[Mimouille]

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing. sony xperia z2-> Hugo -> pure ii -> nt6 pro

I should get my Hugo within a a week or two, and I plan to do the same with ZX1 and NT6 but need to buy the Pure II and I am not so sure. I know it is a great amp but I do not known if the benefit over the Hugo amp warrants the extra size.

 

[zachchen1996]

I should get my Hugo within a a week or two, and I plan to do the same with ZX1 and NT6

but need to buy the Pure II and I am not so sure. I know it is a great amp but I do not known if the benefit over the Hugo amp warrants the extra size.

How did you order a hugo? Thought chord had to redesign the chassis or something like that? I still can't decide between x5, dx90, or xperia z2 phone for a portable transport 

I can assure you that the pure ii does sound extraordinary with the nt6 pros, the control it has over them is amazing. If I were you, I would jump on the pure ii's now because they have a temporary discount

 

[secretriches]

I received a Chord Hugo (from the first batch shipped to North America) on 2/25 and quickly connected it to my reference system. Even cold out of the box, it had a wonderful sound. I let it play for about an hour and then sat down and started listening.
 
I was blown away at how good the DAC section sounded. I have a well broken in Qute HD and Qute EX and only like the Qute DACs with the following chain:
 
iFi Mercury Cable > iFi iUSB power supply > iFi Gemini Cable > Audiophilleo AP2 > Chord Qute HD or EX
 
I don’t like the sound of the Qute DACs using only USB. Even though timing is good, the sound is too thin. The Audiophilleo AP2 with their PurePower doesn’t sound as good as the lower cost iFi iUSB. The AP2 and iUSB is the perfect match. Detail is really good and the sound has plenty of body (just right).
 
So with the new Hugo, I connected first my iUSB/AP2 converter and was totally blown away by how much more beautiful the music was compared to any DAC I’ve heard before. The only DAC I’ve heard (I was considering becoming a dealer for this one) that sounds similar is the MSB Analog DAC with their expensive Universal Media Transport. This is a $6,000 plus $7,000 proposition. For the Hugo to run in the same league as a $13,000 DAC system is pretty incredible.
 
I then connected a really good USB cable between my new MacPro directly to the Hugo and for the first time, really enjoyed the USB input of a Chord DAC. It was really good. Timing was slightly better than with the AP2 but, I still enjoyed the sound of the AP2 and SPIDF connection better. I’m a former professional piano player and know what live music sounds like up close. The converter and SPIDF was more true to what I am familiar with even though the USB only connection was really good and acceptable.
 
I have some Audeze headphones coming in about two weeks and only had a Sennheiser HD600 to connect. The HD600 when connected to the Hugo and with a USB only cable connected to my MacPro I found the sound really nice. What stood out, however, was the extreme quality of the DAC section. The headphone amp is really really good but a higher power desktop headphone amp sounds better.  Yet, for portable use, the Hugo is probably the best sounding portable headphone amp/dac available.
 
I communicated with Dan-Alexandru, the owner of headmania and he confirmed my assumptions of best match for the Hugo. He was able to listen to the Hugo with the Audeze LCD-X headphones (as well as other top-of-the-line headphones such as the HD800 and others). The LCD-X has a 22  ohm impedance and is 96db efficient. At these specs, the Hugo probably puts out close to ¾ watts which is enough power to sound really good. Dan also confirmed as I found that the DAC section is stellar and the only limitation for the Hugo (in headphone mode) is the amount of power and not the quality of the headphone amp. With the right headphones (i.e. LCD-X) the Hugo is probably the best (by far) portable headphone amp made today.
 
The first batch of Hugos I received had none of the modifications made that we’ve read about by early reviewers of the prototype units. The RCA jack holes and the SPIDF jack holes were not enlarged and I couldn’t even plug in cheap interconnect cables with Neutrik plugs. What were the engineers at Chord thinking? Or maybe I should have said they weren’t thinking at all.
 
What’s interesting is that I own a pair of AG2 MG Audio Design solid silver interconnects (for my reference system) and they have locking barrel connectors that definitely won’t fit when left on. However, when I unscrewed and removed the barrels and plugged the RCAs in raw, they fit. The outer portion of the plugs, however, did touch the aluminum chassis but I was able to get a really great pair of interconnects connected to listen to the Hugo properly. In addition, I have a Grover Huffman SPIDF cable and peeled back the heatshrink and was able to get that to fit in the SPIDF jack. However, I don’t know how many audiophiles with good or even poor cables will be able to use the Hugo as is. That was a big disappointment.
 
In addition, the on/off switch and two tiny tiny buttons needed to use this DAC were all so small that I couldn’t use them with my fingers. I either had to use a fingernail or a wooden toothpick to go through the paces. The engineers need to re-program how this DAC operates so the way you have it set up is the way it remains after you shut it off and turn it back on later. If you are using the Hugo as DAC for your home system and are not connecting it for headphone use, here is what you need to go through:
 
To set the Hugo to bypass the internal digital volume control, you need to stick your finder in the 2nd of two small buttons (1/8” or smaller set into a recessed cup) and push in and hold it in. Then you need to slide the on/off switch if you can even see it with your fingernail or toothpick and hold the little button until the DAC powers up. You can then let it go. Then you need to put your finger in the other little button to toggle to either the HD USB input or the SPIDF connection (my favorite). In the beginning, I hated this. After playing with the Hugo for a while, I decided to turn it off. I really missed how quietly and without any attention my Qute HD would just play music. I missed that.
 
I was about ready to basket the Hugo and just live with my new QuteEX and burn it in. However, what I initially heard with the Hugo was so vivid and breathtaking, I let an hour go by and plugged it in again and went through the gyrations to get it to connect to my reference system. This time, with maybe an hours burn time on it, it just plain sang and sang and I almost couldn’t turn it off since it sounded so good. The sound quality was just too intense and I was hearing details I’ve never heard before. I was totally ruined and just couldn’t go back to listening to either my Qute HD or EX. I was hooked.
Ok. Here’s my last gripe. It took me about 15 tries to get the Hugo into digital volume control bypass mode. I have no idea what I might have done wrong but I do know the tiny switch and buttons my fingers could barely touch didn’t help any. What I did figure out, however, was something important to share.
 
I’ve been building an LDR based volume control that is the best I’ve ever heard. I’ve even gone to the extent of using the best solid silver wire I could find and then I run my final signals through solid gold and solid platinum wire. Yes, I’m a very anal builder that won’t settle for anything other than the best and I beat solutions into the ground until I find out what’s really there. If it’s there, I’ll keep going until scarred, bruised, and broke, I finally make a breakthrough, or I end up with a useless pile. It’s always one or the other.
 
During the many many times I tried abd couldn’t get the Hugo into volume bypass mode, I had both my LDR passive pre working along with the qute marble style volume button on the Hugo top surface. I was able to turn the digital volume up and down and also turn my LDR volume up and down together.  What I discovered is that if I placed the Hugo digital volume at about ¾ full volume (where it turns purple), my LDR sounded the best and I gained an even larger ranges of use from my LDR volume knob. There really is no need to bypass the digital volume in the Hugo so this eliminates the gymnastics that I found really didn’t work well when first turning on the Hugo. The bit rate of the Hugo’s digital volume is high enough that there aren’t any lost bits if you stay above 50% volume. ¾ was the best for me.
 
So now, all that you need to do is turn on the on/off switch. Let the Hugo power up and change colors all over the place. Then when powered up, you stick a toothpick in the left most of the two tiny button recessed holes and press it three times to get it in SPIDF mode. That’s it until you shut it off and have to go through this process again.
 
Even with these design flaws, I still have to have a Chord Hugo in my home speaker based reference system.  I can’t go back to my QuteEX. The DAC section is so good that I can live with it warts and all. I also realize that I should have a 2nd Hugo for portable use and use that system plus an iPhone to stream Spotify and wander around with it. The Bluetooth connection is excellent and the flexibility of the Hugo amazes me.
 
So here is my bottom line. Chord knows how to make a stellar DAC that is better than most anything many times its cost. However, Chord is not good at understanding how music is played and how audiophiles actually use and purchase equipment and what they end up purchasing over time. I know from experience that cables make a difference. So why would a savvy marketing company avoid being able to connect RCA interconnects (good, stellar, or bad)? That’s not an oversight, but rather, in my opinion, that’s plain stupid. There, I said it but what I just shared is very true.
 
So here is what I feel Chord needs to do to modify the Hugo to satisfy the audiophile market. These items are not mind blowing and not something that should be thought about. They are just too straightforward and common sense to avoid:
 
1.    Enlarge the two holes for the left and right RCA jack interconnect plugs so the DAC section can be used in a normal and typical home audio system.

2.    Enlarge the one hole for the SPIDF RCA jack so likewise, an audiophile grade or even cheap interconnect can plug in to it.

3.    Re-program the Hugo so even if we have to go through gymnastics to get it connected to a home system, allow us to turn it off and for it remember the state that we put it in so we don’t have to touch the darn thing and poke it with toothpicks like some kind of weird gymnast.

4.    Make the on/off switch useable with fingers, and not the fingers of some tiny person, but grown guys. Come on. You know that most audiophiles are men and we’ve got reasonable sized fingers and expecting us to first hunt (where my reading glasses) and then be able to actually move that darn recessed tiny switch? Oh well, I tried to express myself and hope others communicated loudly these problems.
 
FIX 1-4 BEFORE SHIPPING ANOTHER BATCH OF CHORD HUGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t piss off a group of audiophiles who will love your Hugo and at the same time hate it. Make these changes and you’ll end up with a group of supporters that will follow you to the edge of the Earth and over.
 
5.    Consider making a HUGO2 for home audio system - DAC only use. The sound is so absolutely breathtaking that this would be a home run and there would be no need to make the Qute HD or Qute EX anymore.
 
That’s it for now. I only had the Hugo for a day and have already sold it. I have more coming within the next month so eventually I’ll be able to keep one for myself and burn it in and do a more serious review around the sound quality. I plan on doing that but I feel that what I’ve already shared will help many others wondering whether they should consider purchasing a Hugo. The answer is (as you will find out from other posts and mini reviews – ABSOLUTELY YES!) The problem is, that this will be one of the most sought after DACs (with or without warts) that supply will not be able to keep up for many months.
 
Have fun and enjoy your audio journey. I sure am. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info than what I just shared.
 
Richard Becker

 

[Clemmaster]

Epic feedback here Richard, thank you very much 

.
 
Were you running the Hugo out of its internal battery or using your TeddyPSU?
Could you describe a bit how different (if at all) the sound is, compared to the EX and HD (both in terms of sound signature and technicalities)?

 

[secretriches]

Yes, I had the TeddyPardo 12vDC power supply plugged into the Hugo when I tested it. Here’s a question that I still need to get accurately answered. My distributor shared that when the walwart or other power supply (in my case the Pardo) is plugged in, the battery provides the DC for the DAC. However, when the battery becomes fully charged, then it is bypassed and the external power supply becomes the power source.
 
I don’t know if the Hugo was fully charged when I was using it. When I played the Hugo only with battery, it sounded great. When I then (while still playing) plugged the Pardo supply into the Hugo, the sound was similar and not a huge difference. However, there was just a small bit of improvement that took the sound quality right over the top. I kept doing this for awhile (plugging and unplugging) and could hear that difference. I need to revisit this and check it out more closely to be sure and also need to do this on a well burned in Hugo.
 
The answer you might be looking for is that the Hugo does not need an external high quality linear power supply to make it sound better as is the case for the QuteHD and QuteEX. The internal battery supply for the Hugo is really good and provides greater detail, full body, and a more musical presentation. But . . . that little bit of improvement that I heard was the key to hitting the MSB Analog DAC sound quality and I’m still taken back at how good this sounded. Yes, you do need a really well tuned audio system to hear these things but, there is something there. I’ll share more when I get another Hugo (hopefully to keep) from my March shipment.
 
OK. Sound quality is tough to answer. What I will share is that the Qute HD and EX are the first DACs that I fell in love with. They brought me closer to the sound of music that I would hear when playing piano in my jazz quartet. The best way that I can answer this is to provide you with the following analogies. These are what I use to evaluate a music playback system.
 
The piano is the mother of all instruments. It encompasses a little bit of every other instrument that accompanies it but includes them all. I also played trumpet and found it to be an entirely different experience. Trumpet speaks from the throat (throat chakra if you understand that implication). Drums hit you in the chest (solar chakra) and string bass catches you down low in your groin. Put them all together and you have a musical sound that comes close to real life. Now . . . add a 5^th musician, the tenor or baritone saxophone. All of the other instruments touch you at a particular point in your subtle body.
 
The sax, however, envelopes your entire energy field head to toe. Sitting immediately next to a saxophone player like I have many times is a real interesting experience. You hear the spit, the vibration of the wooden reed and the resonance of the metal body of the sax. The sound is so powerful that you feel like you might lose consciousness or at least could release yourself to the sound and let it become you.
 
The Qute HD and EX recreate that incredible sax sound. However, there is something missing that I might call lack of air if all that I had was the HD and EX to compare. However, with the Hugo, I find it wasn’t the lack of air. It was a touch of realism that didn’t exist with the HD and EX that is now there with the Hugo. The Hugo somehow releases not only a veil but brings forward more information – enough so that the musical experience is more real.
 
I apologize for using this kind of an analogy but if you are a musician, you’ll understand that what I’m sharing is how we listen to music, not just with our ears, but our entire body and energetic fields. The Hugo makes enough difference to not only sound like real music but to bring the vibrational experience into our energetic fields in a powerful enough fashion to cause goosebumps and to take your breath away from the beauty that exists.
 
Its impossible to fully experience what the musician recording the music experiences if you are just a passive listener after the fact. However, the reason I’m involved with audio reproduction equipment is to further my quest to come as close as possible to that real experience as a passive listener.
 
I’ve also recently purchased an Ableton PUSH controller and Ableton Live Suite software. I also use this cool digital instrument to make music but way different than I used to play professionally. Its more like club music and dance music but can be twisted and turned into something else. I’m enjoying the heck out of it and recommend that any audiophile buy this equipment and software directly from Ableton and get involved. There is nothing like experiencing the creative process first hand. Anyhow, when I played my PUSH last night through the Hugo, I found that the beats and driving rhythm had more soul and power and sucked me in deeper than when using my old Qute HD.
 
I’m so excited about the Hugo that even though I’ve complained about Chord’s imperfect release of it, I couldn’t be more in awe of the sound quality they came up with. Don’t worry about whether the Hugo is better than this or that. Just get one and you’ll understand why its hard to put into words how great it is. Thank you Chord for your achievement.  Now lets perfect it further.
 
 What a gift the Hugo is and what a great way to cause non-audiophile younger generations to join us in what has been becoming an old guys club. If you don’t get the youngsters in now and do it with the type of power the Hugo can wield, this audio industry of ours is going to die out in a few years. With devices like the Hugo, both the old guys and the young need to relax and be able to learn and change as our appreciation for music increases along with the technology to reproduce it.

 

[jamato8]

Wow, I know what you mean. I love the sax and used to play it. The alto and tenor. Great discription of what you are hearing!

 

[PhilW]

 
Yes, I had the TeddyPardo 12vDC power supply plugged into the Hugo when I tested it. Here’s a question that I still need to get accurately answered. My distributor shared that when the walwart or other power supply (in my case the Pardo) is plugged in, the battery provides the DC for the DAC. However, when the battery becomes fully charged, then it is bypassed and the external power supply becomes the power source.
 
I don’t know if the Hugo was fully charged when I was using it. When I played the Hugo only with battery, it sounded great. When I then (while still playing) plugged the Pardo supply into the Hugo, the sound was similar and not a huge difference. However, there was just a small bit of improvement that took the sound quality right over the top. I kept doing this for awhile (plugging and unplugging) and could hear that difference. I need to revisit this and check it out more closely to be sure and also need to do this on a well burned in Hugo.
 
The answer you might be looking for is that the Hugo does not need an external high quality linear power supply to make it sound better as is the case for the QuteHD and QuteEX. The internal battery supply for the Hugo is really good and provides greater detail, full body, and a more musical presentation. But . . . that little bit of improvement that I heard was the key to hitting the MSB Analog DAC sound quality and I’m still taken back at how good this sounded. Yes, you do need a really well tuned audio system to hear these things but, there is something there. I’ll share more when I get another Hugo (hopefully to keep) from my March shipment.
 

 
AFAIK this is not correct! Hugo is never driven by the power supply! The power supply trickle feeds the battery and everything is fed directly from there! Theoretically meaning there should be no difference plugged in to the wall or not!
 
Regards

 

[wongtonypr]

Can I use the dac section of the chord hugo only ?

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

  Can I use the dac section of the chord hugo only ?

yes, bold below :
 
http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/products-info.asp?id=92
 
Outputs
• 2x3.5mm headphone jacks
• 1x6.35mm (1/4 inch) headphone jack
• 1x (pair) stereo RCA phono output

 

[nOtEcH]

   
AFAIK this is not correct! Hugo is never driven by the power supply! The power supply trickle feeds the battery and everything is fed directly from there! Theoretically meaning there should be no difference plugged in to the wall or not!
 
Regards

I've heard the same from Chord as well..
 
The only thing I want to argue about is this: "The power supply trickle feeds the battery and everything is fed directly from there! Theoretically meaning there should be no difference plugged in to the wall or not".. well.. theoretically there is a difference.. the power is either plugged in or not.. it powers the battery or not.. the question is.. does that make any difference in the real world?
 
I have in my whole "audiophile career" often heard phrases like "no, that can't make any difference", "that is snake oil" etc. and I have listened to the scientific arguments of professors and highly educated people and also people in this business. And people that I have the deepest respect for.. but by experimenting by my self I found that some claims that "those kinds of people" did was well.. at best inaccurate.
 
External power enters the Hugo while connected. That is a fact.
Does that make any difference? I would not rule it out, even though I suspect that the impact would be subtle.
 
But I have also experienced that subtle changes can make a big difference in an audio system.
Imagine you are manually changing the placement of an analogue TV antenna (don't know if anyone remember those?) picture is almost perfect.. a subtle change and bam(!) the picture is changed from almost perfect to crystal clear.
 
In my experience the same thing applies in an high quality audio system.
That could apply to any "subtle" changes.. it is like fine tuning a sub.. when everything falls into place with the rest of the system.. you just know it did.
And that is not subtle at all, even though the theoretically change was just a millimeter turn on a knob, or a few centimeters change of the sub's placement.

 

[Quest88]

Can't guess about the Hugo, but my experience is with battery gear, even if there is a cable connected (not charging), it will still make a difference to the sound.. this is likely due to grounding.

 

[PhilW]

  I've heard the same from Chord as well..
 
The only thing I want to argue about is this: "The power supply trickle feeds the battery and everything is fed directly from there! Theoretically meaning there should be no difference plugged in to the wall or not".. well.. theoretically there is a difference.. the power is either plugged in or not.. it powers the battery or not.. the question is.. does that make any difference in the real world?
 
I have in my whole "audiophile career" often heard phrases like "no, that can't make any difference", "that is snake oil" etc. and I have listened to the scientific arguments of professors and highly educated people and also people in this business. And people that I have the deepest respect for.. but by experimenting by my self I found that some claims that "those kinds of people" did was well.. at best inaccurate.
 
External power enters the Hugo while connected. That is a fact.
Does that make any difference? I would not rule it out, even though I suspect that the impact would be subtle.
 
But I have also experienced that subtle changes can make a big difference in an audio system.
Imagine you are manually changing the placement of an analogue TV antenna (don't know if anyone remember those?) picture is almost perfect.. a subtle change and bam(!) the picture is changed from almost perfect to crystal clear.
 
In my experience the same thing applies in an high quality audio system.
That could apply to any "subtle" changes.. it is like fine tuning a sub.. when everything falls into place with the rest of the system.. you just know it did.
And that is not subtle at all, even though the theoretically change was just a millimeter turn on a knob, or a few centimeters change of the sub's placement.

 
I agree with all of the above.

 

[OK-Guy]

   
So here is my bottom line. Chord knows how to make a stellar DAC that is better than most anything many times its cost. However, Chord is not good at understanding how music is played and how audiophiles actually use and purchase equipment and what they end up purchasing over time. I know from experience that cables make a difference. So why would a savvy marketing company avoid being able to connect RCA interconnects (good, stellar, or bad)? That’s not an oversight, but rather, in my opinion, that’s plain stupid. There, I said it but what I just shared is very true.
 
So here is what I feel Chord needs to do to modify the Hugo to satisfy the audiophile market. These items are not mind blowing and not something that should be thought about. They are just too straightforward and common sense to avoid:
 
1.    Enlarge the two holes for the left and right RCA jack interconnect plugs so the DAC section can be used in a normal and typical home audio system.

2.    Enlarge the one hole for the SPIDF RCA jack so likewise, an audiophile grade or even cheap interconnect can plug in to it.

3.    Re-program the Hugo so even if we have to go through gymnastics to get it connected to a home system, allow us to turn it off and for it remember the state that we put it in so we don’t have to touch the darn thing and poke it with toothpicks like some kind of weird gymnast.

4.    Make the on/off switch useable with fingers, and not the fingers of some tiny person, but grown guys. Come on. You know that most audiophiles are men and we’ve got reasonable sized fingers and expecting us to first hunt (where my reading glasses) and then be able to actually move that darn recessed tiny switch? Oh well, I tried to express myself and hope others communicated loudly these problems.
 
FIX 1-4 BEFORE SHIPPING ANOTHER BATCH OF CHORD HUGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t piss off a group of audiophiles who will love your Hugo and at the same time hate it. Make these changes and you’ll end up with a group of supporters that will follow you to the edge of the Earth and over.
 
5.    Consider making a HUGO2 for home audio system - DAC only use. The sound is so absolutely breathtaking that this would be a home run and there would be no need to make the Qute HD or Qute EX anymore.
 
That’s it for now. I only had the Hugo for a day and have already sold it. I have more coming within the next month so eventually I’ll be able to keep one for myself and burn it in and do a more serious review around the sound quality. I plan on doing that but I feel that what I’ve already shared will help many others wondering whether they should consider purchasing a Hugo. The answer is (as you will find out from other posts and mini reviews – ABSOLUTELY YES!) The problem is, that this will be one of the most sought after DACs (with or without warts) that supply will not be able to keep up for many months.
 
Have fun and enjoy your audio journey. I sure am. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info than what I just shared.
 
Richard Becker
richard@aumacoustics.com

 
1). the RCA holes have been slightly enlarged on the new casing.
2). the SPIDF jack opening has been slightly altered to give better access on the new casing.
3). marry Olga Korbut
4). there has been a slight modification I believe on the current chasis, though I could be wrong.
 
I have been reliably informed that there will be 'no' further changes with the new casing.
 
though I respect your views I prefer it when people do not speak on my behalf as it 'pisses me off'... I think John Franks & all at Chord should be highly praised for bringing true hi-end via the Hugo. I have been a fan of Chord for a long time and to finally have one of their products within my reach (April/May) at a very affordable price is immense imo... though I daresay I will still dream of a Red-Reference CD-Player...

 

[nOtEcH]

   
1). the RCA holes have been slightly enlarged on the new casing.
2). the SPIDF jack opening has been slightly altered to give better access on the new casing.
3). marry Olga Korbut
4). there has been a slight modification I believe on the current chasis, though I could be wrong.
 
I have been reliably informed that there will be 'no' further changes with the new casing.
 
though I respect your views I prefer it when people do not speak on my behalf as it 'pisses me off'... I think John Franks & all at Chord should be highly praised for bringing true hi-end via the Hugo. I have been a fan of Chord for a long time and to finally have one of their products within my reach (April/May) at a very affordable price is immense imo... though I daresay I will still dream of a Red-Reference CD-Player...

OK-Guy.. you are an ok guy right? Don't get too pissed of here.. ok? 

I personally agree on most points here.. even though he "colors the picture" a bit different than you and I would.. and that makes it interesting in my opinion. That said.. I found the initial Hugo's casing design a bit odd myself and wondered about the design process.
 
Edit:
And a more user friendly experience is not a bad thing in my opinion.
Why not remember the last settings the user had? Volume wise and input wise?

 

[OK-Guy]

  OK-Guy.. you are an ok guy right? Don't get too pissed of here.. ok? 

 
I'm well regulated by the checks & balances afforded to me by the Mods & Noble... I'm a *****cat now compared to when I was unattached.
 
on another note... God created me to live my current life in purgatory, he made me a Hammers fan to suffer a life of expectant misery... sometimes little rays of sunshine enter this tormented life I lead... the Hugo is one, just don't tell him I'm happy-chappy...