I'm curious - how much time have you actually spent with the Hugo in your system ? I've only heard two DACs that I would consider 'above average' - Weiss DAC202 via Firewire and the Hugo via coax. It's interesting that people who've never heard the Weiss immediately zero in on the unfortunate 'smiley face' then focus on the sticker - most have clearly never even heard it. If I could afford that DAC, I'd buy it in a heartbeat - regardless of purrin's opinion of the architecture - but I can't afford a ~7k DAC so I ended up with the Hugo. I have my own issues with the casework, but to dismiss it based purely on the aesthetics and a couple of unhappy campers is shortsighted IMO. I disagree with the designer on a couple of points but at the end of the day Chord shipped the product they believed best represented their quirky approach to something many of us take far too seriously.
As for your dismissal of the Berkeley based purely on it's sticker price, is there any chance that you could actually audition the DAC prior to giving us your opinion ? I have no problem with the law of diminishing returns, but I do have a problem with people making broad-brush statements with no firsthand experience of a given product. Connaker has made no secret of his feelings for the Berkeley Audio Design product line, but he previously conceded that his Alpha had been toppled by the DAC202 - it would seem that BAD had to dip into the 'cost-no-object' bin to put themselves back on his top shelf.
Unlike purrin and a couple of others here (project86 seems to have moved to the big leagues), most of us dont have the luxury of being able to listen to a slew of high-end source/amp/headphone combinations, but sooner or later we all have to make a purchase decision and I dont regret buying the Hugo, Schiit will sell truckloads of Yggdrasil based on nothing more than the spec sheet and the buildup here, whether the price is above or below 2K - this DAC is aimed well above anything they've sold previously and well beyond any of their obvious competitors. If your statement re audible differences held true, threads like this would have no value whatsoever - surely we would all just buy the ODAC and call it a day ?
Looking forward to your feedback,
I think there are major differences in sound between dacs imo. I have heard the sabre dac which sound completely different from Arcam irDAC and PS Audio PWD MK2, Lampi Big 7 which sound different as well. It can very well be the ones that do not hear much difference from DACS have lesser transparent Int. Amps/speakers or system setup in general.
In my 2 channel setup, DACS brought big difference to sound coming out of my speakers. The PWD MK2 (not the upgrade from mk1 but orig. Mk2s) and the OPPO 105 sabre dac was the worst (oh sabre dac nightmare) perfectly unsuitable for music, but for HT, it might not suck as much if you are not into soundtracks. Still, the PRAT is what gets me the most about oppo implementation of sabre dac. It's horrible.
Arcam irDAC is a damn good dac for the price IMO and i would recommend it to anyonr..but I also haven't heard schitt dacs at the price point purrin mentioned on this thread so can't really compare.
But honestly, if I had PWD mk2 or oppo 105 in front of me, regardless of price, I'd go for the Arcam irDAC.
Lampi Big 7 is in another league though. First of all, it's away from solid state, stepping into tubes. So the sound is different from the foundation, many owners of lampis reviewers sound like they had a damn revelation or something listening to lampis, and I can kind of see why. Especially if you are coming from solid state. It's clean for tubes, with good soundstage and very very musical and involving. When I came out of lampis room at the Newport Beach show after about 15 minutes of listening, I got that feeling you get when you goto a theatre and watch a really engaging movie for 2 hours in the dark and step out, the normal outside world seems a little tiny bit surreal. A head change. I guess this is what the Lampi owners mean when they say it's revelatory LOL.
Chord Qutehd is full and balanced as well, but I like the Chord Hugo better. It's more transparent, have better tone, and is more delicate sounding. Or should I say more articulate? Anyway, it sounds more high end. More intimate. Bass is a little thin, but I think it was a compromise rob watts the designer made to give it such a big soundstage depth and air. A good DAC.
Now, with all these different sound signatures of dacs, I can tell right away the difference. Maybe it's the amp that I played on and speakers that is transparent that it's so revealing, but I do and can tell a difference. To a point where it would brake my system and get me cranky.
So I disagree with the original post saying after 500.00 price point of dacs, they all sound the same. They hardly do.
