[rkt31]

@Triode User, that does not apply on vinyl of native digital recording. try vinyl of daft punk random access memories and cd through Hugo 2 . vinyl would just sound any digital recording with a bit different eq. I have not compared but listened through YouTube videos .

 

[McTeags]

For those discussing listening to music as their primary activity vs listening to music as a background activity while doing something else. I definitely agree that making your listening experience TO good can lead to a loss of productivity because you end up focusing on the music more than on your work. I find that it does help in order to cut out outside noise. I work in an open office environment and sometimes it can get a little chatty. I think closed back headphones in combination with low music volume is definitely the way to go. You probably don't need something quite as overkill as the Hugo 2 for background music but it's portable so if you don't want to invest in another gadget than I don't see an issue with using it. Just keep the volume low.

 

[officerdibble]

Well the Hugo 2 is phenomenal! It's a massive upgrade from my MDAC Plus. Merry as a pig in ahem.....!

Still getting to grips with it's functionality and how it fits in my system.

One small issue I have is when I use the line level output, I have to turn it way down into the red - it is going direct into my Audiolab M-PWR using RCA - The PA I has Input Sensitivity of 600mV (RCA Line in) - would this be the reason?

Sorry! Not really up on how pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers etc work!

Is having too much gain like this an issue?

Sounds pretty damn fine - but I have very little scope for volume adjustment as it gets very, very loud, very quickly.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[officerdibble]

Meant to say - using my HD 650 with the H2 has been an absolute joy.

 

[rkt31]

has anybody compared both ? this website rates benchmark dac3 a bit better than Hugo 2 . https://www.themasterswitch.com/best-dacs

 

[rkt31]

though in India Hugo 2 is lot cheaper than dac3.

 

[NoTimeFor]

has anybody compared both ? this website rates benchmark dac3 a bit better than Hugo 2 . https://www.themasterswitch.com/best-dacs

I was considering dac3 when I was shopping for a dac. I skipped it as Dac3 is not portable, looks too pro looking, and i read that it sounds too clinical. But it has fantastic measurements and very well made.

 

[Phronesis]

Which will now lead me on a new quest for a setup that sounds a little less harsh than my old ety-iphone setup, but also less engaging than my current end-game.

Maybe T1-mojo, or maybe hd800-ifi dsd bl, or meze99-hugo2....

Meze 99 and Hugo 2 is a very bad combination. I’ve tried and found it even unlistenable because of way too much bass.

Yeah, not my favorite pairing, for sure. But my sound profile preferences tend to change depending on what I'm listening to, and what mood I'm in. There are even some songs where I enjoy more than one profile.

By coincidence, I was in my audio shop yesterday trying some headphones, tried the Meze 99 for the first time, and liked it enough to take it home for a few days to spend more time with it. I find that it sounds noticeably better when moving up my chain of DAC/amps: iPhone < DF Red < Mojo < Hugo 2. Like many others, I find that the bass can be a bit much, and I agree that this effect is most pronounced with the Hugo 2 (though the bass is also best defined and controlled with the Hugo 2).

I too find that my equipment preferences can vary with track and mood (and time of day), and it can be nice to change things up sometimes. From that perspective, I can see the Meze 99 + Hugo 2 working well sometimes, but other times it will be too much of a basshead sound. The Mojo may actually be the better pairing most of the time. Interesting headphone ...

 

[elcato]

Ok. Done.
KLE plugs, sharp x-acto, carefully shaved about 1mm of the plastic housing all around, from the colored line to the tip, and I can now fit the anticables rca 6.2 into the Hugo 2.
Much cleaner sound than the level 2.1, especially when streaming Spotify Connect to the UltraRendu.
Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Whazzzup]

I didn’t enjoy meze 99 in general so not sure what dac would work better with it.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

has anybody compared both ? this website rates benchmark dac3 a bit better than Hugo 2 . https://www.themasterswitch.com/best-dacs

When a reviewer says a desktop DAC's negative is because its "too heavy", he's lost me.

 

[514077]

When a reviewer says a desktop DAC's negative is because its "too heavy", he's lost me.

I read the whole thing. And I found most negatives were personal/unimportant, such as weight for a home DAC. I also think the Benchmark and Hugo2 could be easily switched around by another reviewer for taste in sound. I couldn't say, as I haven't tried the Benchmark; just pointing out what may or may not be reviewer bias. I was pleasantly surprised to find a DAC that I didn't even know was Canadian, make it to the 3rd spot.

 

[rkt31]

compared audioquest jitterbug with ifi isilencer 3.0 . contrary to many reviews jitterbug beats ifi by a large margin imho ( should ifi also require burn in ? I had it only few days back). I tested these with chord mojo and Lenovo laptop as source using foobar asio . jitterbug reduces the vocal sibilance and decongest the soundstage. while ifi does very little to reduce that sibilance. in fact I tried optical and coaxial of mojo also. usb with jitterbug was the best with more focused vocals. optical seemed to have a bit of splashiness in treble and came third. coaxial with few ferrites was second. no wonder Hugo 2 should also result the same. I could not try these with Hugo 2. even Lenovo P2 android with jitterbug gave very good result using uapp

 

[rkt31]

test albums were lyn Stanley interludes and keith jarrett live at koln.

 

[boomtube]