[ruthieandjohn]

I have heard many folks in the HE1000, the HD800, and the Grado forums say that the Hugo is one of the best drivers, and the best portable driver, for each of these.  I am really looking forward to having it tomorrow!
 
By the way, today's issue of The New York Times has an article about taobao and its notoriety for fakes...(mentioned here as a source of Chord Hugos);
 

 

[ansi]

The price you can buy a Chord Hugo in China is between 8,000-10,000 RMB, depending on the seller. Seen it at 8,500 ($1,225) at absolutely legit sellers that have 7-day no questions asked return policy. 
 
Also seen on erji (think chinese head-fi) second hand for around 6,000 RMB by members. 

 

[chesebert]

Have you had your hearing tested lately? The Hugo has far more power than any Grado needs – they're relatively sensitive throughout the product range. My PS1 sounds excellent driven by the Hugo. I can't go past light green.

Hearing is just fine, thank you. Loudness is not the only measure of quality. We just have to agree to disagree.

Again, Grado benefits from external amp based on my experience.

 

[GreenBow]

Remember @ruthieandjohn there may be a preliminary charging time before you can use the Hugo. Like the Mojo says for about ten hours first time. Get it on charge nice and early in the morning if so.

 

[doraymon]

First listening sessions after introducing the sMS-200 network player in my rig. Headless MacMini playing Roon->sMS-200->Hugo.
 
Believe it or not, to my ears it sounds better than a direct USB connection to my Mac playing Audirvana+ 2.
 
Same level of detail but improved soundstage and in general better 3D perception. The vocals seem to have benefited the most form the change.
 
And I still didn't get a proper PSU for the sMS-200... very promising!

 

[Shure4Sure]

Well....reading all this discussion about the possible fake Hugo scares me a little as I got mine a little under $2,000 (No, not $1,200 low) for brand new. But then two days ago when I forgot my intercomnect cable at home and had to try Hugo's bluetooth connection, it eliminated my suspicion. At first the poor (if not ****ty) bluetooth commection witth "interference" noise in the background had me worried that I got a fake.....but after some research, I realize this is a known issue for the $2,000 device. I felt relief.....because I know that if this was a fake, the bluetooth would have been a lot better, since my cheap $30 bluetooth headset performs much better than the Hugo (wireless connectivity). Yes, it sounds ironic....but I strongly believe that if someone to produce a "replica" of the Hugo, the bluetooth connection couldn't have been worse than the authentic one. And as far as I know 'til this day, Hugo has yet to announce a fix for this (firmware update?). My friend's Hugo purchased from authentic store few weeks ago still have this bluetooth issue too!

 

[jmills8]

ALL equals two? Plus they were asking if it was fake not proving an ad was fake.

 

[Blueswyh]

Rob Watts or John Franks said, for sure, Hugo is powered by the batters inside, even when the charger/power supply is plugged, so upgrading the power supply won't have a positive influence on the SQ.

 

[miketlse]

  Rob Watts or John Franks said, for sure, Hugo is powered by the batters inside, even when the charger/power supply is plugged, so upgrading the power supply won't have a positive influence on the SQ.

I used to think that the Mojo was always powered from the battery, but then last month Rob said:
 

 
To understand it better, let's assume Mojo is off and charging.
 
Now the charger has two modes of normal operation - constant current, which is set to 330 mA, and constant voltage which is set to 8.200 V. Now when the non charging battery battery voltage is less than 8.200 V, then the charger supplies a constant current. But when the non charging battery voltage gets close to 8.200 V, then the charger switches mode to constant voltage at 8.200 V. The current that is charging the battery then slowly falls from the initial 330mA, to zero - its in the trickle charge mode now. Eventually, the non charging battery voltage hits exactly 8.200 V, the charger is in constant voltage mode of 8.200 V, no current now flows into the battery, and the charger switches off automatically. When the battery voltage falls to 8.0 volts, then the charger will return to charging. Tip - if you want to force the charger to top up Mojo's battery to 8.200 V then removing the charge USB, wait 5 seconds, reattach, and the charger will top it up to 8.200 V.
 
Now imagine that Mojo is on at the same time as it is charging. In this case, the battery will continue to charge until it gets to 8.200 V, and the charger is set to voltage mode and gives 8.200 V too; so no current flows into or out of the battery; but Mojo itself is drawing 180 mA of DC current, and this will simply come from the charger - so the charger will supply the needed 180 mA for Mojo. It will do this for ever, and it won't switch off. This is intended, as it means that the battery is effectively not being used to supply the bulk of the current, won't charge or discharge, is held at a safe level, and will operate like this for a very long time.
 
Now we have been talking about DC currents, and this is indeed the vast bulk of the current. But what about dynamic currents and noise? Because the output impedance of the battery is much lower than the charger, then the noise of the charger is reduced; also dynamic currents still comes from the battery. So running in this mode ensures the best of both worlds - low RF and audio band noise from the battery, large dynamic currents available, and low PSU impedance too - but without the worry of the battery wearing out from charge and discharge cycles.
 
I hope this clarifies.
 
Rob
 
I wonder if the same principle applies to the Hugo?

 

[GreenBow]

@miketlse Thanks mike. That was Rob answering a question for me. I remember it well. People are still saying that the Mojo only takes power from the battery though, and confusing it.
 
I can't help wondering if the Mojo will work without battery installed, which is why I was asking.

 

[miketlse]

  @miketlse Thanks mike. That was Rob answering a question for me. I remember it well. People are still saying that the Mojo only takes power from the battery though, and confusing it.
 
I can't help wondering if the Mojo will work without battery installed, which is why I was asking.

 
I used to always answer that the mojo only used the battery, and I think that some of the replies were to you.
But as soon as Rob posted that answer last month, I realised that what i had thought was true/fact was actually wrong.

 

[doraymon]

ALL equals two? Plus they were asking if it was fake not proving an ad was fake.

I was referring to upgrading the PSU of the network player, not the one of the Hugo.

 

[Currawong]

  First listening sessions after introducing the sMS-200 network player in my rig. Headless MacMini playing Roon->sMS-200->Hugo.
 
Believe it or not, to my ears it sounds better than a direct USB connection to my Mac playing Audirvana+ 2.
 
Same level of detail but improved soundstage and in general better 3D perception. The vocals seem to have benefited the most form the change.
 
And I still didn't get a proper PSU for the sMS-200... very promising!

 
This is the one improvement I consider worth it for the Hugo: A good digital source that doesn't transmit (as much) noise.
 

But then two days ago when I forgot my intercomnect cable at home and had to try Hugo's bluetooth connection, it eliminated my suspicion. At first the poor (if not ****ty) bluetooth commection witth "interference" noise in the background had me worried that I got a fake.....but after some research, I realize this is a known issue for the $2,000 device. I felt relief.....because I know that if this was a fake, the bluetooth would have been a lot better, since my cheap $30 bluetooth headset performs much better than the Hugo (wireless connectivity). Yes, it sounds ironic....but I strongly believe that if someone to produce a "replica" of the Hugo, the bluetooth connection couldn't have been worse than the authentic one. And as far as I know 'til this day, Hugo has yet to announce a fix for this (firmware update?). My friend's Hugo purchased from authentic store few weeks ago still have this bluetooth issue too!

 
Was it using APTx? If not, that is probably why it sounded bad. APTx to me sounds only slightly worse than a regular connection. What I'd like to see is a new version of the Hugo with high-res Bluetooth in place of the second, unnecessary USB port. 

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

There's quite a difference between amp driving and amp matching, maybe the hugo and grado line match isn't for you but I can assure there's enough power to drive the grados to full energy potential from the hugo. Have you tried the mojo grado combo? That may be more your sound..

Hearing is just fine, thank you. Loudness is not the only measure of quality. We just have to agree to disagree.

Again, Grado benefits from external amp based on my experience.

 

[doraymon]

@Currawong
Sorry for the OT but I love your video reviews, when are you doing the Ether C Flow and T5p 2.gen? Maybe tested with the Hugo?