[MikeRight]

I am already sure that a lot of the 2go owners will say the same. Like Mojo owners have done with Poly.
Like

How much dreamers about a mscaler for Hugo2 and Qutest (not transportable) connected with the 2go?

Here you have one at least

 

[ZappaMan]

Thank you. Very helpful. The FLC8S seems interesting! The others are out of my price range. I'm happy to spend bigger $ on headphones that stay at home. Not so much on IEMs that will travel with me.




Thank you. I have been curious about these



Thank you. Much appreciated. I do have a really old pair of Grado headphones lying around somewhere. IEMs from them sound interesting.

check out the se846 impressions thread if you'd like to find out more....
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/shure-se846-impressions-thread.675219/

 

[paul2qute]

Maybe Rob watts can share some light on this but making the best dac in the world must be easier than making something lower in the range,I love the Hugo 2 but to design something that can't outshine the top dac must be a challenge in its self

 

[tekkster]

I tested a friend's Focal Elear on the H2 for 4 hours today. I seem to prefer that pairing more than the Utopia on the H2. I wonder why that is. I think some subtle details were lost, but could have been my imagination. A sense of immediacy on snare drums was lost, maybe, some higher frequency stuff seemed just a teensy bit, muted on the Elear, but it was a subtle enough difference that it could have been my imagination. For that barely noticeable (possibly imagined) loss, the Elear on the H2 gained a ton of punch, energy, foot tapping fun. And the Elears clearly got a ton of the detail and sound separation from the H2, because when paired with the budget Jotunheim, a lot of information was noticeably lost, or blended, or...not sure how to describe that.

I don't have access to a Focal Clear to test on the H2, but so far, anyway, I think the Elear H2 is my favorite pairing to date, edging out the T1 and Utopia by a fair margin.

(And though this has nothing to do with H2, My favorite pairing for my T1 is now a crappy AV receiver by Insignia, lol. Dunno why)

 

[musickid]

OPPO PM1 is lovely with mojo/h2

 

[LeoKane]

I tested a friend's Focal Elear on the H2 for 4 hours today. I seem to prefer that pairing more than the Utopia on the H2. I wonder why that is. I think some subtle details were lost, but could have been my imagination. A sense of immediacy on snare drums was lost, maybe, some higher frequency stuff seemed just a teensy bit, muted on the Elear, but it was a subtle enough difference that it could have been my imagination. For that barely noticeable (possibly imagined) loss, the Elear on the H2 gained a ton of punch, energy, foot tapping fun. And the Elears clearly got a ton of the detail and sound separation from the H2, because when paired with the budget Jotunheim, a lot of information was noticeably lost, or blended, or...not sure how to describe that.

I don't have access to a Focal Clear to test on the H2, but so far, anyway, I think the Elear H2 is my favorite pairing to date, edging out the T1 and Utopia by a fair margin.

(And though this has nothing to do with H2, My favorite pairing for my T1 is now a crappy AV receiver by Insignia, lol. Dunno why)

I recently listened to both Utopia and Clear on the H2 and preferred the Clear by some margin. Just seemed like a much better balanced headphone. The Utopia was to focused on top end and bass seemed a bit light for my tastes. The Clear, whilst very slightly losing some of the macro details was far better balanced across the frequency range. It’s a fabulous sounding headphone. In the end I bought an Audeze LCD-4. To give some idea how I rated the Clear only the LCD-4 impressed me more than the Clear and I listened to a few other very decent cans including the MX4.

 

[vo_obgyn]

Does anyone know if the Hugo 2 has an international warranty? For example, if I buy a Hugo 2 from a Chord dealer in Dubai, U.A.E. can I have it serviced under warranty in the U.S.? I couldn't tell from the info on the Chord website. Thanks.

 

[lcasadonte]

I don't see many folks talk about this dignis case too often. Its a little pricey but we're in a discussion on a chord product right? I love the convenience it affords. I'm using it with an Onkyo DP X1 (until the 2go comes out).

 

[dontfeedphils]

https://imgur.com/a/j10L0

So, I was running a Bimby/Asgard 2 stack as my desktop chain and the Mojo if I felt like having some mobility (mostly just listening in different rooms or out on the patio – have to take advantage of winter in Phoenix). I was always happy with the Schiit stack, and felt like the Asgard 2 gave the Utopia some warmth that I’d heard missing from other SS amps I had tried in the past. The Mojo was always just “alright” to my ears, but after some experimenting with sources I decided to grab a Schiit Eitr to see if it could get rid of some of the harshness I had always heard through the Utopia, and the results were great. The Mojo went from sounding “brittle”/”harsh” to more like it’s always described; warm and inviting, no sign of the harshness I had always heard through my laptop or phones USB output.

I put some good hours on this combo and decided that I was a pretty big fan of the Chord sound and approach. So it was decided, sold off the Schiit stack, as well as my Mojo/Andro mobile setup (decided I don’t listen critically or often enough on the go to warrant having that sort of money lying around). With the funds I picked up the Hugo 2, some cables, and the Focal carrying case thinking that this could also work as a somewhat “transportable” setup for trips and such.

With about 15 hours on the Hugo 2 I’m sure my impressions will grow, and probably change a bit as I get more head time and experience with it, but right now I’m very, very impressed. To my ears it’s an obvious improvement in almost all of the normal categories: imaging, soundstage, layering, resolve, clarity. Beyond all of these improvements, though, is something that I’m having a hard time explaining.

The best analogy I’ve been able to think of so far is that it’s as if the waveform has had tiny missing gaps in it this whole time and the Hugo 2 came along and filled these gaps. The reason I’m having a hard time describing what I’m hearing is because some of the adjectives I want to use are a bit at odds with each other; it’s extremely engaging and dynamic, but smooth and easy all at the same time. The Utopia (as well as the other Focal cans) are quite dynamic and physically engaging, and I feel like the Hugo 2 has kicked this up a notch. This may be due to the added texture that I’m hearing on literally every note from every instrument/voice. I can see the cymbals vibrating as the crash decays, I can see the bass strings stretching and finally letting go as it makes its next note, it’s really uncanny the realism this texture/impact brings to the music.

There’s another trait that seems to really add to the engaging and realistic nature of the sound the Hugo 2 produces, coherence and a sense of “even-ness”. No one note/instrument ever really seems to rise up so high as to be above any of the others. It’s all just there, in a decently sized soundstage, with very accurate imaging, just waiting for you to peruse the different notes/instruments and pick them apart at your whim.

As far as amplification is concerned, it drives the Utopia without breaking a sweat. I don’t see much need to add an amp to this setup unless I eventually break down and pick-up a nice big tube amp from Eddie Current, and that would only be for the expanded soundstage and air I heard with the Utopia on the EC Balancing Act. At $3.5k, though, I’m not so sure that’ll happen anytime soon.

My last change to my source was to repurpose one of my desktops I had lying around as my dedicated source for this setup. Running a standard Windows 7 build and TeamViewer I’m able to remote in from my laptop or phone pretty seamlessly and make my selections. That combined with the remote that comes with the Hugo 2 and the 10.5’ “at home” DIY cable I made for my Utopia means I get a bit of freedom even while listening to my desktop setup. Mind you, it’s only 10.5’ of freedom, but that’s better than the normal 4’ due to the USB cable length from whatever source I was using at the time. Plus on the other side of that window is my patio, which means just passing the cans through the window, bringing the remote and my laptop or phone to control the desktop, and enjoying for as long as possible.

I think I'll be happy with this setup for a while.

 

[paul2qute]

I tested a friend's Focal Elear on the H2 for 4 hours today. I seem to prefer that pairing more than the Utopia on the H2. I wonder why that is. I think some subtle details were lost, but could have been my imagination. A sense of immediacy on snare drums was lost, maybe, some higher frequency stuff seemed just a teensy bit, muted on the Elear, but it was a subtle enough difference that it could have been my imagination. For that barely noticeable (possibly imagined) loss, the Elear on the H2 gained a ton of punch, energy, foot tapping fun. And the Elears clearly got a ton of the detail and sound separation from the H2, because when paired with the budget Jotunheim, a lot of information was noticeably lost, or blended, or...not sure how to describe that.

I don't have access to a Focal Clear to test on the H2, but so far, anyway, I think the Elear H2 is my favorite pairing to date, edging out the T1 and Utopia by a fair margin.

(And though this has nothing to do with H2, My favorite pairing for my T1 is now a crappy AV receiver by Insignia, lol. Dunno why)

Very interesting read,I've just bought the focal clear pro but I'm gonna wait til my heimdall 2 cable comes before I have a proper listen with my Hugo 2

 

[paulgc]

@Rob Watts what is your opinion on usb reclockers before Hugo 2. Benefit or not needed? Same question for Mojo. Source would be MacBook Pro usb-c

 

[514077]

@Rob Watts what is your opinion on usb reclockers before Hugo 2. Benefit or not needed? Same question for Mojo. Source would be MacBook Pro usb-c

I know you'd rather hear from Rob. But, my amateur oppinion is it seems to help. It certainly took the harsher edge of my Hugo1. H2 might be another story. But, I haven't reached around the back of my tower to A/B the sound. But, I use the Jitterbug and original Regen, and I think they help. FWIW

 

[RAPGOD]

@Rob Watts

Hi Rob, I'm kind of curious about a few technical aspects about your DAC designs and have a few questions I've been thinking about:

1. What have you done to combat inter-sample peaks in your DACs?
2. I have read little snippets of the DAVE + Blu MK2 combo having high latency. Is this true? If so, how many milliseconds latency? The reason I ask is when M-Scalers are built-in even your budget level DACs (future Mojo?) and the technology will be available to more people. How will musicians use it or even gamers if there's noticable lag? I don't notice anything with my Hugo 2 but that only has a tap length of around 50k.
3. You have calculated that the DAVE + Blu MK2 combo has transient reproduction accuracy to 16-bits. Does this change as you use the digital volume control? For example, if one reduces the volume from 0dB to -12dB, does that reduce transient accuracy down to 14-bits?
4. Would you ever consider creating a more extreme version of your green Hugo 2 filter in the future? What I mean by that is, instead of a slight roll-off for higher sample rate content, how about complete elimination of content above say 22KHz a la brick wall? I say this as some external amplifiers have trouble with ultrasonic content and generate huge amounts of intermodular distortion. Plus the advantage of higher sample rates is the improvement in timing precision and not the ultrasonic garbage we can't hear.
5. I know that this has been brought up before and even I refuted it based on the system they used to measure the Hugo 2 with. But what do you make of the output impedance measurements and headphone load THD measurements posted here before? Does the Hugo 2 have feedback issues with demanding impedance swings?

I have one more question too regarding transient accuracy converted to bits. It's 2am right now and I'm half asleep, so I may not be thinking straight about this. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But if the human hearing system has temporal acuity to as low as 4μS. If one converts that to arcseconds (I used an online calculator so may be wrong) that results in 0.00006 arcseconds. If one then converts that to degrees that results in 1.66666667e-8. This may be another crude conversion, but as there's only 360 degrees in 1 full turn, aka it's 100% you could sort of calculate a bit level out if it (every half is -3dB etc). 360 halved around 35 times would bring you close 1.66666667e-8. That's 105dB which is around 17.5-bits. If my calculations are correct (which I doubt, I have probably embarssed myself), could that mean a 4 million tap length filter would be the golden number?

 

[ratrace]

Does anyone know if the Hugo 2 has an international warranty? For example, if I buy a Hugo 2 from a Chord dealer in Dubai, U.A.E. can I have it serviced under warranty in the U.S.? I couldn't tell from the info on the Chord website. Thanks.

I have asked Chord about this. The warranty is valid in the country of purchase only. So US dealer can choose not to service if the Hugo 2 is purchased outside US. However, you can send it back to Chord UK and they will service it at a cost.

 

[RAPGOD]

Great post! Very explanatory and well written.
Congratulations for that!
Besides Focal Spirit Classic would you recommend any other pair of cans to use with H2?

Yes, there are lots on the market!

I pick headphones very differently to most people. In short, I am more of an "objectivist" but as perfect doesn't exist yet, I tend to sway more towards warm from neutral. I generally like headphones with fairly flat phase response and good square wave reproduction (helps with imaging precision, I use my cans for gaming too and appreciate this). Needs good bass performance (fairly deep bass with low distortion - I can't stand bloated bass, or bass-light cans) and minimal frequency peaks (we are a lot more sensitive to frequency peaks than dips).

What type of headphones are you thinking of? Open-back? Closed-back? I can tell you what I would pick if you want. From my own tastes if you wish to know, a few cans I like and own/would own are:

-Focal Spirit Classic/Professional for midrange closed-back
-Oppo PM-3 for midrange closed-back
-Sennheiser HD650 for midrange open-back
-AudioQuest Nighthawk for midrange open-back
-Audeze LCD-2/3/4 for high-end open-back
-Focal Sphear for midrange in-ear