[MikeRight]

AK70 does digital output over micro usb.

I am using AK300 with Hugo2. They are connected via microUSB.
As somebody mentioned the only "issue" is you are not able to charge AK300 and feed the Hugo2 at the same time.
But it works so good.

 

[GreenBow]

Yes with Windows you can't just pull out or switch off the USB as it can cause the OS to crash. You need to disconnect your USB by using safely remove hardware before turning off Hugo 2.

My computer does not complain about me adding or removing the Hugo 2, without using remove hardware control.

It's just some reason as I explained before that Hugo 2 when connected idly to PC causes programs to fail running. That being when the Hugo 2 is working on optical.

I didn't reply by PM as you requested because it's possibly something other people might benefit from reading.

 

[514077]

My computer does not complain about me adding or removing the Hugo 2, without using remove hardware control.

It's just some reason as I explained before that Hugo 2 when connected idly to PC causes programs to fail running. That being when the Hugo 2 is working on optical.

I didn't reply by PM as you requested because it's possibly something other people might benefit from reading.

I was under the impression that from W7 up, you didn't need to worry about safely removing hardware. Is that wrong?

 

[minibox]

I found another great use for the H2 while using roku. I link the roku sound to my iphone and output to the Hugo2 and my HD800's. Great way to watch late night tv in the living room after my son has gone to bed. I love this little Dac/Amp.

 

[GreenBow]

I was under the impression that from W7 up, you didn't need to worry about safely removing hardware. Is that wrong?

I have no idea UE, but I have not noticed needing 'safely remove hardware' though, with Win 7. (I never noticed that before you said it though.) .. I probably confused Rob though with the post that he replied to anyway. I should have abbreviated, and instead waffled a bit.

 

[Jawed]

From my understanding ferrites should only remove the RF which can cause a hard and bright sound then it should sound like optical if enough cores are used but it doesn’t, the sound ends up being very dark and smoothed over, the optical still has the snap and precision I love. Something else must be going on here that I don’t understand but for now I will stick to optical and “naked” usb cables.

When you listened to optical, did you disconnect the USB cable? If you leave USB connected then you have defeated the galvanic isolation provided by optical.

Now playing: This Will Destroy You - A Three Legged Workhorse

 

[Deftone]

When you listened to optical, did you disconnect the USB cable? If you leave USB connected then you have defeated the galvanic isolation provided by optical.

Now playing: This Will Destroy You - A Three Legged Workhorse

Yes only one cable at a time

Optical was much cleaner and nicer sounding than the dark mushy ferrite usb.

 

[Jawed]

Yes only one cable at a time

Optical was much cleaner and nicer sounding than the dark mushy ferrite usb.

Good to hear that your experiment was done correctly. It's pretty puzzling.

I suppose you were listening to headphones connected to Mojo and Hugo 2? If they're on battery power then with optical there's no mains loop so no chance for RF to enter via the music source. So if USB without ferrites sounds the same as optical, then that's a win. It's why I recommend people start off by comparing USB and optical.

A good experiment like this is very useful even if the result is utterly puzzling. I can't think of anything else that might need to be checked, so for me the comparison with optical makes this pretty conclusive.

I think there's 2 or 3 people on the Blu 2 thread who also had an "overly dark, smoothed-out, mushy" experience with ferrites. I think they all have a pre-amp or power amp connected after DAVE, which might be a factor (don't know how). But that doesn't seem to be how you're using Mojo/Hugo 2. A Blu 2 setup is tricky to debug because there's no baseline truth like there is with just an optical connection which gives perfect galvanic isolation.

My DAVE system is headphones only and a friend's Hugo 2 system is speakers via integrated amp, both sourced from an ordinary PC, and they're consistently better with ferrites (darker, more powerful, faster, cleaner, more transparent)...

Now playing: This Will Destroy You - Quiet

 

[Triode User]

Good to hear that your experiment was done correctly. It's pretty puzzling.

I suppose you were listening to headphones connected to Mojo and Hugo 2? If they're on battery power then with optical there's no mains loop so no chance for RF to enter via the music source. So if USB without ferrites sounds the same as optical, then that's a win. It's why I recommend people start off by comparing USB and optical.

A good experiment like this is very useful even if the result is utterly puzzling. I can't think of anything else that might need to be checked, so for me the comparison with optical makes this pretty conclusive.

I think there's 2 or 3 people on the Blu 2 thread who also had an "overly dark, smoothed-out, mushy" experience with ferrites. I think they all have a pre-amp or power amp connected after DAVE, which might be a factor (don't know how). But that doesn't seem to be how you're using Mojo/Hugo 2. A Blu 2 setup is tricky to debug because there's no baseline truth like there is with just an optical connection which gives perfect galvanic isolation.

My DAVE system is headphones only and a friend's Hugo 2 system is speakers via integrated amp, both sourced from an ordinary PC, and they're consistently better with ferrites (darker, more powerful, faster, cleaner, more transparent)...

Now playing: This Will Destroy You - Quiet

The ferrites on USB reported result is puzzling but on the other hand RW has I think always said he found no improvement. However for it to be worse with ferrites is interesting.

Regarding the comment about Blu2 being difficult to debug I disagree. There is a good base line in the form of the CD player built into Blu2. That is an excellent reference point.

 

[Jawed]

The ferrites on USB reported result is puzzling but on the other hand RW has I think always said he found no improvement. However for it to be worse with ferrites is interesting.

Not so long ago Rob reported that what he thought was superior sound from USB was in fact inferior, when referenced against optical... So his reports that you're referring to pre-date that most recent conclusion.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-649#post-13969654
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-649#post-13969760

Regarding the comment about Blu2 being difficult to debug I disagree. There is a good base line in the form of the CD player built into Blu2. That is an excellent reference point.

Blu 2 playing CDs, even without a streaming source connected to Blu 2, causes RF problems in DAVE though It's not possible to connect Blu 2 to DAVE optically, so the simple baseline isn't available, making it much harder to work out when the two together are working without compromise.

Perhaps when Davina arrives it will be possible to produce M-scaled 705.6kHz files from 44.1KHz originals, then feed those files into DAVE via USB, where the USB input is known to sound the same as optical due to good RF filtering on the USB connection...

Now playing: Lucy Rose - Shiver

 

[thomaspf]

I have posted these earlier in the thread, but here are measurement slides from my Hugo 2 presentation (which I am giving at CanJam NYC).

Rob

Thanks this is very helpful indeed!

I wonder what went wrong with the Focal Utopia when Amir measured it. The Hifiman HE-1000 looks pretty much flat.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Deftone]

Good to hear that your experiment was done correctly. It's pretty puzzling.

I suppose you were listening to headphones connected to Mojo and Hugo 2? If they're on battery power then with optical there's no mains loop so no chance for RF to enter via the music source. So if USB without ferrites sounds the same as optical, then that's a win. It's why I recommend people start off by comparing USB and optical.

A good experiment like this is very useful even if the result is utterly puzzling. I can't think of anything else that might need to be checked, so for me the comparison with optical makes this pretty conclusive.

I think there's 2 or 3 people on the Blu 2 thread who also had an "overly dark, smoothed-out, mushy" experience with ferrites. I think they all have a pre-amp or power amp connected after DAVE, which might be a factor (don't know how). But that doesn't seem to be how you're using Mojo/Hugo 2. A Blu 2 setup is tricky to debug because there's no baseline truth like there is with just an optical connection which gives perfect galvanic isolation.

My DAVE system is headphones only and a friend's Hugo 2 system is speakers via integrated amp, both sourced from an ordinary PC, and they're consistently better with ferrites (darker, more powerful, faster, cleaner, more transparent)...

Now playing: This Will Destroy You - Quiet

Interesting to know other people have felt the same as you mentioned, something at play with the ferrites making the sound too dark but unknown why and not everyone seems to get it from the reports but for you it’s only benifits.

Really has me wondering but I’m not going to stay hung up on it I will return the ferrites and stick to my “naked usb” or optical.

 

[Currawong]

- Connected to any iphone, ipad, via USB dongle, using Apple Music Player: TERRIBLE DISTORTION
- Connected via BT to any iphone, using Apple Music Player: TERRIBLE DISTORTION

What frequency (color in the main window) is the Hugo 2 showing when the files are playing? I have a weird problem with an old iPad outputting the wrong frequency to a Hugo sometimes from a particular app, which results in completely distorted music.

 

[tekkster]

What frequency (color in the main window) is the Hugo 2 showing when the files are playing? I have a weird problem with an old iPad outputting the wrong frequency to a Hugo sometimes from a particular app, which results in completely distorted music.

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking that my question was too obscure for anyone to show any interest.

All my iOS devices show as red, so 44.1, when using Apple's native music player. When using Onkyo HF, it shows bit perfect, so green for 96, white for DSF files.

It's really only Apple's native music player that has distortion problems, and only with those two songs so far. My other audio test songs have no distortion, and of course, I haven't tested my full library yet so not sure if there are any others.

 

[Chikolad]

Got my H2 yesterday!

A question -
Do the H2 and Mojo share the same drivers on Windows 10? I already had a Mojo and when I came to install the H2 driver I saw that it actually replaces (repairs) the Mojo drivers.
Looks like they both use the same 'Chord Async USB 44.1 kHz-768kHz' WASAPI driver and 'ASIO Chord 1.05' ASIO driver.
I'm a bit worried because I read in this thread about someone whose Mac identified the H2 as a Mojo and it turned out that he had a faulty unit. On Roon, when I set up the ASIO zone it named it ASIO Mojo (not sure if that's just because I called it that in the past for the Mojo or if it somehow pulled that name from the device itself).
On Windows 10, how do you know if it identifies the device as a H2 or a Mojo?