[OK-Guy]

MK, I'm actually enjoying your excitement, reminds me of way back when I first got a system at 16 (well it wasn't really a system more a kind of music-centre), I bought a Ferguson record-player/tuner/amp (one-box thingy with a smoked-glass perspex cover) and Philips cassette-deck, the separate speakers (which were included) had fixed cables & the CP had it's own 5pin-din cable, it was the mutts-nuts I tell ya and I absolutely loved it... it wasn't so much the sound-quality it produced but the amazing results, girls!

honestly, enjoy your trip & beware of snake-oil... expensive stuff indeed.

 

[musickid]

I had a Tandy Realistic brand dual cassette player at age 12. At 17 i had a NAD amp, German dual turntable and Celestion 3 speakers with the titanium domes all on spiked supports!! Then nothing for years really till the freedom i get now from headphones and dacs. I use to play "rave" vinyls and the girls at night would sit on the railings drinking Thunderbirds lol. XL recordings, praga khan, 808 state, rozalla, injected with a poison, it's just a feeling.....lol. All this by night whilst attending a very posh school by day.

 

[nogi replicant]

Have the m scaler on pre order to pair with my hugo 2. But am also seriously considering getting the TT2 or a used Dave soon for home setup.

Anyways re cables for H2 and M scaler. The moon option would be great but is about $400 Aus to get a .75m to Australia. So whilst I still might go down that path the do it yourself option does seem like a no brainer. I can get a get a 3.5mm male to dual RCA female adapter for $5. Just not sure on the BNC to RCA adapter. Is it meant to be female BNC to male RCA? Thanks

 

[musickid]

You need these nogi https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N20F61M

I'm also new to the hugo2/mscaler club. My mscaler arrives early next week.

 

[nogi replicant]

Great, thanks.

 

[OK-Guy]

in hindsight, my first 'proper system' was a A&R Cambridge (Arcam) A60 amp, Gerrard turntable, Aiwa cassette & Rogers LS3/5A speakers... now that sounded real good.

wish I'd kept the speakers, good vintage ones go for £2k+ on ebay.

 

[Hooster]

The all in one 3.5 to dual bnc by chord co. specifing a 75 ohm ready to go cable would be an excellent solution.

Seems like a no brainer, I would order it.

 

[muski]

Been having some fun this week doing some side-by-side listening of a Focal Utopias/Hugo 2 setup and STAX SR-009 headphones driven by an SRM-D10 that a friendly kindly brought back from Japan.

The Hugo 2 and SRM-D10 are similar in spec: both "transportable" DAC + Headphone amps, both battery-powered, both even use microUSB inputs. The STAX SRM-D10 does have 3.5mm analog in. The Chord Hugo 2 claims 7 hours of playback, while the STAX claims half that. DAC capabilities for PCM & DSD look similar too.

I’ve been swapping back and forth for the past three days, and what really struck me is how remarkably SIMILAR these two setups sound. Maybe it’s my aging ears, but to me there was close to nothing in it. For reference, I can easily hear a difference between the Mojo and the Hugo 2 driving the Utopias—the difference here is much smaller than that).

If I had to draw some distinctions, the STAX soundstage was a smidge wider, with perhaps a little more air, slightly faster attack and a tiny bit more detail. On the other hand, the Utopia/Hugo 2 was a little more “natural” (esp. with female voices and violins), had a little less of a hole in the middle of the soundstage, was maybe a smidge less fatiguing, had slightly more powerful (but appropriate) bass, and could render lower response freq, including subsonics. Unsurprisingly, the Hugo 2 could drive the Utopias to higher volumes than the SRM-D10 could the SR-009 (but still plenty loud enough). The only other thing I’d say is that while the STAX SR-009 headphones are comfortable, the Focal Utopias take comfort to the next level—like an old pair of slippers. This was perhaps the biggest difference.

But sonically, the above list is really splitting hairs, and many times I had to reach up and touch the phones to remember which ones I had on. Both systems were a total delight to listen to across a mix of genres and formats (44, 96, 192, DSD). I'd say anyone could be very happy with either of them. I’ll be curious to hear others’ impressions.

 

[Slim1970]

Been having some fun this week doing some side-by-side listening of a Focal Utopias/Hugo 2 setup and STAX SR-009 headphones driven by an SRM-D10 that a friendly kindly brought back from Japan.

The Hugo 2 and SRM-D10 are similar in spec: both "transportable" DAC + Headphone amps, both battery-powered, both even use microUSB inputs. The STAX SRM-D10 does have 3.5mm analog in. The Chord Hugo 2 claims 7 hours of playback, while the STAX claims half that. DAC capabilities for PCM & DSD look similar too.

I’ve been swapping back and forth for the past three days, and what really struck me is how remarkably SIMILAR these two setups sound. Maybe it’s my aging ears, but to me there was close to nothing in it. For reference, I can easily hear a difference between the Mojo and the Hugo 2 driving the Utopias—the difference here is much smaller than that).

If I had to draw some distinctions, the STAX soundstage was a smidge wider, with perhaps a little more air, slightly faster attack and a tiny bit more detail. On the other hand, the Utopia/Hugo 2 was a little more “natural” (esp. with female voices and violins), had a little less of a hole in the middle of the soundstage, was maybe a smidge less fatiguing, had slightly more powerful (but appropriate) bass, and could render lower response freq, including subsonics. Unsurprisingly, the Hugo 2 could drive the Utopias to higher volumes than the SRM-D10 could the SR-009 (but still plenty loud enough). The only other thing I’d say is that while the STAX SR-009 headphones are comfortable, the Focal Utopias take comfort to the next level—like an old pair of slippers. This was perhaps the biggest difference.

But sonically, the above list is really splitting hairs, and many times I had to reach up and touch the phones to remember which ones I had on. Both systems were a total delight to listen to across a mix of genres and formats (44, 96, 192, DSD). I'd say anyone could be very happy with either of them. I’ll be curious to hear others’ impressions.

Interesting setup for the Stax SR-009's. I always thought that Stax gear needed desktop quality gear to get the most out of them. You're brief review is saying something different. I have the same Hugo 2 and Danacable setup for my Utopia's so I know what that setup is capable of sounding like.

 

[tunes]

watches? Just like the Royals, No need for that.

I have a Questyle DAP, QP1R that I use to feed FLAC files via optical to my HUGO2 for listening at night with Empire Ears IEM. Last night I decided to volume match the direct output from the DAP with the HUGO and compare the same selections. To my surprise to my ears, there was little difference between the two in SQ. The DAP sounds a bit clearer and the HUGO more laid back. I expected a much greater difference but both sounded great. Has anyone else compared these two?

 

[highfell]

Can I have some advice please.

I am after some closed headphones (non iems) to use on the train (90 mins one way daily journey, so comfort is important, as is that they don’t leak sound).

I have decided to buy a pair to use when I am not using my se846s. I also have open non iems of HD600s and Beyer T90s for home use.

I don’t mind buying second hand but want to limit myself to £250 max, and preferably less, unless there is a standout at a bit more .......

Thanks for any responses.

 

[Hooster]

I have a Questyle DAP, QP1R that I use to feed FLAC files via optical to my HUGO2 for listening at night with Empire Ears IEM. Last night I decided to volume match the direct output from the DAP with the HUGO and compare the same selections. To my surprise to my ears, there was little difference between the two in SQ. The DAP sounds a bit clearer and the HUGO more laid back. I expected a much greater difference but both sounded great. Has anyone else compared these two?

Well, wait till you hear the HUGO with Mscaler. That will blow you away. Questyle is good stuff though, no surprise that it sounds clear..

 

[tunes]

Well, wait till you hear the HUGO with Mscaler. That will blow you away. Questyle is good stuff though, no surprise that it sounds clear..

In fact, it’s amazing how good the QP1R is considering it’s size, portability and cost. The UI is clunky but works well enough if you use the haptic keys. If only it could stream with WiFi for TIDAL or even better with Qobuz. I use it also as a source for the DAVE and HUGO2 via optical.

 

[Swiftfalcon]

Been having some fun this week doing some side-by-side listening of a Focal Utopias/Hugo 2 setup and STAX SR-009 headphones driven by an SRM-D10 that a friendly kindly brought back from Japan.

The Hugo 2 and SRM-D10 are similar in spec: both "transportable" DAC + Headphone amps, both battery-powered, both even use microUSB inputs. The STAX SRM-D10 does have 3.5mm analog in. The Chord Hugo 2 claims 7 hours of playback, while the STAX claims half that. DAC capabilities for PCM & DSD look similar too.

I’ve been swapping back and forth for the past three days, and what really struck me is how remarkably SIMILAR these two setups sound. Maybe it’s my aging ears, but to me there was close to nothing in it. For reference, I can easily hear a difference between the Mojo and the Hugo 2 driving the Utopias—the difference here is much smaller than that).

If I had to draw some distinctions, the STAX soundstage was a smidge wider, with perhaps a little more air, slightly faster attack and a tiny bit more detail. On the other hand, the Utopia/Hugo 2 was a little more “natural” (esp. with female voices and violins), had a little less of a hole in the middle of the soundstage, was maybe a smidge less fatiguing, had slightly more powerful (but appropriate) bass, and could render lower response freq, including subsonics. Unsurprisingly, the Hugo 2 could drive the Utopias to higher volumes than the SRM-D10 could the SR-009 (but still plenty loud enough). The only other thing I’d say is that while the STAX SR-009 headphones are comfortable, the Focal Utopias take comfort to the next level—like an old pair of slippers. This was perhaps the biggest difference.

But sonically, the above list is really splitting hairs, and many times I had to reach up and touch the phones to remember which ones I had on. Both systems were a total delight to listen to across a mix of genres and formats (44, 96, 192, DSD). I'd say anyone could be very happy with either of them. I’ll be curious to hear others’ impressions.

I have listened to both the setups you mentioned. The d10>009 I listened at an event. Though I was surprised by how competent d10 is to drive 009, I felt it fell short of hugo2>utopia. The latter has a more even soundstage and coherent imaging. D10>009 has a collapsed and weird shaped soundstage by comparison I felt. The resolution & clarity of d10>009 is pretty good though and may be real close to hugo2>utopia (within 5%). The latter takes it on tonality & dynamics though.

 

[muski]

Can I have some advice please.

I am after some closed headphones (non iems) to use on the train (90 mins one way daily journey, so comfort is important, as is that they don’t leak sound).

I have decided to buy a pair to use when I am not using my se846s. I also have open non iems of HD600s and Beyer T90s for home use.

I don’t mind buying second hand but want to limit myself to £250 max, and preferably less, unless there is a standout at a bit more .......

Thanks for any responses.

The MrSpeakers Aeon Flow Closed would be an option. A little over your budget, but worth auditioning. Very good sound isolation, and great quality audio. I use mine with my Chord Mojopoly for travel.