[holeout]

The Onkyo app on iTouch plays all resolutions and formats, plus I get 12 hours + playtime. For DSD 5.6 I do occasionally get dropouts for a couple of seconds.

 

[Kakki]

Mr. Watts, today I tried Hugo to drive my B&W 805 Diamond speaker directly and found that Hugo can drive it perfectly with enough loud sound.
The performance was just amazing even compared with my reference amplifier, a full digital amplifier, SONY TA-DR1. Actually, Hugo had more details, better sound stage, and smoother trebles...
So I would like to know if you would plan a desktop version of Hugo. I imagine it would be very nice if there is a desktop version of Hugo with normal power supply (not battery), input / output terminals with more spaces in between, just a little bit more juice to the amplifier to drive low efficient speakers, and may be an analogue input for just in case. Upgraded QBD76 will be very nice as well but as you mentioned in previous posts, if DAC could drive speakers / headphones directly, there is no need to add a separate amplifier to add distortions. Also, I would appreciate if I need to take care less components / cables in the system. Would appreciate your thoughts and also would want to say thank you for creating such a great product as Hugo.

 

[SleepyOne]

holeout - Thank you! Onkyo App sounds brilliant!

 

[hugoboss]

  Mr. Watts, today I tried Hugo to drive my B&W 805 Diamond speaker directly and found that Hugo can drive it perfectly with enough loud sound.
The performance was just amazing even compared with my reference amplifier, a full digital amplifier, SONY TA-DR1. Actually, Hugo had more details, better sound stage, and smoother trebles...
So I would like to know if you would plan a desktop version of Hugo. I imagine it would be very nice if there is a desktop version of Hugo with normal power supply (not battery), input / output terminals with more spaces in between, just a little bit more juice to the amplifier to drive low efficient speakers, and may be an analogue input for just in case. Upgraded QBD76 will be very nice as well but as you mentioned in previous posts, if DAC could drive speakers / headphones directly, there is no need to add a separate amplifier to add distortions. Also, I would appreciate if I need to take care less components / cables in the system. Would appreciate your thoughts and also would want to say thank you for creating such a great product as Hugo.

iam curious how you connect your b&w directly to hugo without any amp?
i dont see any speaker binding post on hugo

 

[woodcans]

   
Or... you can use an amp that ON PURPOSE add to the sound a coloration that you like.  You will not be banned for this.  
 
So, a nice TUBE AMP that you like it's signature could also be a solution that add on purpose some warm to the sound.
 
And.. if you like it better this way, then it is what count, even if you loose the famous ....purity of the HUGO. After all it is all about pleasure...
 
 
Myself, I have my HUGO attached to my beloved TU-05 portable tube Amp (on which I experienced a lot of tube rolling), and then, depending on my mood (or the Headphone or music used), I either plug the headphone direct in the HUGO or.... in the TU-05 (that is feed by HUGO)

  

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

 
Did you attach Hugo to your case? If so how?

 

[bmichels]

   
Did you attach Hugo to your case? If so how?

 velcro....

 

[Kakki]

I simply joined speaker cables to RCA plugs and put them to Hugo's RCA connectors.

 

[podeschi]

   
 
SoundFreaq - Thank you! Trouble free , good UI, plus other useful apps are always handy!

yes onkyo app plays all levels of resolution including dsd....and Hugo immediately recognizes and shows via color the matching resolution.  192 and DSD sound best through the Hugo so far. DSD sounds warm and analogue and balanced and right ...hard to imagine it is coming from an iPhone.  

 

[hugoboss]

  I simply joined speaker cables to RCA plugs and put them to Hugo's RCA connectors.

 
thanks,
so ican use banana plug on one end and rca plug to the other end of my speaker cable to hugo rca output?
i like to try your way to my psb b5 bookshelf
one more question does hugo have enough power to drive your b&w , isee your b&w have 88db sensitiviy.

 

[Kakki]

   
thanks,
so ican use banana plug on one end and rca plug to hugo on the other end?
i like to try your way to my psb b5 bookshelf
one more question does hugo have enough power to drive your b&w , isee your b&w have 88db sensitiviy.

Yes, you can use banana plug on one end and RCA plug to Hugo on the other end.
And actually, Hugo could drive my B&W 805 Dia loudly enough. I was about 3 meters away from them and the sound was very loud when the volume was in light-purple color.
Please try yourself and let me know of  your opinion as well.

 

[holeout]

  I have had a number of posts asking me about DSD, how it is done within Hugo etc. A constant idea is that DSD should remain native and hence "pure" and that this would be best. Now I sympathise with this idea, as if it were analogue then one would want to keep everything as simple and direct as possible, as each analogue component you add, you degrade transparency. But this rule simply does not apply in the digital domain, as it is possible to have processing that is perfectly transparent (just to stop there - although a digital module can be made perfectly transparent, it is categorically not easy to do so)......

 
Thanks Rob for sharing your technical and design insights on the Hugo and DSD, great read! Can you also share your preference of music formats used for the Hugo?
 
Currently, i'm having some problems with DSD ripped from PS3 with regard to noise. It's like a white noise from about 7K - 10K, and I'm trying to  debug where the problem is - software or hardware. Maybe Ted_b can shed me some light on this, I'm on 
sr_385 v3.6 for ripping to iso and use scarletbook 252 or iso2dsd_OSX_v5 to convert to dff/dsf. Thanks.

 

[SleepyOne]

podeschi - Thank you! It is good to know another happy iphone/ipod user!

 

[SleepyOne]

  Mr. Watts, today I tried Hugo to drive my B&W 805 Diamond speaker directly and found that Hugo can drive it perfectly with enough loud sound.
The performance was just amazing even compared with my reference amplifier, a full digital amplifier, SONY TA-DR1. Actually, Hugo had more details, better sound stage, and smoother trebles...

 
That's pretty insane! Can't believe you even dare to try that on tough 88db speaker lol! The result too of course is also pretty surprising! 

 

[Kakki]

   
That's pretty insane! Can't believe you even dare to try that on tough 88db speaker lol! The result too of course is also pretty surprising! 

I have read an article saying Hugo's amplifier section is originally designed as a power amp and can drive high efficient speakers loudly enough... so I could not help but trying it myself. Actually, it is very easy to try and would recommend Hugo owners to try with your speakers. Would appreciate more opinions and would like to know if Hugo can drive some of the big floor-standing speakers or not.

 

[2a3set]

As I mentioned earlier, I thought the lampizator dsd which does not do any kind of PCM conversion sounded noticeably better in dsd. In any case, I think most dual PCM/dsd dacs favor PCM conversion as it is the dominant format and spend most of the dac settling issues around it. So when it comes to dsd, hard to make an entirely other circuit just for dsd. For something the size of the chord, it would be even harder. I thought the qute series didn't have very good dsd. The hugo is noticeably better, but not yet up to standards of lamp at least.

Kind of interesting, to my ear dsd128 generated by Jriver sounds better than redbook directly into Hugo, anyone has same feeling?

Mot sure how lampizator implemented in the black DSD box while original prototype was like a TI 179x chip, and I've heard with DSD only FIR is enabled in the 179x not the dac portion so the volume control is disabled as well.