[gLer]

Nice. I love the heavy cable look and feel. I had to get a bigger case for my IEMs because of it. It feels so substantial. Can you tell me what you paired with no 5 and no 10 with and the impact they had on sound? I am interested in those cables, but I wanted to either hear them or get an opinion on them first.

Sure, the No. 10 is paired with Nio, which is a warmer IEM and can be a little thick with the M15 module, so the No. 10 adds some zest, clarity and punch without any harshness whatsoever. The No. 5 is paired with Trio, which has some zing up top and oodles of detail, so the No. 5 smooths out some of the zing without dulling any details and cushions the bass slightly too. The look and feel of the cables complement the IEMs and each other too. I had to get larger (9cm X 3.5cm) pucks to fit the cables + IEMs, but it's worth it. Love the heft, but even though they have bulk I don't find them unwieldly or microphonic or heavy. The ear guide is the perfect shape and the cable itself is very soft, supple and kink free.

 

[proedros]

I would second this. PW makes really nice cables at around $300; just received my No.5 today and it has been wonderful both in terms of SQ and build quality. However, I have seen from several other reviewers that the improvement from No.5 to 1960 is very marginal, barely noticeable.

having gone from no5 to 1960s 2 wire , the improvement is far from very marginal/barely noticeable

i would like to see those reviewers you mention , as i have a feeling this is just something made up for you to feel good about staying put with no5 (and this is a wise move for your wallet) but no5 just a decent starting cable , whereas 1960s is on another level.

Cheers

 

[bluestorm1992]

having gone from no5 to 1960s 2 wire , the improvement is far from very marginal/barely noticeable

i would like to see those reviewers you mention , as i have a feeling this is just something made up for you to feel good about staying put with no5 (and this is a wise move for your wallet) but no5 just a decent starting cable , whereas 1960s is on another level.

Cheers

I read it from a Chinese reviewer, so probably not very helpful to link it here.

I think I will get a 2 wire 1960 to have a direct comparison.

 

[mvvRAZ]

having gone from no5 to 1960s 2 wire , the improvement is far from very marginal/barely noticeable

i would like to see those reviewers you mention , as i have a feeling this is just something made up for you to feel good about staying put with no5 (and this is a wise move for your wallet) but no5 just a decent starting cable , whereas 1960s is on another level.

Cheers

Ehhh the difference between all cables is pretty marginal to be fair

 

[proedros]

Ehhh the difference between all cables is pretty marginal to be fair

IYHO , which is of course respected

me (and this comes from some broke dude , who bleeds to find the funds for such buys) bying te 1960s 2s for 635 euros was the best move of 2020 (the only move actually) as it took my Zeus XR to even higher levels of sonic brilliance

imho , of course

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Ehhh the difference between all cables is pretty marginal to be fair

Cost benefit. For $1000, I can get a completely different high end IEM or headphone.

 

[mvvRAZ]

IYHO , which is of course respected

me (and this comes from some broke dude , who bleeds to find the funds for such buys) bying te 1960s 2s for 635 euros was the best move of 2020 (the only move actually) as it took my Zeus XR to even higher levels of sonic brilliance

imho , of course

Yeah definitely - I’ve owned a ton of ultra expensive cables, including the 1960s and the 4w version of it, but to me they’re pretty much audio jewelry with some small sound benefits - I’m all for cables, I just don’t think the differences are especially significant

 

[bluestorm1992]

Yeah definitely - I’ve owned a ton of ultra expensive cables, including the 1960s and the 4w version of it, but to me they’re pretty much audio jewelry with some small sound benefits - I’m all for cables, I just don’t think the differences are especially significant

I do like the way you are calling them as audio jewelry.

My wife judges the quality of the cable purely based on how it looks. She particularly likes woven braid cables like the Abyss superconductor. I think she will like the 1960 as well.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I do like the way you are calling them as audio jewelry.

My wife judges the quality of the cable purely based on how it looks. She particularly likes woven braid cables like the Abyss superconductor. I think she will like the 1960 as well.

To be entirely honest I pretty much judge cables almost entirely by looks too I like finding them a good sonic match but I’d never own a cable who’s build and visuals I don’t enjoy

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

OMG. My Chord Hugo 2 just arrived and I paired it with my Vision Ear VE8s and I feel like I just discovered fire. The sound stage is huge. The detail retrieval and imaging are perfection. Every instrument and voice has its place. Clear separation of all elements of music. Everything sounds good with this pairing. Even older songs that aren't recorded that great. Horowitz playing Mozart sounds like I am in a music hall. Carlos Santana sounds live. I am in heaven.

 

[mvvRAZ]

OMG. My Chord Hugo 2 just arrived and I paired it with my Vision Ear VE8s and I feel like I just discovered fire. The sound stage is huge. The detail retrieval and imaging are perfection. Every instrument and voice has its place. Clear separation of all elements of music. Everything sounds good with this pairing. Even older songs that aren't recorded that great. Horowitz playing Mozart sounds like I am in a music hall. Carlos Santana sounds live. I am in heaven.

The Hugo 2 tends to have that effect still holds the spot for DAC that blew me away the most. Kinda regret selling mine but with my recently acquired desktop rig some scaling down had to take place

 

[gLer]

The Hugo 2 tends to have that effect still holds the spot for DAC that blew me away the most. Kinda regret selling mine but with my recently acquired desktop rig some scaling down had to take place

Would you characterise the Hugo 2 as a brighter sounding DAC/amp what with all those in your face details people are describing?

 

[mvvRAZ]

Would you characterise the Hugo 2 as a brighter sounding DAC/amp what with all those in your face details people are describing?

Brighter? Definitely. It does bring out a ton of details, and only really works in very specific pairings. It played well with my collection because I like suuuuper flat upper mids, so you won't see me owning anything with any real forwardness, while the Hugo 2 balanced that nicely

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Would you characterise the Hugo 2 as a brighter sounding DAC/amp what with all those in your face details people are describing?

The VE8s especially with the foam tips are rather dark by themselves. When I paired it with the Hugo 2, it balanced them out really nicely. Classical music was noticeably better. It had great tone as well as great detail and clarity and huge sound stage. Really shocked me.

For kicks, I paired them with my HD800S headphones. It was definitely too bright. I put on the darkest filter and it was still too bright. But that sound stage and detail retrieval were unreal. I thought I would make it line out only and use the Hugo 2 DAC with my Bottlehead Crack to see if I could warm up the sound. It didn't work at all. Not sure exactly why. The crack sounds better with the low end Modi Multibit. Rich and warm sound signature with a larger soundstage than with the Hugo 2 as DAC. Puzzling to me. Maybe I set it up wrong.

The Hugo 2 is an unbelievable standalone DAC/Amp. I am going to use it primarily to drive my IEMs.

 

[toaster]

OMG. My Chord Hugo 2 just arrived and I paired it with my Vision Ear VE8s and I feel like I just discovered fire. The sound stage is huge. The detail retrieval and imaging are perfection. Every instrument and voice has its place. Clear separation of all elements of music. Everything sounds good with this pairing. Even older songs that aren't recorded that great. Horowitz playing Mozart sounds like I am in a music hall. Carlos Santana sounds live. I am in heaven.

pretty incredible, isn't it?

staging and detail are both explosive with the h2, no doubt...

unfortunately, the filters don't change things as much as i'd like, but I suppose that it's nice they're there. would love to see more significant sound adjustments be possible in future chord products at this level.

enjoy.