Chord Hugo - The PORTABLE discussion thread

[Duncan]

Well, at time of writing, I have had a Hugo in my possession for a little over three hours, and - as part of a double celebration, this (again, at time of writing) is my 10,000th post on Head-Fi...

So, for this joyous time of double celebration, I thought I would bring back a thread that appears to have been sorely missed in the portables forums for a few weeks now, a place to discuss portable aspects of the Hugo...

For 'reference' / deskbound discussion, I would strongly suggest that posts be directed to the original thread, which can be found here so as to not contravene the spirit of the portables forum as it did once before...

Anyway, I'll set the ball rolling, the combination of Fiio X5 -> Hugo -> Sennheiser IE800, wow, just wow - Far too new a sound to these ears to offer a truly informed opinion, however - so long as this carries on sounding as crisp, detailed, yet strangely analogue, I think I may well have found the new love of my life!

Congratulations to me twice over!

 

[Rob Watts]

Well done on your 10k posts! How long will it take to hit Hugo's 26,368?
 
Nice to see a portable presence again, after all, that was the original idea of Hugo.
 
Have fun with Hugo Duncan,
 
Rob 

 

[b0ssMax]

Duncan. I too have an ie800 and hugo. Agree its a great combo, as i use it with my ak120.

Still experimenting on the tips of the ie800 but almost getting there. The hugo has not been a disappointment.

i think its the most analog sounding in my stash.

 

[deadie]

Since buying the Hugo, I've gone through the LG G2, Nexus 5, Asus Note - none worked with the Hugo via OTG in the low-res USB port.  All iPhones / touches / pads, of course, have worked all along (hi-res USB) without a hitch.
 
Very happy to report that the LG G3 works via OTG no muss, no fuss, sounds great.  
 
And being that the phone has AptX, Bluetooth sounds quite good.  Albeit still with a tiny bit of (high frequency sounding, morse code-y tapping) static when using my UERMs...  LCD-X / HD-800, static and buzzing are not perceptible.
 
I love having a reference portable / battery powered DAC to schlep around.  Nightstand in the evening, desktop at work, 2 channel McIntosh room, is all good!
 
By now I'm used to hooking / unhooking all the various cables.  No problemo.  But I still let out more than a little grumble every time with that godforsaken on/off switch. 

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

Thank god..i would poke my eyes if I read the same "i own them all and dont have an agenda but Hugo is not all that" comment...
Subbed

 

[Duncan]

Well done on your 10k posts! How long will it take to hit Hugo's 26,368?

Nice to see a portable presence again, after all, that was the original idea of Hugo.

Have fun with Hugo Duncan,

Rob 

Rob,

I don't know whether to shake you by the hand, or cast you evils - only had about two hours sleep last night, and it is squarely your fault! I'm a bit of a wily old fox when it comes to this game, but even me - once again, I've found overnight that I'm rediscovering tracks / artists / albums that I thought I knew intimately - this is sort of like (to me, right now, with my tired head on), marrying your childhood sweetheart, who you've always kept in touch with, and finding out they're a millionaire, and want to share every penny with you...

Re post count, blimey - at my rate, about the year 2030 - haha!

Thank god..i would poke my eyes if I read the same "i own them all and dont have an agenda but Hugo is not all that" comment...
Subbed

Yes, agreed - that is my primary reason for starting this thread, and I'm going to vigilantly maintain it - I don't want to play the penis envy game - I want to get to the core of what head-fi is about, if people have issues, want to know if combinations work etc. etc. in a portable aspect - I want for this thread, assuming it takes off - to be an almanac for all things Hugo for being out and about.

 

[Rob Watts]

Rob,

I don't know whether to shake you by the hand, or cast you evils - only had about two hours sleep last night, and it is squarely your fault! I'm a bit of a wily old fox when it comes to this game, but even me - once again, I've found overnight that I'm rediscovering tracks / artists / albums that I thought I knew intimately - this is sort of like (to me, right now, with my tired head on), marrying your childhood sweetheart, who you've always kept in touch with, and finding out they're a millionaire, and want to share every penny with you...

Re post count, blimey - at my rate, about the year 2030 - haha!
Yes, agreed - that is my primary reason for starting this thread, and I'm going to vigilantly maintain it - I don't want to play the penis envy game - I want to get to the core of what head-fi is about, if people have issues, want to know if combinations work etc. etc. in a portable aspect - I want for this thread, assuming it takes off - to be an almanac for all things Hugo for being out and about.

No thanks on the cast you evils - but I suspect a few manufacturers would like too!
 
Hopefully the thread will talk about Hugo's musicality - that's the aspect that got me so excited 10 months ago. As a designer, one has few landmark products - when everything changes from a technical perspective - the DAC 64 was one, Hugo is the other. Hugo has had more of a musical impact on me than any other product I have designed. It also had the effect of changing my perspectives - post Hugo I can see what the vinyl guys have been going on about.
 
Rob 

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[b0ssMax]

Thank you Rob. I've been listening to redbook rips and i've been enjoying the music out of the hugo a lot.

I'm not a pro reviewer nor claim to have golden ears, but the hugo has been awesome for me. I'll probably stop buying portable dac amps for quite a while.



On anothter topic, i to am hopeful this thread will have more reviews than the other one.

 

[OK-Guy]

Well, at time of writing, I have had a Hugo in my possession for a little over three hours, and - as part of a double celebration, this (again, at time of writing) is my 10,000th post on Head-Fi...

So, for this joyous time of double celebration, I thought I would bring back a thread that appears to have been sorely missed in the portables forums for a few weeks now, a place to discuss portable aspects of the Hugo...

For 'reference' / deskbound discussion, I would strongly suggest that posts be directed to the original thread, which can be found here so as to not contravene the spirit of the portables forum as it did once before...

Anyway, I'll set the ball rolling, the combination of Fiio X5 -> Hugo -> Sennheiser IE800, wow, just wow - Far too new a sound to these ears to offer a truly informed opinion, however - so long as this carries on sounding as crisp, detailed, yet strangely analogue, I think I may well have found the new love of my life!

Congratulations to me twice over!

 
congrats on your 10,000th post...

  (gulp, I feel a bit inadequate now, thanks for that...

)
 
I was a bit disappointed to read your post in the ZX1-thread that the Sony cable(WMC-NWH10) was not backward compatible with the WM-Z, I would of seriously contemplated getting another... don't get me wrong I love my ZX1 but the Z1070 has a special place in my heart, still onwards & upwards... I look forward to reading about the plethora of portable sources for the Hugo...

 

[Duncan]

I'm now starting to realise (after going for a 30 minute stroll last night that ended up as a 3.5hr marathon thanks to Hugo) that there really is life in the old redbook dog yet, the detail pulled out of files is incredible

One very minor annoyance though, I wish it could remember the last input you was using when power cycling, especially as coax is at the furthest point of button presses...

 

[SilverEars]

This thread is a great idea as the Hugo is a portable and it's not more expensive than the AK240 that resides here also.  I understand it's a DAC and given it's price it's "high end," but to me it's portable aspect is where it shines.  I have said many times in the other Hugo thread.  Hugo with iems is going from 720p to 1080p.  It's high resolvability is immediately noticible with iems.  I feel that Hugo is meant for iems.  With iems, it's resolvability is nothing I've experienced before.  I got to say Hugo is the best portable for iems period.  I cannot find flaws with it for iems.
 
Even it's specs, the numbers are perfect match for iems.  Close to 0 OI, and etc..  Looking at the specs, you can see it's portable focused.  Even the almighty AK240 has 3.5ohm OI, which will not bide with will some BA iems that dip very low in impedance.
 
Subjectively and specs, it's all there for portable use.

 

[OK-Guy]

I may post some exciting news in the next day or so... it's all good...

 

[Duncan]

I have some exciting news of my own, The Hugo has such a tight grip of the IE800s it's unreal, overall presence is increased by a fairly large magnitude but the main things I've noticed are bass control, there's some very seriously tight grip here, absolutely no overhang that I can hear or detect, no sibilance, and special awareness / soundstage, well, binaural recordings now sound holographic, or maybe I should say that on my old setup they sound very 2D / closed in.

All in all thoroughly impressed and excited

 

[SilverEars]

Since you mentioned binaural, try this.  It wowed me with Hugo.