Chord Electronics - Hugo 2 - The Official Thread

[Whazzzup]

 

[dontfeedphils]

L

Logically what you say sounds right but my ears tell me differently. Also we need to take into account the fpga in the Hugo. I'm not sure if the bluetooth stream is being reclocked or otherwise altered by the Hugo. Point is it just sounds so much more detailed and cleaner.

Pretty sure the Hugo 2 is doing almost nothing in your chain. Ultimately, you're listening to the DAC in your headphones, not the Hugo 2.

 

[OK-Guy]

Whazza great post that (& music)… the video was taken from the film 'The First of the Few' staring that ole warhorse David Niven, fantastic B&W war film of the development of the Spitfire and well worth a watch, the ending is a tad sad so have tissues at the ready.

 

[Luvdac]

T

Pretty sure the Hugo 2 is doing almost nothing in your chain. Ultimately, you're listening to the DAC in your headphones, not the Hugo 2.

True. The dac in the headphone bit, that is.
Now here's something to chew upon: the Hugo 2 sounds different when fed the same reference track via usb depending if it's a KANN or onkyo dps1 or allo usbridge. Now it shouldn't by your logic, cause ultimately in this scenario we are listening to the Hugo as end point.
I always feel that a 'system' has its own sound signature depending upon the different components in the system. It's given rise to an entire hobby called tweaking!

 

[dontfeedphils]

T

True. The dac in the headphone bit, that is.
Now here's something to chew upon: the Hugo 2 sounds different when fed the same reference track via usb depending if it's a KANN or onkyo dps1 or allo usbridge. Now it shouldn't by your logic, cause ultimately in this scenario we are listening to the Hugo as end point.
I always feel that a 'system' has its own sound signature depending upon the different components in the system. It's given rise to an entire hobby called tweaking!

You're confusing two issues. The Hugo 2 is doing nothing to help you in your original situation, because ultimately digital info isn't being converted until it reaches your headphone. You're not taking advantage of the Hugo 2 at all.

I never said feeding the Hugo 2 with different sources won't result in different experiences. In fact I very much prefer my Hugo 2 fed by my Windows 10 PC through a Schiit Eitr so I can give it good, clean coax in as I'm not a huge fan of the sound from the USB input.

 

[Luvdac]

You're confusing two issues. The Hugo 2 is doing nothing to help you in your original situation, because ultimately digital info isn't being converted until it reaches your headphone. You're not taking advantage of the Hugo 2 at all.

I never said feeding the Hugo 2 with different sources won't result in different experiences. In fact I very much prefer my Hugo 2 fed by my Windows 10 PC through a Schiit Eitr so I can give it good, clean coax in as I'm not a huge fan of the sound from the USB input.

Hmm...So if I understand you rightly the internal fpga is somehow being bypassed by the bluetooth stream? How does the bluetooth stream get converted to analog in the Hugo 2?
I mean this is all academic ultimately since I'm quite happy with the sound of the KANN directly to hp, but it would be interesting to shed some light on how the bt in hugo is actually working.

 

[dontfeedphils]

Hmm...So if I understand you rightly the internal fpga is somehow being bypassed by the bluetooth stream? How does the bluetooth stream get converted to analog in the Hugo 2?
I mean this is all academic ultimately since I'm quite happy with the sound of the KANN directly to hp, but it would be interesting to shed some light on how the bt in hugo is actually working.

No, the Hugo 2 is converting d to a in your case, but it's pointless because the output from Hugo 2 is then being converted back to digital and ultimately converted back to analog by the subpar DAC in your wireless headphones.

The Hugo 2 is an extra pointless step in your scenario.

 

[Amberlamps]

Whazza great post that (& music)… the video was taken from the film 'The First of the Few' staring that ole warhorse David Niven, fantastic B&W war film of the development of the Spitfire and well worth a watch, the ending is a tad sad so have tissues at the ready.

Black and white war movies from back in the day, they made a boring sunday afternoon bearable.

Leslie Howard a british movie star and his friend were flying back to england from lisbon during the war and were shot down and killed by german aircraft.

The German spies in lisbon pegged his friend as Winston Churchill and him Churchills bodyguard, which they vaguely looked like.

One would of thought that the spies would of atleast taken a selfie with them and then emailed it to their superiors for verification.

I just wish I was as rich as Jeremy Clarkson. As I also want to plant an English Electric Lightning in my garden.

 

[bluenight]

What fidelity would i gain with hugo 2 driving hd800s compared to mojo that i have know? Yes of course i know its more detailed. How about better bass amount? Got good synergy?

Also using hugo 2 as an dac to external amp and still wanting to use the remote control for volume. Will there be a any soundquaility loss that way compared to using the fixed output voltage?

 

[ZappaMan]

The bass is fuller with jump from mojo to hugo 2. It’s worth the price of admission. I was not fully satisfied with my Hd800s with mojo, I felt it was lacking a fullness, but now it’s complete, full immersion, I’m a bit intoxicated with how good the synergy is.
If I had to put a number on it, I’d say the headphones seem to working at least twice as hard to entertain me, which is hard to knock, when they were pretty good to start with.
But following the bass guitar, so rewarding, so much texture.

 

[bluenight]

The bass is fuller with jump from mojo to hugo 2. It’s worth the price of admission. I was not fully satisfied with my Hd800s with mojo, I felt it was lacking a fullness, but now it’s complete, full immersion, I’m a bit intoxicated with how good the synergy is.
If I had to put a number on it, I’d say the headphones seem to working at least twice as hard to entertain me, which is hard to knock, when they were pretty good to start with.
But following the bass guitar, so rewarding, so much texture.

Yeah i am not fully satisfied with mojo either. Read hugo 2 got more attack, that might help.

Im deciding between this and sennheiers own hdv 820 to do the job or hdv 820 with qutest dac. Im auditioning an hdv 820 soon though. Its Hard to decide havent heard neither yet.

 

[GreenBow]

No, the Hugo 2 is converting d to a in your case, but it's pointless because the output from Hugo 2 is then being converted back to digital and ultimately converted back to analog by the subpar DAC in your wireless headphones.

The Hugo 2 is an extra pointless step in your scenario.

I might have understood this wrongly, but I read it different.

I read that the user was connecting sound from TV to Hugo 2 via Bluetooth. Then from Hugo 2 to headphones. Not Bluetooth headphones. ... If I am wrong sorry. Just saying.

 

[dontfeedphils]

Hi, my apologies for crashing in on the 2go discussion but I felt to complete my observations on the thermal shutdown issue which my hugo 2 experienced a while back.
I let it run plugged in for three days ( it moved into desktop mode after 1 day) without a recurrence of the thermal trip. I then unplugged it from the wall and let run on internal batteries for a couple of hours ( Bart light on green), no issues there either.
So I can safely assume that a thermal shutdown is most likely ( as one other poster mentioned) when the hugo 2 is charging from a depleted state and playing at the same time.
Shouldn't happen, but it does and did.
I won't be sending in a formal complaint to chord, it's good enough for now that it's on the forum.
On a positive note, I want to put in a good word about the bluetooth on the hugo 2. Right now I've got the KANN sending an aptx stream to the hugo. Attached to the headphone jack of the Hugo is an aptx hd transmitter sending the signal from the Hugo to a pair of Sony wh1000x2 n/c headphones (n/c on) and damn it's good as far as bt goes. Far better than kann direct to hps via bt.

I might have understood this wrongly, but I read it different.

I read that the user was connecting sound from TV to Hugo 2 via Bluetooth. Then from Hugo 2 to headphones. Not Bluetooth headphones. ... If I am wrong sorry. Just saying.

^

 

[Rob Watts]

@Rob Watts, any reason in particular you would recommend 24/7 powered on for the Hugo 2? Seems like a waste of energy (albeit it very little) as well as increased charge/discharge cycles even when in desktop mode.

The benefit of keeping it on is that it keeps the battery to about 80% charge, which is the voltage needed for maximum life. Because the charging current is set to be about the same as the current that Hugo 2 draws, then there is no (or very small) nett current into or out of the battery, so you are not losing out on the charge/discharge cycles life. Assuming that the battery is 10% nett charge from the charger, then that means that you would have a charge discharge life of 10 (1 over 10%) *1000 (no of charge discharge cycles for 50% capacity left) *8 (no of hours a discharge cycle is) which comes to 80,000 hours of operation - or about 10 years of being on permanently. But even with 50% capacity, Hugo 2 will still work perfectly well in standby mode, and will actually work with 0% battery capacity (or battery disconnected). Of course, this assumes the battery does not fail with an internal short!

The intent upon switching it off, is that the unit will be later used for mobile, so the charger is set to fully charge the batteries to 100%.

This is what confuses me.

I have my H2 power cord plugged in at the wall and turned on so that hugo starts charging, after 24 hours of being plugged in, h2 then goes into desktop mode. I understand that part.

Now, what confuses me is this.

For us to get the rough estimate of 2 decades of battery life that was quoted by Chord if Hugo 2 is always kept in desktop mode.

Do we

A, leave hugo 2 in standby mode. ( which is, the power lead plugged in at the wall and turned on, but H2 itself is turned off )

Or

B, the Hugo 2 power lead needs to be plugged in and turned on at the wall, and, Hugo2 also needs to be turned on as if we were playing music.

Both ways are technically desktop mode, but the manual just says, after 24 hours of charge, hugo 2 will enter intelligent desktop mode and the battery will neither be charged or discharged. Auto shutdown will be disabled in this mode.

It says the battery will not be charged or discharged ?

Even though I see a pink coloured power button which indicates hugo 2 is in desktop mode, if after Iistening to music I use hugos remote to turn it off, the battery starts charging for atleast 1 hour, usually more and thats from full charge.

So I dont understand why it would do that if the battery was fully charged and being used in desktop mode.

I would of thought that when in desktop mode, battery power would remain the same since no charging or discharging takes place, as per what the manual states.

It would be good if we can get things clarified with regards to no charge/discharge taking place in dsktop mode and which if any of the two ways will result in maximum battery life ?

See my reply above...

Cool.

I dont suppose you know what a slow white blinking power light on hugo means ? Flashing once every 3 or so seconds.

I saw it flashing one time when it was on charge, turned the charger off, waited five minutes and plugged the charging cable back in and the flashing didnt reappear.

I have no idea what it means.

It means the charger has detected a fault - this is normally due to the charger providing less than the minimum 1A current needed.

So whats the deal with the 2Go? Any updates @Rob Watts ? Is it at least still in development? Otherwise I will now start looking into DAPs.

Sorry it's not my project! But I have been told by John Franks that the development is proceeding forward well, and it will be launched later this year...

Hi, my apologies for crashing in on the 2go discussion but I felt to complete my observations on the thermal shutdown issue which my hugo 2 experienced a while back.
I let it run plugged in for three days ( it moved into desktop mode after 1 day) without a recurrence of the thermal trip. I then unplugged it from the wall and let run on internal batteries for a couple of hours ( Bart light on green), no issues there either.
So I can safely assume that a thermal shutdown is most likely ( as one other poster mentioned) when the hugo 2 is charging from a depleted state and playing at the same time.
Shouldn't happen, but it does and did.
I won't be sending in a formal complaint to chord, it's good enough for now that it's on the forum.
On a positive note, I want to put in a good word about the bluetooth on the hugo 2. Right now I've got the KANN sending an aptx stream to the hugo. Attached to the headphone jack of the Hugo is an aptx hd transmitter sending the signal from the Hugo to a pair of Sony wh1000x2 n/c headphones (n/c on) and damn it's good as far as bt goes. Far better than kann direct to hps via bt.

You will potentially have problems with thermal shutdown if you run it at red or flashing red battery and charge at the same time. The reason for this is the charger has greater internal power dissipation with low battery voltage. When I travel on long flights greater than 8 hours, I have my Hugo 2 on top of the lap-top vents, so it is naturally warm, and I use my battery back-up bank at blue battery light - and even though the ambient is 40 deg C, sat on top of the lap-top, it never shuts down. But if I forget to add the battery bank, and it is at flashing red, then it can shut-down with the battery charger connected.

Regarding Hugo’s Bluetooth.

The other day I was messing about with Hugo and I decided to see if it would connect to my 4k tv via bluetooth.

Not only did it pair and connect, there was absolutely no lip sync issues, which stunned me, because everything else connected to it had to be tweaked due to lip sync issues.

I have now found a way to watch loud movies at night and not waken my neighbours.

Watched that Dunkirk movie, although a boring movie, the spitfire engines sounded excellent

Wait till you hear it via an M Scaler...

 

[Buster1679]

It Hanks for that Rob, much appreciated.

I know this was mentioned before but I didn’t see anyone answer it. Has anyone been successful pairing the HUGO 2 with Apple TV4 via Bluetooth.

Also and I know this has been brought up before, when connecting Hugo2 to IOS and Android handheld and media devices via Bluetooth I get a scratchy connection. Anyone know how that could potentially be cleaned up?