[cs600]

When inside I will generally be feeding FLAC/DSD/Spotify to the Hugo2 over USB from a Z5 compact using UAPP but while "Out & About" I'd like to have the Hugo 2 in a jacket pocket with my SE846's plugged in listening to music over BT from my Samsung S8 which would normally be Spotify streamed or offline tracks.

Will AptX Bluetooth be good/stable enough for listening without degradation of the audio quality with them being less demanding files data-wise? Or would you expect the headphone out on the phone to be better than feeding to Hugo 2 over Bluetooth. I think 320 MP3/Ogg files are lower than AptX data rate so no further compression?

Also, have a Fiio RM1 BT remote which I can use with my Phone or Fiio X5III. Am a correct in assuming the Hugo 2 acts like a Bluetooth speaker so wouldn't support the BT remote functions.

Would changing volume on the phone connected to Hugo 2 over BT still lower volume of Hugo 2?

Hi
What I can say is that I often listened music from my note2 via aptx connection to hugo1 with really magnificent results...the same songs on redbook were only let me say 10% better...
And yes volume on the phone was effective....but this degrades sq
Bye
Mauro

 

[XSAMURAI]

short story of my Chord hugo 2

i've pre order hugo 2 a month ago, last week i had chance to compare iFI iDSD Black VS Chord Dave , i know people , this comparison isn't right but price / performance ratio is very important to me to my hifi journey till today , ive done a comparison with these headphone , Focal Utopia , Focal Elear , Hifiman HE1000 , Audeze LCD-X , Audeze LCD-2 , Oppo HA-1 , this is only one hour comparison and A/B testing between 2 dac / amp , and after i done i just canceled my hugo 2 pre order without any hesitation. SAD but True , , Chord Dave MSRP is 8500 UK Pound ( around 10000 USD ) IFI Micro iDSD Black is Only 550 USD , lets make it simple And Dont get me wrong Overall Sound was better on dave , absolutely without any doubt , but question is how much better ? does Dave did better job for 9500 USD more ? the answer is obvious , NO


Chord DAVE VS IFI Micro iDSD BLACK :
term of detail retrieval both dac was extremly close and in one hour testing i coudn't heard much different but i can say dave has little bit more smoothness detail presentation , ifi is more on the bright side and little sharper edge , but both our dangerously close , Dave has more body to mid range with more attack and punch , iDSD Black has more air in the mid range and overall little light on the comparison and dave has better weight to each note , dave Bass has more high quality texture and little more in quantity and more weight , the big difference was upper mid section with is dave has better definition and more extra resolution with better seperation and more edge control and more sweet sound overall , soundstage / imaging scale was very close but dave hass more black back ground with little bit better layering and better layer contrast to the sound BUT iDSD Black isn't Far away , i know its very hard to belive ifi with 550$ dac easily Approaching to the big boys league , i can say Dave has overall 10% percent better job to kick the sound to my ear , 10% is a lot in hifi world but when you want to change the class from mid entry dac 550$ DAC to very expensive dac such as DAVE ( 10K USD ) cost nearly 20X more , for many people like me that is not worth the investment and for each percent you'll have to pay extra 1K , i dont care about ifi or chord , i just care about my wallet , i realy like chord dave ( who dosen't ? ) but price isn't justify at all , i will keep my 2K and will wait for the idsd pro if ifi can upgrade dac section around 10% better than idsd Black with the pro idsd , that dac will easily compete with any dac in the market with any price tag no matter what , i will say one more time these are only my personal opinion ,i don't want to be sarcastic or somthing , i didn't get anything from ifi or any other organization , if anybody had chance to compare these two i'll be happy to hear, SAD BUT TRUE

 

[jlbrach]

short story of my Chord hugo 2

i've pre order hugo 2 a month ago, last week i had chance to compare iFI iDSD Black VS Chord Dave , i know people , this comparison isn't right but price / performance ratio is very important to me to my hifi journey till today , ive done a comparison with these headphone , Focal Utopia , Focal Elear , Hifiman HE1000 , Audeze LCD-X , Audeze LCD-2 , Oppo HA-1 , this is only one hour comparison and A/B testing between 2 dac / amp , and after i done i just canceled my hugo 2 pre order without any hesitation. SAD but True , , Chord Dave MSRP is 8500 UK Pound ( around 10000 USD ) IFI Micro iDSD Black is Only 550 USD , lets make it simple And Dont get me wrong Overall Sound was better on dave , absolutely without any doubt , but question is how much better ? does Dave did better job for 9500 USD more ? the answer is obvious , NO


Chord DAVE VS IFI Micro iDSD BLACK :
term of detail retrieval both dac was extremly close and in one hour testing i coudn't heard much different but i can say dave has little bit more smoothness detail presentation , ifi is more on the bright side and little sharper edge , but both our dangerously close , Dave has more body to mid range with more attack and punch , iDSD Black has more air in the mid range and overall little light on the comparison and dave has better weight to each note , dave Bass has more high quality texture and little more in quantity and more weight , the big difference was upper mid section with is dave has better definition and more extra resolution with better seperation and more edge control and more sweet sound overall , soundstage / imaging scale was very close but dave hass more black back ground with little bit better layering and better layer contrast to the sound BUT iDSD Black isn't Far away , i know its very hard to belive ifi with 550$ dac easily Approaching to the big boys league , i can say Dave has overall 10% percent better job to kick the sound to my ear , 10% is a lot in hifi world but when you want to change the class from mid entry dac 550$ DAC to very expensive dac such as DAVE ( 10K USD ) cost nearly 20X more , for many people like me that is not worth the investment and for each percent you'll have to pay extra 1K , i dont care about ifi or chord , i just care about my wallet , i realy like chord dave ( who dosen't ? ) but price isn't justify at all , i will keep my 2K and will wait for the idsd pro if ifi can upgrade dac section around 10% better than idsd Black with the pro idsd , that dac will easily compete with any dac in the market with any price tag no matter what , i will say one more time these are only my personal opinion ,i don't want to be sarcastic or somthing , i didn't get anything from ifi or any other organization , if anybody had chance to compare these two i'll be happy to hear, SAD BUT TRUE

I own both,I can tell you definitively that there is no comparison,none,period.....believe me the Dave is head and shoulders better....end of story and that is not a knock on the IFI black

 

[Sound Trooper]

Different strokes for different folks..

I'm still eagerly waiting for the Hugo2 to arrive!

 

[m0nster]

I enjoy people comparing products. Thank you for the short Chord DAVE vs IFI Micro iDSD BLACK comparison. I think it is important to hear different opinions from people enjoying the hifi hobby. That's what I enjoy most about head-fi; the conversations where everybody is allowed to state their opinion without being "harassed"!

 

[jmills8]

I enjoy people comparing products. Thank you for the short Chord DAVE vs IFI Micro iDSD BLACK comparison. I think it is important to hear different opinions from people enjoying the hifi hobby. That's what I enjoy most about head-fi; the conversations where everybody is allowed to state their opinion without being "harassed"!

Bet the IFI will sound be on the go.

 

[x RELIC x]

short story of my Chord hugo 2

i've pre order hugo 2 a month ago, last week i had chance to compare iFI iDSD Black VS Chord Dave , i know people , this comparison isn't right but price / performance ratio is very important to me to my hifi journey till today , ive done a comparison with these headphone , Focal Utopia , Focal Elear , Hifiman HE1000 , Audeze LCD-X , Audeze LCD-2 , Oppo HA-1 , this is only one hour comparison and A/B testing between 2 dac / amp , and after i done i just canceled my hugo 2 pre order without any hesitation. SAD but True , , Chord Dave MSRP is 8500 UK Pound ( around 10000 USD ) IFI Micro iDSD Black is Only 550 USD , lets make it simple And Dont get me wrong Overall Sound was better on dave , absolutely without any doubt , but question is how much better ? does Dave did better job for 9500 USD more ? the answer is obvious , NO


Chord DAVE VS IFI Micro iDSD BLACK :
term of detail retrieval both dac was extremly close and in one hour testing i coudn't heard much different but i can say dave has little bit more smoothness detail presentation , ifi is more on the bright side and little sharper edge , but both our dangerously close , Dave has more body to mid range with more attack and punch , iDSD Black has more air in the mid range and overall little light on the comparison and dave has better weight to each note , dave Bass has more high quality texture and little more in quantity and more weight , the big difference was upper mid section with is dave has better definition and more extra resolution with better seperation and more edge control and more sweet sound overall , soundstage / imaging scale was very close but dave hass more black back ground with little bit better layering and better layer contrast to the sound BUT iDSD Black isn't Far away , i know its very hard to belive ifi with 550$ dac easily Approaching to the big boys league , i can say Dave has overall 10% percent better job to kick the sound to my ear , 10% is a lot in hifi world but when you want to change the class from mid entry dac 550$ DAC to very expensive dac such as DAVE ( 10K USD ) cost nearly 20X more , for many people like me that is not worth the investment and for each percent you'll have to pay extra 1K , i dont care about ifi or chord , i just care about my wallet , i realy like chord dave ( who dosen't ? ) but price isn't justify at all , i will keep my 2K and will wait for the idsd pro if ifi can upgrade dac section around 10% better than idsd Black with the pro idsd , that dac will easily compete with any dac in the market with any price tag no matter what , i will say one more time these are only my personal opinion ,i don't want to be sarcastic or somthing , i didn't get anything from ifi or any other organization , if anybody had chance to compare these two i'll be happy to hear, SAD BUT TRUE

Looks like you'd save a boat load of cash if you think they aren't too far apart. I really didn't like the iDAC2 so haven't pursued iFi at all. Ultimately, I'm wondering why you posted the bulk of your impressions here rather than in the DAVE thread.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I enjoy comparisons of similar products. When there's a huge gap, it's very challenging to keep pricing out of the picture.

That's quite a "short story."

UK Dealers still shipping 28 May?

 

[miketlse]

I enjoy comparisons of similar products. When there's a huge gap, it's very challenging to keep pricing out of the picture.

That's quite a "short story."

UK Dealers still shipping 28 May?

In France I have received an email stating that the French distributor will not provide a date, so the dealer is assuming first half of June at the earliest.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

In France I have received an email stating that the French distributor will not provide a date, so the dealer is assuming first half of June at the earliest.

Thanks. I think a date is better than the unknown. Here' hoping Chord will at least give an estimate and let the count down begin.

 

[tunes]

I plan to run my Hugo2 in desktop mode, USB input from a lowly Lenovo Yoga with a regulated battery +5V inserter AND an Intona.
This is as good as it gets for USB, in my opinion. When you hear pop-squeak-crackle it's a digital artifact. When you mention 'veiling' its analog noise seeping into the DAC from the PC/Mac. My solution stops that. I expect to hear the best Hugo2 can offer.
Dan

There is a discussion by Rob concerning the USB vs optical input SQ FOR THE HUGO2 and to his ears using his laptop as a source he found no difference. With optical, galvanic isolation is not an issue and you don't need an Intona for $300.

 

[tunes]

You did - and it may be my new lap-top that has optical and USB outputs, so the source variability is removed. Its something I will be looking into again, as it was a surprise.

Rob

Just curious if this is something you have revisited again as there are still some posts where some feel it is necessary to use USB preferably over optical for better SQ and also insist on using Intona or another device to help with galvanic isolation. For the Hugo2 can we still rest assured that optical is equal to USB and avoid the cost of the Intona??

 

[Rob Watts]

Rob

Just curious if this is something you have revisited again as there are still some posts where some feel it is necessary to use USB preferably over optical for better SQ and also insist on using Intona or another device to help with galvanic isolation. For the Hugo2 can we still rest assured that optical is equal to USB and avoid the cost of the Intona??

I have repeated the tests a few times and yes with headphones I could not reliably tell the difference with my MSI mains powered lap-top. But that does not mean that it won't happen in all circumstances with all sources; for sure driving a power amp so that a ground loop happens does mean that I could hear small differences from optical to USB. And another source it could be different. But I was very pleasantly surprised by the result.

Note: assuming the source is bit perfect, then if it sounds brighter it most definitely is worse. The most accurate and technically perfect result with sources is the smoothest and warmest sound; and I do worry that some of these source devices are creating more RF noise, and give a brighter SQ; it's so easy to confuse a brighter SQ with more transparency, but actually what you are hearing is more noise floor modulation artificially spicing up the sound.

Rob

 

[boomtube]

I have repeated the tests a few times and yes with headphones I could not reliably tell the difference with my MSI mains powered lap-top. But that does not mean that it won't happen in all circumstances with all sources; for sure driving a power amp so that a ground loop happens does mean that I could hear small differences from optical to USB. And another source it could be different. But I was very pleasantly surprised by the result.

Note: assuming the source is bit perfect, then if it sounds brighter it most definitely is worse. The most accurate and technically perfect result with sources is the smoothest and warmest sound; and I do worry that some of these source devices are creating more RF noise, and give a brighter SQ; it's so easy to confuse a brighter SQ with more transparency, but actually what you are hearing is more noise floor modulation artificially spicing up the sound.

Rob

Please forgive, I'm going to ask a question I asked once before. Speaking about optical, ...is there any benefit to using a reclocking device like the W4S Remedy? the improvements in the H2 make timing devices of no real benefit?

 

[Rob Watts]

Please forgive, I'm going to ask a question I asked once before. Speaking about optical, ...is there any benefit to using a reclocking device like the W4S Remedy? the improvements in the H2 make timing devices of no real benefit?

Re-timing for sure will have no benefit - period for all sources - but the RF noise levels can make a difference.
In my system, and using headphones, using my source, then the Remedy would either make it sound worse by increasing total RF noise levels (worse being brighter) or will have no difference at all. But with other sources then it may be beneficial. I would not bother though, better spending the cash on music...