[bigshot]

I hate to let you down like this, but I seriously doubt if anyone in Sound Science really cares about Chord Hugo.

 

[jcx]

dissecting the puffery can be fun, seeing what makes fanboys drool could be profitable down the line...

 

[Don Hills]

... the last time I looked this section here is about "What is the special sauce behind the Chord Hugo?"....

 
There is no special sauce. Just good food well cooked.
 
Good (but not exotic) components well engineered / integrated. Personally, I think a 26K tap filter is a bit far up the diminishing return curve, but the performance figures indicate that it hasn't been done at the expense of the rest of the design. It (the filter) does provide a useful differentiation from the competition.

 

[joeexp]

   
There is no special sauce. Just good food well cooked.
 
Good (but not exotic) components well engineered / integrated. Personally, I think a 26K tap filter is a bit far up the diminishing return curve, but the performance figures indicate that it hasn't been done at the expense of the rest of the design. It (the filter) does provide a useful differentiation from the competition.

What kind of food would that be:
1)  Fish and Chips (+ Tomato Sauce)
2) Steak and Kidney Pie (+ HP Sauce)
3) Filet Steak ( + Mustard)
 
??

 

[Roly1650]

What kind of food would that be:
1)  Fish and Chips (+ Tomato Sauce)
2) Steak and Kidney Pie (+ HP Sauce)
3) Filet Steak ( + Mustard)

??

What kind of philistine are you, tomato sauce on fish & chips? Can only be malt vinegar, (lots please) and salt.

 

[nick_charles]

What kind of philistine are you, tomato sauce on fish & chips? Can only be malt vinegar, (lots please) and salt.

I can live without the salt but I'll take HP sauce and don't forget the chip butties !
 

 
num num num !

 

[Roly1650]

I can live without the salt but I'll take HP sauce and don't forget the chip butties !




num num num !

Mmmmmmmmmm chip butties, a Homer Simpson moment........and cod roe mmmmmmmmm

 

[tanglewire]

At the end of the day this is a matter of an old marketing concept called PERCEIVED VALUE. No matter what is the cost of the product what matter is how much consumer is willing to pay for value he/she gives it. What happen is CHORD is trying to give an added value to HUGO that is beyond aceptable and this is so evident that cause controversy. Remember what happened with Sony, Pioneer, Marantz and many others. Almost went to bankruptcy with this strategy. Trying to keep articially a "HighEnd" nich whereas koreans, chinnesse manufacturers were taking advantage of massive production of electronics launching really good products at competitive prices to masive markets. Who won? it's just a matter of seeing the figures of Samsung and LG current leaders of this approach.  Now Pioneer, Sony and many others are trying to enter to masive market but is already to late.
Despite of this my expectation is still to count with many alternatives/companies in the none massive market. However  with real added value PRO-ducts rather than  hype PRO-totypes

 

[joeexp]

  At the end of the day this is a matter of an old marketing concept called PERCEIVED VALUE. No matter what is the cost of the product what matter is how much consumer is willing to pay for value he/she gives it. What happen is CHORD is trying to give an added value to HUGO that is beyond aceptable and this is so evident that cause controversy. Remember what happened with Sony, Pioneer, Marantz and many others. Almost went to bankruptcy with this strategy. Trying to keep articially a "HighEnd" nich whereas koreans, chinnesse manufacturers were taking advantage of massive production of electronics launching really good products at competitive prices to masive markets. Who won? it's just a matter of seeing the figures of Samsung and LG current leaders of this approach.  Now Pioneer, Sony and many others are trying to enter to masive market but is already to late.
Despite of this my expectation is still to count with many alternatives/companies in the none massive market. However  with real added value PRO-ducts rather than  hype PRO-totypes

 
 
Why is it that whenever somebody comes and releases a revolutionary new product targeted at the higher end of the market --- somebody has to come and bash the crap out of it??
 
I am sure Chord Electronics is not contemplating to compete with the likes of Samsung LG, etc. -  and they don't even have to. As you rightly pointed out, the so-called high-end Market is a niche market  - so not even remotely interesting for mass market consumer brands. It's not worth their while! Their is not enough in it for them!
 
So what is your problem. You can't stand the fact that some people enjoy the sound of their Hugo? A privilege that they paid a premium for!
 
I didn't buy the Hugo because of the good design, or because of Chord marketing guys trying to tell me that it is good.
I bought it because I trust my ears. With over 20 years of listening experience I trust myself to judge whether a device sounds good or not.
 
Hence - I don't need lecturing on marketing hype by you. My 'perceived value' of the Hugo is very high! - Thank you very much...
 
 
... enjoying the sound of my Hugo .....  mhmmm  

 

 

[Strangelove424]

My impression after reading quite a few DAC reviews and discussions like this is that no DAC under $100 will ever succeed in the audiophile market, regardless of how good it is. DACs in the $100-$300 range can only be considered acceptable, not great. And a truly exceptional DAC must cost $1,000+. Any audio engineer who wants to be respected among the "audiophile" community would be an absolute fool to price his DAC any lower. 

 

[castleofargh]

I don't think a lot of people said the hugo was a bad product(except purrin, but to me it's actually a good selling point for the hugo), and I don't care about niche market or luxe costing more or people being jealous about what someone else owns. but I see the price of a hugo, and think that for the money I could pretty much get both a DAC2 and an hifi-m8. I have a hard time thinking that the hugo could bring more than those 2 to anyone.
I don't happen to be in the market for either choices, as at this point in my life I favor real portable instead of transportable or desktop solutions, so even a hifi-m8 is too big for me. but when I will be again, I'll have a hard time opting for a hugo.

 

[joeexp]

  My impression after reading quite a few DAC reviews and discussions like this is that no DAC under $100 will ever succeed in the audiophile market, regardless of how good it is. DACs in the $100-$300 range can only be considered acceptable, not great. And a truly exceptional DAC must cost $1,000+. Any audio engineer who wants to be respected among the "audiophile" community would be an absolute fool to price his DAC any lower. 

Quality components are quite expensive - I doubt that you will be able to produce a good quality DAC for under $100  ...

 

[Strangelove424]

  I don't think a lot of people said the hugo was a bad product(except purrin, but to me it's actually a good selling point for the hugo), and I don't care about niche market or luxe costing more or people being jealous about what someone else owns. but I see the price of a hugo, and think that for the money I could pretty much get both a DAC2 and an hifi-m8. I have a hard time thinking that the hugo could bring more than those 2 to anyone.
I don't happen to be in the market for either choices, as at this point in my life I favor real portable instead of transportable or desktop solutions, so even a hifi-m8 is too big for me. but when I will be again, I'll have a hard time opting for a hugo.

 
Not saying it's a bad product, but I wonder sometimes how much people judge the quality of an audio product based off the price tag, or find that the price tag itself is somehow an indication of the engineer's confidence level. If that is the case, there is more incentive in the high end audio market to price a product into the stratosphere then to price it competitively, regardless of how the product actually performs. 

 
Quality components are quite expensive - I doubt that you will be able to produce a good quality DAC for under $100  ...

Good quality audio components like capacitors or DAC chips aren't a fortune, just check Ebay. I picked up high quality low-noise TI op amps for 5 bucks each yesterday. Maybe $100 with profit margin is a challenge, but for $200-$300 you can afford the components to make a fine DAC and good profit margin too. But if there is more incentive for the profit margin to be expanded, based purely on perceived value, the sky becomes the limit.  

 

[tanglewire]

nothing personal sir. Just wanted to give a litlle support on my opinion. I'm not saying that HUGO is a silly buy nor CHORD has to follow the path of masive market. That is up to CEO
Just analyzing the product itself. If you enjoy the product and are happy with it would be great if you share your opinion. why you pick that up instead of others. I had one for a week and compared side by side with others couldn't justify the money. I've paid a lot more that $2K for many others equipments in my set up for many years as well in this hobbie and I was very looking forward for HUGO but was really dissapointed. Not for the sound. it does sound great. But nothing special like is said. and for the design.. well I couldn't even connect my fancy RCA cables nor my GRADO 3.5mm adaptor to try it with two phones at the same time. I was very interested in this feature. To run up to 3 high end headphones simultaneously was very attractive to me. Since a I have a collection of headphones and for comparison purposes seemed to be very insteresting and fun. But it was not posible to taste its performance under such load. a pity..so I get it back to the dealer.
 

 

[bigshot]

  Quality components are quite expensive - I doubt that you will be able to produce a good quality DAC for under $100  ...

 
Most DACs are audibly transparent, even the cheap ones. It isn't hard at all to produce a quality DAC. Most of them are made from stock parts anyway.