Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread
Sep 16, 2021 at 2:22 PM Post #14,837 of 18,851
Completely silent? Absolutely nothing?
Yes, it's silent; no hum or noise at all. I tried playing music, changing the volume, and even turning it on and off. Besides the usual "clicks", it is dead silent.
 
Sep 16, 2021 at 5:42 PM Post #14,838 of 18,851
I need some hifi advice lol, lucky me now has the omega compact alnico speakers and matching hemp sub. I’m just getting used to them, but it’s definitely a treat and not that expensive, all things considered.

but what way to connect them up to tt2. I had xlr to rca connector already, so I’m using them to connect the speakers. Then I bought cheap subwoofer single rca to double rca cable, which I’m taking out of the tt2 rca slots to the sub woofer.

what cables would be recommended to go from tt2 rca out to either the speakers or the sub ?

maybe I should use the xlr connection to power (sub has its own power) the sub and rca to power the speakers.
Am I looking for an rca y cable to exit the tt2 rca connection, then get that y cable terminated in banana plugs ?
216FB7BF-9C54-4BBA-B163-0A453A1C684B.jpeg
8F0BD3D0-5302-49A0-A591-0BA28DC27385.jpeg
I could also use some speaker stand suggestions.
 
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Sep 16, 2021 at 8:03 PM Post #14,839 of 18,851
A few posts earlier I wrote my TT2 unit is dead silent, but I have to update it: when turning it on at night, I can hear some barely noticeable noise. But that's all.
 
Sep 17, 2021 at 9:08 AM Post #14,840 of 18,851
I need some hifi advice lol, lucky me now has the omega compact alnico speakers and matching hemp sub. I’m just getting used to them, but it’s definitely a treat and not that expensive, all things considered.

but what way to connect them up to tt2. I had xlr to rca connector already, so I’m using them to connect the speakers. Then I bought cheap subwoofer single rca to double rca cable, which I’m taking out of the tt2 rca slots to the sub woofer.

what cables would be recommended to go from tt2 rca out to either the speakers or the sub ?

maybe I should use the xlr connection to power (sub has its own power) the sub and rca to power the speakers.
Am I looking for an rca y cable to exit the tt2 rca connection, then get that y cable terminated in banana plugs ?
216FB7BF-9C54-4BBA-B163-0A453A1C684B.jpeg
8F0BD3D0-5302-49A0-A591-0BA28DC27385.jpeg
I could also use some speaker stand suggestions.
Beautiful! I have the Omega SAMs paired with an Elac sub, which seems similarly configurable. I run the XLRs directly to the main speakers via an XLR-to-speaker jack adapter, but may eventually have custom cables made. These are wired balanced, but I think the Omegas could be happy with SE. I have a long RCA cable that I run from the TT2 RCAs (left and right) into the sub’s L/R inputs.

The Elac sub has its own app to configure level and roll off, with measurement built into an app that uses the iPhone mic. I would say the integration between the sub and your speakers , in your room, is going to be the most important thing for natural sound. So being able to measure and adjust at your listening position will be important.

Also, I tried some convolution filters in Roon, but at my near-field listening position, I had a pretty good frequency response already (lucky), so didn’t pursue it further. But that’s another option if you are using Roon.

Enjoy!
 
Sep 19, 2021 at 1:32 AM Post #14,841 of 18,851
Wondering if my TT2 is faulty or not. If I crank up the volume in HP or AMP mode in low gain or high gain at a certain level I get a noise floor. Sounds like a hiss with slight echo/reverb.

Can someone test this for me? In HP more high gain. Listen to a song. Stop the song and immediately crank up the volume to loud levels or even max. Do you get a noise floor? This only works for 5 seconds or so as no music is playing and it shuts off after a while. Thanks.

*I also pinged support so we shall see
 
Sep 19, 2021 at 3:37 AM Post #14,842 of 18,851
Wondering if my TT2 is faulty or not. If I crank up the volume in HP or AMP mode in low gain or high gain at a certain level I get a noise floor. Sounds like a hiss with slight echo/reverb.

Can someone test this for me? In HP more high gain. Listen to a song. Stop the song and immediately crank up the volume to loud levels or even max. Do you get a noise floor? This only works for 5 seconds or so as no music is playing and it shuts off after a while. Thanks.

*I also pinged support so we shall see

It's not the TT2 and nothing is wrong. See here, it's a feature of your motherboard:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/s-pdif-optical-out-noise-narrowed-down-issue-need-advice.956742/
 
Sep 19, 2021 at 10:57 AM Post #14,843 of 18,851
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Sep 19, 2021 at 7:58 PM Post #14,844 of 18,851
It's not the TT2 and nothing is wrong. See here, it's a feature of your motherboard:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/s-pdif-optical-out-noise-narrowed-down-issue-need-advice.956742/
Ok so did some troubleshooting. The dithering noise is from Direct Sound in Windows I believe. I get the issue with Youtube videos, Spotfiy but not with the new Foobar version (WASAPI), windows app of Amazon Music (maybe ASIO or WASAPI?). I no longer have Tidal as that would be a great test as one can play in Direct Sound or exclusive mode using WASAPI. So the dithering noise seems to be windows SW related.
 
Sep 19, 2021 at 9:25 PM Post #14,845 of 18,851
Ok so did some troubleshooting. The dithering noise is from Direct Sound in Windows I believe. I get the issue with Youtube videos, Spotfiy but not with the new Foobar version (WASAPI), windows app of Amazon Music (maybe ASIO or WASAPI?). I no longer have Tidal as that would be a great test as one can play in Direct Sound or exclusive mode using WASAPI. So the dithering noise seems to be windows SW related.
Use asio
 
Sep 20, 2021 at 4:23 PM Post #14,846 of 18,851
I've had the M-Scaler/TT2 combination for several months. During this time, my impressions with this setup have only improved with time. This combination is by far the best sounding digital setup I've come across. For the first time in many years, I don't feel the need to upgrade/look for the next new hot digital setup. This combination pretty much resolves the digital harshness many other playback setups suffer from. Running the M-Scaler at max resolution, CD/DVD playback at 44/48 Khz sounds life like with the right media as input. Even media that wasn't recorded well sounds about as good as it is going to get with this setup.

Currently use the TT2 as a preamp connected to a pair of custom hand made 8552 tube power amps, which output 90 to 100 watts to a pair of Tyler Acoustic Linbrook Signature speakers, along with a SVS PC 4000 subwoofer. The sound from this setup continues to be amazing. The TT2 makes an outstanding preamp, and easily sounds better than other various tube or solid state preamps I've tried with these amps. The TT2 just seems to get everything with the sound playback correct, pace, rhythm, timing, macro dynamics, micro dynamics, etc.
 
Sep 23, 2021 at 7:35 AM Post #14,847 of 18,851
M-Scaler listed in classifieds. EU sale only :wink:.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 7:09 AM Post #14,848 of 18,851
It is still worrying, the considerable amount of TT2 that go to technical service
It is. I’ve owned two TT2s from new at different times, both of which were treated extremely well, and both were sold on as I tried out different avenues. Both of them have gone wrong (psu related each time) so I had to help their respective new owners get the warrantees transferred and their TT2s repaired. Fortunately, no issues there and Chord were helpful in their defence. I’ve recently been giving serious thought to getting a TT2 again for a variety of reasons (though still prefer aspects of the TT, albeit being less resolving than TT2), but a little reticent as I’d have to buy used this time, and I haven't the energy (long-term illness) to have to deal with something else possibly going wrong. Might just have to take pot luck.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 1:08 PM Post #14,849 of 18,851
It is. I’ve owned two TT2s from new at different times, both of which were treated extremely well, and both were sold on as I tried out different avenues. Both of them have gone wrong (psu related each time) so I had to help their respective new owners get the warrantees transferred and their TT2s repaired. Fortunately, no issues there and Chord were helpful in their defence. I’ve recently been giving serious thought to getting a TT2 again for a variety of reasons (though still prefer aspects of the TT, albeit being less resolving than TT2), but a little reticent as I’d have to buy used this time, and I haven't the energy (long-term illness) to have to deal with something else possibly going wrong. Might just have to take pot luck.
I understand your reticence to try another TT2. Mine experienced the failure to initiate/clicking problem a couple of months ago. Since it’s basically the heart of my small system I was reluctant to send it in and be without it for some unknown amount of time. I was able to get the TT2 to go through the start up process with a 12 volt battery but eventually, even that was erratic. Sometimes it would take numerous tries to initiate; I discovered that once it did initiate I could quickly switch to the PSU and it would stay in standby mode but there are occasional intermittent power outages here and it would require the tedious restart process so I (reluctantly) sent it off. It was actually repaired in a couple of weeks (new board) and is fine so far.

The issue certainly was not the PSU; apparently (and I’m no expert for sure) it was the inrush limiter that failed which required the entire board to be replaced. I’m hopeful Chord has “solved” the problem by using a better limiter; they don’t want the bad PR generated by forums like this and don’t want to lose loyal customers who don’t want to deal with the annoyance of the repair process though I will say the US Texas repair facility was very helpful and made it as painless as possible. Unfortunately, Chord isn’t going to admit to a problem which might force a very expensive recall/potential class action litigation. I’m going to trust that the newest devices will have addressed that problem so I wouldn’t be reluctant to purchase one that was recently manufactured.
 
Sep 25, 2021 at 2:56 PM Post #14,850 of 18,851
It is. I’ve owned two TT2s from new at different times, both of which were treated extremely well, and both were sold on as I tried out different avenues. Both of them have gone wrong (psu related each time) so I had to help their respective new owners get the warrantees transferred and their TT2s repaired. Fortunately, no issues there and Chord were helpful in their defence. I’ve recently been giving serious thought to getting a TT2 again for a variety of reasons (though still prefer aspects of the TT, albeit being less resolving than TT2), but a little reticent as I’d have to buy used this time, and I haven't the energy (long-term illness) to have to deal with something else possibly going wrong. Might just have to take pot luck.
If you do get another, just avoid using the included psu and use a battery to power it instead. It won't encounter that issue with battery, in my experience. In fact, even after they go bad, some of us were able to get it to power up with a battery.
 

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