Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[Ragnar-BY]

Which five albums would you recommend me to play when trying the TT2 out ?

I can recommend three very good and representative (each from it`s own side) hi-res albums:

Rock: Reimagined - great example of binaural recording capabilities
PAPER MOTION - modern ProgRock with audiophile record quality
The Astounding Eyes of Rita - it's hard to describe this album, but it is very worth listening to. Sounds like darkest coffe.

And two CDs:
MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana - look for MFSL label CD if you could find it, MFSL's CD is the best option for this album
The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd - well.. I don't think this album needs any explanations

I had a great time with all 5. These are not only fun to listen to, but also could show you best side of Chord DACs.

 

[rkt31]

Yggy has been measured by audiosciencereview and it did not measure very well. The reviewer though not very fond of chord gear,still he praised a lot for Qutest. Even mojo measured better than yggy. Frankly speaking these r2r dacs have distortion in mid frequencies which makes them sound softer in nos mode and as you go in os mode that distortion shifts to higher frequencies which makes them sound artificially detailed. Like for example Denafrips (in os mode ) and yggy sound artificially detailed even in youtube videos. Recently one of my known fed his Belles Aria power amp directly with mojo and he was surprised that mojo beat his earlier benchmark dac2 for better depth and refinement. So imho tt2 is your currently the best bet and if you can get m scaler it becomes the end game setup. I use tt2 with m scaler directly feeding to ahb2 power amp and both tt2 and ahb2 being in low gain mode. Until few days back i was using kef r300 speakers but seeing the extremely good reviews on YouTube and what hi fi of wharfedale evo 4 series, i ordered evo 4.2 . these evo series speakers feature amt tweeters which have much more refined treble and effortless sound at almost throw away price as compared to some high end offerings from the likes of dynaudio,PMC,b&w and kef etc.

 

[Sound Eq]

i wonder if some here use the hugo tt2 with external headphone amps ,which one and why?

 

[CreditingKarma]

i wonder if some here use the hugo tt2 with external headphone amps ,which one and why?

I drive my Abyss TC right from the TT2 and am happy with the results. I do find myself listening with my speaker setup more often than headphones though.

 

[Sound Eq]

I play my hd800s se at -25h.

how do you like that combo with hd800s as i was thinking to add a hd800s to my collection

 

[Sound Eq]

I drive my Abyss TC right from the TT2 and am happy with the results. I do find myself listening with my speaker setup more often than headphones though.

so is the abyss with tt2 the best you heard it with

 

[betula]

i wonder if some here use the hugo tt2 with external headphone amps ,which one and why?

I tried a couple of amps from the £800-1000 category purely out of curiosity. They only brought distortion, so I quickly disconnected the setup.

 

[CreditingKarma]

so is the abyss with tt2 the best you heard it with

The best I have heard the abyss was with a wells headtrip lvl2. But I refuse to pay $15k for an amp with that build quality. They sound great with the auris nirvana as well.

I am more than happy with them out of the TT2 and don't think I will purchase another amp anytime soon. They also sound good with the liquid platinum and my sp1000 feeding it but not as good as the TT2 and MScaler.

 

[ZappaMan]

how do you like that combo with hd800s as i was thinking to add a hd800s to my collection

I don’t have many headphones to compare it against, so I’m not a good person to give that kind of a recommendation.
ive been up and down in my appreciation for them. I now think, they are very very good, although they are distorting the sound to achieve the soundstage. But as I may other tweaks to Improve my system, they get better and better and I find it hard to fault it.
I love my mtt2 and I love my hd800s.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

The best I have heard the abyss was with a wells headtrip lvl2. But I refuse to pay $15k for an amp with that build quality. They sound great with the auris nirvana as well.

I am more than happy with them out of the TT2 and don't think I will purchase another amp anytime soon. They also sound good with the liquid platinum and my sp1000 feeding it but not as good as the TT2 and MScaler.

Do you use Abyss via balanced output? After hearing Wells, do you have the feeling that Abyss need more power, than TT2 has, or the difference was more about quality?

 

[Super Pang]

Which five albums would you recommend me to play when trying the TT2 out ?

The answer to this question is the same when evaluating any upgrade: your five favourite albums. If they don't sound better, don't buy it.

 

[jmills8]

The answer to this question is the same when evaluating any upgrade: your five favourite albums. If they don't sound better, don't buy it.

Agree

 

[Super Pang]

Or perhaps a better idea would be five of your favourite albums that are distinctly different. Something that's a good test of bass, something that's not a great recording and can sound bright, something with great vocals etc.

 

[miketlse]

I haven't spotted the equivalent for the TT2, but these two threads for the Mojo and Hugo 2 tried to capture some interesting music for evaluating these dacs.
Inevitably not all the tracks will suit all owners, but one aspect of Chord dacs is that they inspire owners to experiment with previously unknown bands/tracks.
Feel free to create a similar thread for the TT2.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-music-that-i-shall-use-to-test-my-hugo-2.842494/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mojos-greatest-hits.802832/

 

[rickles]

Yggy has been measured by audiosciencereview and it did not measure very well. The reviewer though not very fond of chord gear,still he praised a lot for Qutest. Even mojo measured better than yggy. Frankly speaking these r2r dacs have distortion in mid frequencies which makes them sound softer in nos mode and as you go in os mode that distortion shifts to higher frequencies which makes them sound artificially detailed. Like for example Denafrips (in os mode ) and yggy sound artificially detailed even in youtube videos. Recently one of my known fed his Belles Aria power amp directly with mojo and he was surprised that mojo beat his earlier benchmark dac2 for better depth and refinement. So imho tt2 is your currently the best bet and if you can get m scaler it becomes the end game setup. I use tt2 with m scaler directly feeding to ahb2 power amp and both tt2 and ahb2 being in low gain mode. Until few days back i was using kef r300 speakers but seeing the extremely good reviews on YouTube and what hi fi of wharfedale evo 4 series, i ordered evo 4.2 . these evo series speakers feature amt tweeters which have much more refined treble and effortless sound at almost throw away price as compared to some high end offerings from the likes of dynaudio,PMC,b&w and kef etc.

Thank you! The thing I am curious about is DACs that may be better than the DAC in the TT2 at the same price. Given the TT2 is a DAC/Amp, it would stand to reason that there ought to be devices that are DAC only that should be superior to the TT2? I used the Yggdrasil as just a random one.