Hugo TT 2 by Chord Electronics - The Official Thread

[lawshredpower]

Hey guys, why so many people criticise the headphone amp section of the TT2. I honestly can’t find anything wrong with it…

Do they?

 

[Tanalasta]

Do they?

The chord sound is a matter of preference and depends upon your own subjective expectations as much as the synergy in the chain. Are people criticising the sound signature or the technical ability of the DAC/amp? The latter is almost beyond reproach. The tuning is what it is. It works better with some things than others.

For instance I prefer my Empy out of the Naim Atom HE than the TT2.

 

[lawshredpower]

The chord sound is a matter of preference and depends upon your own subjective expectations as much as the synergy in the chain. Are people criticising the sound signature or the technical ability of the DAC/amp? The latter is almost beyond reproach. The tuning is what it is. It works better with some things than others.

For instance I prefer my Empy out of the Naim Atom HE than the TT2.

I see what you mean. It is not my favorite amp but it is also not worthy of criticism outside of personal tastes

 

[mammal]

Hey guys, why so many people criticise the headphone amp section of the TT2. I honestly can’t find anything wrong with it…

Do they?

I see what you mean. It is not my favorite amp but it is also not worthy of criticism outside of personal tastes

What I have seen in regards to Chord's products over the years is a tendency to love the DAC design, since Rob is cool and engages here on head-fi. Many like his posts, and read them sometimes "religiously". This creates a fanbase towards Chord, which is not cheap, but you pay for quality don't you. And then many that are running TOTL headphones (like AB-1266, Susvara or SR1a) find the TOTL Chord (being Dave) underpowered for it. I think it is this which creates the "criticism", that chord DACs are amazing, but amps aren't, as many of these owners are left with a physical need to own an amplifier, to power their TOTL headphones. Many have asked for a Chord DAC that is more powerful, and we got Hugo TT2, which is very powerful, able to drive even headphones like AB-1266 (I should know, I owned TT2). I am a big fan of Rob's work and respect him immensely. But I think the fact that Dave does not have as powerful amp as some would need, gets some people wishing it did. Yes, Chord has also amp offerings, where Rob is involved less (to best of my knowledge), but they are more common in the speaker world than on head-fi. PS: I owned Mojo, Hugo 2, TT2 myself and home auditioned M Scaler, never Dave (else than on a Meet). Hope this context helps!

 

[rkt31]

What I have seen in regards to Chord's products over the years is a tendency to love the DAC design, since Rob is cool and engages here on head-fi. Many like his posts, and read them sometimes "religiously". This creates a fanbase towards Chord, which is not cheap, but you pay for quality don't you. And then many that are running TOTL headphones (like AB-1266, Susvara or SR1a) find the TOTL Chord (being Dave) underpowered for it. I think it is this which creates the "criticism", that chord DACs are amazing, but amps aren't, as many of these owners are left with a physical need to own an amplifier, to power their TOTL headphones. Many have asked for a Chord DAC that is more powerful, and we got Hugo TT2, which is very powerful, able to drive even headphones like AB-1266 (I should know, I owned TT2). I am a big fan of Rob's work and respect him immensely. But I think the fact that Dave does not have as powerful amp as some would need, gets some people wishing it did. Yes, Chord has also amp offerings, where Rob is involved less (to best of my knowledge), but they are more common in the speaker world than on head-fi. PS: I owned Mojo, Hugo 2, TT2 myself and home auditioned M Scaler, never Dave (else than on a Meet). Hope this context helps!

I wonder how you find that so and so dac/headphone amp is weak ? Btw in chord dacs headphone amp and dac out are same.

 

[mammal]

I wonder how you find that so and so dac/headphone amp is weak ? Btw in chord dacs headphone amp and dac out are same.

Look how many (or shall I say few) people use AB-1266 directly out of Dave. The majority I spoke to added an amplifier, quoting how Dave is underpowered. I know OP asked about TT2 and not Dave, I was just sharing context on what has been circulating on the Dave forums, which sometimes (like any other echo chamber) will affect lower end offerings too (in this case TT2, even though it is more powerful than Dave).

 

[rkt31]

Any headphones or driver load will draw power as per it's impedance and sensitivity irrespective of the amp power. In other words headphones "does not know" wether it is connected to Dave/tt2 directly or through amp as long as you are not reaching clipping levels. That's why I asked how do you know if a headphone is underpowered.

 

[Articnoise]

Any headphones or driver load will draw power as per it's impedance and sensitivity irrespective of the amp power. In other words headphones "does not know" wether it is connected to Dave/tt2 directly or through amp as long as you are not reaching clipping levels. That's why I asked how do you know if a headphone is underpowered.

By listning and compare it to how it sound with a more powerful amp for exempel. Hifi is all about listning and hear what sounds most "right" to you.

 

[rkt31]

By listning and compare it to how it sound with a more powerful amp for exempel. Hifi is all about listning and hear what sounds most "right" to you.

By listning and compare it to how it sound with a more powerful amp for exempel. Hifi is all about listning and hear what sounds most "right" to you.

Most so called audiophile have bias towards what have they have been listening for years. They are afraid of anything which is closer to real life performances.

 

[mammal]

Most so called audiophile have bias towards what have they have been listening for years. They are afraid of anything which is closer to real life performances.

Where does EDM come to this then? Which rarely has a real life counterpart. Subjectivity comes to the play here, one can prefer the sound of an amplifier after Dave instead of Dave directly. Even if Dave gets loud enough on Susvara, people still prefer an amplifier, simple as that.

 

[rkt31]

Where does EDM come to this then? Which rarely has a real life counterpart. Subjectivity comes to the play here, one can prefer the sound of an amplifier after Dave instead of Dave directly. Even if Dave gets loud enough on Susvara, people still prefer an amplifier, simple as that.

So you think adding an amp improves noise performance, distortion performance, s/n ratio, channel seperation, micro details, dynamic range, depth ? What causes amp to improve the sound in your opinion ?

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

An amp improves nothing (with a TT2) unless either your headphones are not being properly driven (arguably susvara) or you simply prefer the coloration. The TT2 signal from the headphone output is direct from the DAC, adding an amp is not going to add more resolution and transparency, it might create the feeling of a larger soundstage through distortion which you might like.

At this price point, you’re talking about preferences which is fine but some people use the wrong language to describe things or they are coloured by their own bias and blindspots - best solution is to add those people to your ignore list so it’s easier to read these forums.

 

[teknorob23]

What I have seen in regards to Chord's products over the years is a tendency to love the DAC design, since Rob is cool and engages here on head-fi. Many like his posts, and read them sometimes "religiously". This creates a fanbase towards Chord, which is not cheap, but you pay for quality don't you. And then many that are running TOTL headphones (like AB-1266, Susvara or SR1a) find the TOTL Chord (being Dave) underpowered for it. I think it is this which creates the "criticism", that chord DACs are amazing, but amps aren't, as many of these owners are left with a physical need to own an amplifier, to power their TOTL headphones. Many have asked for a Chord DAC that is more powerful, and we got Hugo TT2, which is very powerful, able to drive even headphones like AB-1266 (I should know, I owned TT2). I am a big fan of Rob's work and respect him immensely. But I think the fact that Dave does not have as powerful amp as some would need, gets some people wishing it did. Yes, Chord has also amp offerings, where Rob is involved less (to best of my knowledge), but they are more common in the speaker world than on head-fi. PS: I owned Mojo, Hugo 2, TT2 myself and home auditioned M Scaler, never Dave (else than on a Meet). Hope this context helps!

Chord have built their business around amplification. Everything I’ve heard is pretty incredible. I include the TT2 in this assessment, but Obvs my hp’s aren’t hard to drive. The fact they don’t cater for a very tiny niche of power hungry headphones, instead focusing on a bigger market sweet spot shouldn’t come as any real surprise, afterall the Tt2 is more than powerful enough for 99% of the hp market

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

I had some time this weekend to experiment with various well known and new upsampling tools - won’t mention the names so as not to start a debate. But I had upsampled red book files to millions and millions of taps.

Point is, I could hear the change, was it better? Depends on preference. The takeaway for me is the change on the software side which affects the sound is ultimately a design decision. The TT2 with certain upsampling, filters/shapers could sound forward and thick or recessed and airy, the character of the TT2 changed with the source I fed it with. That’s good enough for me to realize - as I’ve said before, at this price point you’re paying for the designer’s take on sound. I’m not convinced we are limited by the hardware if I can change the sound via software but but hey wouldn’t companies want you to believe it’s the hardware? They aren’t in the software business…

 

[N Quarter]

I had some time this weekend to experiment with various well known and new upsampling tools

I also had a chance to play some PGGB’d music this weekend, using USB from my Laptop directly into my TT2. Normally I use my Mscaler with Wave dual BNC’s to feed the TT2. I was very impressed with what I heard, effortless realism would be how I describe it. Will I be pursuing PGGB further, definitely yes, but I will need to purchase a computer capable of processing the files properly.
My Mscaler is going nowhere, because I will still use it for streaming with my ND5XS2. PGGB will only benefit music you own, but I urge people to give it a try.