[fiascogarcia]

I have been using my Grado cans with the larger headphone jack no problem, but today tried the smaller 3.5 jack on the Grado 325e (standard jack is now the smaller one). They won't fit into the Hugo...
The tail on the jack is too short to click in, so they need the 6.3 adaptor to work.

Anyone else a Grado owner and have this issue? It may be my input panel is too deep set into the case...

Or it's just the Grado plugs don't work with the Hugo!

Probably not just Grado.  For instance, any of the cables I have tried with a Viablue connector, except for the mini Viablue body, won't fit in the recessed 3.5 jack. 

 

[Whazzzup]

I avoid angle connectors for this reason.

 

[rkt31]

hi, can anybody suggest a reasonably priced dap with optical out for chord Hugo ? ibasso dx80 not available in India !

 

[Jeff Y]

hi, can anybody suggest a reasonably priced dap with optical out for chord Hugo ? ibasso dx80 not available in India !

Can't you get it directly from them?
Or the Lotoo PAW5000 is an alternative for a player with optical out.
Also, if you're looking for coaxial output, FiiO players could work.

 

[fiascogarcia]

hi, can anybody suggest a reasonably priced dap with optical out for chord Hugo ? ibasso dx80 not available in India !

Plenty of nice used AK100 and AK120's for sale here.

 

[rkt31]

thanks for the response. actually I already have fiio x3 2nd gen for coaxial but I wanted optical too. will check lotoo too. here in it is difficult to get used ak100 or ak120.

 

[Kerouac]

hi, can anybody suggest a reasonably priced dap with optical out for chord Hugo ? ibasso dx80 not available in India !

Why don't you order a DX80 straight from the iBasso website (I did, with both DX50 and DX90, while living in EU)?
Or don't they ship to India?
 
Question: I've read some posts about DX80 hiss when used as a stand-alone dap.
Has anyone over here experienced this also while using it as a transport (skipping DX80's dac and amp section) to Hugo?
Thanks in advance...

 

[Jimmy6]

Nice to see you both enjoying the Hugo. I recognize the late hours. To me, those 'lost' hours were well spend.

I discovered that the Hugo is at its best if you feed it the original bitstream. The Hugo is so much better at extracting detail than my laptop, it is almost ridiculous. Try it and I promise you, you will be amazed.

 
Thanks for that. Definitely noticed that after playing with my files. The only files I have to compare are FLAC and MP3, and the FLAC is definitely better. I am able to upsample it to DSD with the hugo from my iphone, and it definitely improves the sound. 

 

[TabCam]

 
Thanks for that. Definitely noticed that after playing with my files. The only files I have to compare are FLAC and MP3, and the FLAC is definitely better. I am able to upsample it to DSD with the hugo from my iphone, and it definitely improves the sound. 

 

Strange! I did not know the iphone could play the FLAC files? Is it smoother sounding? It maybe could be that converting it to dsd keeps more of the original file as opposed to converting it from 44.1 to 48 kHz? Or that the dsd file sound better but you are actually losing information in the noise shapers of dsd conversions? As I understood it, the Hugo converts the dsd back to pcm so there is no advantage, except for real dsd files.

 

[phonomat]

Can anyone describe the sound of hugo I didn't like to read reviews ?
I got one for good price , did I need anything else or usb cable is enough for hugo to sound great ?

In three words: Clean and lean.
To elaborate: sharp, detailed, crystal-clear, precise, excellent instrumental separation. Will cut through your music like a surgical knife, so can sound clinical at times, so arguably not the most euphonic/musical/involving/immersive/whateveryouwannacallit DAC out there.
Disclaimer: all IMO, YMMV, of course.

 

[TabCam]

Can anyone describe the sound of hugo I didn't like to read reviews ?

I got one for good price , did I need anything else or usb cable is enough for hugo to sound great ?

Congratulations with your deal. The best I can describe it, is that it sound quite natural. Wooden instruments, brass, drums, cymbals, acoustic guitars, piano's, all have a natural sound to them. That is of course with the right HF/IEM's. It doesn't add any coloring to the signal in my experiences so far. It also shows all the coloring of downstream components.

The only thing that can help improve the quality ( if you already play bit-perfect) is an galvanic isolation between source and Hugo. I use laptops and the optical input for my media player so have had no problems there.

 

[TabCam]

In three words: Clean and lean.

To elaborate: sharp, detailed, crystal-clear, precise, excellent instrumental separation. Will cut through your music like a surgical knife, so can sound clinical at times, so arguably not the most euphonic/musical/involving/immersive/whateveryouwannacallit DAC out there.

Disclaimer: all IMO, YMMV, of course.

I agree wholeheartedly with the first and second sentences but my mileage varies a lot with the surgical knife/clinical part and in my opinion it is a very musical involving dac. Music seems faster and gets a more alive natural feeling to it, which to me is quite musical and helps a lot with all kinds of music.

The only thing remaining are your downstream components. If you use a lean HP, it will sound lean, but so will a lot of other dac's except the ones with a warm sounding amplifier section. If your HP are warm, the sound will also be warm.

The cleanliness/blacker-than-black of the signal helps with the instrument separation and sound stage.

 

[rgs9200m]

My Hugo needed to be used for about a year to really shine and lose all clinical-ness; now it sounds great. I'd even be hesitant to replace it for a TT or any other DAC on my desk because I feel I put a lot of work into getting this level of musical goodness.
There is a very nice combination of sweetness and deep detail and smoothness and musical flow without fatigue. (It is especially good for me with the HE1K and the Ether.)
I'm thinking that burn in is as important with the Hugo as it is said to be with the Yggy.

 

[Jimmy6]

 

   
Thanks for that. Definitely noticed that after playing with my files. The only files I have to compare are FLAC and MP3, and the FLAC is definitely better. I am able to upsample it to DSD with the hugo from my iphone, and it definitely improves the sound. 

 

Strange! I did not know the iphone could play the FLAC files? Is it smoother sounding? It maybe could be that converting it to dsd keeps more of the original file as opposed to converting it from 44.1 to 48 kHz? Or that the dsd file sound better but you are actually losing information in the noise shapers of dsd conversions? As I understood it, the Hugo converts the dsd back to pcm so there is no advantage, except for real dsd files.

 
Yup. There's an app I use that allows me to play FLAC and DSD files. Maybe it keeps most of the original file, but TBH I'm not really sure. Sounds a lot better converted to DSD as opposed to playing it at the original FLAC bitrate. What do you mean by DSD back to PCM? is that DoP thing? So basically the Hugo does the DSD to PCM thing rather than the iphone doing it natively? In the end, if that's the case shouldn't all DSD files including the real DSD files be converted to PCM?
 
I know that when I play DSD files, or the FLACs or MP3's converted, the white colour light shows up on the Hugo.
 
I've got a macbook pro late 2013 retina which is capable of outputting optical. Do I need any special programs to make playback better through the Hugo?
 
Cheers
James

 

[Rearwing]

I have recently acquired an AK100 to use with my Hugo via an optical cable, I then partner this with either my heavily modded Fostex T50rp's, HD600's or my AKG 702's. The headphone change relates to different musical types, acoustic, glam rock, etc and compliment the detail this stunning DAC is capable of putting out.