TOTL Portables

[bfin3]

What are considered the top of the lines portables or semi portable setups right now? I've been doing some research and so far these seem to be the TOTL.
Sony DMP-Z1
Chord Hugo 2
Cayin C9

And then DAPs
Ibasso dx300
Astell&Kern SP2000

Are there any I'm missing? I'm switching from a stationary setup with a yggy, moon 430ha, and empyrean. I like the idea of the hugo 2 + 2go and a verite closed. What else is out there?

 

[eskamobob1]

I personally think about it in the categories of source, dac/amp, and pure amp, so thats how I will list it. Here are the items I would look into as TOTL in no real order (sorry if I miss some, please feel free to add yall)

Source:

• Sony DMP-Z1
• Luxury & Precision P6 Pro
• Luxury & Precision LP6 Ti
• Lotoo LPGT (and Ti)
• AK SP2000
• Chord Hugo2go combo
• Hifiman HM1000

Dac/Amp (you need a source)

• Diablo
• Hugo2 (without 2go)
• YinLiMev M400 Pro
• Honey H1

Pure Amp

• Cayin C9
• LessFox BX2 Plus
• Bakoon HPA-01M
• Mass Kobo 404/424/428 (all basically the same amp with different wrappers)
• Phatlabs Phantasy II
• Woo Audio WA8
• Woo Audio WA11 (though the general impression of this one doesn't seem particularly positive)
• XiAudio Broadway (battery powered, so I included it, but imo too big to really count)

Honestly, I am positive im missing some stuff in the amp section. There are just too many ones that are rarely talked about to keep track of tbh.

Here is my take as a portable only listener:

Hugo 2 has long been touted at the absolute peak of portable dacs/dacamps. The P6 Pro, while quite different in presentation, fully competes with it and my preference for one over the other is 100% down to synergy of the can (for example mest on P6P are legitimate end game for me while mest on H2 I wouldnt even keep them. It is visa versa for Clears). If you are not squeamish about the pricing here, the sources I would realy look into are the Hugo 2, P6 Pro, LP6Ti, and LPGT (and possibly Ti if you will only rarely use a portable amp but want to drive more demanding over ears). All of these are really fantastic places to start and make for great AOI devices. Once you feel settled here, then start looking into amp pairing. Unfortunately there arent a ton of people with a lot of portable amp experience, but thy can be found if you lurk in enough threads

EDIT: Just for context, I have the P6P, H2Go, Micro BL (which I mostly use as an amp), 428 (just got it this weekend, so no opinion on it yet), and Honey H1.

 

[theveterans]

Coming from a Schiit MB house sound, the SP2000 will sound closest to them (neutral warm, lots of microdetails on the tone/timbre that is more commonly called R2R tone density). Chord house sound (Hugo 2) is more tactile and a bit more incisive in presentation thus offering very deep resolution as a result (more delta sigma sound than R2R) based on my listening to it. I haven't heard the P6 / P6 Ti, but reviews mention R2R tone density being a feature (as they're essentially R2R discrete implementation of course).

 

[eskamobob1]

Coming from a Schiit MB house sound, the SP2000 will sound closest to them (neutral warm, lots of microdetails on the tone/timbre that is more commonly called R2R tone density). Chord house sound (Hugo 2) is more tactile and a bit more incisive in presentation thus offering very deep resolution as a result (more delta sigma sound than R2R) based on my listening to it. I haven't heard the P6 / P6 Ti, but reviews mention R2R tone density being a feature (as they're essentially R2R discrete implementation of course).

P6 Pro is discrete R2R while the LP6 Ti (and HM1000) are chiplet based. The p6p has extremely natural timbre and very very good tonal density that can swing from natural and airy to agressive and raw as needed. The trade off is, it doesn't get as airy as the hugo 2 and has a much smaller stage (though, imo, a much more natural one with much better dynamics to and away from you making it significantly better than H2 for binaural recording). Hugo 2 is much more polite, effortlessly extended, and has a much larger stage with better separation (but worse layering). If I want to enjoy exquisitely reproduced music with very agreeable and never fatiguing presentation I pick H2 + clear. If I want to forget the music is actualy being produced, I pick P6P and Mest

 

[theveterans]

The trade off is, it doesn't get as airy as the hugo 2 and has a much smaller stage (though, imo, a much more natural one with much better dynamics to and away from you making it significantly better than H2 for binaural recording). Hugo 2 is much more polite, effortlessly extended, and has a much larger stage with better separation (but worse layering). If I want to enjoy exquisitely reproduced music with very agreeable and never fatiguing presentation I pick H2 + clear.

Agreed with that impression completely. You definitely described what the differences I hear with Hugo 2 and R2R DACs. It truly depends on the headphone pair-up, but I can definitely see how Clear + Hugo 2 is a really great combo as Hugo 2 opens up clear with its sonic traits without the harsh digital timbre associated with cookie cutter off-the-shelf DS DAC implementation

 

[Deolum]

What should be the advantage of this semi portable stuff like the Hugo 2 over a TOTL Dap? I see why Hugo 2 was great years ago but now that we have Daps that can power almost ever headphone alone i wonder who needs those semi portable things.

 

[theveterans]

What should be the advantage of this semi portable stuff like the Hugo 2 over a TOTL Dap? I see why Hugo 2 was great years ago but now that we have Daps that can power almost ever headphone alone i wonder who needs those semi portable things.

SP2000 actually is much, much weaker than Hugo 2 in powering headphones IME hence I solely use it for IEMs where it excels perfectly. I had to crank the HEDDphone to 135-150/150 max or the Focal Utopia at 125/150 level just to make the engaging volume level to my preferences. Maybe the DX200 Max has the grunt but so far it's the only DAP I see than can even get close to Hugo2's driveability with headphones

 

[bfin3]

Thanks for all the help! I think it's going to be the hugo 2go combo as a roon endpoint controlled from my phone. I figure I can throw it in a backpack and control it on my phone when I'm on the go. I feel like the screens on these daps are a downgrade from most smartphones and roon is likely a better interface. It'll likely still get most of it's use as a desktop setup anyway.

 

[eskamobob1]

Just as a heads up, the 2go interface for SD card use while you aren't on your roon network is mega cancer. Maybe just wait a month or two and see if AK actualy follows through on roon support this time and go that way?

 

[bfin3]

I thought the 2go could be a hotspot and you could use roon everywhere. I must not be understanding it correctly.

 

[eskamobob1]

I thought the 2go could be a hotspot and you could use roon everywhere. I must not be understanding it correctly.

Not that I am aware of. Someone please tell me I'm wrong (cause that would be awesome) but afaik the hotspot mode is to broadcast wifi from an ethernet in, not to be a roon core

 

[bfin3]

Not that I am aware of. Someone please tell me I'm wrong (cause that would be awesome) but afaik the hotspot mode is to broadcast wifi from an ethernet in, not to be a roon core

Lol I hope you're wrong too. I read a review that made it sound like the hugo could produce a small wifi hotspot so you could hook your phone up to control it on the go using roon or the chord app without having to use the bluetooth.

According to this review, "Don’t worry if a network isn’t available, say if you’re out and about. The 2go can be set to wi-fi hotspot mode and your device can still feed it with a signal directly. Or, you could use Bluetooth and put up with a more compromised performance."

 

[eskamobob1]

Lol I hope you're wrong too. I read a review that made it sound like the hugo could produce a small wifi hotspot so you could hook your phone up to control it on the go using roon or the chord app without having to use the bluetooth.

According to this review, "Don’t worry if a network isn’t available, say if you’re out and about. The 2go can be set to wi-fi hotspot mode and your device can still feed it with a signal directly. Or, you could use Bluetooth and put up with a more compromised performance."

I'll throw it on hotspot when I get home and give it a shot. I am fairly sure its dnla only, bit we will see

 

[bfin3]

Did you get a chance to test it out. Alternatively can you use the dnla features if you use your phone as a hotspot?

 

[eskamobob1]

Did you get a chance to test it out. Alternatively can you use the dnla features if you use your phone as a hotspot?

Forgot to reply. No it is not a roon core. As for using the h2 as a music server over dnla, I havent tried that yet