[mathi8vadhanan]

  The bands that came with my unit are just a little too big for use with my AK120II. They don't fit really tight, so they tend to roll off. 
 
Are there alternative bands anyone uses? 
 
Thanks!

I used to have two bands each side, like this.

 

 

[zachawry]

I got mine triple-banded! But they still slide off. 
 
Your photo did give me an idea, though. I'm not currently using the AK case--If I do, that should provide just enough extra tension on the bands to keep them snug. 
 
Thanks for the pic.
 
(To me the fake crocodile skin thing is just super-tacky, but I guess I'll put up with it.)

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

 
I got mine triple-banded! But they still slide off. 
 
Your photo did give me an idea, though. I'm not currently using the AK case--If I do, that should provide just enough extra tension on the bands to keep them snug. 
 
Thanks for the pic.
 
(To me the fake crocodile skin thing is just super-tacky, but I guess I'll put up with it.)

Croc pattern looks tacky in pictures, but in real-life it's not very noticeable. AK's case is very ergonomic and functional, compared to the disaster that is HUGO's case.
 
If you have to charge, open the flap. 
If you have to switch on the device, open the flap.
If you have to use coax, open the flap.

 

[zachawry]

  Croc pattern looks tacky in pictures, but in real-life it's not very noticeable. AK's case is very ergonomic and functional, compared to the disaster that is HUGO's case.
 
If you have to charge, open the flap. 
If you have to switch on the device, open the flap.
If you have to use coax, open the flap.

 
Yeah, I got Hugo's case. Used, thank goodness, because of how ultra-sucky it is. 
 
Anybody want to buy mine? It's awesome!

 

[fiascogarcia]

  Croc pattern looks tacky in pictures, but in real-life it's not very noticeable. AK's case is very ergonomic and functional, compared to the disaster that is HUGO's case.
 
If you have to charge, open the flap. 
If you have to switch on the device, open the flap.
If you have to use coax, open the flap.

I'd still like to see them come up with a more desk top friendly, ergonomic case.  Maybe a slide on type, open on one side and cutouts on the other, no handle.
 
 

 

[rkt31]

now the picture is getting more and more clear. when yggy (yagdrasil) released there were quick reviews about it competing with msb dac or even better. some even rated Hugo at last place as compared to yggy. but slowly it has come up that yggy is no where near msb dac but yes it is good Dac for the price. while the Hugo was said to be close to msb. now TT is even better than Hugo. here is the link of yggy vs msb. headmania.org/tag/schiit-yggdrasil-vs-msb-analog-dac/ it seems yggy though very good but there might be deliberate hype about it as I could not find any reviews of yggy by reputed hi fi magazines ( can any one explain the reasons of no reviews of yggdrasil by magazines like hi fi choice, what hi fi, stereophile and others even after few months of release?) while Hugo is reviewed by almost every magazines and has won so many awards in a very short time after release.

 

[TabCam]

I like to share my experiences so far with the Hugo. I have bought the Hugo more than a year ago and loved it from the first moments. I also have have now reached a much better performance level than I ever expected before.
 
I started with the Hugo for both IEM (sleek SA6, still great value for their quite neutral and natural bass) and a full size system with Usher Mini Dancer Two mk II. The detail retrieval and black background is very nice. I have used a (n android) media player as my main audio and movie player for a very long time.
 
This summer I have been to the U.S.A. and after listening to the Hugo with the MrSpeakers Alpha Prime I kept these magnificent headphones. Maybe the new Ether C is better, but for half the price you get tremendous performance and value for money.
With the headphones I also discovered that some recordings are quite bad. Daft Punk's Random Access Memories was riddles with pops, cracks and other noise. I was quite flabbergasted, but head them also with my IEM. I later found out that I could head them also with the full size system but that required far louder levels.
 
I also found out that the music on my Mac sounded a lot better with Audirvana. Later on I used Vox and it delivers the same quality for free. For Windows, Foobar2000 and even Kodi deliver the same quality as long as they play bit-perfect. For Android I use USB Audio Player Pro but that is not possible in all cases.
 
As I have read the comments in this thread, I can imagine that a lot of people who complain about the Hugo do not get the most out of their quite able Hugo. The best sound with the Hugo for me is with bit-perfect players. For half a year I used an android media player but it up-sampled everything to 192 kHz. That is quite detrimental to the SQ. I know there are a lot of android phones which have an internal sound system which operates at 48 kHz.
 
How can you hear the differences? It took me quite some time and the easiest I can describe it, is with naturalness. Plucking on guitars, the attack and decay of a piano, string instruments, everything sounds like a real instrument. The easiest difference is with trumpets I think. Trumpets are not a sweet voiced instruments. More often than not they should have a bite to them.
 
A very nice song to test this with is U Pavlu Zoru by Pink Martini. It has a lot of different instruments like harp, cello, female voice, percussion, piano, bass and a trumpet at the end of the song. I also notice it with contemporary songs like Cheerleader by OMI.
What I also like is that the harshness/bite of the trumpet doesn't affect the sibilance of close mike recordings. The album Victoria by Maria Mena is a jewel in both timing and deliverance of the lyrics. It is a very closely miked and there is sibilance there but in a natural way. You also hear the saliva which also helps in increases the very intimate setting.
 
Last weekend I went to the X-Fi show in the Netherlands and had the fortune to hear both the Metrum Pavane and the Beyerdynamic Tesla T1. The Metrum Pavane is a non oversampling dac and I believe the designer, Cees Ruijtenberg, has made a masterpiece that betters the Hugo. It better should be, as it is three times the price of the Hugo. The designer was quite liberal and let me listen to it with my own music. It seems blacker in background and to have more impactfull bass. It sound as natural as the Hugo. I'd like to have it at home for at least a week to make a better comparison.
 
The Tesla T1 was a disappointment for me. It sounded lean and had less bass than the AP while I expected it to have better bass based on what I have read. To me it didn't have more detail retrieval but it is always difficult to compare on a show with that much noise around you.
 
I absolutely recommend the Hugo for the price it has been set at. The Dave will quite likely better it with quite a margin, but I have not heard a better dac at the price level the Hugo is in. I recommend to invest time into fiddling with different setting in your favorite audio player. As long as they play bit-perfect, I have a very hard time in differentiating between them. For windows I can also recommend Fidelizer as it helps in getting network problems under control.
 
Now I have found my (bit-)perfect settings, I can enjoy my music collection. I now regularly play random albums as it lets me hear music which I would not think of myself. Both the Hugo and the MrSpeakers Alpha Prime are a real treat and a fantastic discovery for me. Hope you all enjoy reading this and keep calm and enjoy the music(ally Hugo).
 
Rob Watts and Dan Clark, thank you very much in providing so much musical enjoyment!

 

[Whazzzup]

There might be deliberate hype concerning yiggy.

Ya think

 

[Whazzzup]

I can hear each incremental change from 46 to 386 and from 16 to 32 bit. I find imac 5k usb audio quest micro to hd just fine and sure, a power conditioner, although that has no perceptible change in sq for me but serves as insurance against surge, disruption etc.
I use highest frequency and 32 bit.

 

[sensui123]

TabCam, I thank you for sharing that experience with us.  The Hugo is on my list to buy (it comes on and off because I really don't use a portable setup that much...but right now it's back on since I want to pair it with the Liquid Carbon on the go with a simple source like an ibasso dx50/dx90).  I am a pretty big fan of the Metrum Hex and Cees Ruijtenberg for his design concepts ever since listening to the Hex.  I do have the Pavane coming in as well for my home listening since I've moved the Hex to work so the feedback is helpful.
 
It sounds like the Hugo is right on cue with the kind of sound I'm looking for (ala the Metrum dacs).  It's not for everyone as a lot of people don't prefer a DAC with a laid back/easy listening nature while deceptively capturing the details.  Can't wait to pick one up later this year and run it through its paces.  Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[elviscaprice]

now the picture is getting more and more clear. when yggy (yagdrasil) released there were quick reviews about it competing with msb dac or even better. some even rated Hugo at last place as compared to yggy. but slowly it has come up that yggy is no where near msb dac but yes it is good Dac for the price. while the Hugo was said to be close to msb. now TT is even better than Hugo. here is the link of yggy vs msb. headmania.org/tag/schiit-yggdrasil-vs-msb-analog-dac/ it seems yggy though very good but there might be deliberate hype about it as I could not find any reviews of yggy by reputed hi fi magazines ( can any one explain the reasons of no reviews of yggdrasil by magazines like hi fi choice, what hi fi, stereophile and others even after few months of release?) while Hugo is reviewed by almost every magazines and has won so many awards in a very short time after release.

 
 
    I find these comparisons silly when speaking of the Hugo.  The Hugo's strengths are in an entirely different category, considering it's leading portability factors, which are second to none.  This has as much to do with it's popularity and thus numerous reviews.  
    A far as it's desktop abilities, the Hugo is extremely sensitive to the stream it is being fed.  Also, due to it's pre-amp design for portability, the Hugo serves better SQ directly to headphones or an amp/speakers.  These factors make the Hugo hard to compare to other standard desktop DAC's.  But, when properly fed, the Hugo can exponentially reward the audiophile with unlimited growth in SQ as one feeds it a purer feed from optimized streaming. 
     I find all these factors in the Hugo to make it my number 1 audio component.  Versatility & growth, that is the Hugo

 

[TokenGesture]

  TabCam, I thank you for sharing that experience with us.  The Hugo is on my list to buy (it comes on and off because I really don't use a portable setup that much...but right now it's back on since I want to pair it with the Liquid Carbon on the go with a simple source like an ibasso dx50/dx90).  I am a pretty big fan of the Metrum Hex and Cees Ruijtenberg for his design concepts ever since listening to the Hex.  I do have the Pavane coming in as well for my home listening since I've moved the Hex to work so the feedback is helpful.
 
It sounds like the Hugo is right on cue with the kind of sound I'm looking for (ala the Metrum dacs).  It's not for everyone as a lot of people don't prefer a DAC with a laid back/easy listening nature while deceptively capturing the details.  Can't wait to pick one up later this year and run it through its paces.  Thanks again for the feedback.

+1 don't get enough about the Metrum DACs around here, very interesting about the Pavane which, as th owner of both the Hugo and the original Octave, I would love to hear.

 

[TabCam]

  TabCam, I thank you for sharing that experience with us.  The Hugo is on my list to buy (it comes on and off because I really don't use a portable setup that much...but right now it's back on since I want to pair it with the Liquid Carbon on the go with a simple source like an ibasso dx50/dx90).  I am a pretty big fan of the Metrum Hex and Cees Ruijtenberg for his design concepts ever since listening to the Hex.  I do have the Pavane coming in as well for my home listening since I've moved the Hex to work so the feedback is helpful.
 
It sounds like the Hugo is right on cue with the kind of sound I'm looking for (ala the Metrum dacs).  It's not for everyone as a lot of people don't prefer a DAC with a laid back/easy listening nature while deceptively capturing the details.  Can't wait to pick one up later this year and run it through its paces.  Thanks again for the feedback.

I can tell you that you are in for a treat with the Pavane. I have compared the Pavane with the Metrum Hex and it was no contest at all. Cees Ruijtenberg has really made something special with the Pavane. The only thing keeping me from immediately buying it is my girlfriend and the fact that the Dave is around the corner. I do not know which is the most powerful force of them both

. 

 

[DeepGroove]

I am entertaining some fantasies... imagine the hugo with a 4" screen and some flash storage. This does not seem like a lot to add. But that would make a Hugo-DAP!
Question: would such implementation impact sound quality, and why?

 

[bmichels]

I am entertaining some fantasies... imagine the hugo with a 4" screen and some flash storage. This does not seem like a lot to add. But that would make a Hugo-DAP!....

I share 200% your fantasy .