Regarding albums that are very dynamically compressed I've found that the Hugo 2 makes them more palatable than lesser DACs I've used. I expected that opposite, but it hasn't been the case for me as I've upgraded. I think it's not as fatiguing because it separates everything out more. Even though it's still not great that each part of the track is about the same volume, it gives each aspect more room to breathe.
This has been one of the more pleasant benefits of having the Chord kit: wonderful albums that weren't so wonderfully captured just open up, and become that much more real. The kit can't recreate something that isn't there obviously, but whatever is hiding in there can be recovered and presented as well as it possibly can be.
A favorite example for me that I've mentioned before here is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Shamas-Ud-Doha Bader-Ud-Doja". Incredible transcendent performance by one of the historical greats, captured in a pretty "eh" recording that I've always had a love-hate relationship with. My my detailed notes last fall of Mojo vs Hugo2 vs DAVE, I wrote
With Mojo, claps are almost physical, drums not even close, voices are bad recordings; With Hugo2 drums are tangible (finally) and voices are people (and together something larger...I'm hearing hints of the angels); With DAVE, I hear the room and stage (drums right there as are people clapping); Passages overwhelm me with emotion (the angels are here); There is more in this recording, I know it. Can't wait to hear it and be a part of it
When I got my Blu2, this was the first track I fired up through my Omega SAMs, and it completely overwhelmed me. Ustad Ali Khan was in my living room. It was one of the joyful musical experiences I've ever had.
The amazing thing for me is how it is possible to continue to elevate and reveal emotional truths that have been hidden in the plastic and bits for so so long. Last week I had the pleasure to spend ~6 hours auditioning the Voxativ 9.87's (another high efficiency wide band speaker, like the Omegas) driven directly from BluDAVE (103dB efficiency, so Hugo2's would be able to drive them direct as well...alas, I had to run back to the airport and wasn't able to run BluHugo2 into these beauties). There was much that was stunning in that session (to say the least), but this particular track was particularly stunning: any remanent of "poor recording" was gone. Any effort that was required to reach out and make the emotional connection to the performance was gone: the connection was simply and plainly and matter of factly there, effortless and at a level I hadn't experienced before. Incredible.
Key lesson? As the transducer gets faster and cleaner and more responsive, the magic of the Chord stack just keeps going up and up and up. I can't wait for matching innovation on the analog capture transducer (eg, microphone) and Rob's Davina analog to digital converter. If mScaler + ultra fast/efficient single driver can create this sort of emotional landscape from decidedly "eh" recordings, I can't wait to hear what it is able to do with a near perfect digital recording from Davina.
