the behavior of most components is impacted and very often compensated by the components just before and after it. a delta sigma DAC is the perfect example of how many individually "defective" components(as in unable to output a perfect theoretical response, and possibly worst than another component), end up being able to send to the amp a perfectly pure signal from 0 down to an easy -80db or lower on lots of very cheap models. and "upgrading" a few parts will most likely give a worst overall output. because the "defects" where accounted for in the design.
not to say that component quality doesn't matter, just saying that it's certainly not the mean to an end.
anyway, "our" problem with the hugo is clearly the price that we can't seem to justify. you can, or you're fortunate
enough not to care about money, good for you mate.
I usually like to see the product making the price, not the price trying to make the product. I had the same kind of problem with all the beta versions of A&K's DAPs. I don't mind a luxe tag, luxe price, but I do ask for measurements and results to back up the marketing noises. else luxe is all it is.
I've read a few interesting things coming from the designer, but I have yet to see how it impacts the actual output. I would likely be more convinced by a few measurements from usual loads, than by the "good stuff is expensive" argument.
A headphone amp is an amp. I can't think of any solid state amp or DAC or digital player of any kind for any home audio application that has an audible noise floor at normal listening levels. Home audio moved past noise floors at -40dB when LP records were retired.
I just looked up the published specs on the manufacturer's page. The dynamic range spec is 120dB. That is a noise floor lower than any CD. +120dB is the threshold of pain and it's well beyond the point of hearing damage for continuous exposure. Not only that, it is very difficult to measure noise floors lower than -120dB without very specialized equipment.
The person reporting that must have a defective unit, or it is a significant impedance mismatch with his IEMs.
Designing a cheap DAC and headphone amplifier able to drive something like an HD800 completely transparently would be relatively trivial. Multi driver IEMs however, is a slightly different beast.
Even an iPod runs into some issues trying to drive those.
In fact I'd be terribly grateful if someone could point me in the direction of a cheap, compact and completely transparent DAC/amp I could just plug into my mac. The headphone out is a bit too noisy for my CIEMs.
flat and noiseless on IEMs, I found it with the leckerton UHA760(posted a long boring review, don't read it, but know that it says "zero audible hiss" in it ^_^).
it seems like the 6S MKII also does the job for a nicer price but I didn't try it so I can't say. they're not 100% free of cellphone impulses, but I don't know of a lot of DAC/AMPs who totally are shielded. just don't stick your phone at 15cm of it and it's a non problem. (I wonder how the hugo does with that?)
I hate noise on sensitive IEMs, the O2 is pretty much hiss free, but the volume control is less than optimal for IEM use.
anyway there are probably other options and in a real desktop configuration(the leckerton isn't really made for fullsize headphones and doesn't pack the power of an O2), but that's the only one I was lucky to fell uppon.
oh the X3 didn't hiss at all and worked as a DAC/amp. but I use my joker on the transparent part of your request. ^_^
Also a correlation between expensive and expection bias. I can list quite alot of correlations too!
