[seeteeyou]

IMHO it somewhat depends on someone's frame of reference or reference point. For someone who never got a chance to experience the big shots and home runs such as Lampi Big 7, MSB Analog/Signature/Diamond, Vivaldi full stack, LH Da Vinci, GTE Trinity, or (God Forbid) The Fifth Element would certainly think that Hugo ain't really all that "mediocre"
 
http://www.alldacinfo.com/?page_id=242
 
The analogy would be asking an oncology or a cardiologist about wellness and true health. Pretty much like someone expecting to be served chow mein in a French restaurant. They were only taught how to manage sickness in medical schools so the only reference point would be treating symptoms. It's a little bit tricky to expect the average doctors to draw the picture of a healthy person when they didn't really know where to find one in a clinical environment. Not to mention the relatively limited amount of time and resource could be allocated for each patient.
 
Hugo (and Aurender FLOW etc.) could be great when we're exploring gears through the portable paradigm exclusively. OTOH, it's certainly "mediocre" once we begin to look at gears through very different lens.
 
I guess that sometimes it's easier to draw comparisons between the right fruits
 

 

[FidelityCastro]

Oncologists and cardiologists will tell you that "wellness" is great and should be applauded. But while living a healthy lifestyle helps prevent terminal illness, it doesn't identify cancer or heart disease, which is what those specialists do. Also not sure where the link is between that and chow mein in an escargot hotspot.

This forum is about portable/desktop audio, right? And this thread is about a little, jolly expensive semi-portable box that helps bring out the best in digital audio files? Let's stick to the hobby and not draw tenuous comparisons with important things.

 

[Mython]

 Let's stick to the hobby and not draw tenuous comparisons with important things.

 
 
Hey, here's an alternative viewpoint - maybe nothing in this life/world is important. Nothing.
 
 
Anyway...

 

 

[FidelityCastro]

Very true, Mython!

 

[jelt2359]

Now all this thread needs is an allegory of the cave!

 

[Mython]

The concept of 'importance' is nothing more than subjectively-perceived 'thought-stuff'
 
 
Ironically, the same could also be said of 'Sound Quality' 

 

[Mython]

Now all this thread needs is an allegory of the cave!

 
 
Oohh gold star for jelt!

 

[FidelityCastro]

This is getting trippy....

 

[Mython]

Well, it's a good job Rob Watts perceives that SQ is a (relatively) 'important' thing, or we wouldn't all have the luxury of enjoying perceiving the Hugo as sounding so damn good

 

[FidelityCastro]

Relative is a wonderful word.
But I think the Hugo sounds good with an iPhone (6) and decent res files. So what do I know

 

[level3]

  IMHO it somewhat depends on someone's frame of reference or reference point. For someone who never got a chance to experience the big shots and home runs such as Lampi Big 7, MSB Analog/Signature/Diamond, Vivaldi full stack, LH Da Vinci, GTE Trinity, or (God Forbid) The Fifth Element would certainly think that Hugo ain't really all that "mediocre"
 
http://www.alldacinfo.com/?page_id=242
 
The analogy would be asking an oncology or a cardiologist about wellness and true health. Pretty much like someone expecting to be served chow mein in a French restaurant. They were only taught how to manage sickness in medical schools so the only reference point would be treating symptoms. It's a little bit tricky to expect the average doctors to draw the picture of a healthy person when they didn't really know where to find one in a clinical environment. Not to mention the relatively limited amount of time and resource could be allocated for each patient.
 
Hugo (and Aurender FLOW etc.) could be great when we're exploring gears through the portable paradigm exclusively. OTOH, it's certainly "mediocre" once we begin to look at gears through very different lens.
 

 
I mostly agree with what you are trying to say to certain people.
 
Sure, there are more expensive DACs. And, no doubt, there are better sounding DACs.
 
But, “mediocre" is defined as "not very good... of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance.”
 
IMO, Hugo is not mediocre as a head-fi and/or hi-fi component. OTOH, it is inspiring for what it is… more so considering the asking price. 
 
And, aren’t people who bother comparing a USD2000+ Hugo to USD10,000-100,000+ hi-fi DAC set-ups “saying" the same thing (even if they don’t realise it)?
 
Cheers.

 
BTW, in terms of a $10,000 component upgrade, I would rather go for this: http://en.devialet.com/devialet-200-en

 

[RubenV]

I am still amazed by how close the Hugo comes to my dCS Paganini dac. The last one is the best, but that does not mean I can't enjoy the Hugo. Besides that, carrying the Paganini around would be a real pain in the *ss. In my opinion both are well worth the money, and as long as you can enjoy both I don't see a problem. Enjoy the music

 

[Jon773]

I was at Metropolis in London this afternoon and the Chord Hugo was everywhere being used on so many of the stands.
 
I tried it out with a few different headphones and it was impressive.
 
I also had my hands on the new 2Cute as well as the Hugo TT and both are impressive pieces of engineering. Very well done to the chaps from Chord.
 
The only thing I wanted to know was if the Hugo can be used as a DAC only or if I need to get the 2Cute for that job.
 
 
Oh and for people attending the show, you can get 20% off the Hugo

 

[level3]

Originally Posted by Jon773 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The only thing I wanted to know was if the Hugo can be used as a DAC only or if I need to get the 2Cute for that job.

 
Yes indeed = player > Hugo > RCA outs > amp > transducers.
 

Oh and for people attending the show, you can get 20% off the Hugo

 
Bl**dy 'ell

 Pardon my French... Makes me wish I could be there... or, maybe better not (wipes perspiration). 
 
Cheers.

 

[Jon773]

I took the plunge and advantage of the discount. I have a Hugo on the way along with a few other goodies.
 
I will be setting it up as follows: PC>Hugo (DAC only)>HDVD800(Amp only)>HD800 (balanced).
 
I'll post some first impressions next weekend, assuming i take delivery mid week 

.