Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[varadero xl1000v]

I agree, Rob has said numerous times that a lot of thought and testing went in to what smps to use on TT2 and the MScaler ( both use the exact same smps psu, not to be confused with the psu inside tt2 ) and, the one supplied is pretty much as good as it gets. Also, using a third party psu will void the warranty, that alone scare's me into not trying anything but the supplied smps.

Amberlamps I'm a little skeptical about how good the Chord's power supply with the Hugo tt2 is. This is because it is known how much noise the power supplies add to the power they provide. I think linear power technology is far superior to switches. While Rob designed and built a great product (Hugho tt2), it should also provide a great power supply. And the following is not.

I'm sorry but I can't accept that today, in such an expensive device, it comes with ....... a power supply of this quality. I think one of the following, or other serious manufacturers, would make the Hugo tt2 perform much better.
Here are two, there are others:

a. Farad Super 3,

b. Plixir Elite

Please, I have nothing to do with the manufacturers, it's just a Dac Chord Hugo tt2 holder. Nothing more!

 

[InstantSilence]

Amberlamps I'm a little skeptical about how good the Chord's power supply with the Hugo tt2 is. This is because it is known how much noise the power supplies add to the power they provide. I think linear power technology is far superior to switches. While Rob designed and built a great product (Hugho tt2), it should also provide a great power supply. And the following is not.



I'm sorry but I can't accept that today, in such an expensive device, it comes with ....... a power supply of this quality. I think one of the following, or other serious manufacturers, would make the Hugo tt2 perform much better.
Here are two, there are others:

a. Farad Super 3,

b. Plixir Elite

Please, I have nothing to do with the manufacturers, it's just a Dac Chord Hugo tt2 holder. Nothing more!

It sure does look and feel cheap.
In my short life.. I've seen that what looks and feels cheap is cheap!

 

[varadero xl1000v]

It sure does look and feel cheap.
In my short life.. I've seen that what looks and feels cheap is cheap!

I agree with you, it's cheap. I do not believe that the supplied power supply demonstrates the reproductive ability of hugo tt2.

 

[nwavesailor]

I, for one, sure hope this forum doesn't go down the PS posts that were endless on the Qutest thread a few weeks ago. It was so mind numbing that I unsubscribed.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

A little comparison before weekend start. Duel between duo DAC+Amp that I'm familiar with, love them both, but actually never AB them at one time. The price difference is significant though (5.5k vs 2k): Chord Hugo TT2 vs Questyle CMA 12 Master

Sound Character:
Surprise me more than anything, they actually sound much more similar than different, The treble, mid and bass quantity (and presentation) really sounds alike.

Overall, TT2 retain slight (read: only slight) warmer sounding in midrange and bass, not significant, but I can feel the constant "warm aura" there.

Treble quantity, impact, and bite also behave similarly whith CMA 12 Master slight offering more energy (not quantity).

Midrange is where they perform a bit different (not much, but easy noticeable). TT2 is more forward, more mid centric nature, slight more relax impact. Both sounds silky smooth with lifelike vocal presentation.

Bass, again, rather similar in quantity and impact. Questyle offer slight more mid bass, and TT2 has slight more linear bass to the sub bass area.

Soundstage has almost similar "shape". TT2 slight wider, CMA slight offer mode depth, with height presentation that I couldn't differentiate.

Technical Quality:
Micro detail, from the last note of a string, or from singer, or the texture from cello, violin, and double bass definitely has more presence in TT2. Not type of detail that everyone looking for because most of them don't even realise these sounds exist in the recording. But, it's there with TT2.

I can't say that TT2 has better bass extension, but the slight less mid bass does bring the very lowest sub bass notes easier to hear with Chord (not significant though). Questyle present slight fuller mid bass, that perhaps hide the latest sub bass notes a little bit. No, both of them don't offer bass like V281, which has more body from both Chord and Questyle.

Soundstage:
Actually 12 Master manage to put the "depth" positioning better than Chord (I know, what a surprise). Chord produce overall sharper imaging though. More accuracy in pin point of each instrument. A little differences here and there in each instrument positioning, may feels slight if we only pay attention to one instrument, but could change the whole listening experience when everything just simply has more accurate location.

Overall experience:
Fluid and smoothness of Chord still unbeatable here. This company really knows well how to create fatigue free product. I always think my 12 Master is an extremely smooth product, full body sound, and excellent black background presentation. The Questyle amp section also has smoother and more relax presentation with fuller midrange than Wells Milo Vishay, or Violectric V281. However, TT2 present the same full body sound, with fluidity and smoothness effect to the next level ahead.

Thanks for read my random comparison!

 

[OctavianH]

This is the truth: everything Chord supplies with its products is cheap and low quality. And I've owned 2Qute, Qutest and now TT2 + M Scaler. The power supplies and cables are incredible low quality. Just look at the BNC cables they provide with M Scaler. So yeap, if you want to use a Chord product at full potential you have to put 30% of the cost in upgrading cables and power supplies. I've bought a LPS for 2Qute, then for Qutest and the difference was big. I will do the same for TT2 and M Scaler. That's it. Everyone knows that

 

[varadero xl1000v]

I, for one, sure hope this forum doesn't go down the PS posts that were endless on the Qutest thread a few weeks ago. It was so mind numbing that I unsubscribed.

... I hope I didn't cause you a problem, but neither did Site Head Fi with my post. If so, I'm sorry.

 

[nwavesailor]

I'm fine with PS posts, varadero xl1000v!

Just saw the PS posts on the Qutest thread go on page after page that's all.

 

[varadero xl1000v]

I'm fine with PS posts, varadero xl1000v!

Just saw the PS posts on the Qutest thread go on page after page that's all.

..I'm looking to find them, but I can't. Do you have a link so I can read them?

 

[nwavesailor]

look for: Chord Electronic Qutest

 

[Amberlamps]

It sure does look and feel cheap.
In my short life.. I've seen that what looks and feels cheap is cheap!

It may look cheap, but I've seen much worse and maybe it doesn't equal a linear power supply, but it's not meant to, just like using a battery is better than using a linear psu. A battery would be 1, cheaper and 2, better sonic wise, so why does everyone want to buy a LPS if a rechargeable battery is where it's at ?

Rob has stated many times that he didn't just pull that smps out of his arse, it went through many QC tests beforehand and was chosen for it's performance, mind you, Chord don't exactly have a good reputation for "supplied accessories quality" but I'm sure since it was Rob who chose that smps, I'm sure he will have charts and figures to back up it's performance.

 

[lawshredpower]

No a linear supply at best will sound the same, at worst a brighter and harder sound and less musical. TT2 PSU is not the brick that comes with it, it's the arrangement of filters and supercaps built into the unit. The supercap/large input inductor means the PSU brick only supplies DC current. Moreover, the PSU brick has been very carefully selected for extremely low leakage currents into ground; replacing it with a battery produces no change at all in measured performance using a 96 kHz bandwidth. A linear PSU will add comparatively large levels of hum and RF noise, with orders of magnitude higher coupling capacitance to the mains.

So how can we improve it with the PSU? You must use RF filters on the input side and the output side; RF filters reduces the coupling currents and helps; you should use a non grounded PSU - then the coupling is via neutral on the mains not earth - and to reduce coupling via the neutral you need a low inter-winding capacitance without using a grounded screen as this will increase the coupling capacitance. You get all these things with the supplied PSU - it has RF filter on the input and output, being a SMPS it uses a small transformer with low coupling capacitance and it is not grounded.

When you connect an "audiophile" linear PSU you will destroy all of these benefits - no RF filters at all, big screened toroidal transformers with huge capacitive inter-winding capacitance; so you will degrade the isolation at 2GHz, and increase the coupling currents into the DAC. You then get rewarded with a brighter SQ (conning you into thinking it's more transparent), a wider soundstage, an artificial etched quality and of course more listening fatigue - all due to more noise floor modulation and increased small signal amplitude errors.

Sorry if I am being a bit hard on you, but I do get very frustrated when I see audiophiles spend cash on "upgrades" that I know are damaging sound quality and more importantly the ability to enjoy music.

 

[OctavianH]

Well, when Rob Watts will be here in my room listening to my headphones and observing no difference I will believe him. Unfortunately I am the one sitting here, owning during the years 3 DACs designed by him and observing on 2 of them improvements using linear power supplies. He told on all threads the same thing that there is no difference using LPS or the supplied one or even worse. Well, I beg to differ

 

[Amberlamps]

Amberlamps I'm a little skeptical about how good the Chord's power supply with the Hugo tt2 is. This is because it is known how much noise the power supplies add to the power they provide. I think linear power technology is far superior to switches. While Rob designed and built a great product (Hugho tt2), it should also provide a great power supply. And the following is not.



I'm sorry but I can't accept that today, in such an expensive device, it comes with ....... a power supply of this quality. I think one of the following, or other serious manufacturers, would make the Hugo tt2 perform much better.
Here are two, there are others:

a. Farad Super 3,

b. Plixir Elite

Please, I have nothing to do with the manufacturers, it's just a Dac Chord Hugo tt2 holder. Nothing more!

That is just a power brick, the real power supply is inside TT2. As far as I'm aware, the power brick get's regulated to a smoother and less noisy frequency inside TT2, that along with it's 6 super caps helps avoid big power fluctuations/draw which in turn creates noise.

Correct me if I'm wrong, which I may very well be as I'm winging it here, or maybe I read it on chords website, or seen it in startrek voyager when it's warpcore started fluctuating.

 

[lawshredpower]

Well, when Rob Watts will be here in my room listening to my headphones and observing no difference I will believe him. Unfortunately I am the one sitting here, owning during the years 3 DACs designed by him and observing on 2 of them improvements using linear power supplies. He told on all threads the same thing that there is no difference using LPS or the supplied one or even worse. Well, I beg to differ

Since it’s ultimately a matter of taste, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in preferring the TT2 sound when you degrade its isolation and increase its coupling currents. Or maybe you think that’s not what’s happening when you use a LPSU with the TT2? What are you thoughts on the differences and what causes them?