[PhilW]

Optical connections CANNOT 'stream electrical interference'. Sorry, but absolute tosh.

I'm curious now? Please provide further information.

 

[doraymon]

I'm curious now? Please provide further information.

Make it two curious...

 

[kelly200269]

http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=349880&seqNum=3
Among others...

 

[PhilW]

The article you just pointed us to says

"They're immune to electrical interference, and the signal holds up better over longer distances"

Now I'm doubly confused

 

[uzi2]

​I suspect your optical connection, although good, does still stream some electrical interference into the Hugo's DAC, thus creating a smaller sound stage than is possible with a galvanic isolated connection.  Sending the analog stream from the Hugo to an alternative amp helps to alleviate some of that loss of sound stage but at the cost of lost detail. 

Remedy:  USB 2.0 audio with galvanic isolated power for an Intona.  Your sound stage will become much bigger with the detail.

Optical connections CANNOT 'stream electrical interference'. Sorry, but absolute tosh.
 

 
I think the confusion arises, because @kelly200269 is saying "absolute tosh" to the quote from @elviscaprice rather than his own statement.
 
Whilst an optical connection cannot pick up electrical interference in the same way as coax, it can of course still stream electrical interference if it is fed it from the DAP.
It is a clean connection, but crap in will still be crap out.

 

[fiascogarcia]

  Interesting.
With the green colur level on he Hugo what is your listening level with the LC?

Using Ether Flow, LC is usually set around 10 to 11 o'clock on low gain.  K10 ciems usually about 7 o'clock, although I often play them straight out of Hugo. Using a simple iPhone meter, it's registered an average roughly 65 to 75 db. depending on the music or mood.  Not sure about the accuracy of that though.

 

[kelly200269]

​I suspect your optical connection, although good, does still stream some electrical interference into the Hugo's DAC, thus creating a smaller sound stage than is possible with a galvanic isolated connection.  Sending the analog stream from the Hugo to an alternative amp helps to alleviate some of that loss of sound stage but at the cost of lost detail. 

Remedy:  USB 2.0 audio with galvanic isolated power for an Intona.  Your sound stage will become much bigger with the detail.

Optical connections CANNOT 'stream electrical interference'. Sorry, but absolute tosh.
 

 
I think the confusion arises, because @kelly200269 is saying "absolute tosh" to the quote from @elviscaprice rather than his own statement.
 
Whilst an optical connection cannot pick up electrical interference in the same way as coax, it can of course still stream electrical interference if it is fed it from the DAP.
It is a clean connection, but crap in will still be crap out.

With an optical TOSLINK connection, the only 'inteference' would arise from the encoding hardware itself, such as the PC, streamer etc. If there was indeed inteference there, the same 'inteference' would be transmitted by/through ALL I/O interfaces, USB, TOSLINK etc.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[uzi2]

With an optical TOSLINK connection, the only 'inteference' would arise from the encoding hardware itself, such as the PC, streamer etc. If there was indeed inteference there, the same 'inteference' would be transmitted by/through ALL I/O interfaces, USB, TOSLINK etc.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

I think it would be wrong to assume that all of a device's varied outputs would carry the same amount of noise as they are all implemented in different ways.
What we do agree on is that the optical path cannot pick up electrical noise (it can, of course transmit it, just like any other part of the signal).

 

[PhilW]

You are talking interference such as jitter rather than airbourne interference. Ok understood.

 

[boomtube]

Anyone here have 2Qute and Hugo?...if so, what sound differences do you hear between the 2 and Hugo, and what amp do you use for the 2Qute?

 

[doraymon]

Hi guys, a technical question.
 
Considering that, as Rob Watts wrote in this same thread, "When you start normally, it is set to -24dB, which is 0.3v RMS for 0dBFS", how can I estimate the SPL out of my cans if the have a sensitivity of 103 dB SPL / mW and an impedance of 25 Ohms?

 

[miketlse]

Hi guys, a technical question.

Considering that, as Rob Watts wrote in this same thread, "When you start normally, it is set to -24dB, which is 0.3v RMS for 0dBFS", how can I estimate the SPL out of my cans if the have a sensitivity of 103 dB SPL / mW and an impedance of 25 Ohms?

Have a look at the spreadsheet that @Grumpyoldguy posted on the Mojo thread a few days ago. I think it should calculate the numbers for you, if you know all the input data.

 

[jlbrach]

2qute has no ability to drive HP's by themselves so obviously you need an amp and nobody speaks of it having a sound colored by the choice of amp yet anyone who speaks of adding an amp to a Hugo is immediately told it would color the sound and be less transparent.....it does make sense to me but why the difference between the 1Qute and the Hugo or other Chord Dacs?....is it simpy because the 2Qute isnt powerful enough to drive HP's alone but the Hugo is?

 

[JaZZ]

  2qute has no ability to drive HP's by themselves so obviously you need an amp and nobody speaks of it having a sound colored by the choice of amp yet anyone who speaks of adding an amp to a Hugo is immediately told it would color the sound and be less transparent.....it does make sense to me but why the difference between the 1Qute and the Hugo or other Chord Dacs?....is it simpy because the 2Qute isnt powerful enough to drive HP's alone but the Hugo is?

 
Yes, that's it – and the reason why I as a headphone listener would never choose the 2Cute. But of course every single electronics component colors the sound, that's also true for the minimalistic output stages of Hugo and DAVE. It's just that adding more of them reduces transparency further.
 
It's not about prescribing a specific approach and a specific sonic signature to other music lovers and hi-fi enthusiasts. If you like the sound better with an additional amp in the chain, more power to you. But since Head-Fi is also and especially a place to find and give advice, I always try to recommend an approach with a more promising result that doesn't sacrifice any transparency. If an amp colors the sound in a way making it more pleasing to the ears, that's most likely due to less than perfect tonal synergy of the direct connection. Another point – in my experience – is that most or all amps make the sound more forgiving to tonal flaws in the chain, be it at the source or with the sound transducers. So instead of this theoretically flawed method to correct for them you may try to correct the flaws at their source: via equalizing the tonal balance of the chain.
 
I guess it doesn't occur to anybody that a live concert at the venue would benefit from an amplifier of some sort. It certainly wouldn't improve the sound. The reason is that it already is perfect (minus some possible acoustics issues). It's only with notoriously imperfect playback gear that the coloration it introduces may be beneficial in one or the other way. Of course in a playback chain with the Hugo or DAVE a benefit from a better driving ability of an added amp (including balanced drive) is imaginable, at least with some demanding headphones. But to verify this a serious comparison with the above-mentioned alternative is indispensable.
 
All I can tell is that I'm perfectly happy with the DAVE/HE1000 synergy via equalizer. I'm aware that the LCD-4 is more demanding. On the other hand others have reported excellent results with the Abyss, although it forces the DAVE to operate at the upper end.
 
And since this thread is about the Hugo, not the DAVE (as I've finally realized): I'm also very happy with the Hugo/HE1000 combo (with adapted EQ curve) – a bit less so with the Mojo instead of the Hugo, for whatever reason (less clear, less 3-dimensional).

 

[jlbrach]

thus far the LCD-4 is the only HP i have encountered that makes me consider using my Moon 430 amp with my Dave and with my TT before it....I go back and forth on it,my desire is to go straight from the source as much as possible but there are passages of music that really do test the Dave straight into the LCD-4's.....