Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[GreenBow]

Well the What HiFi awards are out tomorrow. I will be curious to see if the new Naim Nait XS 2 has displaced the Simaudio Moon 240i. Or if What HiFI have save a review of the Naim Supernait 3 for the awards edition.

EDIT: I just googled and What HiFi have reviewed the Supernait 3, three days ago.

Am a bit annoyed with What HiFi at the moment though. Since they said the TT2 is on lean side of neutral. The TT2 is possibly the meatiest sounding Chord DAC, so that comment was out of order. Unless they just didn't give the T2 enough time for brain burn-in. It certainly can sound trebly or brittle at first.

Once accustomed to the TT2 is as natural and full bodied as any Chord DAC. It has a gorgeous character, to which I can attest even more, since driving speakers with it. Of course at first even when I did that I noticed I had to brain burn-in again. It was like another round of going to the TT2 in the first place, but the brain burn-in was shorter.​

 

[kelly200269]

Well the What HiFi awards are out tomorrow. I will be curious to see if the new Naim Nait XS 2 has displaced the Simaudio Moon 240i. Or if What HiFI have save a review of the Naim Supernait 3 for the awards edition.

Am a bit annoyed with What HiFi at the moment though. Since they said the TT2 is on lean side of neutral. The TT2 is possibly the meatiest sounding Chord DAC, so that comment was out of order. Unless they just didn't give the T2 enough time for brain burn-in. It certainly can sound trebly or brittle at first.

Once accustomed to the TT2 is as natural and full bodied as any Chord DAC. It has a gorgeous character, to which I can attest even more, since driving speakers with it. Of course at first even when I did that I noticed I had to brain burn-in again. It was like another round of going to the TT2 in the first place, but the brain burn-in was shorter.​

Are you telling me you take ‘What Hi-Fi’ seriously!?

 

[walakalulu]

As above. The mags are beholding to their advertisers and are there to keep the industry buoyant . Take the reviews with a pinch of salt.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Am a bit annoyed with What HiFi at the moment though. Since they said the TT2 is on lean side of neutral. The TT2 is possibly the meatiest sounding Chord DAC, so that comment was out of order. Unless they just didn't give the T2 enough time for brain burn-in. It certainly can sound trebly or brittle at first.​

I remember my first impressions of TT2, it was like.. Where is the bass? O_o

And only after few days I returned to my previous amp and understand how bloated and muddy it was in comparison with TT2.

 

[Hooster]

As above. The mags are beholding to their advertisers and are there to keep the industry buoyant . Take the reviews with a pinch of salt.

I take them with a truckload of salt. You really have to read between the lines to get anything out of these reviews. You do sometimes find gold nuggets, usually when component B is mentioned when they review component A. In that case component B may get judged much more honestly then when it was reviewed on it's own.

 

[Amberlamps]

Never has a sub been allowed in my house and I don't intend starting now . . . . . . (on the other hand my bass drivers on my speakers are 15")

Not even for your TV ?

A sub woofer for movie watching is essential.

 

[Triode User]

Not even for your TV ?

A sub woofer for movie watching is essential.

What is a tv? Oh I remember it’s that thing I watch about every 6 weeks.

 

[Amberlamps]

What is a tv? Oh I remember it’s that thing I watch about every 6 weeks.

I had a feeling that you were not a regular TV watcher.

Which is weird, but I'm accustomed to weird now that I'm a headfi member.

 

[jarnopp]

I remember my first impressions of TT2, it was like.. Where is the bass? O_o

And only after few days I returned to my previous amp and understand how bloated and muddy it was in comparison with TT2.

Anyone tried the NAD M32 amp? It uses the class Z digital amp technology Rob Watts developed:
https://nadelectronics.com/product/m32-directdigital-amplifier/
https://www.audioholics.com/trade-s...s-show-ces/zetex-class-z-amplifier-technology

Not sure how different the output stage of TT2 or the upcoming digital amps pull be from something like this?

 

[andrewd01]

As above. The mags are beholding to their advertisers and are there to keep the industry buoyant . Take the reviews with a pinch of salt.

What HiFi is the Hifi equivalent of The Sun!

 

[Amberlamps]

I remember my first impressions of TT2, it was like.. Where is the bass? O_o

And only after few days I returned to my previous amp and understand how bloated and muddy it was in comparison with TT2.

I was the opposite, I came from Hugo 2 to TT2 and it was like, "damn this thing has more oompth and bass compared to Hugo 2".

And that was with a pair of HD800S, which are known to not be bassy.

 

[bluenight]

The Hugo 2 - HD800S got much better bass for me after purchasing Niagara1000 mains powerconditioner. It made the bass tighter and more impactful more textured every FR range improved also. Its because it drains away rfi/emi that is masking sound information, before i was using a generic mains power strip.

Also one funny thing is that the Atlas Mavros Grun rca cable connected to my streamer and with grun mains power adapter connected to one niagara1000 power outlet does a good job draining away even more rfi/emi. I hear now how much better the Hugo 2 - HD800S sound with spdif from my streamer meaning it gets a cleaner signal. Now it sound very relaxed and calm a sense of ease, and mudyness is gone now i hear better articulation with vocals so i hear almost everyword which i dident before. I hear much less harshness more textures more details better seperation. Bass is great. It just sounds right. The Mavros rca cable from streamer rca outputs to external Lake People RS02 HP amp though dont sound right its to bright with to little weight. More overtones then undertones. Like trumpets sounds more natural and real with Hugo 2. The Tellurium Q Silver Diamond rca cable sounded more natural though from streamers rca output to Lake People amp. Funny though the spdif is also Mavros and sound right with Hugo2.

I will see if Atlas can provide just the grun configuration without having to buy there rca cable, if it works alone i be happy to pay for that improvement.

https://www.atlascables.com/featured-grun.html

Here is similar stuff. Good read about draining away rfi also.
https://theaudiophileman.com/perfect-ultimate-ground-gutwire-review/

 

[GreenBow]

The Hugo 2 - HD800S got much better bass for me after purchasing Niagara1000 mains powerconditioner. It made the bass tighter and more impactful more textured every FR range improved also. Its because it drains away rfi/emi that is masking sound information, before i was using a generic mains power strip.

Also one funny thing is that the Atlas Mavros Grun rca cable connected to my streamer and with grun mains power adapter connected to one niagara1000 power outlet does a good job draining away even more rfi/emi. I hear now how much better the Hugo 2 - HD800S sound with spdif from my streamer meaning it gets a cleaner signal. Now it sound very relaxed and calm a sense of ease, and mudyness is gone now i hear better articulation with vocals so i hear almost everyword which i dident before. I hear much less harshness more textures more details better seperation. Bass is great. It just sounds right. The Mavros rca cable from streamer rca outputs to external Lake People RS02 HP amp though dont sound right its to bright with to little weight. More overtones then undertones. Like trumpets sounds more natural and real with Hugo 2. The Tellurium Q Silver Diamond rca cable sounded more natural though from streamers rca output to Lake People amp. Funny though the spdif is also Mavros and sound right with Hugo2.

I will see if Atlas can provide just the grun configuration without having to buy there rca cable, if it works alone i be happy to pay for that improvement.

https://www.atlascables.com/featured-grun.html

Here is similar stuff. Good read about draining away rfi also.
https://theaudiophileman.com/perfect-ultimate-ground-gutwire-review/

I recently came across a gadget called a mains noise measurer. You could measure the noise, make noise reducing changes and then measure the noise afterwards. I don't know if it was worth it, or if any figures read by it wold be good or bad though.

 

[bluenight]

I recently came across a gadget called a mains noise measurer. You could measure the noise, make noise reducing changes and then measure the noise afterwards. I don't know if it was worth it, or if any figures read by it wold be good or bad though.

Could be interesting. How do you measure rfi/emi noise?

 

[Triode User]

I recently came across a gadget called a mains noise measurer. You could measure the noise, make noise reducing changes and then measure the noise afterwards. I don't know if it was worth it, or if any figures read by it wold be good or bad though.

I have one. It is a crude but effective device and can be a good indicator of noise on the mains particularly caused by cheap SMPS, dimmers, LED lights etc. It is also interesting because it indicated to me that some (all the ones I tested in fact) mains regenerators might make clean mains on their output side but they can dump massive amounts of noise back into the wall sockets.