[vq_aus]

Just wanted to get confirmation for those using their Chord Hugo with an iPhone.

iPhone connected to Hugo via Lightning CCK adapter and USB cable will bypass BOTH the AMP and DAC of the iPhone?

Most of my music collection is hi-res FLAC which I use the Onkyo app. However with the limited 64GB storage, I sometimes just use iTunes Match which plays back in 256 kbps AAC. Would the Hugo be a waste if I use it mainly with AAC files?

For those that also have the AK240, would the iPhone + Hugo have better SQ over standalone AK240? Portability is not a factor here.

Thanks!

Yeap, it completely bypasses both!

Most of my collection is ALAC or FLAC, but I do have single tracks that I buy off iTunes that are AAC, and I really have to say they sound great. Hear details that just aren't audible when playing straight out of my iPhone or iPad's hp jack. That's pretty much the beauty of Hugo I think, it's quite musical on almost any digital music I've played on it - except maybe the crappy 128k mp3s from my teenage years (hah you can't expect miracles I guess!).

I actually sold my AK240 to get the Hugo, so that should tell you how much better I thought the Hugo was!

Let me know if you have any more questions about iDevices and the Hugo. I actually prefer using AmpiFlac to the Onkyo App cos I like its UI better, and you can manually manage album art on Ampliflac.

 

[Tobias89]

If my source is a DAP such as DX50 or DX90 that has a LINE out and a COAXIAL out, which should I use for the hugo?

 

[vq_aus]

If my source is a DAP such as DX50 or DX90 that has a LINE out and a COAXIAL out, which should I use for the hugo?

The coaxial out. This carries a digital signal which means the Hugo is the DAC in the chain. The Hugo doesn't actually have an input that will take your Line Out, the RCAs are output only.

 

[vq_aus]

The coaxial out. This carries a digital signal which means the Hugo is the DAC in the chain. The Hugo doesn't actually have an input that will take your Line Out, the RCAs are output only.

Also forgot to mention that any output from your h/p or line out uses the on board sabre or wolfson DAC of the DX90/50, which probably isn't what you want if you have a Hugo.

 

[Tobias89]

The coaxial out. This carries a digital signal which means the Hugo is the DAC in the chain. The Hugo doesn't actually have an input that will take your Line Out, the RCAs are output only.

 

Also forgot to mention that any output from your h/p or line out uses the on board sabre or wolfson DAC of the DX90/50, which probably isn't what you want if you have a Hugo.

ah that answers the question perfectly! Thank you so much!
So to summarize, a coaxial out bypasses my source dac AND amp, using the chord for both, while the line out uses the onboard dac but not the amp right? sorry i know its a noob question
 
I tried the hugo at jaben singapore today while waiting for my turn to audition the calyx M, and lets just say, I got totally hooked on the hugo so much, I kinda ruled out the Calyx
 
its just the price..........

 

[SleepyOne]

   
ah that answers the question perfectly! Thank you so much!
So to summarize, a coaxial out bypasses my source dac AND amp, using the chord for both, while the line out uses the onboard dac but not the amp right? sorry i know its a noob question
 
I tried the hugo at jaben singapore today while waiting for my turn to audition the calyx M, and lets just say, I got totally hooked on the hugo so much, I kinda ruled out the Calyx
 
its just the price..........

 
Line-out means you are using ibasso's dac. Coaxial will mean just the digital signal goes to Hugo for processing of the music, ibasso's dac will be left out. You cannot connect ibasso's line-out to Hugo.
 
On the plus side you could also use Hugo for desktop speakers setup as well

 

[Sound Eq]

I was wondering if u guys can help and advise
 
I invested a lot of money on car system, this is my gear in the car
 
1- pioneer 80prs
2- audison lrx 2.9, 4.1 and 1.1
3- hertz mille mlk
4- arc audio sub
5- Helix c dsp 
 
Now most my music is in flac format, so and as u know car stereos don't play flac.
 
So I had to use the fiio x3 as player connected by aux to pioneer 80prs
 
my question is will i benefit from the chord hugo , knowing helix c dsp has optical 
 
if you were me to get the best sound in my car ( other than using cds ) what would us suggest using

 

[holeout]

  Yes there is indeed a mute operation built into Hugo. Some OS/software (no names) do not handle the changes from sample rate gracefully, so the computers buffer has data which is flushed out by the media player at the wrong rate. If it is DSD data being treated as PCM, you get a horrible noise. So I had to fix this by muting the beginning of whenever data changes or SR changes. The function of mute delay, plus volume ramp up, plus exponential smoothing of the volume coefficients means you lose about half a second. But you would not want to hear that garbage noise! Also, when I have had to reset Hugo, it is the computer driver that has failed, not Hugo. By turning Hugo on and off, the computer re-establishes USB connection and (mostly) re-sets itself.

I'm originally using a Macbook Air / Audirvana Plus > USB > Hugo and when changing from wav/flac files to DSF files I get cut off at the beginning of the song (~ 0.5 sec for DSD 64 to a few sec for DSD128). However, I've recently added the Audiophilleo AP1/AP2 USB>Spdif converter in the chain (Hugo coax input) and no more cut offs. Working like a charm now, not to mention the music sounded even more analog with this setup.

 

[beemarman]

I was wondering if u guys can help and advise

I invested a lot of money on car system, this is my gear in the car

1- pioneer 80prs
2- audison lrx 2.9, 4.1 and 1.1
3- hertz mille mlk
4- arc audio sub
5- Helix c dsp 

Now most my music is in flac format, so and as u know car stereos don't play flac.

So I had to use the fiio x3 as player connected by aux to pioneer 80prs

my question is will i benefit from the chord hugo , knowing helix c dsp has optical 

if you were me to get the best sound in my car ( other than using cds ) what would us suggest using

You can only use the Hugo in your setup via the RCA as the Hugo accepts optical input but does not allow you to send the digital signal to another component.

 

[vq_aus]

ah that answers the question perfectly! Thank you so much!
So to summarize, a coaxial out bypasses my source dac AND amp, using the chord for both, while the line out uses the onboard dac but not the amp right? sorry i know its a noob question

I tried the hugo at jaben singapore today while waiting for my turn to audition the calyx M, and lets just say, I got totally hooked on the hugo so much, I kinda ruled out the Calyx

its just the price..........

No worries about the question, that's what headfi is for right?

Technically even the line out uses the onboard amp as well - the signal is 'amplified' and is set at 1.7v RMS, but as it's name implies, the line out is meant to be fed into another amplifier (like a desktop amp In a home rig).

And yes the Hugo is quite addictive isn't it? Sold my AK240 to get it not long after hearing it for the first time!

 

[vq_aus]

I was wondering if u guys can help and advise

I invested a lot of money on car system, this is my gear in the car

1- pioneer 80prs
2- audison lrx 2.9, 4.1 and 1.1
3- hertz mille mlk
4- arc audio sub
5- Helix c dsp 

Now most my music is in flac format, so and as u know car stereos don't play flac.

So I had to use the fiio x3 as player connected by aux to pioneer 80prs

my question is will i benefit from the chord hugo , knowing helix c dsp has optical 

if you were me to get the best sound in my car ( other than using cds ) what would us suggest using

The Hugo would sound better than your x3 into your headunit via a 3.5mm out, but then again you'd still need a source for the Hugo cos your it's a DAC/AMP only. There's absolutely no point getting a Hugo if you want to use the Helix's own DAC via its optical input as 1) it's not possible to put the Hugo in that chain as it doesn't have an optical out and 2) even if you could do that, you'd be bypassing the superior DAC in the Hugo to use the Pioneer's DAC.

In a slightly more off topic tangent, as someone who used to be involved in car audio competitions, experience says you'll spend multiple times the amount trying to get the same sound quality in a car compared to a home system simply because a mobile environment is subject to things like road noise and the fact that you have to do some pretty major modifications to get speaker placement ideal for SQ (like you have to put your mids and your tweeters in the door frames, sub in the boot etc). A car simply isn't a very good place to listen to music!

 

[estreeter]

Guys, if I'm reading some of the earlier posts correctly, many of the issues seem to involve F2K and possibly your internet connections : if so, I believe that gels with my own issues. Initially, I thought it must be dud cables, but none of my other USB dacs cut out on me like that. Its odd because my initial hours with F2K and the Hugo on this laptop were flawless - downloaded Dream Theater's latest from HDTracks and proceeded to be blown away. It's annoying, but I'm hopeful that my new HiFace will alleviate the issue. Happily, I should have plenty of time this weekend to experiment with different options - have had no issues with the Bluetooth connection to my iDevice so that might be a good place to establish a baseline. I'm also going to get an adapter so that I can use my Furutech GT2 USB cable - I dont think anyone makes an aftermarket cable with the micro connector. 

 

[muah]

ah that answers the question perfectly! Thank you so much!
So to summarize, a coaxial out bypasses my source dac AND amp, using the chord for both, while the line out uses the onboard dac but not the amp right? sorry i know its a noob question

I tried the hugo at jaben singapore today while waiting for my turn to audition the calyx M, and lets just say, I got totally hooked on the hugo so much, I kinda ruled out the Calyx

its just the price..........

yes. once you experience Hugo, there is no looking back. I am on holiday now, only have ipod and RX3b, missing my Hugo fix.

 

[vq_aus]

yes. once you experience Hugo, there is no looking back. I am on holiday now, only have ipod and RX3b, missing my Hugo fix.

Packing so light that you couldn't even bring your Hugo?

 

[masteryd]

What would be the best dap for chord hugo?