[ted_b]

Good morning. Ted.
I M moving my irs V system to NYC. It will be part if a complete surround setup when fine.
Can you give me some advice in how to set up.
Can I do a 2 channel with the infinity irs v
And a separate surround in one room. I have read a review but to setup without a desecrated receiver I have never done
Some advise please
Al

Sure..let's take this offline.  ITU Surround (or any lesser HT-type setup) can often ruin a 2 channel soundstage, but it doesn't have to...at all! 

 

[ALRAINBOW]

As I understand your rant. But there are worse forums then here.
Regarding strictly two channel. One of my companies does home theater installs.
Regarding chips I know I make broad statements and I should not.
But I have not found one I like yet. But my comments are short sighted
And I should stop saying it. My home theaters are just the wiring not the equipment hookup or setup.
For my self I have two systems both 5.1
One center large one and two fronts
Two rears and two middle just in front if seating.
As they sound very good they lack the extreme details of two channel.
But there seems to be plenty of systems out there
Al

 

[estreeter]

Relax Al - that little spray wasnt aimed at you. In any case, I've probably said something similar in the mind warp that lives beneath certain YT vids on some piece of gear that doesnt meet with my gilt-edged seal of approval  

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Lmao I am relaxed but we do get caught up in our obsessions all of us do.
I just figured if I admit it that part of Learning better self control.

Al

 

[SleepyOne]

  maybe iam doing wrong in my foobar setting. can you give me your step by step hugo setting in foobar?
apprecciate that,
my setting is just like the audio stream guide. my foobar version is the latest one 1.32.
using these setting below the dsd file palyback forward 3 seconds in the beginning. and there is some shuttering. am i missing some step

 
PM sent.

 

[obsidyen]

What I like most about Hugo is how realistic and noticeable the bass is. With most dacs, you barely hear it.

 

[Crashem]

You wont get any sort of intelligent reply out of the zealots in this thread - particularly when they realise the E28 uses the same SABRE chip as my Oppo. Someone tried to make the point that there are different implementations of the chip - some very highly regarded - and was pooh-poohed with the kind of blanket statement I would normally associate with a 16-year old talking about his dislike for a given brand of alcohol. 

I would also add that there is nothing wrong with enjoying movies or photography or paragliding in addition to 2-channel audio, but for some reason we all become extremists the instant we get onto an audio forum. I dont know what it is about this hobby but we seem intent on promoting division - tube vs ss, analog vs digital sources and on and on. There's absolutely nothing to be gained by broad brush statements designed to promote our own hardcore dedication to 2-channel music - it's the equivalent of my wading into the forums and denouncing everyone who doesnt have my tastes in music. We need to learn to accept that there are people who actually prefer vanilla no matter how much you or I like choc chip. 

/end rant

Doesn't the light harmonic davinci use ess chips? I haven't heard anyone trying to say the hugo is anywhere near the level of the davinci. Lots of different implementations of ess chips. Personally I think there isn't inherently anything wrong with ess chips. There is a reason why they took over the market. But I think dacs using same dac chips get voiced similarly. As I have been playing with ess dacs for a while now, I find little reason/excitement in finding another ess implementation. Hence my interest in dacs like hugo, lamp, msb, ps audio, etc. The chances for a real jump in performance is more likely. However don't interprete this as saying that the ess chips are bad. Ess has boat loads of ridiculously talented engineers and I would guess several times (if not 50 times) the engineering capability of someone like a chord. The ess is voiced in a certain way and is designed to meet a mass market which makes it suffer from the need to appeal to everyone or sound bad to least amount of people issue at correct price/performance. The reality is that ess is big enough that they could do similar high tap count implementations in hard coded silicon which would be more capable than their FPGA cousins and anything chord could do. The recent FPGA improvements have only narrowed the gap. But maybe it wouldn't be immediately appealing or be too expensive or whatever or they are stuck in different paradigm. Rob watts has lots of unique experience with his innovations around taps, but if ess thought putting in 2-4x of taps was worth it, they could do it relatively short order.

 

[514077]

  maybe iam doing wrong in my foobar setting. can you give me your step by step hugo setting in foobar?
apprecciate that,
my setting is just like the audio stream guide. my foobar version is the latest one 1.32.
using these setting below the dsd file palyback forward 3 seconds in the beginning. and there is some shuttering. am i missing some step
 
Setting up Foobar2000 for DSD Playback
Installing your DAC's drivers:
1. The first thing you'll need to do is install the custom drivers provided by your DAC manufacturer. These drivers will come on disc or in most cases you can also download them from your DAC manufacturer's website.
2. Once you've downloaded and run the install for your DAC manufacture's drivers, open Foobar2000.
3. Go to File > Preferences > Playback > Output and select "Add New".
4. Select your DAC manufacturer's driver under "Drivers" and click "OK". Once this is complete, close Foobar2000.
Installing the ASIO Output and SACD Plug-in:
5. Download the ASIO output plug-in for Foobar2000 from www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_asio.
6. When the download is complete, save the file foo_out_asio.fb2k-component to the Foobar2000 Components folder.
7. Download the SACD Decoder plug-in for Foobar2000 from sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/files. This is a zip file so you'll need to unpack it.
8. Open the new zip folder and double-click ASIOProxyInstall.exe. Follow the onscreen instructions using the default install.
9. After the installation is finished, copy the foo_input_sacd.dll file into Foobar2000's Components folder.
10. Open Foobar2000
11. Select Components.
12. Select Playback > Output > ASIO.
13. You will see a list of your ASIO drivers. Double click foo_dsd_asio.
14. In the ASIO Driver dropdown, select your DAC's ASIO driver.
15. The next step will vary based on your DAC. Some DACs provide Native ASIO playback while others use DoP. Check your DACs user manual for the correct setting and under DSD Playback Method select either "ASIO Native" or "dcs marker 0x05/0xFA".
17. Click on Tools and select SACD.
18. Click on the ASIO Driver Mode dropdown and select "DSD".
 
don't know about that
I can't seem to locate the foo_input_sacd.dll file in any of the downloaded files.  Can you tell me the path to the .dll?

 

[obsidyen]

Doesn't the light harmonic davinci use ess chips? I haven't heard anyone trying to say the hugo is anywhere near the level of the davinci. Lots of different implementations of ess chips. Personally I think there isn't inherently anything wrong with ess chips. There is a reason why they took over the market. But I think dacs using same dac chips get voiced similarly. As I have been playing with ess dacs for a while now, I find little reason/excitement in finding another ess implementation. Hence my interest in dacs like hugo, lamp, msb, ps audio, etc. The chances for a real jump in performance is more likely. However don't interprete this as saying that the ess chips are bad. Ess has boat loads of ridiculously talented engineers and I would guess several times (if not 50 times) the engineering capability of someone like a chord. The ess is voiced in a certain way and is designed to meet a mass market which makes it suffer from the need to appeal to everyone or sound bad to least amount of people issue at correct price/performance. The reality is that ess is big enough that they could do similar high tap count implementations in hard coded silicon which would be more capable than their FPGA cousins and anything chord could do. The recent FPGA improvements have only narrowed the gap. But maybe it wouldn't be immediately appealing or be too expensive or whatever or they are stuck in different paradigm. Rob watts has lots of unique experience with his innovations around taps, but if ess thought putting in 2-4x of taps was worth it, they could do it relatively short order.

Sabre Dacs are like McDonalds. Hugo's FPGA is like a restaurant with Michelin stars. Sabre dacs have much more money, more employees but in the end you eat frozen weird stuff. There's a reason why iFi audio, offshoot of AMR, prefer Burr Brown over Sabre chips in their most recent products (iDSD Micro, Mini). People asked and they responded saying they couldn't get the natural, organic sound with Sabre chips.

 

[sutjahjo]

It's not a religion, it's OK to worship Hugo without hating Sabre

 

[mootang]

Thought I would input my "noob" review of the Chord Hugo with my pair of HD800 against:
WA7 (DAC is very poor. Sound Quality is not smooth)
WA7+ODAC
WA7+Hugo
JDS Lab C5+ODAC (not even in the same league)

*WARNING: I'm very new to the whole audiophile terminology so I may not be able to convey the correct words and feelings I had when I describe the sound quality for the pairing above

The Chord Hugo is by far, the best preamp device out of all of the ones listed above. With the HD800, it has better sound quality in all department and it has tamed/controled the treble/brightness flaws the HD800 has. The Hugo has transformed the HD800 to be more musical; I found myself loving this kind of signature for a variety of genres across the board. The bass is a lot more present and tighter as well and the music founds a lot more "fun" and engaging to me.

Here is a list of songs that I listen to for comparison:
Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony - Videogame Music
Faye Wong - Eyes on Me - Videogame Music
"Hachimitsu Doki" (ハチミツ時間（どき lit. Honey Time?), sung by Ai Kayano - Anime Music
Yoko Kanno - Kiseki no Umi - Anime Music
Utada Hikaru - Sakura Nagashi - Anime Music
Bloc Party - Skeleton - Rock
Staind - It's Been Awhile (acoustic) - Rock
C'est de L'amour Mix by Klearskies from mixsound (R&B/upbeat)
Calvin Harris - Sweet Nothing - EDM

So this review will be:
Chord Hugo vs. WA7+ODAC
Chord Hugo vs WA7+Hugo
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chord Hugo Vs. WA7+ODAC
The WA7+ODAC pairing was very analytical. The pair didn't really have much life to it and wasn't very musical compared to the Hugo. Separation, bass, transparency, mids, upper-mids, treble, soundstage, etc... were all superior with the Chord Hugo. The Hugo made the music more alive and fun to listen. The only thing I really liked about the WA7+ODAC pairing was the vocals. The vocals were very crisp and "angelic." However, the treble issues with that pairing was very painful to hear sometimes when the vocals would emphasize the "s" and "hiss" sounds. I found that the Hugo was able to tame and control these sounds while maintaining a very engaging and listening experience.

A quick rundown for the music above:
Videogames - Chord Hugo had better separation and instruments were fun to listen to individually
Anime - Musical was engaging whereas with the WA7+ODAC pairing, the instruments sounded lifeless other than the vocals, although sometimes, parts of anime songs can be harsh in the treble area.
Rock - Bass, cymbals, drums were lacking with the WA7+ODAC. Chord Hugo made these sound very present and tight.
R&B - I actually liked the WA7+ODAC pairing on this one, especially the vocals. The vocals wasn't harsh due to the style of the genre. The upbeat was a lot of fun to listen to because of how the sound manages to get me inolved with the beat. The Chord Hugo does this well but I couldn't really placed my finger where and why exactly I enjoyed the WA7+ODAC better for this.
EDM - Chord Hugo wins this hands down. The electric sound and bass were strong. I definitely heard a lot more "OOMPH" with the Hugo than the WA7+ODAC pairing
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chord Hugo Vs. WA7+Hugo
This pairing was very close in sound quality. Both pairing sounded almost identical, in fact, if I did a blind test with this pairing, I don't think I would be able to get a 100% correctly which pairing was which. BUT, if I had to guess and really concentrate on my listening, I felt the WA7+Hugo was the better pairing. What I liked about the WA7+Hugo the most is that the sound was a bit more controlled than the Hugo. With the Hugo, I felt the sound was a bit more forced and pushed in sound and that the WA7+Hugo had better extension in the highs.

Separation was slightly better as well. Songs that had a lot of instruments interacting with each other sounded better with the WA7+Hugo than the Hugo. With the Hugo, I felt that all the instruments were standing out with each other whereas with the WA7+Hugo pairing, the instruments had better synergy and would make one pair of instruments stand out more at one point into the song.

A quick rundown for the music:
Videogames - Beautiful sound and impactful for both pairing.
Anime - Vocals extended better with the WA7+Hugo when a lot of things were going on
Rock - mid/low/bass sounded a bit too energetic with the Hugo. The WA7+Hugo pairing felt like it had more control
R&B - Both sounded about the same
EDM - Chord Hugo sounded better. Had more "OOMPH" than the WA7+Hugo
-------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion:
The Chord Hugo is definitely something worth owning. Even though I would choose the WA7+Hugo pairing SLIGHTLY over the Hugo, the fact that the Hugo can do so many things for its size. I love how its easily transportable from one room to another room; or when I want to take it with me to my friend's place or to work. The main thing I really like about the WA7+Hugo pairing is how easily it is to control the sound and volume with it. I personally don't like the volume control of the Hugo; it feels very stiff and it's sometimes hard to get the correct volume level I want with it.

However, there are a couple of essentials I will be getting in the next couple months:
WA7tp PSU
Toxic Cables (silver widow, Copper Venom, Black widow)
and moon audio USB cable

I feel these extra accessories will truly complete my audio gear and expect great changes to both the WA7 and Chord Hugo

Edit: I apologize for any bad grammar in this post, I didn't do any revision and wrote this "noob" review on how I was feeling at the time.

 

[obsidyen]

It's not a religion, it's OK to worship Hugo without hating Sabre

I'm not worshipping Hugo. It's a good dac, the sound is a little bit too forward for my tastes but the natural and effortless presentation makes it worth every penny.

 

[vert]

Just received the moon audio silver USB cable. It's lush, just like the positive feedback review states.
 
I always found the stock USB cable to be harsh, bright, and fatiguing.

 

[SleepyOne]

mootang - the volume control should loosen with use, my one too very stiff at the beginning.

 

[sutjahjo]

I'm not worshipping Hugo. It's a good dac, the sound is a little bit too forward for my tastes but the natural and effortless presentation makes it worth every penny.

In contrast, I absolutely love the Chord Hugo and think it's the best portable DAC/Amp.