in fact better, because they have the dynamics that the artist intended intact, while this "newer music" you speak of is compressed and flat (to make it more listenable on noisy trains or buses I guess)? This is in fact a terrible problem for people who enjoy high fidelity sound. Compression is good for those who are running around with headphones or listening in noisy environments, but it removes an essential component of high fidelity reproduction. Dynamics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
"The loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music which many critics believe reduces sound quality and listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with respect to mastering practices for 7" singles.[1] The maximum peak level of analog recordings such as these is limited by varying specifications of electronic equipment along the chain from source to listener, including vinyl and Compact Cassette players. The issue garnered renewed attention starting in the 1990s with the introduction of digital signal processing capable of producing further loudness increases."

If you want it louder, just turn up the volume. Don't ask the studio to make everything uniformly loud and suck out all the dynamics, please.

 

[514077]

Did it occur to you that the recordings where you have to bump it up are in fact better, because they have the dynamics that the artist intended intact, while this "newer music" you speak of is compressed and flat (to make it more listenable on noisy trains or buses I guess)? This is in fact a terrible problem for people who enjoy high fidelity sound. Compression is good for those who are running around with headphones or listening in noisy environments, but it removes an essential component of high fidelity reproduction. Dynamics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
"The loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music which many critics believe reduces sound quality and listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with respect to mastering practices for 7" singles.[1] The maximum peak level of analog recordings such as these is limited by varying specifications of electronic equipment along the chain from source to listener, including vinyl and Compact Cassette players. The issue garnered renewed attention starting in the 1990s with the introduction of digital signal processing capable of producing further loudness increases."

If you want it louder, just turn up the volume. Don't ask the studio to make everything uniformly loud and suck out all the dynamics, please.

Tell that to the producers and music mbig-whigs who force the loudness wars on us, thinking it'll help their song stand out on the radio, mistakenly.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Did it occur to you that the recordings where you have to bump it up are in fact better, because they have the dynamics that the artist intended intact, while this "newer music" you speak of is compressed and flat (to make it more listenable on noisy trains or buses I guess)? This is in fact a terrible problem for people who enjoy high fidelity sound. Compression is good for those who are running around with headphones or listening in noisy environments, but it removes an essential component of high fidelity reproduction. Dynamics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
"The loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music which many critics believe reduces sound quality and listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with respect to mastering practices for 7" singles.[1] The maximum peak level of analog recordings such as these is limited by varying specifications of electronic equipment along the chain from source to listener, including vinyl and Compact Cassette players. The issue garnered renewed attention starting in the 1990s with the introduction of digital signal processing capable of producing further loudness increases."

If you want it louder, just turn up the volume. Don't ask the studio to make everything uniformly loud and suck out all the dynamics, please.

Wow @Hooster I apologize for making you so upset with my question in regards to the Hugo 2. Relic thought that going Cyan volume level on the Hugo 2 was a little high and I was responding to that.

 

[Hooster]

Wow @Hooster I apologize for making you so upset with my question in regards to the Hugo 2. Relic thought that going Cyan volume level on the Hugo 2 was a little high and I was responding to that.

Please don't take it personally. It is not you who has made anyone upset. Thanks for your replies.

 

[ChisChas]

Newer music that is well recorded seems like I barely have to touch the volume. But with anything else I am having a harder time hearing it, and have to bump it up

This is typical of many newer rock style recordings, the recording levels are set too high, I think it's called Loudness (can someone who can explain this better help me out please)? Remastered versions of older rock albums often suffer from this problem.

EDIT: I thought Hooster might provide a great explanation.

 

[Whazzzup]

Loud sounds better to lots. This in fact is not the case qualitatively but it fools the brain. So any part of the chain can cheat by getting louder to sound better, compression is also a result.

 

[x RELIC x]

I think it's called Loudness (can someone who can explain this better help me out please)?

You should read this excellent article which will explain a lot for you:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/ca-academy/dynamic-range-no-quiet-no-loud-r643/

This excerpt video from the article has a good comparison between a well mastered sample and one that’s dynamically compressed due to the loudness wars:




I love the authors term of ‘wimpy loud sound’ which hits the nail on the head for me.

 

[qafro]

True that ...lol

there is no such thing as end-game in this hobby!!!!
it's very hard to stop...

 

[GreenBow]

if hugo 2 measurements indicate that jitter is no longer an issue of concern (which they did) then it makes zero difference which type of usb cable is used. it is transferring minute voltages which are read as 0 and 1's. if the timing of the digital transmission is inaccurate hugo 2 compensates for this jitter and adjusts accordingly. good usb cables in line with recognised standards should be the main concern. that's my opinion anyway.


its amazing how a single comment triggers off a barrage of responses on here!!

I thought that the Mojo resends for data on USB if there is an error, so any cable should be fine. I might be wrong though, so Chord would be the best for that. Since Chord DACs are immune to jitter, again you should be fine on USB. Only then the need to clean up the power supply lines from USB, on a noisy computer.

Optical and coaxial cables are supposed to be better with better quality cables, according to some. It's said they are less prone to errors, caused by stuff like reflections in cheap cables. I read this in a copy of hi-Fi Choice. However I can not find that article online to prompt folk to.

Second day with Hugo 2. My unit definitely sounds different than Jude's at CanJam back in April. Idk if his was pre-production but mine sounds significantly brighter and less full and rich. So far it's an improvement over Mojo in detail retrieval, note decay, imaging, and overall clarity, but it has pretty strong upper midrange peakiness, some upper treble glare, and bass that's a little on the flat side for my tastes. The tonality doesn't sound natural to my ears at all..just bright and shouty on every filter..even through my top notch NOS tubes. So, fellow believers in burn in..does any of this improve over time? It's not my brain, I trust my ears. I know I'm probably gonna get flamed for posting this, but I waited forever for this thing and for it to sound as rich and organic as it did at CanJam and after 24hrs I'm contemplating selling it. Help??

That's how I found the Mojo initially. Since then I have rethought the whole experience.

I initially thought the Mojo sounded thin, hollow, and metallic sounding. It took at least a week for me to click on that the Mojo was super smooth. Then maybe a week or more later, that it was actually warm enough.

Recently I thought about this more. This is what I think now. When you come from another DAC, you hear the similarities and differences. The parts of the music that are reproduced similarly are initially almost ignored. We focus on the differences, as we are checking for the upgrade in sound.

Anyway to explain, here's some background. ... Directional information in music comes from higher frequency sound. Bass notes can't really be detected from direction, other than volume is louder on one side. Thus you can put your sub-bass unit anywhere. The reason is that bass notes have huge wavelength. It's almost impossible for the brain to detect differences in the cycle of the wavelength. .. Whereas high frequency (pitched) notes, the brain can easily see differences in wave cycle. A note from one side might hit one ear at the lower part of the wave-cycle. On the other ear it might hit the ear on the opposite part of the wave-cycle. E.g. in the left ear the wave maybe be in trough, and right ear wave is at peak. Left ear would experience pulling of air in the ear. In the right ear, air would be pushing into the ear.

Anyway back to DACs. It's then easy to understand that Chord DACs with lots of detail, are providing lots of directional information. Information that was not there on your previous DAC. This is effectively extra higher frequency material. It doesn't mean there is more treble. It just means there is a component that was not there with your previous DAC (clearly).

Since we are focusing on differences when we get our new DAC, we can tend to ignore more the similar sounds. The body of the music, to use an expression, that sounds similar on old DAC vs new. .... However once we relax and listen to the whole DAC, we're not inspecting for improvement. Then we hear everything in its place and proportion, and the DAC sounds full bodied, clear, and most importantly right.

Hope that helps somehow at least. ... it might not explain why you experienced the Hugo 2 differently at Canjam demo. However you may have just been soaking up the Hugo 2, rather than analysing it as a new purchase.

 

[GreenBow]

Ahh folks I have read the whole thread now, which took a few days.

I have been looking on UK websites, for a safe place to buy a Hugo 2. Meaning a reputable retailer that will be fair if the Hugo 2 is not quite right. Like some folk are talking about their H2 being brighter than it should be.

One recommendation which I have had, is Audio Sanctuary in London. Also I have been looking over the Nintronics website, because I have heard good impressions of them. Equally I have seen people say that Peter Tyson Online is a safe enough place to buy.

I am hoping to get a factory sealed H2, and obviously not one that has already been rejected.


Anyway, after the read through, I was left with a few details I was just slightly unsure about.

1. Does the battery really do seven hours. I ask because the Mojo is quoted at ten hours, but most of us get just over eight hours.
2. Is the desktop mode a true sort of development of desktop mode. Or is it just like leaving the Mojo plugged in all the time. Where the mojo will constantly alternates between battery and charger power. I think the H2 has been properly designed for desktop mode though from what I can discern from Rob Watts posts. I think he described that the H2 will not draw power from the batteries, unless a touch more power is needed. Sorry if I have misunderstood. It's just that I will either use desktop mode. Or I will do as I do with my Mojo, and charge overnight and play during the day.
3. I was checking for details about how the Hugo 2 is security and factory sealed. I saw one unboxing on Youtube that showed just a clear plastic sticker to make a seal. Yet I saw J. Franks (Mojo Ideas), mentioning that early boxes had these seals. More recently they used holographic seals.

P.S. Can someone please tell me how to start a new thread? Thank you.

 

[Triode User]

I initially thought the Mojo sounded thin, hollow, and metallic sounding. It took at least a week for me to click on that the Mojo was super smooth. Then maybe a week or more later, that it was actually warm enough.

You see this is where we have to accept that we all like different sounds. I had the Mojo for perhaps 9 months. Compared to Hugo 1 which I had a the time I found it a bit veiled and (for want of a better word) not quite as transparent.

Ahh folks I have read the whole thread now, which took a few days.

I have been looking on UK websites, for a safe place to buy a Hugo 2. Meaning a reputable retailer that will be fair if the Hugo 2 is not quite right. Like some folk are talking about their H2 being brighter than it should be.

One recommendation which I have had, is Audio Sanctuary in London. Also I have been looking over the Nintronics website, because I have heard good impressions of them. Equally I have seen people say that Peter Tyson Online is a safe enough place to buy.

I am hoping to get a factory sealed H2, and obviously not one that has already been rejected.


Anyway, after the read through, I was left with a few details I was just slightly unsure about.

1. Does the battery really do seven hours. I ask because the Mojo is quoted at ten hours, but most of us get just over eight hours.
2. Is the desktop mode a true sort of development of desktop mode. Or is it just like leaving the Mojo plugged in all the time. Where the mojo will constantly alternates between battery and charger power. I think the H2 has been properly designed for desktop mode though from what I can discern from Rob Watts posts. I think he described that the H2 will not draw power from the batteries, unless a touch more power is needed. Sorry if I have misunderstood. It's just that I will either use desktop mode. Or I will do as I do with my Mojo, and charge overnight and play during the day.
3. I was checking for details about how the Hugo 2 is security and factory sealed. I saw one unboxing on Youtube that showed just a clear plastic sticker to make a seal. Yet I saw J. Franks (Mojo Ideas), mentioning that early boxes had these seals. More recently they used holographic seals.

P.S. Can someone please tell me how to start a new thread? Thank you.

Just to put the record straight, I do not think that any Hugo2 units have any physical issues with being 'brighter' then spec.

I think some users have reported that their Hugo2 was perhaps brighter sounding than they expected. I do not know if this is mainly Mojo users coming to the Hugo2 as I personally found the Mojo sound slightly dull or less detailed than all my subsequent Chord DACs. The Hugo2 and Dave have a huge amount of detail and this may be perceived by some as brightness.

I have not heard anything to make me think that all Chord dealers are not as good as each other. My advice would be to chose one as near to you as possible and then over time build up a good relationship with that one dealer. I have done that with Fanthorpes and as a result they look after me with good demo arrangements and good trade ins.

I don't think that you have to 'hope' that you get a factory sealed unit. If you buy new then that is what you will get. I doubt very much that any dealer would try to pass off a return unit as being new. It is very obvious when it is a new unit as the outer boxed and everything comes unopened by the dealer.