[Guy Fawkes]

Good question. This in my opinion is a yes. Even better, the Hugo 2 is great for IEMs as well but great in a way than the Mojo 2 so for IEMs they’re not really in competition with each other. Even with full size. I hope that makes sense. The Hugo 2 does not replace the Mojo 2 for me. If I were constantly mobile and did not have a big living space or office and only had room for the Mojo 2 and Hugo 2 I could see myself being totally happy for years and years and years.

I got the Mojo 2 when it came out and very quickly started using it as my go to for IEMs. I would pop around to other devices from time to time just to hear a different IEM presentation but the Mojo 2 was almost always what I went to for IEMs. It impressed me so much that I got the Hugo 2 in hopes that it would be the same experience just for headphones. I got the Hugo 2 used so I could just sell it back into the used market for close to the same price if it did not give me what I wanted. Was the Hugo 2 the same experience just for headphones? In a lot of ways yes it was. So if that’s what you’re looking for I found exactly that and I highly recommend the Hugo 2 to pair with the Mojo 2. The Hugo 2 also gives a different presentation for IEMs than the mojo 2 does and that makes me super happy. They do different things so I see no reason one would replace the other. This is a very very good thing.

I have never been blown away by the Mojo 2 with full sized headphones after experiencing what it can do with IEMs. It’s great with headphones, don’t misunderstand me, but I am almost constantly blown away with what it does IEMs.

I also do not think either the Mojo 2 or Hugo 2 are perfect do all make everything sound amazing devices. There are some IEMs that totally shine on the Mojo 2 better than I’ve heard on any other devices and there are some that do not. It does not make any IEMs lose anything. Some headphones on it though do fall short from what they are on other devices. Also, there are some headphones that sound better on the Hugo 2 than I’ve heard on any other set ups and there are headphones that don’t.

The field of dacs and amps and set ups designed for full sized headphones is just so so so much more vast and expensive that even as amazing as the Hugo 2 is its just not going to be able to get close to some of the things I’ve experienced with full sized headphones on some of my friends wild set ups. Tube amps are a great example. Headphones like the Sennheisers and ZMFs are very good on Hugo 2 but out them on tube amps and other higher current amps and they just do things sound wise that the Hugo 2 isn’t designed to do.

The field of devices build specifically for IEMs though is so much smaller and to me in my experience the Mojo 2 is very much the best I have ever experienced in that field. For the price of the Mojo 2 I seriously doubt anything can come anywhere close.

What I love about the Mojo 2 is that to me it has come to be in my collection a device specifically for IEMs that can be very good fir headphones when needed. I don’t have a lot of devices that are that. I have a few dongles, very well reviewed ones, that are amazing tor IEMs but in comparison nir nearly as good for full sized headphones.

I do have a wildly great but giant headphone amplifier and wildly great but giant dac that constantly blows my mind for all headphones. That set up is huge though. It needs 2 shelves.

The Hugo 2 is like the bridge between the Mojo 2 and that set up. This is exactly what I was hoping for when I got the Hugo 2. The Mojo 2, Hugo 2, and my big set up all sound different and do different things and this is exactly what I want. The Hugo 2 is as close to a sonic Swiss Army knife as anything I’ve come across thus far. It’s not perfect but it parties super hard in both the IEM world and full sized headphone world.

I hope that helps! End of the day if I had had had to get rid if all my audio gear except for two pieces I would probably chose the Mojo 2 and Hugo 2 because the two of them together can bring so much awesomeness to so many headphones and two channed set ups as stand alone DACs at such wildly small sized. That’s what in my eyes makes them in my eyes a totally unbeatable pair.

I would like to one day hear a Hugo TT2 or Dave but those are most likely never going to be in my price bracket.

Lastly I’ll say this. The Mojo 2 does SO much so well at its price that in my eyes it makes the full price MSRP Hugo 2 over priced but about $1000. To me the awesomeness of the Mojo 2 makes the Hugo 2 only worth it in the used market around $1500ish. Yes the Mojo 2 is that good. It’s no insult to Chord. The Hugo 2 has been around much longer than the Mojo 2 and at the time the full MSRP of the Hugo 2 was probably great for what it did at its size. But the problem is that they made the Mojo 2 SO DAMN GOOD at such a low price that the full price difference between the two is not not worth it in my eyes.

Thank you very much for your comments, I think my ideas are a little clearer now. I will keep my Mojo 2 but as soon as the opportunity arises I will not hesitate to try the Hugo 2.

 

[jlbrach]

Fantastic post.

But in audio (as in so many things we buy), it's a fallacy to think 4x the price should bring 4x the quality. It doesn't work that way hardly anywhere. Returns diminish quickly, as economists would say: each new marginal dollar spent brings less and less added return in quality. It's cheap to make it sound good. It's expensive to make it sound great. It's very, very expensive to make it sound incredible.

That said, I agree: the Hugo2 sounds nowhere near 4x as good as the Mojo2.

But that's the wrong way to look at it. Because all Chord products already sound fantastic (except the Anni headphone amp, imho). So you don't really need to go up the price ladder to have a great experience as everyone who has the Mojo2 knows.

But what you do get when you go up that price ladder is a different sound: smoother, more accurate, more convincing transients, better sense of physical space, instruments are individually more coherent and less smeared. Technically this is a "better" sound because the higher tap levels increase the accuracy of the reconstructed waveform.

But so what? If you just want to hear slamming music that really punches hard, the Mojo2 is fantastic for that. In fact, I sometimes like it better for certain kinds of music (like groove-based stuff: early Herbie Hancock, say) than even M-Dave. And don't even get me started about how great that EQ is.

Indeed, one thing I've found to be true is that certain musical experiences are even better on audio gear with less fidelity. Bass-heavy stuff on turntables, for example. 80s early digital tracks on tubes is another example.

So, imo, don't worry about the crazy high end, unless you're into that particular flavor of audiophilia which is looking for the best reproduced sonic approximations to real-world spaces and sounds. Which, I must admit, can be super cool and mesmerizing. Those of us fortunate enough to be well-placed financially can play in that particular space.

So plug in your cheap and amazing Mojo2 and live your life!

But for people who live in the real world, 5 figures can be FAR more productively spent than chasing the diminishing returns of the highest fidelity.

there are ways of comparing products,one is relative value where a lessor product gives you say 80% of the performance of the more expensive product...the other is purely which is better...in the case of the mojo2 vs the hugo 2 the hugo 2 is clearly better BUT on a value basis the Mojo 2 wins out...if you have the spare cash you go for the better item if you dont you go for the less expensive one and speak of its value!...I happen to have both so this is not bashing the mojo 2

 

[Patswalker]

Thank you very much for your comments, I think my ideas are a little clearer now. I will keep my Mojo 2 but as soon as the opportunity arises I will not hesitate to try the Hugo 2.

100% what I would do. Keep the Mojo 2.

 

[Infoseeker]

My Hugo 2 portable is distorting when approaching higher volumes and even at the Line-level mode (when you start device with the holding down the crossfeed button).

Do I need to send in the device for repair? Or like I need to change the battery?

 

[miketlse]

My Hugo 2 portable is distorting when approaching higher volumes and even at the Line-level mode (when you start device with the holding down the crossfeed button).

Do I need to send in the device for repair? Or like I need to change the battery?

Are you listening direct from the Hugo 2 (headphones or iems) or using the Hugo 2 output to feed a separate power amp?

 

[Infoseeker]

Are you listening direct from the Hugo 2 (headphones or iems) or using the Hugo 2 output to feed a separate power amp?

Both scenarios.

I first noticed with a chained amp and had to lower the volume.

With a headphone directly into the Hugo2/2Go. I also get the distortion as I go louder. Not even half way the volume limit.

Possible both my rca and headphone connections are broken, this device is really old. Or could be the battery.

 

[miketlse]

Both scenarios.

I first noticed with a chained amp and had to lower the volume.

With a headphone directly into the Hugo2/2Go. I also get the distortion as I go louder. Not even half way the volume limit.

Possible both my rca and headphone connections are broken, this device is really old. Or could be the battery.

Is it distorting on both right and left channels, or just one of them?

 

[Infoseeker]

Is it distorting on both right and left channels, or just one of them?

It seems to be both sides for me.

 

[miketlse]

It seems to be both sides for me.

Attempting a process of elimination

1. If you had been experiencing the symptoms solely when using an external amp, I would have suspected that you were using a too high volume for the external amp input sensitivity
2. You are experiencing the symptoms with headphones and iems as well, at less than half the volume limit:
   1. In principle you could still be using too high a volume if both the headphones and iems were unusually sensitive. If you got the symptoms with a pair of hard to drive headphones (at a lowish volume), this could eliminate the cause as just being too high a volume (I am bearing in mind that the Hugo 2 is powerful, and can quite easily direct drive nearfield speakers)
   2. If your symptoms were just one channel, then I would have suspected maybe a fault with one of the output transistors. However since you get the symptoms with both channels, you would need to have a fault with both output transistors - to me this would be a much lower probability than just a fault with one channel
   3. Similarly a fault with both the rca and headphone connectors: yes owners have had faults with one connector, but surely the same fault arising with both sets of connectors must be a much lower probability
3. Working backwards from the 'outputs':
   1. I doubt a problem with the FPGA. Modern chips are usually very robust, and I don't recall reading about any other owners reporting having had any FPGA failures
   2. This leads my reasoning back to before the FPGA, to the battery/charger area which you initially proposed

Just my opinion, but based on the above, the cause could be more complex than can be solved at home, so email support@chordelectronics.co.uk and see what they propose.

 

[ChrisGB]

100% what I would do. Keep the Mojo 2.

Does this happen when running Hugo 2 on a charger? If not, that would point to potential battery issues.

 

[mbirand]

recent hugo2 owner here. perhaps already discussed previously. so i apologize that i’m too impatient to go thru all the pages.

my setup is hugo2go with iphone using rigelian app for local files on sd card. most files are pcm but i have some dsd files as well some of which happen to be 512. i can play all these with no problems except 512s.

afaik, hugo2 can play native dsd512. not in my case. bitperfect option is also selected. i am not sure what am i doing wrong.

when i hit play a dsd512 song, all i get is super high pitch noise and stuttering.

any help

 

[Nostoi]

Back where I started: Hugo 2. Bought again for at least the 3rd time, maybe the 4th. I bought new this time and will be keeping until Hugo 3 comes out in 2032. Going toslink this time after my last 2Go experience. Lotoo PAW D1 for desktop and Lotoo PAW 5000MK2 for portable, with its dedicated toslink output. That's it; ending where I began.

 

[kajetanjazz]

That's it; ending where I began.

I feel like “ending” is a bit hyperbolic here!

 

[Nostoi]

I feel like “ending” is a bit hyperbolic here!

One has to establish some sense of an end even if it's a delusion...otherwise the (audiophile) road goes on forever!

 

[captblaze]

One has to establish some sense of an end even if it's a delusion...otherwise the (audiophile) road goes on forever!

Sometimes you just have to go back home. I have 3 pieces in my collection that are re buys after I regretted selling and will never let them go again. Although, I just purchased a Hugo2 for the first (and only) time and am looking forward to what it brings to my collection