[ruthieandjohn]

Ty so much....will contact the chord hugo team. I am in LA area hopesomething close by can be there...

Try George Meyer AV in Los Angeles. www.georgemeyer-av.com, (310) 820-1113, sales@georgemeyer-av.com .

I have had my Chord Hugo there twice... once for volume control replacement and once for intermittent USB port operation. I am delighted with their work, and they were recommended by Chord and its US distributor Bluebird.

 

[x RELIC x]

Just wanted to add, that I kept my Hugo always on, day and nigh, 24/7, almost 365 days a year. Like Mr. Watts suggest. In 6 years, that's a lot of work hours . Li-ion batteries do degrade over time through cycling, and also regardless of use, i.e. they have a shelf life too. (e.g. 5 years or 1000 cycles, at 80% capacity, after that they degrade further till they die completely.)

It’s as stressful, if not more so, to leave lithium batteries plugged in 24/7 compared to cycling them normally. The best practice is to charge to 80% and drain to 20% with a monthly full cycle from dead to full charge. There is no memory effect so short charges will not result in shortened capacity. Remaining near full charge (above 4.10V per cel) for extended periods of time is very detrimental to the longevity of all lithium batteries.

 

[roskodan]

Actually unplugged is when the batteries suffer more, because the cycling circuit can't do the discharge/charge cycle. Basically for modern devices it makes no difference as long as it's plugged in, the only factor is how fast it goes through the cycles, when not playing it will still cycle, but at a much slower peace. (i.e. the circuit will do a discharge/charge routine, e.g. from 95% to 85% and back to 95%, repeating this as long as it's plugged in)

 

[x RELIC x]

Read about lithium battery longevity on battery university. Most charging circuits ‘top up’ to full when left plugged in as the voltage naturally drops over time. That’s why Rob changed the charging circuit to not keep the Hugo 2 topped up in desktop mode (at least beyond4.10V per cel).

 

[roskodan]

lol, no comment

 

[Vyyy]

.

 

[fhuang]

what dap do you guys do these days with the hugo? I've been using opus #1 and an ipod with solo but both are a bit heavy. wondering if i can replace those bricks. hope to keep it cheap but it doesn't have to be cheap cheap. maybe a ibasso dx160, fiio m9 or hiby r3? any suggestions?

 

[dgozalie]

I just got the second hand hugo for cheap and after i try it, it really sings and make me enjoy my collection songs again in a new level of clarity and so analog...i used to use mody multibits and chord mojo....
chord hugo is just like chord mojo but with everything step up so clear.... to get the best benefit of this DAC, consider to use external amplifier since the built in amplifier still weaker than the external headphone amplifier.. i hook it up to schiit magni 3 then drive it to hifiman s-400i.. i still have sennheiser 6xx and stax L300 that are lining up and begging to put through this DAC..
I using coax cable for the input to hugo... it comes from Rasp pi 3 b+ with AOIDE Digi + Pro.. with volumio os to boot....
all sound so perfect and much better than before just by using chord hugo replacing my old DAC..

 

[miketlse]

I just got the second hand hugo for cheap and after i try it, it really sings and make me enjoy my collection songs again in a new level of clarity and so analog...i used to use mody multibits and chord mojo....
chord hugo is just like chord mojo but with everything step up so clear.... to get the best benefit of this DAC, consider to use external amplifier since the built in amplifier still weaker than the external headphone amplifier.. i hook it up to schiit magni 3 then drive it to hifiman s-400i.. i still have sennheiser 6xx and stax L300 that are lining up and begging to put through this DAC..
I using coax cable for the input to hugo... it comes from Rasp pi 3 b+ with AOIDE Digi + Pro.. with volumio os to boot....
all sound so perfect and much better than before just by using chord hugo replacing my old DAC..

Enjoy your experience.
OK the Hugo is now 5 years old, but it will still kick the ass of 99% of the dacs used in the world.
There are several posters who describe using RPi with additional boards to provide high quality music sources for Chord gear, so enjoy experimenting.

 

[miketlse]

what dap do you guys do these days with the hugo? I've been using opus #1 and an ipod with solo but both are a bit heavy. wondering if i can replace those bricks. hope to keep it cheap but it doesn't have to be cheap cheap. maybe a ibasso dx160, fiio m9 or hiby r3? any suggestions?

A few months ago, this music transport was proving popular with owners of Chord dacs and Mscalers, looking to provide a noise free optical signal to the dac or upscaler.
Ok the UI may not be cutting edge, but if the focus is on providing the best data signal to your dac, then it is worth consideration.

 

[thisisvv]

So my hugo went to george -av to get fixed. Seems the board is gone. They are asking 640$ more after 80$ diagnostic fees....doesnt feel like spending that much , rathern sell this as broken save the 640$ and then save more and get new chord hugo 2....any suggestions??

 

[miketlse]

So my hugo went to george -av to get fixed. Seems the board is gone. They are asking 640$ more after 80$ diagnostic fees....doesnt feel like spending that much , rathern sell this as broken save the 640$ and then save more and get new chord hugo 2....any suggestions??

Sad to hear that.
The advice depends somewhat on your use case:

• the Hugo has been out of production for 4 years, so a working Hugo represents a good entry point to the world of chord dacs. If your Hugo needs a new board, then my instinct is to opt for a Hugo 2 instead. i have a Hugo 2 and marvel at its versatility, whether listening via headphones, or direct driving desktop monitor speakers, or much to my amazement direct driving floorstanding speakers.
• the other alternative is to seek out a used 2Qute, if your use case is to drive an amplifier. The 2Qute proved popular with owners of Naim systems, who needed a dac as an input source.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[roskodan]

What happened to me was that my hugo shut down while playing. When i tried to turn it on, the white led flashed momentarily, and then the other leds started flashing. It couldn't go through the normal power on check cycle. It was the batteries.

 

[thisisvv]

I ahve decided to sell as broken piece and save the money for chord 2. I hope to buy Kef ls50 for desktop listening session. Will be long tim though

 

[ruthieandjohn]

So my hugo went to george -av to get fixed. Seems the board is gone. They are asking 640$ more after 80$ diagnostic fees....doesnt feel like spending that much , rathern sell this as broken save the 640$ and then save more and get new chord hugo 2....any suggestions??

I too had my Chord Hugo board fail (after years of use) and sent it to George Meyer for repair, which constituted replacement of the whole board, also for that same price of $80 diagnostic fee plus $640 to complete the repair.

Since I would end up with a new Hugo (except only for the metal case), I elected to do the repair (board replacement). I had had a chance to compare the Hugo 2 to the Hugo during a Hugo 2 "tour" when it first came out, so I was very familiar with the improvements provided by the Hugo 2. However, I have been so pleased with the Hugo that I had already decided to buy the Mscaler and Hugo TT2 for a speaker system I am planning, so was happy to keep going with the original Hugo for my portable system.

I am glad I did. The Hugo still sounds Fabulous.