[Kiats]

The micro USB connector, in its original iteration, is shockingly fragile when the Hugo is meant to be portable, when knocks and bumps are inevitable.

 

[rgs9200m]

  Very few of the old style actually failed, so as long as you are careful, and are gentle with plugging it in an out, it will last forever.
 
Chord told me this morning that the new style USB had no failures, and they have shipped thousands of the new type.
 
Rob

I have been using the old style USB since mine was new (about 8 months ago) with no problems.

 

[weisse muller]

Thanks for the swift response, Rob. I had thought that the black model, coming much later, would have had the later revision board.

 

[weisse muller]

Matt at chord told me that a soldered wire top strap was implemented on the connectors after the first few weeks of production and no failures of the first type of usb connector have been noted since. Thousands of Hugo's were produced with the strap. However The postings photos show no soldered top strap therefore they must be of a very early unit. Note any usb failures that were returned to chord via their distribution chain were replaced. As will that rogue early unit shown with no strap and posted about on this and the previous page here.

 

[rkt31]

finally found a way to create dop flacs from dsd files. I was already using Windows tab for real time dop streaming through foobar to Hugo via USB out. however I wanted to use dop through coaxial of my bdp. there is an article on net about playing DSD files through squeezebox . it used a SACD plugin of foobar which apparently is old version and gives DSD over PCM option in SACD tab of preferences of foobar. the article has the link to SACD plugin. for creating only other plugin needed is flac encoder. individual track of iso can be converted to dop flacs and played back on a compatible bdp player. DSD is indicated by white light in Hugo. there is sonore dsd2flac software too which is not for windows yet. instead of running that software in virtual environment in windows , using foobar is much easier. great foobar, you can play real time DSD dop, can convert DSD to pcm , can use dedicated asio of chord Hugo to stream bit perfect PCM to Hugo with minimal impact on the tab etc.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I tested chord hugo today, for a very long time, with hd800, dj one pro, ie8 ie800, akg k550, ath m50, and a few others.
 
In some short words, when i got from cowon j3 to fiio x5 i felt like it was a new level of vivit thing, it was like the music was more alive, a blanket taken off, and it became better. with chord hugo it was the same experience. better, in all ways possible
 
only problem i have with it is the price. i would willingly pay 1200$ fot that sound, but around 2150$ it is a bit more expensive than i wanted. i think that i am going to buy it anyways, because of sound improovement. it was just perfect sounding. anyways i understand that after it, there is no place to go any more further, while staying under 4000$...
 
i was wondering, even though i know that it is wrong to ask this on this place, but is there any way to fiind something with the same SQ at around 1200$ price point?...

 

[uzi2]

  I tested chord hugo today, for a very long time, with hd800, dj one pro, ie8 ie800, akg k550, ath m50, and a few others.
 
In some short words, when i got from cowon j3 to fiio x5 i felt like it was a new level of vivit thing, it was like the music was more alive, a blanket taken off, and it became better. with chord hugo it was the same experience. better, in all ways possible
 
only problem i have with it is the price. i would willingly pay 1200$ fot that sound, but around 2150$ it is a bit more expensive than i wanted. i think that i am going to buy it anyways, because of sound improovement. it was just perfect sounding. anyways i understand that after it, there is no place to go any more further, while staying under 4000$...
 
i was wondering, even though i know that it is wrong to ask this on this place, but is there any way to fiind something with the same SQ at around 1200$ price point?...

I think it's fair to ask. Everyone has to make this decision. Some say the iDSD is good - I haven't heard it. You must make your own comparisons before parting with youir hard earned cash. For me, it's a big investment, but very well worth it...

 

[Whazzzup]

I think the chord can be worth it, it's certainly the best portable dac amp I know of, imo. It can be a desktop replacement as well. You really need to try and pair with cans and cable. For example i re cabled my th900 with copper which provides a muscular signiture, th900 has some recessed mids, so the hpa8 at 800-1400 sounds pretty darn good compared to the hugo which had a tighter bass, more intense soundstage, better black. Granted the hugo is a better soundstage, but one could argue about a 1600 better sound stage or not. I can't stuff an hpa8 in my pocket so im tickled by having both. I also like to listen in different parts of my house and yard so ergo hugo. The Hugo is awesome with shure 846 iem, among other technical issues, the chord is less than 1 ohm impediance which is great for low ohm performance iem, like 846...

 

[Dobrescu George]

i have seen more people in hugo thread talking about how great se846 is than how many speak about sennheiser ie800. i wonder why?..
 
yeah, i cannot say that i ever heared better source than hugo. i was just trying to get away with keeping as much money as possible for headphones, i might get edition 5, which cost about as much as chord hugo, but, after some thought, i have enough to get both, i might just as well get both.^_^.

 

[Whazzzup]

Get the Hugo TT as well, let us know how the 5 edition sounds. Head Fi is no place for budgets.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Get the Hugo TT as well, let us know how the 5 edition sounds. Head Fi is no place for budgets.

Hugo TT is not really worth it if it sounds just a little better than hugo. i was just wondering how to spend the wisest, not the least amount. as far as closed headphones go, ultrasone has the best of them, considering that all competition is heavy. heavy like neck pain heavy. i listen hours a day, i need my headphones to be, not just light, the lightest i can get, and comfortable. ultrasone checkes everything for me. i am not spending money without thinking through. i might as well, just remain at signature dj, if i will be unable to get much better sound from edition 8 or edition 5 unlimited. afterall, edition 5 unlimited costs about 2Xthe price of dignature dj, and about the same price as chord hugo. it is not overly expensive, considering the price of a stax amp+headphone setup, or a audeze+wooaudio setup, and the cost of the entire thing is pretty close to hd800+hdvd800... end game high end setup, means that i will not have to spend money on headphones and amps for a long time from now on! maybe on iems, but that is another story. i listened to ie800, i still have to research k3003, or think about customs.

 

[Whazzzup]

Get the Hugo TT as well, let us know how the 5 edition sounds. Head Fi is no place for budgets.

Hugo TT is not really worth it if it sounds just a little better than hugo. i was just wondering how to spend the wisest, not the least amount. as far as closed headphones go, ultrasone has the best of them, considering that all competition is heavy. heavy like neck pain heavy. i listen hours a day, i need my headphones to be, not just light, the lightest i can get, and comfortable. ultrasone checkes everything for me. i am not spending money without thinking through. i might as well, just remain at signature dj, if i will be unable to get much better sound from edition 8 or edition 5 unlimited. afterall, edition 5 unlimited costs about 2Xthe price of dignature dj, and about the same price as chord hugo. it is not overly expensive, considering the price of a stax amp+headphone setup, or a audeze+wooaudio setup, and the cost of the entire thing is pretty close to hd800+hdvd800... end game high end setup, means that i will not have to spend money on headphones and amps for a long time from now on! maybe on iems, but that is another story. i listened to ie800, i still have to research k3003, or think about customs.

Ok try the th900 hpa8 set up at what 2000-3000 for both. Can't say what's better but what you like then at what budget. Again wait for he1000 launch and it's hi Fi pairing to blow your budget completly. All I meant is this is a dangerous hobby and being a taste kind of thing who's really to say. Good luck.

 

[cheznous]

I tested chord hugo today, for a very long time, with hd800, dj one pro, ie8 ie800, akg k550, ath m50, and a few others.

In some short words, when i got from cowon j3 to fiio x5 i felt like it was a new level of vivit thing, it was like the music was more alive, a blanket taken off, and it became better. with chord hugo it was the same experience. better, in all ways possible

only problem i have with it is the price. i would willingly pay 1200$ fot that sound, but around 2150$ it is a bit more expensive than i wanted. i think that i am going to buy it anyways, because of sound improovement. it was just perfect sounding. anyways i understand that after it, there is no place to go any more further, while staying under 4000$...

i was wondering, even though i know that it is wrong to ask this on this place, but is there any way to fiind something with the same SQ at around 1200$ price point?...

I have the Hugo and the ifi micro and would rate the ifi in the same league. If ifi had been available a year ago I wouldn't have bought the Hugo good as it is.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Ok try the th900 hpa8 set up at what 2000-3000 for both. Can't say what's better but what you like then at what budget. Again wait for he1000 launch and it's hi Fi pairing to blow your budget completly. All I meant is this is a dangerous hobby and being a taste kind of thing who's really to say. Good luck.

I understood your sarcasm, but well...
i don't want something not portable at all, so hpa8 is out of the question, th900, is one of the worst ones out there considering weight... they are heavy.,. i want something light and confortable...
he1000 is going to be open, i need closed back headphones...
 
i am not mindlessly spending, but i am trying to get the best sound by spending as less as possible ^_^

I have the Hugo and the ifi micro and would rate the ifi in the same league. If ifi had been available a year ago I wouldn't have bought the Hugo good as it is.

This is worth considering... is there any area in which ifi micro looses to hugo?... i will not be able to test before buying, so this is a thing worty of considering...

 

[estreeter]

Get the Hugo TT as well, let us know how the 5 edition sounds. Head Fi is no place for budgets.

 
It's more expensive to play on the bleeding edge than it was when I joined, but generally speaking headphones remain at the shallow end of this insane hobby. Even at 5K+ for the Abyss or the Stax flagship, you're still in territory that would be considered 'midrange' in the speaker universe. The big difference is that very few guys buy 10 pairs of speakers and update one or more every time a new model or revision is added to the favorite speaker line, even if some of the reviewers out there do seem to have access to an awful lot of speakers. The 'I have to find the right amp for these headphones !' trap is easily the largest sinkhole in the headphone hobby IMO - get that sorted and I believe this is a place for budgets.