Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[elisiX]

I initially planned to sell it with RME/V281 to fund TT2. All in one final solution. However I want to try them back to back and I kind of felt like I’d keep it as a fall back in case I don’t see value in TT2 in a month or two (I’m listening much less these days).

That said, setup the TT2 last night and listened to Utopia for an hour or so. They just work so well together, especially with Filter 3. Will be giving the TT2 another run tonight with Empyrean, though potentially without the Filter 3 activated. See how it goes, but overall I am really happy with the TT2 as an all-in-one in my desk setup. It takes up less space than my RME/V281 setup which is a nice bonus.

Today i've hooked it up using the RCA's to my KEF LSX active speakers and it's working well. The connection to my KEF LSX works whether I use DAC or AMP mode on the TT2, but AMP mode gives me volume control on the TT2, which DAC mode does not. I'm unsure if that matters or is good/bad.

I've set the KEF LSX speaker to run at 75% volume, giving me most of the volume control on the TT2. Again, unsure if that is the right way to do it, but it seems fine and there's no humm or buzzing, etc. I suppose I could set LSX to 100% volume and control it fully from TT2.

The LSX will have its own DSP interfering, but it seems to still work well with the TT2 pushing through the signal from my MacBook Pro.

I think i'll be satisfied with this setup for some time to come, perhaps adding a streamer into the mix.

Seems to be a mixed bag on upgrading PSU and keeping the TT2 turned on 24/7. For now I’m just sitting it in standby when not in use.

 

[jarnopp]

All three headphone jacks are effected although the rear XLRs are not.

Thanks. Can you test the RCAs, with and amp or speakers somehow? Might help diagnose where in the path the issue is.

 

[elisiX]

So far I’ve spent one night with Utopia and last night with Empyrean, and upon first impressions I would say that the Utopia feels like it has the better synergy with the TT2. That said, my Empyrean is brand new and not yet broken in (it’s my second after selling my first).

Utopia on the TT2 is dynamic and punchy and using it with filter 3 is just so enjoyable. Utopia is definitely better on this setup than my prior RME/V281 setup. Before Utopia was one of the headphones I was thinking about selling, but now i'm confident it's staying.

I was alternating with pads and filters with Empyrean, and I landed on Alcantara + Filter 1. Anything else didn’t seem quite right. The alcantara allowed the Empy to sound smooth while filter 1 kept it cleaned up. Filter 3, although subtle, added unnecessary warmth.

I’ve read that it will be worth trying the alcantara pads with a silver cable for Empyrean. I have the copper cable in XLR, so I’m thinking of selling that and grabbing the silver cable in 6.3.

 

[qboogie]

Has anyone ever done a FR analysis to look at the different filters on the TT2?

 

[Widell]

Well, basically Hugo 2 with a few amps paired for different tonalities. To be perfectly honest, the Hugo 2 and WA8 pairing is getting more or less all my attention right now. And in some respects, I actually prefer the tonality of the Hugo 2 to the TT2. Obviously, the Hugo 2 isn't as refined and arguably it's more fatiguing, but I prefer the slightly cooler timbre paired with a warmer amp (the TT2 and WA8 combo didn't work for me). My plan now is to pair the Hugo 2 with a very transparent and resolving SS amp alongside the WA8, so I can use it as both a desktop system and trans-portable.

We'll see. TT2 is peerless, obviously - hopefully I won't regret this pathway....

I have not tried all the SS combinations out there but as I have an AHB2 in my setup I use it together with my H2 and can highly recommend it if you want to “supercharge” your CH2, I use it with and HE6 balanced speaker to balanced adapter but man go direct out of the speaker taps, that said yhis combination as good as it is lacks the warmth and softness of sound of the MS/TT2, my go to system while working and my MS/TT2 as weekend evening listening setup, and the AHB2 does not break the bank either in addition to the best stereo power amplifier I have heard…..highly worth a listening

 

[Nostoi]

I have not tried all the SS combinations out there but as I have an AHB2 in my setup I use it together with my H2 and can highly recommend it if you want to “supercharge” your CH2, I use it with and HE6 balanced speaker to balanced adapter but man go direct out of the speaker taps, that said yhis combination as good as it is lacks the warmth and softness of sound of the MS/TT2, my go to system while working and my MS/TT2 as weekend evening listening setup, and the AHB2 does not break the bank either in addition to the best stereo power amplifier I have heard…..highly worth a listening

Thanks. Haven't heard the AHB2, but I understand it's somewhat similar to Sparkos Aries which I had and loved.

Supercharging Hugo 2 is what I'm after. I paired it with a Bakoon HPA-21, which sounds great but is battery powered. PassLabs are also on my radar. I have in mind a certain kind of timbre and musical structure - exacting, precise, forward, revealing, with impactful and fast dynamics, and in a way unforgiving. I'm not a fan of terms like "lush," "non-fatiguing," "smooth," and "rounded." I prefer "energetic" and "transparent." The Bakoon is getting there, but we'll see what lies beyond.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

Has anyone ever done a FR analysis to look at the different filters on the TT2?

Yes on ASR. TLDR, inaudible difference.

 

[qboogie]

Yes on ASR. TLDR, inaudible difference.

Respectfully, I don't totally agree that they're inaudible. The HF rolloff filters are most apparent with my poorly recorded bebop and occasional YouTube MP3 rips. Outside of those scenario, the effects are so subtle that I question how useful they actually are with the mostly modern music I listen to.

I'm just wondering if the filters affect anything else in the FR like they seem to with the Hugo 2 (e.g. slight unexpected changes to 100-500 hz frequencies)
https://majorhifi.com/chord-hugo-2-filters-explained/

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

@qboogie - you may disagree but you're still wrong. You can't hear 1db difference @ 20Khz. I bet you can't hear a 1db difference and I bet that you can't hear 20Khz, but you won't believe me so it doesn't matter. Here's the explanation for why you hear a difference, it's because someone told you what to expect to hear and now you're listening for it.

 

[qboogie]

@qboogie - you may disagree but you're still wrong. You can't hear 1db difference @ 20Khz. I bet you can't hear a 1db difference and I bet that you can't hear 20Khz, but you won't believe me so it doesn't matter. Here's the explanation for why you hear a difference, it's because someone told you what to expect to hear and now you're listening for it.

I know I know psychoacoustics are real. Believe me, as a physician I know the power of placebo and the ability of our minds to generate perceptions instead of our sensory organs generating them first. I believe your explanation is correct.

Human hearing is sensitive down to 1db though I've never tested myself.

Maybe @Rob Watts can chime in to help us understand the practical meaning of these filters. Why go through the trouble of implementing features that, per ASR and the user above, are "inaudible?"

 

[Somatic]

Has anyone connected a subwoofer off the RCA outs of the TT2? If so, did you find your sub getting loud enough? I connected a KEF KC62 to the Chord TT2 and its only loud if the crossover it 85hz or higher. At a crossover of 60hz or lower it is very quiet. Doesnt seem the preamp if giving it enough juice ...

 

[miketlse]

Has anyone connected a subwoofer off the RCA outs of the TT2? If so, did you find your sub getting loud enough? I connected a KEF KC62 to the Chord TT2 and its only loud if the crossover it 85hz or higher. At a crossover of 60hz or lower it is very quiet. Doesnt seem the preamp if giving it enough juice ...

Alternatively it could be that the music you are playing has little content below 85Hz.

 

[Somatic]

Alternatively it could be that the music you are playing has little content below 85Hz.

I tried picking very bass heavy tracks. New rap, electronic music, etc.

 

[zappazappazappa]

I know I know psychoacoustics are real. Believe me, as a physician I know the power of placebo and the ability of our minds to generate perceptions instead of our sensory organs generating them first. I believe your explanation is correct.

Human hearing is sensitive down to 1db though I've never tested myself.

Maybe @Rob Watts can chime in to help us understand the practical meaning of these filters. Why go through the trouble of implementing features that, per ASR and the user above, are "inaudible?"

To my ears both the filters and crossfeed settings are very audible and definitely not because someone told me what to expect.

To my ears the filters offer progressively more treble smoothing; I tend to use them with bright or rough sounding recordings. I only normally use filters 1 & 2 as I find filters 3 & 4 smooth things out a bit too much, though I am aware that some users regard these latter 2 settings as the most musical! Different strokes etc.

With the crossfeed settings, these add increasing amounts of body/bass to the sound though at the expense of space and sometimes, I would say, fine detail. With my Ether 2's I generally I prefer the extra space and fine resolution of crossfeed off though on some recordings I do use crossfeed 1. With my Ether Flow 1.1's I feel they benefit from crossfeed 1 and occasionaly crossfeed 2. As with the filter settings I usually find croosfeed setting 3 on both phones a bit too much - for my taste.

 

[elisiX]

As a new TT2 owner, I appreciate those insights Zappa.