Chord Electronics - Hugo 2 - The Official Thread

[GU1DO]

I thought all Hugo2 connectors were 100% identical. Meaning ...the physical PCB traces just join the metal connections of RCA and headphone jacks.

I think they are identical ,, the deference is in the cable , maybe one of the designers could elaborate on the matter ,

Put it this way, I guess I and several friends of mine like the Hugo 2 so much that we always have our eyes / ears open, and will be eager to try any set up or accessories that could improve the Hugo 2 even further. So despite being sceptical when we first heard of this set up, we still decided to give it a try. After all it didn't cost much (my friend managed to do it DIY).

A small 3.5 mm connector plus RCA plugs is what we began with (see the first pic); after we confirmed that such improvement is genuine (I could still recall how stunned I was by the separation, 3D, sense of living presence and naturalness), we moved on even more aggressively by making a special headphone cable having RCA plugs at the other end to connect directly to the Hugo 2 without the need to go through the 3.5 mm connector first (see the next pic). We have been sticking to this set up since then...

Have to be frank, we still have no clue why the Hugo 2's RCA out would sound better than the headphone out, yet I enjoy the sound of this set up so much that I thought I should perhaps share it with more people.

I totally understand you ,, same here experimenting with stuff , now i am playing with TrinityGo to see how it effect sound , i like it with some cables or interconnects and others are not so great , i don't have any clue why there is deference in sound , maybe its the (material silver copper , Ohom , thickniss ) , Anyway now i am very interested in trying your mod , what cable material you are using , is it Silver Eclipse 7 ?

Pet peve: Downloaded music restricted by country. I don't care what the reason be.

This why i have to download some music from torrents , and buy it legally whenever i could later.
these restrictions only reduce the sale and effect honest people , there are always a way to obtain digital material.

 

[514077]

I think they are identical ,, the deference is in the cable , maybe one of the designers could elaborate on the matter ,


I totally understand you ,, same here experimenting with stuff , now i am playing with TrinityGo to see how it effect sound , i like it with some cables or interconnects and others are not so great , i don't have any clue why there is deference in sound , maybe its the (material silver copper , Ohom , thickniss ) , Anyway now i am very interested in trying your mod , what cable material you are using , is it Silver Eclipse 7 ?


This why i have to download some music from torrents , and buy it legally whenever i could later.
these restrictions only reduce the sale and effect honest people , there are always a way to obtain digital material.

Right! All this licencing garbage is just driving obtaining music under ground.

 

[hugo poon]

Sounds interesting to try, where did you find the wireworld RCA to 3.5 female wire? Tried looking at their site and could not find it, was it custom?

My friend "did it himself" (the cable he used is a wireworld platinum eclipse). I'm a lucky guy.

 

[hugo poon]

I think they are identical ,, the deference is in the cable , maybe one of the designers could elaborate on the matter ,


I totally understand you ,, same here experimenting with stuff , now i am playing with TrinityGo to see how it effect sound , i like it with some cables or interconnects and others are not so great , i don't have any clue why there is deference in sound , maybe its the (material silver copper , Ohom , thickniss ) , Anyway now i am very interested in trying your mod , what cable material you are using , is it Silver Eclipse 7 ?

Wireworld platinum eclipse 7, one of the best sounding cable materials we've tried.

 

[GraveNoX]

I also noticed same thing, RCA outs directly to headphones sounded better than 3.5mm, better channel separation (less crosstalk), more focus, imaging, slightly more instrument separation. I already wrote about this finding 1 month ago, maybe now more people will find this interesting.

 

[hugo poon]

I also noticed same thing, RCA outs directly to headphones sounded better than 3.5mm, better channel separation (less crosstalk), more focus, imaging, slightly more instrument separation. I already wrote about this finding 1 month ago, maybe now more people will find this interesting.

Thanks for sharing your finding! We have compared the RCA outs with both the 3.5mm and the 6.35mm (with the same headphone cable) and the results are the same. So it's not the cable; it's the RCA outs that make it sound better.

 

[supervisor]

Thanks for sharing your finding! We have compared the RCA outs with both the 3.5mm and the 6.35mm (with the same headphone cable) and the results are the same. So it's not the cable; it's the RCA outs that make it sound better.

the RCA outs are even better on the black H2

 

[jarnopp]

My friend "did it himself" (the cable he used is a wireworld platinum eclipse). I'm a lucky guy.

Is it possible your adapter is wired out of phase, which would create a difference in sound?

 

[Currawong]

Something I just re-discovered in my written review is that I wrote that the Hugo 2 with my Utopias seemed to be warmer compared to using an amp, much in the same way as if the crossfade was engaged. That makes me suspect even more that it had something to do with the headphone plug or cable I was using at the time, if not that I had other amps hooked up at the same time.

 

[ecapsretliab]

2 questions for fellow hugosexuals.

Can the Hugo 2 go into desktop mode with 1A?
And what does it mean when the charging ball blinks on and off? This happens a lot with mine.

 

[GreenBow]

If you read what I wrote I did say all of this is subjective of course. It isn't a universal preference just like yours isn't either. Clearly there are folks here that feel the same way I do. To my ears, the headphone out in the H2 did NOT drive even my low impedance phones to the level I've heard from my other systems. It was thin and a bit analytical in comparison lacking body. There are a lot of things I do love about the H2 as a dac so I'm not trying to thrash the product. But if someone tells me this is the end game setup at this price point and everything else is subjective and colored, they are out of touch with reality. Lets please put the marketing and fanboism aside. I for one trust my ears more than marketing datasheets and numbers. As a sidenote, I did not listen to any of the tracks above with the H2. Used my reference tracks I use with all my gear.

I am still surprised by people finding thinness or even brightness with the Hugo 2. I use the Rega Brio 2017 amplifier, and I find it just right. If I play my Meridian Explorer DAC, it's thicker sounding in the mids and bass. Yet it's a bit heavy in my opinion.

The Brio is pretty much tonally balanced, from all opinions, including my own. It's not even a really high end amplifier at only £600. However it is an exceptional and outstanding (more budget orientated) amplifier.

Wondering how many have also tried using the RCA out (instead of the "headphone outputs") for headphones and earphones; once I and my friends tried this, we are never going back to the headphone out. Everything from separation, sound stage, dynamic to naturalness is being taken to a totally different level. Just amazing.

Happy listening with the Hugo 2!

Cheers,
Hugo

There isn't really a bad picture of the Hugo 2 is there. Or any Chord DAC come to think of it. Congrats on your really nice set up.

 

[GraveNoX]

the RCA outs are even better on the black H2

I used exactly same cable but with different jacks, one with RCA-jack and one with jack-jack, the RCA-jack sounded clearly better. And back then I asked, maybe when using RCA, the cable doesn't share same ground (or something else) with the hot. You know, on RCA, every cable is individual.

 

[RobinTim]

I really want the Poly to work so that the 2Go can be released soon. It would be such a magnificent upgrade for my Hugo2. Any updates on when the 2Go will be officially announced?

 

[GreenBow]

I replied to post earlier, expressing my surprise to folk still commenting that they find the Hugo 2 thin or bright. ... However after a rethink, I recommend strongly trying something like the AudioQuest Jitterbug, if you are using USB. I put one on my PC USB port when I had the Mojo, and instantly heard it mellowed the sound. I never gave another second thought and when I bought the Hugo 2, I left it on my PC. Meaning I never even heard the Hugo 2 without the Jitterbug.

 

[csglinux]

I'm embarrassed to admit I need to use Windows, but I'm unable to find the Windows 7 drivers. Can anybody share a working download link for the Windows driver?

Update - found it! Sorry for my limited internet-searching skills