[rgs9200m]

I really like the DAC in the Hugo for my Ether. It's very natural and the music just flows and has impact and speed too.

 

[Audio Addict]

  I really like the DAC in the Hugo for my Ether. It's very natural and the music just flows and has impact and speed too.

 
Have you looked into how Chord is doing the digital processing?  I was just reading an article about the Exogal Comet and that article included reference to the Chord Hugo that it uses a digital processing chip in a similar to the concept that used in the Exogal Comet, PS Audio Direct Stream and some of the dCS processors.

 

[rgs9200m]

That's new to me and very interesting. I'll look it up. Thanks for that. Something is very right about the Hugo.

 

[Audio Addict]

Quote

  That's new to me and very interesting. I'll look it up. Thanks for that. Something is very right about the Hugo.

from the Headphone guru article on the Exogal Comet:
..................... The Exogal DSP Platform does all the heavy lifting in advance, and merely hands the signal over to a Texas Instruments PCM5122 (or PCM4104 in the case of headphone output) to make use of only the final output stage of those chips. Therefore we can rightly lump the Comet in with the rather small group of DACs which handle D/A conversion through a proprietary method – other members of this club include the PS Audio DirectStream, various models from dCS, and Chord’s Hugo family.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
http://headphone.guru/exogal-comet-a-compact-reference/

 

[mrspeakers]

The thing with DSPs is to create higher resolution filters than the limited silicon available in a commercial chip designed to sell for a few cents to dollars can afford to utilize. The Yggdrasil has 18,000+ filter taps to create what they claim is a closed form solution that is mathematically identical to the input. The Hugo uses 26,000 taps, and if I recall the coming Chord David uses 40,000. I don't know if Chord considers their function closed form. At the point a signal is mathematically correct it is not clear to me more taps add value, and it may be Chord has a totally different implementation mathematically where more taps may still provide more resolution. One effect of incorrectly implemented filters is to add ringing to transients, which reduces resolution in the time domain.

DSP has been used for a long time to make higher resolution filters and to increase over sampling rates. Back in the day I had a 64-bit Wadia (around the same time Mike Moffat first started putting out his Theta DACs) with 4 DSP chips. Its not enough to have DSP PER SE, you need to have good algorithms and enough horsepower to push the filter resolution to very high levels, so not all DSP filters are going to be identical, and absolute number of taps is not the only consideration.

The better the headphone the more obvious the filter is in the chain. What I can say is that with my better amps, the DACs with more filter taps typically sound more organic, and on the DACs I have that have selectable filter choices you can clearly hear the different filters effects on sound with ETHER. On our other headphones, the Prime had enough resolution to make the filter selection clearly obvious. I've not tried this with other headphones and had I done so MOT rules would keep me from saying anything specific, but I imagine you'd hear this on other TOTL class gear too.

 

[mrspeakers]

Thanks for chiming in Dan. While we're on the topic, I'm guessing that the high end Pulse DACs like XFi and Infinity are fairly synergistic with the Ether as well (since I heard people say that they're often paired at Meets)? 

I own one and I know what I think but was just curious on your opinion. 

I'm guessing the Schiit Ygg is pretty great too. Pity it costs so much lol. 

The geek Infinity is a very nice pairing with ETHER, especially their time optimized filter. I wasn't partial to the embedded amp with our phones but as a DAC it is a great sounding front end.

Fair warning, I have never heard a DAC with such break in before. On first listen it was totally "between the ears" with ETHER. I confess I wrote a pretty harsh email to them about it as I was really disappointed. Fortunately I left it running a few weeks and when I was down a DAC i plugged it back in to the same amp.

To say the change was profound is an understatement, the soundstage opened up immensely and every aspect of the sound improved. I now enjoy it with ETHER a lot. I have verified the burn in with two other owners who had the exact same experience. I ate crow and sent a follow on note about it to the Geek guys who informed me the burn in was a thing with that unit. I have no problem recommending this unit based on sound quality; I have not spent time with the Xfi and can't comment.

The new Gungnir 2 uses the same filter as Yggy, and it is very well priced, so if you are interested in DSP based proprietary digital you definitely should also look into this. I really the pairing with ETHER a lot and plan to add one to our demo and development systems.

 

[rgs9200m]

The DAC that is a resolution king that is pretty remarkable with the Ether is the EMM (an xds1). It has an amazing reach into the music.

 

[reddog]

I am really enjoying the ETHER through the Gungnir Multibit and the Lyr2. The ETHER is great natural sounding headphone, that likes some tube lushness. The ETHER'S sound fantastic, when driven by my NOS Telefunken E88CC Platinum tubes. I can not wait how the ETHER will sound driven by the MJ2 and the Gungnir Multibit.

 

[cheesegrados]

I am really enjoying the ETHER through the Gungnir Multibit and the Lyr2. The ETHER is great natural sounding headphone, that likes some tube lushness. The ETHER'S sound fantastic, when driven by my NOS Telefunken E88CC Platinum tubes. I can not wait how the ETHER will sound driven by the MJ2 and the Gungnir Multibit.

 
Hey whats your opinion on Ether with LYR2 and Schiit YGGY? Would that possibly sound good with Ether?

 

[reddog]

Hey whats your opinion on Ether with LYR2 and Schiit YGGY? Would that possibly sound good with Ether?

The Yggy and Lyr 2 sound great driving the ETHER, especially when I am using my NOS Telefunken E88CC Platinum tubes. The bass was ever so impactfull, yet tight and textured.. The bas never leaked into the mids. The mids are so smooth and lush, yet are so textured and detailed. And the highs are spot on perfect, very natural and transparent. And when you combine the fantasticly detailed, impactfull bass, with the the ever so detailed, textured, lush mids and spot on highs, the soundstage becomes ever so three-dimensional holographic.

 

[cheesegrados]

The Yggy and Lyr 2 sound great driving the ETHER, especially when I am using my NOS Telefunken E88CC Platinum tubes. The bass was ever so impactfull, yet tight and textured.. The bas never leaked into the mids. The mids are so smooth and lush, yet are so textured and detailed. And the highs are spot on perfect, very natural and transparent. And when you combine the fantasticly detailed, impactfull bass, with the the ever so detailed, textured, lush mids and spot on highs, the soundstage becomes ever so three-dimensional holographic.

Whoa. That is wonderful, thanks. Wait question just pop up in my brain. Is it the DAC that is doing most of the greatness or is it the LYR2?

 

[reddog]

Whoa. That is wonderful, thanks. Wait question just pop up in my brain. Is it the DAC that is doing most of the greatness or is it the LYR2?

The lyr2 sounds very nice by itself, but its the yggy the gleams the fantastic micro detail from the music and presents it in a utter natural and transparent way. The Gungnir Multibit comes close, but the Yggy nails it home.

 

[cheesegrados]

Oh i see, ok, cool. thanks.

 

[zachawry]

I'm waiting on the LC too. It occurred to me to get the Lyr 2 while I wait, because it's not that expensive and it seems like the tubes would offer a different, complementary sound, but it only has a 1/4" headphone jack. My Ether cables are XLR and ALO. Sigh. I wish there were fewer standards. 

 

[lukeap69]

I'm waiting on the LC too. It occurred to me to get the Lyr 2 while I wait, because it's not that expensive and it seems like the tubes would offer a different, complementary sound, but it only has a 1/4" headphone jack. My Ether cables are XLR and ALO. Sigh. I wish there were fewer standards. 

You can get XLR to 1/4" pigtail to use on your balanced cable and the Lyr. At least, that's what I do...