My understanding is that the hugo2 doesn't even have a conventional analog stage and the headphone out is running straight from the line level output with attenuation?
You could have renounced the «even», as this feature is even a great advantage: Just one amplification stage straight from the DAC to the combined line/headphone output – a signal path as direct as possible for a minimal loss of transparency. If you look at the measuring values, you'd have to concede that it's almost unrivaled when it comes to harmonic distortion and output impedance. You just can make it (metrologically) worse by adding an external amp. Note the «adding»!
Either way, I have owned the Hugo2 and as a DAC it punches above it's price, but I would not use it without another amplifier in the stack because the phone out is too harsh for my tastes. YMMV.
From a technical perspective fighting harshness by means of an additional amplification stage is a questionable strategy. It works because most amps tend to smooth the edges of a signal, and the reduced transparency makes for a certain forgivingness. The downside is a loss of immediacy, transparency and realism.
I still haven't heard the Mysphere, but in any event I would try to equalize whatever you perceive as harshness instead of masking it with harmonic distortion and reduced accuracy. Granted, the Hugo₂ isn't entirely neutral (BTW, no electronics component is), something I can reproduce with the EQ curves I have to apply relative to e.g. the DAVE: The upper treble is slightly accentuated (resulting in an attenuation by up to 0.6 dB above 10 kHz in my EQ presets).
You could have renounced the «even», as this feature is even a great advantage: Just one amplification stage straight from the DAC to the combined line/headphone output – a signal path as direct as possible for a minimal loss of transparency. If you look at the measuring values, you'd have to concede that it's almost unrivaled when it comes to harmonic distortion and output impedance. You just can make it (metrologically) worse by adding an external amp. Note the «adding»!
From a technical perspective fighting harshness by means of an additional amplification stage is a questionable strategy. It works because most amps tend to smooth the edges of a signal, and the reduced trasparency makes for a certain forgivingness. The downside is a loss of immediacy, transparency and realism.
I still haven't heard the Mysphere, but in any event I would try to equalize whatever you perceive as harshness instead of masking it with harmonic distortion and reduced accuracy. Granted, the Hugo₂ isn't entirely neutral (BTW, no electronics component is), something I can reproduce with the EQ curves I have to apply relative to e.g. the DAVE: The upper treble is slightly accentuated (resulting in an attenuation by up to 0.6 dB above 10 kHz in my EQ presets).
Hi,
Since one month I am a happy owner of a Mysphere 3.2 . I listen to all my headphones with an Ayre QB9 DSD as source with a Paltauf Universal Headamp. I am a great fan of Stax having owned a lot of different amps up to the KGSSHV, but ended with this powerful tube amp, which drives electrostatic and dynamic headphones with its 12w easily with a lot of space and corpus. This amp makes it easy to compare the Mysphere and a 009 or with younger brother, the K1000.
I like headphones which have something unique and which are milestones in the history of reproducing music, like the Ergo Amt, the HE60,the Abyss the 007 mk1 and for sure the 009. That’s why the Mysphere was in my focus right from the beginning. The Mysphere is said not to be cheap, but I think that there is no other headphone that gives you that much perfectionism in workmanship and in soundqualitiy as long as you not a a fan of bodyshaking deepbass dubmusic. Similar to the 009 the Mysphere gives you exactly what is on the take and what is in your chain. If you listen to bad oversteered pop productions it will smash your ears. But it will surround you with warmth if you listen for example Jan Garbareks „Officium Novum“ like you never been before. The K1000 can do similar things, but his successor beats him in all aspects. No wonder, there are more than 20 years of development in materials and production.
The Mysphere ist fast, very fast and neutral like the 009. If you put on another dynamic headphone they all sound tired, like somebody would have turned down the speed. An you will miss a lot of details! Even in comparison to the 009 the bass is more try, more exactly. I like to give him a boost of 2-3 dB under 50hz which is no problem because it stays try and clear even at highest volumes. The boost is not necessary as long as you listen to natural music.
I would say that also in highs are on nose ahead.
Sorry, have to stop now and leave. Hope I find time to end my impressions!
...I am thinking they are quite transportable. How would they be directly from a Hugo2? I know they are efficient, but when fully opened up they lose a lot of volume and I found they needed almost the same volume setting as the AB1266phiTC (amp was an Eleven Audio Formula S). Would the 3.1 or 3.2 be better in this regard?
MYSPHERE 3's drivers has a very high Electromotive Force (EMF) caused by the strong magnet system which lead into high sensitivity which is good.
However, this fact cause in many circuits of amps really problems. F.I. the Chord Hugo2 does not like that effect much according to my personal impressions (no measured facts).
This amp does have a very low output impedance and could drive the MYSPHERE 3.2 easy based on the power data.
However, as the MYSPHERE 3.1 has a lower BxL (magnet field multiplied with wire length) and therefore lower EMF compared to MYSPHERE 3.1 => I would suggest if you like to play loud, to use MS3.1 for the HUGO2.
So the Hugo is one of the exceptions of the rule for MYSPHERE's amplifier pairings.
And had the opportunity to compare Mysphere 3.2 with my K812 (along with HD800S & Utopia).
In terms of "all around" space, none of the other KHs comes close to Mysphere 3.2.
Mysphere doesn't know the sharpness of the K812 every now and then. Even with the new modified ear cushions this does not occur. These are now my favorites. Who has a Mysphere or gets one, should get these pads. The change is quite simple.
The K812 dissects the finest details to the point of excess, Mysphere brings more naturalness here, but does not swallow anything.
As far as low bass is concerned, I was astonished to hear the bass beat with Mysphere clearly in one piece of music, but in the K812 it was rather hidden in the other.
Lying open on the table, the K812 sounded like a small loudspeaker, but Mysphere was barely audible - at about the same volume when you put the handsets on.
Turning up the volume control so that longer peak levels become unbearably loud should be avoided with Mysphere. The K812 plays along loosely to "damage your hearing". However, this doesn't happen at normal hearing levels anyway, unless you want to become deaf by force.
Listening to "Rabenschwarze" (Raven Black) Mahler symphonies (including violent timpani beats) or chamber music with Mysphere is a poem! Detto Jazz, singers, etc.
Unfortunately the time was too short to go into detail here.
Besides my K812 I also had my self-made amplifier WNA MKII with me. The LakePeople HPA RS 08 could easily stand up to it when it came to naturalness. This also confirms my assessment in Klangbilder 2018, where I could compare LakePeople HPA RS 08 with the Paltauf KHV.
Postscript:
Thanks to Heinz, who took his time for me!
Now I have tested both filters longer and more intensively.
While the stock filters the Mysphere tend tonal towards SR007, with the new transparent filters it tends tonal similar to the SR009/s.
It plays brighter, more transparent with a crisper midbass range. If the Mysphere with the stock filters was too smooth and warm for you so far, you'll probably be happy with the transparent filters.
I'm more of a fan of the warmer tuning. Nevertheless I like the Mysphere with the transparent filters a bit better. Because the already superb stage precision and instrument separation is carried up to the next level. Crazy amazing! At classical concerts like Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninov, Refrence Recordings) my jaw fell down several times. How the church acoustics are captured in Officium Novum (The Hilliade Ensemble) you just have to listen to the Mysphere. Every sound source, no matter how quiet, is illuminated with the transparent filters. I haven't heard this so well with any headphones yet. Very big cinema!
Many Powermetal albums, which are well recorded, I like better with the transparent filters. The concentrated transient response arrives practically unrestrained in the ear canal and the brute dynamics of the drum attacks at most ensure a minimal wink at the Mysphere. Here, nothing is ever played back washed out. Kings Love & Pride and Van Hales Jump are among my test recordings for headphones when it comes to uncovering sibliants and generally very bright sounds. The Mysphere also passes this test. The two tracks don't drift into the annoying over as it was the case with the K812 at that time.
Tonally we move on SR009 level. The Stax never bothered me in the highs and is butter-soft in the highs despite the bright tuning. Of course, the stock filter provides a smoother sound due to the smoother tuning and is more suitable for the long term, but I think it's great that you can easily switch between the tonalities with the filters.
The Mysphere for me is the reference in terms of soundstage and transient response now with two tonal tunings a universal headphone.
Having been housebound for the past week due to a serious knee injury I had more time than anticipated with the MySphere test set.
I was expecting 3.2 to be the clear favourite but as I said in my review it's not the case.
3.1
-best transient response bar none. Stellaris has a good part to play but I never knew how good it actually is until now.
-as neutral as they come, I'll try to get a listen to Raal but I'd be really surprised if they're better
-lack of any sort of harshness while still being crustal clear, a first for me
-Utopia imaging with HD800 soundstage.
3.2
- best mids in the game by a long margin
- true K1000 successor
Having been housebound for the past week due to a serious knee injury I had more time than anticipated with the MySphere test set.
I was expecting 3.2 to be the clear favourite but as I said in my review it's not the case.
3.1
-best transient response bar none. Stellaris has a good part to play but I never knew how good it actually is until now.
-as neutral as they come, I'll try to get a listen to Raal but I'd be really surprised if they're better
-lack of any sort of harshness while still being crustal clear, a first for me
-Utopia imaging with HD800 soundstage.
3.2
- best mids in the game by a long margin
- true K1000 successor
I have only listened to the 3.1 on portable systems, although Heinz did mention that the 3.1 might be the better choice on some big tube setups because of its damping factor.
Guess I need to spend more time with the 3.1...And I agree 100% that the mysphere midrange is probably the most pleasing of any headphone I've heard.
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