Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[ZappaMan]

No as it's a fixed noise, as it's just resistor Johnson-Nyquist thermal noise. It's only when the noise modulates with the signal that fatigue can set in.

Hi @Rob Watts, thanks for the answers. Can i now further ask lol, whats the thinking behind AMP mode having a high gain\low gain.

I'm powering my speakers via the big plugs on the back, is there anything happening different when operating in this mode (in terms of high gain\low gain) ?

 

[Rob Watts]

Hi @Rob Watts, thanks for the answers. Can i now further ask lol, whats the thinking behind AMP mode having a high gain\low gain.

I'm powering my speakers via the big plugs on the back, is there anything happening different when operating in this mode (in terms of high gain\low gain) ?

The only difference between AMP mode and HP (headphone mode) is which connectors are active, and which settings are remembered - so the gain settings are identical with these two modes.

 

[Talamera]

This may be a question for Rob Watts.
I have a Hugo TT2 which I use in DAC mode on my Ayon Spirit tube amplifier. But it seems to me that the DAC mode has too much power for the amplifier. In this case, the manual of the Hugo recommends switching to the amp mode and regulating the output sensitivity via the volume control. It works very well on my opinion, but could this be having a negative impact on the music quality? I mean that the music in the controlled amp mode sounds a little bit darker, but maybe this is only imagination. That‘s the reason of my question.

 

[Rob Watts]

No there is no difference between DAC mode and amp mode - except that DAC mode is in low gain, and AMP mode can be set in low or high gain modes. So AMP mode set to -3L is identical to DAC mode.

Darker is better by the way!

 

[Talamera]

Thanks Rob for the quick and enjoyable answer.
And yes, darker sounds better for me too.
And by the way, the Hugo also looks much better in my HiFi shelf with the illuminated volume control in amp mode.

 

[ZappaMan]

No there is no difference between DAC mode and amp mode - except that DAC mode is in low gain, and AMP mode can be set in low or high gain modes. So AMP mode set to -3L is identical to DAC mode.

Darker is better by the way!

but dac mode also has low and high gain? sorry for the questions.

 

[musickid]

no its fixed AFAIK

 

[ZappaMan]

im getting confused, headphone mode, is that a thing ?
then when i unplug the headphones its amp mode..... so how do i get into dac mode ?

 

[musickid]

Just use menu and set to cycle thorugh amp/dac modes with headphones disconnected.

 

[GreenBow]

No there is no difference between DAC mode and amp mode - except that DAC mode is in low gain, and AMP mode can be set in low or high gain modes. So AMP mode set to -3L is identical to DAC mode.

Darker is better by the way!

I corrected someone recently who thought that the TT2 drove 3V in line-level.

I said it was 2.5V according to the manual. I just checked now because you said 3V. However page 41 of the manual, 'DAC mode' - it does say 2.5V.

Whereas I thought -3L and -3H were 3V. Plus you just said that in a post. Am I being daft?

That's curious, as my impressions are the opposite - slightly warmer in high gain mode! If you use low gain mode, don't go above -3L on the volume, as distortion will increase, leading to clipping quite quickly. Are you maintaining the same volume level when listening? The display is the same, so -3L or -3H is exactly the same output voltage when in high gain or low gain, so when doing listening tests make sure the volume value is adjusted to be the same number; so -3L == -3H, both give 3v RMS with 0dBFS input.

Low gain mode adds an extra set of resistors into the global feedback loop - adding in parrallel to the high gain setting. Low gain is intended for IEMs where the residual noise could be an issue.

 

[ZappaMan]

Just use menu and set to cycle thorugh amp/dac modes with headphones disconnected.

thank you, thats a secret feature..... when would i choose to use dac mode? isn't tt2 already a dac ?

 

[musickid]

dac mode is used when outputting a fixed level analogue signal 2.5V in the normal way i.e. into say a headphone amp or normal hifi amp for further amplification.

amp mode gives you output balanced and unbalanced with balanced providing more power. the two main uses here are driving small speakers or using TT2 as a preamp into a larger power amp. simple. in both modes the output is just a varying voltage level.

 

[Whazzzup]

We haven’t figured out yet how to operate tt2 yet?

 

[ZappaMan]

We haven’t figured out yet how to operate tt2 yet?

we use the functions we use, and we dont use the functions we dont use.

 

[Whazzzup]

we use the functions we use, and we dont use the functions we dont use.

I tend not to use what i don't use