[M Coupe]

double post. 

 

[M Coupe]

  Your response is out of context. I did not ask if HUGO ships with a fancy cable nor do I want it to. What your Audeze ships with is irrelevant. A USB cable for a USB DAC is not an accessory and a properly designed DAC should be agnostic of the USB cable as long as said cable is built to spec. 
 
I found my answer here - http://www.head-fi.org/t/702787/chord-hugo/8190#post_10876672
 
I guess galvanic isolation was not feasible in a unit this small.

 

[dnnaudio]

I hear the same amount of hissing regardless if I'm hooked up to iPad or laptop by USB, or AK120 via optical or if nothing is connected at all. Regardless of volume.

I get the same hiss with my 846 regardless of volume, regardless of source. I mainly use COAX to the Hugo from an ipod/CLAS. On quiet passages the hiss is obvious, on louder tracks for me it becomes unnoticeable and does not get in the way of the experience. It is such a shame as the 846 is otherwise outstanding with the Hugo. If you are extra sensitive to hiss (I guess I am not as I can tolerate) I can see how this can be annoying. If you search enough there is a post somewhere here where Rob mentioned he expected the 846 to hiss based on specs.

 

[Frank Hardly]

Just out on Digital audio review - John Darkos site - a new Hugo review with accolades. Strong comparisons to the big names especially over coax.

 

[estreeter]

surprised that it took darko this long - i fully expect him to be one of the first to publish a review of the Yggy / Rag - he may even have the latter in his hot little hands as I type this. 

 

[Frank Hardly]

YGGY/RAG
?

 

[estreeter]

Frank, i'm not sure how much time you spend on HF - clearly, folk like myself spend far too much time
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/667711/new-schiit-ragnarok-and-yggdrasil
 
234 pages and counting, and Yggdrasil is still months away by my estimate. Enjoy.

 

[estreeter]

If I can return to the cable discussion, the OP in this thread makes some excellent points re Toslink:
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/silflex-toslink-cable-17131/
 
if we put aside his endorsement for a particular cable and a specific Mac model, I found these claims interesting:
 
- minimal attempts have been made to quantify the jitter from various Toslink outputs since it was determined that asynch USB was a better option for accurately clocking the digital output from a computer. If you go back over John Atkinsons measurements of modern digital sources he rarely has an issue with jitter measurements from toslink outputs, but I can see why anyone who is heavily invested in USB DACs and USB-SPDIF converters would be hesitant to switch to a connector with such a bad rap for sound quality. Throw in the 96kHz limit for the Toslink input on most DACs and its not hard to see why so many moved to USB. 
 
- the people selling asynch USB DACs had a vested interest in demonising Toslink as 'too jittery' - I'll leave that one to the Sound Science brigade. 
 
Rob Watts makes a good case for Toslink earlier in this thread and he's adamant that the Hugo is more than capable of dealing with the issues around jitter - mesh that with the claims made in the above thread re the last 2012 MBP and that's the exact combination I'm currently using, albeit with the stock Hugo toslink cable.
 
Personally I find the sound smoother if slightly less 'in the room' presence vs USB - swings and roundabouts, but thus far I've had zero dropouts/clicks or another anomalies. As with anything, its about keeping an open mind and being prepared to accept that it may take time for the differences to become completely apparent, but on the 'Gen 1' Hugo case both the USB and coax connections are problematic for me. Toslink neatly draws a line straight through the gear I've bought to clean up the USB power from my laptop and I can now dedicate that to my desktop rig. 

 

[ajay555]

Yeah on the  first gen hugo...i was able to connect the power cable. When the dac recognized the signal, i was able to disconnect while the music continued to play. Not with the new gen. It drops...
 
On another note....wonder if i would get a better sound using a Bryston  digital player or a dedicated player versus using my iMac as source.

 

[Currawong]

@estreeter I think that many people tend to lump all digital issues as being down to "jitter" and forget that the issues were when DACs were less good at dealing with it and most Toslink cables, transmitters and receivers were rubbish. Then add to that people assuming all digital equipment is affected equally by the same things.

 

[Lornecherry]

Curra...what is the name/brand of that isolation transformer type of device in the picture from the Tokyo festival?

 

[Frank Hardly]

  Frank, i'm not sure how much time you spend on HF - clearly, folk like myself spend far too much time
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/667711/new-schiit-ragnarok-and-yggdrasil
 
234 pages and counting, and Yggdrasil is still months away by my estimate. Enjoy.

Ah enlightenment. Thank you.

 

[Trappy]

Just wondering if anyone (tedb, say) has compared the Hugo to the ExaSound DACs and what the points of comparison were.
 
Thanks!

 

[AnakChan]

  Curra...what is the name/brand of that isolation transformer type of device in the picture from the Tokyo festival?

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/739968/tokyo-2014-autumn-fujiya-avic-headphone-festival-report
 
Nice Sound/Nakamura

 

[Currawong]

It has something of a smoothing effect on the Hugo. Not a lot, but makes it sound more effortless. Now my Studio Six has had a tube change (because why not?) it sounds a bit more old-school glorious in comparison, if a touch less "pure".
 

  It's hard to tell from these pictures and could our mod in Japan please kindly find out if this Digital Signal Cleaner were any good for the tiny little coaxial input of Hugo?

Spoiler: [*SNIP*

] http://ns-t.com/products/trans/nsit32.html
http://ns-t.com/cart/products/list.php?category_id=7
 

 
Less than 200 bucks at the moment and we could probably get that with 15% off next week from Monday to Wednesday
 
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/audiounion/ndcp01
http://www.fromjapan.co.jp/special/rakuten/campaign
http://blog.livedoor.jp/legotudor/archives/39330928.html
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/en/userid/2088240/car/1589759/6485566/parts.aspx

 

 
Can't believe I missed this. Not sure what effect it would have, but if a digital source was a bit noisy it might help.