[Whazzzup]

I still like my GSX mk2, did a few more A/B and it just sounds deeper, full, intimate at a low volume. No color that I can tell, using TT.
Hugo as a portable sounds very good on its own. Happy camper here.

 

[JaZZ]

 

   
Out of curiosity I just tried my HE1000 with the Hugo – instead of my now reference, the DAVE. I was really surprised about how close the Hugo gets to the DAVE when it comes to listening pleasure and sound quality. I could just use light blue, everything above would have hurt my ears. BTW, I never heard it clip at any level I've tried in the past, neither with HE1000 nor with HD 800 – so much to your implied «current limitation». In fact its headphone stage is much too loud for both headphones... but you can never have too much power reserve, as you know.
 
Have I already stated how good the HE1000 sounds driven by the Hugo? If I wouldn't own the DAVE, I'd be completely satisfied with this combo. As already mentioned, I've tried it with my various amps, and none of them came close to the level of immediacy, purity, dynamics and control the Hugo was capable of. That said, my headphones are modified and particularly equalized to sound at their best, so they don't need the euphonic colorations from additional electronics components. I warmly recommend you to jump over your own shadow and try this variant – you'd be surprised.

Playing loud does not mean playing well. Any amp with the right voltage gain can make any headphone/speaker sound loud. Also, simply avoiding clipping doe not mean amp can drive any particular driver well.
 
Good bass is in part (very important part) a function of the damping factor, which I understand is very good on Hugo (almost zero output Z)
 
Amp that is not current limited (i.e., they double down on max power output every time output Z is halved) sounds open, with ease, flows well, not strained with lots happening in the music and a general sense of great power reserve.

 
Haven't I explicitly stated that the Hugo plays loud and well? The fact that it plays extremely loud on a power-hungry 34 ohm headphone alone shows that there's no current limitation. I think you/we shouldn't rely on the numbers at hand, they can't be true.
 
I seriously encourage you to try the proposed variant. I think you will agree that for judging the absolute quality/neutrality of an amp you have to use a neutral, uncolored sound transducer – right? Now since something like that doesn't exist, you have to use a trick: equalizing. As well as it gets. That's the basis you have to start from. Otherwise you're a victim of synergetic effects.
 
There are people (and not just a few) who swear by preamps in speaker systems even for DACs such as DAVE with their sophisticated preamp function. And they don't see any reason to question their approach on a technical basis. This despite the fact that the input impedance provided by the preamp is the same as the one on a power amp – so there's certainly no form of relief. Hence it's very clear that they prefer the coloration added by the preamp. As Rob Watts uses to say: some people like harmonic distortion. It's easy to do so, because it sounds nothing like that, instead it makes the sound richer and warmer, may even enhance the soundstage and add authority. I'm speaking from own experience.
 
During my long years of passionate (hobbyist) speaker building I was working on a pair of audiophile two-way speakers with homegrown dome tweeter. As a strong proponent of steep crossover filters (in the interest of narrowed transition bands for a less disturbed sound dispersion, among other criteria) I used fourth-order filters throughout. Their downside is the need for very careful tuning, otherwise the inevitable phase distortions stand out all too clearly. Only a perfect synchronization guarantees that the phase errors are virtually reduced to less obvious group delay. It took me months to get to a really satisfying result – with hand-measured filter components. During those days I decided to replace my Conrad Johnson PV6 preamp with a passive, resistor-based attenuator (with a voltage-dividing function), again all metal-film resistors measured by hand. The sonic result was absolutely disappointing. Gone was the previous homogeneity and coherence. The bitter pill to swallow was the finding that the now purer signal ruthlessly revealed residual imperfections. After many more months of further crossover fine-tuning the sound had become all the better.
 
This for showing that a signal as pure as possible may not please at first glance, but call for further investigations in terms of the quality of the rest of the system.

 

[JaZZ]

  i have been listening through 3.5 inch single driver 8 ohm diy speakers directly connected to mojo as well as through headphones. the kind of realism and  transparency i get with direct connection to mojo can't be matched by adding the amp. the best part are the vocals which get some kind of magical treatment from mojo/hugo . vocals sound as if the singer is in front of you. because of this i don't care about the bass weight , richness or warmth as i know what i am listening is as good as real live performance. one thing i have experienced that because of extreme transparency both mojo and hugo reveal the effects of cold electronics to start with. after about an hour or so sound reaches to its potential . this may be true for other dacs also but those may not be  transparent enough to reveal the effect of cold electronics.  

 
Yeah – Rob Watts drives a pair of speakers with the DAVE, so does Romaz, the High-End perfectionist, who has nothing but praise for this configuration. He has never heard his full-range speakers sound any better.
 
I think these extreme examples should at least have some eye-opening effect with the die-hard amplifier proponents.

 

[Whazzzup]

Die hard was a good sequel the first being the best, yippee ki yea!

 

[JaZZ]

Thanks, Whazzzup, for your moral support!

 

[Turrican2]

Great little short lightning cable to Micro usb form Penon Audio, works well with my iphone 6.

 

[phonomat]

@JaZZ, in a general response to your recent posts: While I might agree or at least sympathize with your idea(l)s to a certain degree in theory, they have no relevance to me in practice. I certainly am what you sneeringly call a "consumer", listening to music for the sole purpose of my indulgence. Also, your choice of headphones (the HD800 and the HE1000 are about as removed from what I look for in a TOTL headphone as possible) suggests to me that our preferences are vastly different, so I guess there's not much to add really. I will, however, say, that I question your dogmatic approach as I feel it becomes apparent in your posts. To me, it often sounds like you are chastising yourself as much as others in a way that appears positively manichaeistic (being a fellow editor, you'll be familiar with the term ...

). What I'm saying is, I feel your frustration, but I think it might be homebrewn to a degree. It's a hard life being a purist. Especially when you're using a device -- now get ready for this -- that I hereby claim colors sound in a way that lets it land on the bright/strident/digital side. Clean should not equal lean. 

 
Now, I can't speak for others, but what I am attempting by adding an amp to the chain that is possibly a little bit on the warm and "beefy" side of things, the Violectric V281, is countering these shortfalls of the Hugo that are quite apparent to me, which allows me to keep the quirky little bugger for the time being. I call it correction. Since I apparently do not value "transparency" quite as highly as you, I'm more than happy to sacrifice a smidgen or two of the stuff for what I consider great sound as I hear it. Call it synergy, if you like. In any case, it works for me. You chose a different path, and I wish you good luck on your quest for absolute truth. 

 

 

[JaZZ]

  @JaZZ, in a general response to your recent posts: While I might agree or at least sympathize with your idea(l)s to a certain degree in theory, they have no relevance to me in practice. I certainly am what you sneeringly call a "consumer", listening to music for the sole purpose of my indulgence. Also, your choice of headphones (the HD800 and the HE1000 are about as removed from what I look for in a TOTL headphone as possible) suggests to me that our preferences are vastly different, so I guess there's not much to add really. I will, however, say, that I question your dogmatic approach as I feel it becomes apparent in your posts. To me, it often sounds like you are chastising yourself as much as others in a way that appears positively manichaeistic (being a fellow editor, you'll be familiar with the term ...

). What I'm saying is, I feel your frustration, but I think it might be homebrewn to a degree. It's a hard life being a purist. Especially when you're using a device -- now get ready for this -- that I hereby claim colors sound in a way that lets it land on the bright/strident/digital side. Clean should not equal lean. 

 
Now, I can't speak for others, but what I am attempting by adding an amp to the chain that is possibly a little bit on the warm and "beefy" side of things, the Violectric V281, is countering these shortfalls of the Hugo that are quite apparent to me, which allows me to keep the quirky little bugger for the time being. I call it correction. Since I apparently do not value "transparency" quite as highly as you, I'm more than happy to sacrifice a smidgen or two of the stuff for what I consider great sound as I hear it. Call it synergy, if you like. In any case, it works for me. You chose a different path, and I wish you good luck on your quest for absolute truth. 

 

 
I'm glad we understand each other!

Well, not entirely: I'm far from pretending my approach to be the only valid one – as stated in my previous response. I'm not even a pure purist: It's legitimate to prefer the sound that one prefers, be it close to the original or not. I for one edit all my recordings to my liking even before listening to them after purchase – this while I apply crossfeed which is indispensable for my ears (suffering from some sort hyperacusis nowhere mentioned on the net).
 
I'm just proposing my method as a reaction to claims such as «The Hugo needs a powerful amp to sound at its best» like a universal truth, on an objectivized basis (it's not possible to be competely objective, since even extremely low distortion figures don't clearly prove any superiority, the less so to people who hear differently and deduce their own interpretation). So in fact my attitude is the opposite of dogmatic. I try to help others in finding a cheaper way to even higher listening pleasure, and I'm fine with those who refuse to do so – as long as they don't claim their approach be the only valid one.

 

[chesebert]

   
I'm glad we understand each other!

Well, not entirely: I'm far from pretending my approach to be the only valid one – as stated in my previous response. I'm not even a pure purist: It's legitimate to prefer the sound that one prefers, be it close to the original or not. I for one edit all my recordings to my liking even before listening to them after purchase – this while I apply crossfeed which is indispensable for my ears (suffering from some sort hyperacusis nowhere mentioned on the net).
 
I'm just proposing my method as a reaction to claims such as «The Hugo needs a powerful amp to sound at its best» like a universal truth, on an objectivized basis (it's not possible to be competely objective, since even extremely low distortion figures don't clearly prove any superiority, the less so to people who hear differently and deduce their own interpretation). So in fact my attitude is the opposite of dogmatic. I try to help others in finding a cheaper way to even higher listening pleasure, and I'm fine with those who refuse to do so – as long as they don't claim their approach be the only valid one.

Tried HD650 and HF2. They both sound better to me driven by a separate headamp. It was not even close. I have fully satisfied my curiosity (for the nth time on this direct drive thing...)

 

[JaZZ]

 

  I'm glad we understand each other!

Well, not entirely: I'm far from pretending my approach to be the only valid one – as stated in my previous response. I'm not even a pure purist: It's legitimate to prefer the sound that one prefers, be it close to the original or not. I for one edit all my recordings to my liking even before listening to them after purchase – this while I apply crossfeed which is indispensable for my ears (suffering from some sort hyperacusis nowhere mentioned on the net).
 
I'm just proposing my method as a reaction to claims such as «The Hugo needs a powerful amp to sound at its best» like a universal truth, on an objectivized basis (it's not possible to be competely objective, since even extremely low distortion figures don't clearly prove any superiority, the less so to people who hear differently and deduce their own interpretation). So in fact my attitude is the opposite of dogmatic. I try to help others in finding a cheaper way to even higher listening pleasure, and I'm fine with those who refuse to do so – as long as they don't claim their approach be the only valid one.

Tried HD650 and HF2. They both sound better to me driven by a separate headamp. It was not even close. I have fully satisfied my curiosity (for the nth time on this direct drive thing...)

 
I'm fine with that and it's alright – I can perfectly live with deviating preferences. But I strongly suspect you haven't even (seriously) tried equalizing them – my own equalizing adventures usually last as long as my crossover network tunings... (and since you haven't mentioned SonarWorks). So in my book you still have no idea what the Hugo is capable of – unless my allegation is wrong, in which case I apologize.

 

[Jawed]

i have been listening through 3.5 inch single driver 8 ohm diy speakers directly connected to mojo as well as through headphones. the kind of realism and  transparency i get with direct connection to mojo can't be matched by adding the amp. the best part are the vocals which get some kind of magical treatment from mojo/hugo . vocals sound as if the singer is in front of you. because of this i don't care about the bass weight , richness or warmth as i know what i am listening is as good as real live performance. one thing i have experienced that because of extreme transparency both mojo and hugo reveal the effects of cold electronics to start with. after about an hour or so sound reaches to its potential . this may be true for other dacs also but those may not be  transparent enough to reveal the effect of cold electronics.  

Perhaps you should try DIY horn speaker design! Higher impedance and much higher efficiency!

 

[Rob Watts]

 

On Hugo: 100 ohm load, 127.18 milliwatts is the maximum power. On TT: 31 ohm load, 336.26 milliwatts. For both units that's the maximum power observed.

Thank you that makes sense, newbie question, ideally should you be looking to pair the TT with 31 Ohm load HP? If you look at just the numbers 336.26 miliwatts is not earth shattering, yet listeners say it is more than loud enough.
 
Are these specifications official? If they are then they maybe very conservative numbers on the safe side. 
 
Looking at these numbers:
 
Ohm mW
16 15,87
25 20,51
31 41,48
62 80,84
100 127,18
199 101,49
300 67,28
763 26,48
 
Why there is more output with higher harder to drive HPs? It does not make sense to me.

Its because the figures are nonsense.
 
Hugo actual output is:
Output power - 1KHz 1V sinewave both channels driven 0.1% distortion
  600 Ohms 35mW
  300 Ohms 70mW
  56 Ohms 320mW
  32 Ohms 600mW
  8 Ohms 720mW
Also Hugo TT share identical output stages, (except for increased bias current), same PSU voltage, same gain. So will deliver almost identical power for a given battery voltage.
 
Rob

 

[ecapsretliab]

Hello fellow Hugoians. 
 
I just today received a used Hugo, it looks in good shape and all the lights indicate correctly, but I am having a hell of a time getting it to recognise in Windows 10.
 
I stuffed around for about an hour trying everything, until finally I switched from a USB3.0 port to a USB2.0 port.  Sure enough a diffused red glow lite up and Windows 10 can see the Hugo (in SD USB mode) and it plays perfect. (Jaw dropping-ly so)
 
I then switched to my LPS powered Elfidelity USB card that occupies a rear PCI slot. (which I think is hooked up to a USB3.0 header on my motherboard, but will need to double check that) 
 
To my surprise the SD USB still detects and plays fine. But... No matter what I do I can not get the HD input to work.  I have installed the Hugo HD driver, tried compatibility modes, uninstalled all other audio drivers, tried multiple USB ports, it just won't detect (and the diffused light wont glow obviously) ...I should mention that yes I changed the input to "white"
 
Has anybody else had issues with HD USB under Windows 10?

 

[ubs28]

I got it working on Windows 10. But it was on Bootcamp (Macbook Pro) if that makes a difference.

 

[chesebert]

  Hello fellow Hugoians. 
 
I just today received a used Hugo, it looks in good shape and all the lights indicate correctly, but I am having a hell of a time getting it to recognise in Windows 10.
 
I stuffed around for about an hour trying everything, until finally I switched from a USB3.0 port to a USB2.0 port.  Sure enough a diffused red glow lite up and Windows 10 can see the Hugo (in SD USB mode) and it plays perfect. (Jaw dropping-ly so)
 
I then switched to my LPS powered Elfidelity USB card that occupies a rear PCI slot. (which I think is hooked up to a USB3.0 header on my motherboard, but will need to double check that) 
 
To my surprise the SD USB still detects and plays fine. But... No matter what I do I can not get the HD input to work.  I have installed the Hugo HD driver, tried compatibility modes, uninstalled all other audio drivers, tried multiple USB ports, it just won't detect (and the diffused light wont glow obviously) ...I should mention that yes I changed the input to "white"
 
Has anybody else had issues with HD USB under Windows 10?

Works fine in Jriver using AISO on win10.
 
Don't think it sounds as good as SD, I don't really use it.