[Liberatus]

The thing you just mentioned about tolerating other peoples opinion is exactly what, “mr take the gloves off razzle dazzle” didn’t do. I was praising a product that I paid for, as I am allowed to. Out of arrogance based on no factual data whatsoever, he made it a point to challenge my preferences. Going so far as stating I would hurt business and cause unrealistic expectations, leading to a market flood of secondary units. Speaking of which... haven’t seen any in the marketplace yet and there’s been no influx of returns that I’m aware of.

You should probably learn to understand the entire situation before wasting everyone’s time with 8 paragraphs of nonsense.

All I have to say to you is I feel sorry for you. And hope one day you learn self reflection and to release things of such little importance from your life of aggravation.

Good day.

 

[CL14715]

What’s the last IEM you’ve bought that you haven’t shilled?

Shilled or genuinely liked for how it sounded? Any time I have appeared to entice anyone to buy something it was during an exchange of obvious whimsical commentary. Since you asked though, IEM's that I haven't genuinely liked as much as others would be:

1.) U12t - technically great IEM just too sterile for me to enjoy. I respect it and will praise it for its ability. I prefer the Trio.
2.) Solaris 2020 - although not a huge departure from the OG and largely a solid IEM, I don't love the tuning. I prefer the OG and SE.
3.) Andromeda 2019 - Enjoyed its sound but didn't like the mid-range. Still a great gateway drug IEM. I prefer the Andromeda 2020.
4.) Empire Ears Bravado - Bought them for a friend but listened to them and did not enjoy them at all.
5.) Empire Ears Valkyrie - Really enjoy them for an energetic IEM but craved the mid-range it lacked. Preferred the Legend X.

IEM's I have shilled since we have abandoned definitions for the benefit of criticism:

1.) Nio - technically wonderful IEM but it was so smooth that it began to mesh too much with my Legend X. The Legend was a bit more technically capable and I bonded with it more, so it stayed. Hell, it's up for sale now but I am not totally certain I will sell it. I'd still recommend the Nio over many other IEM's.
2.) Hero - the best $1349 you can spend in the IEM game right now, period. (my opinion)
3.) Odin - my absolute favorite IEM to date. As you can see, others are appreciating it just as much as I do.
4.) Trio - resolution / excitement / do-it-all monster. Hell, I know people who prefer it to the Fourte and Noir.
5.) Legend X - class-leading bass quality and quantity with surprising technicalities after some cable rolling.

If anyone can disagree with my shilling for the above, please go ahead. That being said, I have remained consistent and have never told anyone they were wrong for loving an IEM that I don't. I also have never said they would obstruct the companies by praising the products. I see things every day on here that I disagree with but I don't engage.. who the ffffffffuuu am I to qualify someone else's opinion or happiness?

I have largely voiced my praise for the Nio, Odin, Hero, Trio, Legend X, and Andromeda 2020. That's not shilling, as you see I have patronized several major US IEM companies with my own money. I have never received anything free other than some EE merch while visiting their home base (which I appreciated). None of what I have said positive about any of the aforementioned IEM's has done any damage or undue hardship to anyone. There's only one person that has ever asked for my opinion on an IEM that I enjoy who absolutely hated it like the plague. That conversation took place in a private message and he was made whole by the retailer.

Now I have taken the time to provide this explanation to put into context anything that may have been misconstrued since it's obvious some like to blindly critique others here. I still harbor no animosity to anyone here because I'm not that sensitive. I appreciate and welcome contrasting opinions because sometimes it will inspire or bring to light the unthought. I will not, however, allow someone to mischaracterize me or my intentions for simply speaking freely on a forum. I have deep pockets too and am blessed to be in that position. I can afford to lose financially here and there to climb the mountain but like anyone else who has made it to the top of their proverbial summit, I'm gonna shout from it.
If you don't like that, keep it moving. You initiated this.

 

[CL14715]

All I have to say to you is I feel sorry for you. And hope one day you learn self reflection and to release things of such little importance from your life of aggravation.

Good day.

Don't need your pity. Save that energy and apply it to something beneficial for yourself.

 

[kdphan]

I guess I'll go make more popcorn.

 

[CANiSLAYu]

 

[CL14715]

Do you always hold his pocket or do you let him handle his own discussions?

 

[buonassi]

Uh oh.....

 

[proedros]

can we also have some women in wet t-shirts in the mix please ?

 

[chickenmcnug]

can we also have some women in wet t-shirts in the mix please ?

And flamethrowers, we need flamethrowers.

 

[mvvRAZ]

And flamethrowers, we need flamethrowers.

We’re running the finest strip club in town over here

 

[mvvRAZ]

For another post on sources and DACs and whatnot - let's talk Chord

Yesterday I had the chance to demo the Hugo TT2, and it's something that I've been quite excited for for a while now, especially considering that I've been a long time fan of the Hugo 2. As to my feelings on the company as a whole, I'd say I'm quite neutral overall - on one hand I hate their Poly, 2Go, Yugo etc etc etc releases that realistically just implement features that should be pretty ****ing standard at their price point, on the other I like the look and feel of most of their devices, and well, it's one of the rare cases where their sources actually deliver something unique and not yet another "natural" sound profile.

I'm not fully sure if you can call Chord stuff "sources" and I've been wondering about the correct term for a while now so please feel free to correct me

Anyhow, let's get down to business - it's worth noting here that I haven't tried all that many DACs and tube amps and whatnot, my experience is kinda limited to Chord and a few others I've tried here and there like the RME, and MyTek - take my impressions with a grain of salt, as I've generally found that DACs are much more in the headphone territory as they're way more demanding than in ears

Most of the listening has been done on the Thummim, Andromeda 2020 and Elysium

1. The Chord Mojo

The Mojo is a DACamp that I have rather negative feelings towards. It's terrible as a portable solution, it overheats (in summer especially it becomes a tiny pocket furnace), comes with a bunch of charging issues, a terrible battery and the signature terrible Chord UI. If they actually removed the internal battery and made it desktop only I think that would be a pretty great move as you'd actually be able to use it as a desktop/HP solution and not the semi portable/transportable/desktop mess that it is currently.

The trouble with the Mojo is that it looks like something you would be using with IEMs, but it's much too powerful for most stuff I've heard, making them hiss and giving them a certain bloated warmth.

The only time I've really enjoyed the Mojo is in how it pairs with the Focal Elegia (a terrible HP that I have no idea why I bought), but it does seem to synergise extremely well with the Mojo as it makes it significantly warmer and in the process gives it a soul. Honestly I'm not much of a HP guy, most of them sound like varying degrees of meh to me, and the Mojo doesn't really perform with IEMs, so yeah, big no no from me

2. The Chord Hugo 2

I already shared some impressions of the Hugo 2 in another post, but having heard the Chord TT2 gave me a more complete picture and I can now give a better evaluation of it.

The Hugo 2 has that signature terrible UI where nothing makes sense and you actually have to look up a manual to understand what does what, but aside from that, it is one of the best sounding piece of gear on the market right now, and even better considering just how many great deals there are on the forums for one.

It has a distinctly bright tonality, with extreme definition and detail, and some boost in the upper midrange as well as the treble region. Where it pairs well, it does an overwhelmingly good job - most of my current IEMs sport warmer tonalities, with flatter or even slightly recessed upper mids, and the Hugo 2 is able to bring a certain balance to the signature as a whole. Normally speaking bright can be associated with thin, but I didn't find that that was the case here - the texture is really good, without causing any bloat or excessive thickness.

It does sound "unnatural" but not in a bad sense. I wouldn't call it clinical personally, but it is outrageously technical and that paired with the brighter, upper midrange forward tonality of the Hugo 2 I can definitely see how it can come across like that. The staging is extremely wide, but a touch two dimensional - I'm a bit of a width person myself, so it works well for my tastes. To add to that, the level of separation is incredible to the point where it can be perceived as disjointed - I for one am absolutely loving it, but it depends on just how much you enjoy technical ability over a warmer and smoother presentation

It does hiss slightly with more sensitive IEMs, and you don't get too much volume control, but well considering just how much more technical it is than something like the RME ADI2 DAC, and the fact that you can get both at the same price point nowadays, I'd say it's a pretty good deal all in all.

The one thing about the Hugo 2 as I was discussing with a friend last night, is it really forces you to listen to it no matter what IEMs you have hooked up. It has a bright and very dominant tonality that expresses itself in every pairing that I've tried - this isn't a necessarily bad thing, but it isn't the best DAC to evaluate gear on as you aren't really only hearing the IEMs any more. It also makes it quite pairing specific, where it does extremely well with certain things, and not all that well with others

All in all, easily recommended if you have a warm IEM that you want to push to the absolute edge of technical ability, while also balancing its tonality somewhat

3. The Chord Hugo TT2

The first thing that needs to be mentioned here is that getting a heavily discounted TT2 is significantly harder than it is getting a heaving discounted Hugo 2. There's rather few on the FS forums from what I've seen and they sell at pretty high prices. That can't not be evaluated, because you're essentially paying 4x more than what you'd be paying for a Hugo 2

I went into the store expecting a similar, but directly better Hugo 2, and in a way it is - The TT2's tonality is less dominant and gives IEMs a bit more "space" to perform as they were built to, with a similar, but even more exaggerated level of technical ability than the Hugo 2. The staging is similarly wide as the Hugo 2 (maybe a bit wider even), but stretches higher and deeper as well, creating the most overwhelmingly grand presentation I've heard to date. The detail retrieval was also nothing short of extraordinary, letting me pick out things that I haven't noticed until now using sources like the LPGT and even Hugo 2

On the more negative side, it does thin out the sound a little - while the Hugo 2 is very well textured, the Hugo TT2 sacrifices some of that in favour of some more technical ability. This is something that I'll need to evaluate further, as I only had the Thummim and Elysium with me, and I tried the store's Andro 2020 to test for hiss and see how they perform with it. That brings me to the next point - the Hugo TT2 does not hiss whatsoever with sensitive IEMs (or well, below what I can detect anyhow), and that's a huge plus for me, especially considering that both the Hugo 2 and Mojo do. I'd absolutely love to see a low gain option as a standard on Chord devices.

The other thing that I didn't absolutely love is that the soundstage didn't seem to have a clear boundary of sorts - I know that doesn't quite make sense because it should be a distinctly positive point, but I do prefer hearing more clearly where things are and not having them sort of "transcend" space

The tonality is a touch bright, but mostly expressed in the upper treble Imo - the bass is very fast, which plays well with warmer monitors, but I can imagine wouldn't do all that well with something like the A18t which has pretty overloaded treble as is. I'm currently waiting on my A18S and A12t - I'd be extremely curious to see how these do with the TT2

4. Conclusions

I can't reasonably recommend you to purchase a TT2 at 4x what you can get a Hugo 2 for. It does push out ridiculous performance out of your gear, and it is better suited for IEMs than anything else by Chord that I've tried myself, but regardless of all that - it's a heavyweight price that they're asking for. It would be what I'd go with if I was interested in seeing what my stuff sounds like on its own, but with every ounce of performance squeezed out of it. I might end up saying that again when I try the Dave at some point, but well, I most certainly hope I won't be dropping 12-13k for a device like that down the line

The Hugo 2 is to me the Chord sweetspot. You get extremely high performance (easily the best thing I've tried for under 2000$), while also enjoying some of that "Chord house sound." I would advise for you to demo it first because it does play exceptionally well with some stuff and not all that well with others

The Mojo... ehhh it's time for an update/refresh if you ask me

 

[Damz87]

For another post on sources and DACs and whatnot - let's talk Chord

Yesterday I had the chance to demo the Hugo TT2, and it's something that I've been quite excited for for a while now, especially considering that I've been a long time fan of the Hugo 2. As to my feelings on the company as a whole, I'd say I'm quite neutral overall - on one hand I hate their Poly, 2Go, Yugo etc etc etc releases that realistically just implement features that should be pretty ****ing standard at their price point, on the other I like the look and feel of most of their devices, and well, it's one of the rare cases where their sources actually deliver something unique and not yet another "natural" sound profile.

I'm not fully sure if you can call Chord stuff "sources" and I've been wondering about the correct term for a while now so please feel free to correct me

Anyhow, let's get down to business - it's worth noting here that I haven't tried all that many DACs and tube amps and whatnot, my experience is kinda limited to Chord and a few others I've tried here and there like the RME, and MyTek - take my impressions with a grain of salt, as I've generally found that DACs are much more in the headphone territory as they're way more demanding than in ears

Most of the listening has been done on the Thummim, Andromeda 2020 and Elysium

1. The Chord Mojo

The Mojo is a DACamp that I have rather negative feelings towards. It's terrible as a portable solution, it overheats (in summer especially it becomes a tiny pocket furnace), comes with a bunch of charging issues, a terrible battery and the signature terrible Chord UI. If they actually removed the internal battery and made it desktop only I think that would be a pretty great move as you'd actually be able to use it as a desktop/HP solution and not the semi portable/transportable/desktop mess that it is currently.

The trouble with the Mojo is that it looks like something you would be using with IEMs, but it's much too powerful for most stuff I've heard, making them hiss and giving them a certain bloated warmth.

The only time I've really enjoyed the Mojo is in how it pairs with the Focal Elegia (a terrible HP that I have no idea why I bought), but it does seem to synergise extremely well with the Mojo as it makes it significantly warmer and in the process gives it a soul. Honestly I'm not much of a HP guy, most of them sound like varying degrees of meh to me, and the Mojo doesn't really perform with IEMs, so yeah, big no no from me

2. The Chord Hugo 2

I already shared some impressions of the Hugo 2 in another post, but having heard the Chord TT2 gave me a more complete picture and I can now give a better evaluation of it.

The Hugo 2 has that signature terrible UI where nothing makes sense and you actually have to look up a manual to understand what does what, but aside from that, it is one of the best sounding piece of gear on the market right now, and even better considering just how many great deals there are on the forums for one.

It has a distinctly bright tonality, with extreme definition and detail, and some boost in the upper midrange as well as the treble region. Where it pairs well, it does an overwhelmingly good job - most of my current IEMs sport warmer tonalities, with flatter or even slightly recessed upper mids, and the Hugo 2 is able to bring a certain balance to the signature as a whole. Normally speaking bright can be associated with thin, but I didn't find that that was the case here - the texture is really good, without causing any bloat or excessive thickness.

It does sound "unnatural" but not in a bad sense. I wouldn't call it clinical personally, but it is outrageously technical and that paired with the brighter, upper midrange forward tonality of the Hugo 2 I can definitely see how it can come across like that. The staging is extremely wide, but a touch two dimensional - I'm a bit of a width person myself, so it works well for my tastes. To add to that, the level of separation is incredible to the point where it can be perceived as disjointed - I for one am absolutely loving it, but it depends on just how much you enjoy technical ability over a warmer and smoother presentation

It does hiss slightly with more sensitive IEMs, and you don't get too much volume control, but well considering just how much more technical it is than something like the RME ADI2 DAC, and the fact that you can get both at the same price point nowadays, I'd say it's a pretty good deal all in all.

The one thing about the Hugo 2 as I was discussing with a friend last night, is it really forces you to listen to it no matter what IEMs you have hooked up. It has a bright and very dominant tonality that expresses itself in every pairing that I've tried - this isn't a necessarily bad thing, but it isn't the best DAC to evaluate gear on as you aren't really only hearing the IEMs any more. It also makes it quite pairing specific, where it does extremely well with certain things, and not all that well with others

All in all, easily recommended if you have a warm IEM that you want to push to the absolute edge of technical ability, while also balancing its tonality somewhat

3. The Chord Hugo TT2

The first thing that needs to be mentioned here is that getting a heavily discounted TT2 is significantly harder than it is getting a heaving discounted Hugo 2. There's rather few on the FS forums from what I've seen and they sell at pretty high prices. That can't not be evaluated, because you're essentially paying 4x more than what you'd be paying for a Hugo 2

I went into the store expecting a similar, but directly better Hugo 2, and in a way it is - The TT2's tonality is less dominant and gives IEMs a bit more "space" to perform as they were built to, with a similar, but even more exaggerated level of technical ability than the Hugo 2. The staging is similarly wide as the Hugo 2 (maybe a bit wider even), but stretches higher and deeper as well, creating the most overwhelmingly grand presentation I've heard to date. The detail retrieval was also nothing short of extraordinary, letting me pick out things that I haven't noticed until now using sources like the LPGT and even Hugo 2

On the more negative side, it does thin out the sound a little - while the Hugo 2 is very well textured, the Hugo TT2 sacrifices some of that in favour of some more technical ability. This is something that I'll need to evaluate further, as I only had the Thummim and Elysium with me, and I tried the store's Andro 2020 to test for hiss and see how they perform with it. That brings me to the next point - the Hugo TT2 does not hiss whatsoever with sensitive IEMs (or well, below what I can detect anyhow), and that's a huge plus for me, especially considering that both the Hugo 2 and Mojo do. I'd absolutely love to see a low gain option as a standard on Chord devices.

The other thing that I didn't absolutely love is that the soundstage didn't seem to have a clear boundary of sorts - I know that doesn't quite make sense because it should be a distinctly positive point, but I do prefer hearing more clearly where things are and not having them sort of "transcend" space

The tonality is a touch bright, but mostly expressed in the upper treble Imo - the bass is very fast, which plays well with warmer monitors, but I can imagine wouldn't do all that well with something like the A18t which has pretty overloaded treble as is. I'm currently waiting on my A18S and A12t - I'd be extremely curious to see how these do with the TT2

4. Conclusions

I can't reasonably recommend you to purchase a TT2 at 4x what you can get a Hugo 2 for. It does push out ridiculous performance out of your gear, and it is better suited for IEMs than anything else by Chord that I've tried myself, but regardless of all that - it's a heavyweight price that they're asking for. It would be what I'd go with if I was interested in seeing what my stuff sounds like on its own, but with every ounce of performance squeezed out of it. I might end up saying that again when I try the Dave at some point, but well, I most certainly hope I won't be dropping 12-13k for a device like that down the line

The Hugo 2 is to me the Chord sweetspot. You get extremely high performance (easily the best thing I've tried for under 2000$), while also enjoying some of that "Chord house sound." I would advise for you to demo it first because it does play exceptionally well with some stuff and not all that well with others

The Mojo... ehhh it's time for an update/refresh if you ask me

These are great impressions Hoping Chord bring out something ultra portable like the paw S1 for IEM’s

 

[mvvRAZ]

These are great impressions Hoping Chord bring out something ultra portable like the paw S1 for IEM’s

Agreed, I'd love to see them play in the actually portable IEM market - DAPs, dongles and whatnot. Realistically these are headphone DACs and amps that I'm testing and applying to IEMs when they feel more designed for full sized headphones to me

 

[doctorjuggles]

These are great impressions Hoping Chord bring out something ultra portable like the paw S1 for IEM’s

That’s a shootout I can get on board with. Only owned the S1 for a few days but I’m far, far more likely to use it than I used my Mojo, purely because of the convenience of this one. The sound is stellar. No caveat of “from such a small device” - this is good sound period, IMO

 

[arijitroy2]

That’s a shootout I can get on board with. Only owned the S1 for a few days but I’m far, far more likely to use it than I used my Mojo, purely because of the convenience of this one. The sound is stellar. No caveat of “from such a small device” - this is good sound period, IMO

Been intrigued by S1 for sometime now, wonder how does it compare to the TOTL DAPs. Just got a Note20 Ultra, so would love to pair it with it and take advantage of the phone's UI. I love my DX220 but boy that UI sucks.