[Here2rock]

  
I would love you hear you feedback when you get it but it seems a serious mismatch to me.

I have them finally and the Focal Utopia + Chord Mojo is not a serious mismatch. It sounds pretty good. 

That's great, no doubt you are loving it.


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[ubs28]

That's great, no doubt you are loving it.


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Yes. Amazing headphone. I don't regret buying it. 

 

[ecapsretliab]

OK so my recently purchased used Hugo appears to be a brick on the HD input.  I have tried two different PCs and had a PC technician try it out, nothing.  We both get this weird USB install message "installing bossa program port...". The Hugo sample light then flashes white and immediately goes dark.  No detection.  The Chord AISO driver won't connect with the Hugo, the Hugo is not listed in the device manager.  Only the SD input works for me... I guess I will contact Chord and hopefully they can advise me...  it would seem this is very unusual as Google and Head-Fi return no info on this, so must be just really bad luck for me.
Sorry for hijacking this thread with my personal drama, just thought someone might have experienced something similar?

 

[Deftone]

Definitely wait for a response, just out of interest,what are second hand Hugo's going for at this time ?

 

[ecapsretliab]

Definitely wait for a response, just out of interest,what are second hand Hugo's going for at this time ?

Usually between 1200usd and 1500usd.  Cheers.

 

[ubs28]

  OK so my recently purchased used Hugo appears to be a brick on the HD input.  I have tried two different PCs and had a PC technician try it out, nothing.  We both get this weird USB install message "installing bossa program port...". The Hugo sample light then flashes white and immediately goes dark.  No detection.  The Chord AISO driver won't connect with the Hugo, the Hugo is not listed in the device manager.  Only the SD input works for me... I guess I will contact Chord and hopefully they can advise me...  it would seem this is very unusual as Google and Head-Fi return no info on this, so must be just really bad luck for me.
Sorry for hijacking this thread with my personal drama, just thought someone might have experienced something similar?

If it's within warranty, return it to the shop you bought it from and get it replaced? I never had that issue, but it's not a big deal since I prefer the optical connection on the Chord Hugo over the USB connection

 

[ecapsretliab]

 
If it's within warranty, return it to the shop you bought it from and get it replaced? I never had that issue, but it's not a big deal since I prefer the optical connection on the Chord Hugo over the USB connection

No it was a private sale, buyer beware I guess.  I have emailed Chord so will see what they say...  Interesting that you prefer optical, I suppose that gives you galvanic isolation? 

 

[ubs28]

  No it was a private sale, buyer beware I guess.  I have emailed Chord so will see what they say...  Interesting that you prefer optical, I suppose that gives you galvanic isolation? 

Sorry to hear that. It could be due to the lack of galvanic isolation I suppose which makes the USB connection sound harsher according to my ears. 

 

[ecapsretliab]

 
Sorry to hear that. It could be due to the lack of galvanic isolation I suppose which makes the USB connection sound harsher according to my ears. 

Cheers, I'm planning on running a PSA Lanrover, so I can have my server in my bedroom, then have a dedicated listening room next door for my speakers.  The beauty of the Hugo is that it fits the bill perfectly.  I can transport it into my bedroom for headphone listening, and then back to my speaker room when I desire.
Took me about 30 seconds with the Hugo hooked up to my amplifier to decide it was the perfect sound.  I'm definitely a Chord convert.

 

[miketlse]

  No it was a private sale, buyer beware I guess.  I have emailed Chord so will see what they say...  Interesting that you prefer optical, I suppose that gives you galvanic isolation? 

 
Just make sure that you emailed Chord Electronics, and not Chord Cables by mistake. 

 
A few owners do email the wrong company by mistake, then complain that they received no reply.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Any suggestions for portable "wearing" of the Chord Hugo?  My wife (the "ruthie" of ruthieandjohn) bought me one for Christmas, and I want to be ready to take it on walks.
 
It has a case, but like the official Chord case, it seems to be for protection only.  I am looking for a way to run my belt through it and wear it on my waist, or a case that has its own belt... something better than jamming it into my pants pocket.  Of course the case would have to coexist with a DAP (likely a FiiO X5ii feeding the Hugo by digital coax).
 
Thanks!

 

[miketlse]

  Any suggestions for portable "wearing" of the Chord Hugo?  My wife (the "ruthie" of ruthieandjohn) bought me one for Christmas, and I want to be ready to take it on walks.
 
It has a case, but like the official Chord case, it seems to be for protection only.  I am looking for a way to run my belt through it and wear it on my waist, or a case that has its own belt... something better than jamming it into my pants pocket.  Of course the case would have to coexist with a DAP (likely a FiiO X5ii feeding the Hugo by digital coax).
 
Thanks!

 
I thought of Dignis, because they make cases for Mojo + Dap, but cannot see a hugo + Dap product.
http://shop2.dignis.cafe24.com/product/avec-ak70-mojo-case/130/?cate_no=54&display_group=1

 

[miketlse]

  Any suggestions for portable "wearing" of the Chord Hugo?  My wife (the "ruthie" of ruthieandjohn) bought me one for Christmas, and I want to be ready to take it on walks.
 
It has a case, but like the official Chord case, it seems to be for protection only.  I am looking for a way to run my belt through it and wear it on my waist, or a case that has its own belt... something better than jamming it into my pants pocket.  Of course the case would have to coexist with a DAP (likely a FiiO X5ii feeding the Hugo by digital coax).
 
Thanks!

Have you checked this thread?
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728145/chord-hugo-the-portable-discussion-thread/975#post_11190791

 

[icambra]

Hello all,
I'm sure someone has brought this up before, but hopefully someone will be patient enough to give their opinion:
I recently purchased a Hugo even though I am mostly planning to use it at home with my hi-fi setup. I wasn't looking for anything portable, but I honestly can't think of anything at this price range that sounds remotely similar.
I have been experimenting with Audirvana's upsampling feature, trying to figure out if upsampling actually helps improve the sound or not. At first I felt like things really opened up when upsampling everything to 384khz, but the more I used the feature I realised the sound was somehow tiring and less enjoyable. After playing around with filter settings etc I am back to not using any upsampling, because I feel like the sound is more "natural". Has anyone had this same experience with the Hugo? If someone does like to use upsampling which settings are you using?
Thanks!
 
IC

 

[x RELIC x]

Hello all,
I'm sure someone has brought this up before, but hopefully someone will be patient enough to give their opinion:
I recently purchased a Hugo even though I am mostly planning to use it at home with my hi-fi setup. I wasn't looking for anything portable, but I honestly can't think of anything at this price range that sounds remotely similar.
I have been experimenting with Audirvana's upsampling feature, trying to figure out if upsampling actually helps improve the sound or not. At first I felt like things really opened up when upsampling everything to 384khz, but the more I used the feature I realised the sound was somehow tiring and less enjoyable. After playing around with filter settings etc I am back to not using any upsampling, because I feel like the sound is more "natural". Has anyone had this same experience with the Hugo? If someone does like to use upsampling which settings are you using?
Thanks!

IC

Here is a quote from Rob Watts regarding upsampling and it will pertain to the Hugo as well, Essentially, don't do it. You should feed the original file to Chord DACs.

Originally Posted by Rob Watts View Post

Converting the original file into DSD or up-sampling is a very bad idea. The rule of thumb is to always maintain the original data as Mojo's processing power is way more complex and capable than any PC or mobile device.

DSD as a format has major problems with it; in particular it has two major and serious flaws:

1. Timing. The noise shapers used with DSD have severe timing errors. You can see this easily using Verilog simulations. If you use a step change transient (op is zero, then goes high) with a large signal, then do the same with a small signal, then you get major differences in the analogue output - the large signal has no delay, the small signal has a much larger delay. This is simply due to the noise shaper requiring time for the internal integrators to respond to the error. This amplitude related timing error is of the order of micro seconds and is very audible. Whenever there is a timing inaccuracy, the brain has problems making sense of the sound, and perceives the timing error has a softness to the transient; in short timing errors screw up the ability to hear the starting and stopping of notes.

2. Small signal accuracy. Noise shapers have problems with very small signals in that the 64 times 1 bit output (DSD 64) does not have enough innate resolution to accurately resolve small signals. What happens when small signals are not properly reproduced? You get a big degradation in the ability to perceive depth information, and this makes the sound flat with no layering of instruments in space. Now there is no limit to how accurate the noise shaper needs to be; with the noise shaper that is with Mojo I have 1000 times more small signal resolution than conventional DAC's - and against DSD 64 its 10,000 times more resolving power. This is why some many users have reported that Mojo has so much better space and sounds more 3D with better layering - and its mostly down to the resolving power of the pulse array noise shaper. This problem of depth perception is unlimited in the sense that to perfectly reproduce depth you need no limit to the resolving power of the noise shaper.

So if you take a PCM signal and convert it to DSD you hear two problems - a softness to the sound, as you can no longer perceive the starting and stopping of notes; and a very flat sound-stage with no layering as the small signals are not reproduced accurately enough, so the brain can't use the very small signals that are used to give depth perception.

The second issue in using the transport to up-sample (44.1 to 176.4 say) is that the up-samplers in a PC or mobile device are very crude, with very limited processing power and poor algorithms. This results in timing problems, and like with DSD you can't hear the starting and stopping of notes correctly. These timing problems also screw up the perception of timbre (how bright or dark instruments sound), the pitch reproduction of bass (starting transients of bass lets you follow the bass tune), and of course stereo imagery (left right placement is handled by the brain using timing differences from the ears). Now Mojo has a very advanced algorithm (WTA) that is designed to maximise timing reconstruction (the missing timing information from one sample to the next) and huge processing power to more accurately calculate what the original analogue values are from one sample to the next. Its got 500 times more processing power than normal, and this allows much more accurate reconstruction of the original analogue signal.

So the long and the short is don't let the source mess with the signal (except perhaps with a good EQ program) and let Mojo deal with the original data, as Mojo is way more capable.

Rob

Bold emphasis added by me.