Reply to Chord Hugo
My Hugo is two weeks old when I purchased it. I thought I should listen to it for a little while and across my different headphones & two channel stereo system, before posting a more detailed review.
For many people the thought of spending £1,400 on a (portable) DAC would be one of incredulity, indeed 18 months ago I would have been no different - but my audiophile journey which started then, has now reached its final destination as far as the DAC/Amp is concerned. And I don't feel silly having spent that money on the Hugo. It really is *that* good.
I have played the Hugo through Ultimate Ears TP FI 10s, Bose Triport headphones and Sennheiser 600HDs. And also as a DAC into my Fatman 202 Valve amplifer into stereo Revolver 3 speakers. I generally use either dx90 coax or IPad to micro USB input. I have found Bluetooth to work OK, ie no extraneous noises but the IPhone needs to be really near to the Hugo.
The Hugo is just sublime. It has the ability to sound analog, whilst presenting the music with crystaline clarity, but then also having a depth of bass that is simply the best that I have heard. And the depth and 3D affect of the sound stage is like nothing else I have heard. It is analogous to peeling back an onion. I am listening to music where new layers have been revealed which I simply couldn't detect as separate layers before. It is utterly fantastic. It is the detail that it is able to extract which is the big differentiator for me. The Hugo reveals details in music that I never thought possible. I have heard comments of it being bright - it isn't bright at all, just accurate.
Listening through the Sennheiser 600HDs is terrific. The Hugo drives them with ease. Volume is at "light green". As an example, listening to Endless River (CD quality) you are able to hear all the different layers & instruments upon which the music has been built. Close your eyes and you are just sucked into the psychedelic space rock world of Pink Floyd. Memorising. It doesn't get much better than this.
In the last 18 months, I have moved from a ipod classic to a dx50 to a dx90 and there was a noticeable improvement each time - but the Hugo is like a night & day difference. The improvement in quality was instant, something that I did not experience with change from ipod Classic to dx50 to dx90.
It seems to be able to represent the sound of how the original music was played.
I will be selling my Leckerton 6S- mkii Amp with the tubey 627 Opamps, because although I love the sound it produces from the Dx90, its warmth was at the expense of clarity, whilst the Ibasso PB2 with JCR2068s (as an example) provide a wonderful transparency but at the expense of warmth. Somehow the Hugo can do both and I have have felt no interest in putting them as part of the chain. It will be sad to let them go but I can't really justify having all three.
Some examples of Hugo's brilliance.
Knights of Cydonia - even at MP3@320 the sound of the shimmering harmonica send shivers through you - an example of how good the Hugo is with mid to highs
TalkTalk - Spirit of Eden - how accurate the instruments sound eg taughtness of the drums, cymbals, the haunting voice of Mark Hollis
Vangelis - various tracks. You just hear that depth & multilayering of sound
Queen - Bijou when the first note hits you. Wow, just wow.
Pink Floyd - Endless River. First track. The vibrating strings of the guitar gives me goose pimples . The second track, Gilmour's high pitched guitar notes , such clarity, almost feels likes it is cutting me in half. The cymbals are out there in the middle of the room.
Hugo is amazing. It has left me speechless. The sound coming from it is the best I have ever heard. It has an incredible level of detail, control, punch and depth. The precision is really hard to describe. It makes everything that you throw through it, sound fantastic and even lossy music often really good.
I can't claim to be an expert in understanding how a DAC actually works, but I do get that the Hugo does the conversion in a different way to the norm and that it is doing it a more accurate manner than the other Wolfsen or Sabre DAC chips. I therefore follow the logic that that is why the Hugo sounds so good. Sound wise, I can't see that it has any weak points. The bass is deep, the mids & highs so musical and the music has such a 3D depth to it. It just so musical and it does *everything* so well.
I find it interesting that when I upgraded before, I found it the improvement from one machine to another to be incremental, whereas with the Hugo, it is has been transformational. There is no other way to describe it. For me it is a game changer and that is why I won't be changing from the Hugo any time soon. I don't see any point.
