[estreeter]

Finally got round to buying a Hugo. I was not really surprised that I preferred the AK240 into the Hugo over the AK240 balanced into my Auralic Taurus Mk II.
However I was surprised that I preferred the AK240 into the Hugo, over my Linn Klimax DS balanced into the Auralic - really was blown away.
This is one amazing bit of kit!!!

 
 
I seem to recall that there was much gnashing of teeth on both the Linn and Naim forums when the Hugo was released, but seriously - better than a Klimax D$ ? I know sticker price is no guarantee of a performance increment, but that is one very highly regarded piece of kit. The best DAC I've heard to date is the Weiss DAC202 via Firewire (effortless in a manner that the Hugo just cant match) but even the sticker on that doesnt compare to the Linn flagship. Clarification of the areas where you feel the Hugo excelled would be great. 

 

[Lannie]

I seem to recall that there was much gnashing of teeth on both the Linn and Naim forums when the Hugo was released, but seriously - better than a Klimax D$ ? I know sticker price is no guarantee of a performance increment, but that is one very highly regarded piece of kit. The best DAC I've heard to date is the Weiss DAC202 via Firewire (effortless in a manner that the Hugo just cant match) but even the sticker on that doesnt compare to the Linn flagship. Clarification of the areas where you feel the Hugo excelled would be great. 

Well I know it is amazing but I have no doubt that I prefer the Hugo. The sound is less digital and not as fatiguing. It is a close thing, but I am certain which I prefer. I am not saying necessarily that the Hugo is better than the Linn, as when put through the Klimax Kontrol and the Klimax speakers, the Linn sounds fuller and has more bottom end control - although this is comparing balanced to single ended. Maybe the Hugo is just a great match to my particular headphones.

 

[ted_b]

  I had a brief test with the Hugo and I liked it's sound but I still have some questions for Hugo owners:
 
1. Does it have on/off thump into speakers/headphones on power-up/power-down?
Like any preamp, digital or otherwise I would never power on my amps first.  If used as an amp I would keep volume low on power up.
2. Does the volume control work without digital decimation at lower volume levels?
The volume control is purely digital but at decent resolution.  But at very very low volumes (i.e very low gain) you might get decimation.  Rob, help here!
3. Can you leave it always plugged in without ruining the batteries?
Yes.
4. What does a battery swap cost?
No need to battery swap.  No one has found the need yet.  Can't imagine why.
5. Does the crossfeed work only on the headphone output or it affects the RCA's too?
All ouputs are parallel so all outputs are affected by volume, crossfeed, etc.
6. Output impedance for both RCA's and headphone outputs. Does it have different output impedance on some headphone outputs? - I looked in the manual and it only says the damping factor is >100 and they list the power into 8ohms so I presume it's under 0.08 ohms but I'd like to know the exact impedance.
7. Does the black version scratch easily?  How thick is the "black stuff" on it - is the case completely black or is it just lightly anodized?
8. In my apt-x bluetooth tests when I set the HTC One down, moved two meters and put my body between the Hugo and the One, sometimes the music cut out ... how's your experience with the bluetooth range and stability with your devices? Was this because of the Hugo or because of my phone? Do you always have a stable connection across the room if there's no blocking or minimal blocking (people passing)?
Bluetooth range is poor, but I personally wouldn't use bluetooth for music audio, just as I wouldn't use texting to write a novel.  Wrong tools.
9. Can you adjust the volume separately for the RCA's and the headphone outs?
No.  They are same output.
10. Do you have to take out the headphones to use the RCA's or can you use both?
You can use both, but are putting more load on.  I wouldn't recommend it
 
That's about all I can think of right now ... thanks.

I answered as many as I know.   

 

[dallan]

My only issue so far is the lack of bluetooth range actually. In all other areas the Hugo outperforms my expectations. So that answers one of the questions at least. How often I want to use the bluetooth inpu though.....almost never.

 

[eugenius]

Thanks for trying but you're right, I sent them an e-mail.
 
So the Bluetooth is bad ... that's a shame ...

 

[estreeter]

  Thanks for trying but you're right, I sent them an e-mail.
 
So the Bluetooth is bad ... that's a shame ...

 
Define 'bad'. I've never had an issue with it, but my expectations have never been high for Bluetooth anyway, Even the kids who expect technology to be seamless here in Thailand smile when I stream the music from their phone into the Hugo with minimal effort - the smiles only disappear when I tell them what the thing cost. 

 

[eugenius]

I already defined bad. Dropouts at 2m.

 

[dallan]

Yes, I have dropouts at two meters too, I was very surprised. I do use a Bluetooth with my iPad mini because I hat holding it and using it with a cord but that is usually YouTube or videos not hi res music files.

 

[Sam Edwards]

My only issue so far is the lack of bluetooth range actually. In all other areas the Hugo outperforms my expectations. So that answers one of the questions at least. How often I want to use the bluetooth inpu though.....almost never.

Glad you like the Hugo. Sorry about your wallet!

 

[dallan]

 Yeah…...

 

[Rob Watts]

  I had a brief test with the Hugo and I liked it's sound but I still have some questions for Hugo owners:
 
1. Does it have on/off thump into speakers/headphones on power-up/power-down?
Like any preamp, digital or otherwise I would never power on my amps first.  If used as an amp I would keep volume low on power up.
2. Does the volume control work without digital decimation at lower volume levels?
The volume control is purely digital but at decent resolution.  But at very very low volumes (i.e very low gain) you might get decimation.  Rob, help here!
3. Can you leave it always plugged in without ruining the batteries?
Yes.
4. What does a battery swap cost?
No need to battery swap.  No one has found the need yet.  Can't imagine why.
5. Does the crossfeed work only on the headphone output or it affects the RCA's too?
All ouputs are parallel so all outputs are affected by volume, crossfeed, etc.
6. Output impedance for both RCA's and headphone outputs. Does it have different output impedance on some headphone outputs? - I looked in the manual and it only says the damping factor is >100 and they list the power into 8ohms so I presume it's under 0.08 ohms but I'd like to know the exact impedance.
7. Does the black version scratch easily?  How thick is the "black stuff" on it - is the case completely black or is it just lightly anodized?
8. In my apt-x bluetooth tests when I set the HTC One down, moved two meters and put my body between the Hugo and the One, sometimes the music cut out ... how's your experience with the bluetooth range and stability with your devices? Was this because of the Hugo or because of my phone? Do you always have a stable connection across the room if there's no blocking or minimal blocking (people passing)?
Bluetooth range is poor, but I personally wouldn't use bluetooth for music audio, just as I wouldn't use texting to write a novel.  Wrong tools.
9. Can you adjust the volume separately for the RCA's and the headphone outs?
No.  They are same output.
10. Do you have to take out the headphones to use the RCA's or can you use both?
You can use both, but are putting more load on.  I wouldn't recommend it
 
That's about all I can think of right now ... thanks.

  I answered as many as I know.   

Thanks Ted, filling in the spaces:
1. Hugo has an OP relay, so no turn on/off thumps.
 
2. Sorry to be pedantic, but decimation is not the correct term - decimation is where samples are removed in order to reduce sample rate. The term you are looking for is truncation, where bits are reduced. In the case of Hugo, the volume control is in the central WTA filter core, and has an internal accuracy of 51 bits. But it then gets passed to the cross-feed dsp, then on to the 3 stage interpolation filters to take it to 2048FS, then into the OP noise shapers. So the 51 bits has to be truncated. But since the signal is at 16FS, the truncation is done via noise shaping and dithering. This means that the signal is not lost, but perfectly preserved, as this process adds zero distortion - just a fixed noise at -180dB. This has been verified with Verilog simulation.  
 
6. The impedance is 75 milli-ohms (0.075 ohm).
 
7. The black stuff is dye used in the anodizing process - for the silver, a silver dye is used, the black is black dye. Its a wee bit more complex than that, but the black is as tough as the silver is.
 
8. BT was intended for mobile in one pocket, Hugo in another one.
 
Rob

 

[dsincere]

Mr. Watts is the man... .... I can not wait to take possession of this ultimate device ......I just keep counting the days down ......should be two weeks hopefully sooner....dealer just waiting on delivery, as I missed out on the Christmas delivery.... everyone snatched them up before I could get one .......because we all waited on the Hugo Black....now just have to hold on a little while longer .......

 

[eugenius]

Thanks for the answers mr. Watts. I already got the answers in an e-mail, that was quick.
 
But I have to say, a 4$ super-tiny CSR Bluetooth dongle doesn't have this problem ... maybe there's more work to be done.
Is his super-short Bluetooth range because of the metal case blocking reception or because of limited power to save battery?

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Thanks for the answers mr. Watts. I already got the answers in an e-mail, that was quick.
 
But I have to say, a 4$ super-tiny CSR Bluetooth dongle doesn't have this problem ... maybe there's more work to be done.
Is his super-short Bluetooth range because of the metal case blocking reception or because of limited power to save battery?

you can also consider short bluetooth due to very high rate of transfer. a flac plays until and over 1mbps while most bluetooth devices were designed with slower speeds in mind.

 

[eugenius]

APT-X as it is used right now is not lossless, it's just better compression  and higher bit rate than before.
 
When you see "APT-X Lossless" on it, then it's lossless but I'm not aware of any device with that yet.