JaZZ
Headphoneus Supremus
Pogart...
Take care not to let you talk into thinking you need a (tube) amp after you've got your Hugo to make your HD 650 / HD 800 sound even better. The Hugo will drive both with ease, with extremely low harmonic distortion, has power in spades for them. Any external amp will add harmonic distortion, but not accuracy. The signal from the Hugo (or Mojo) can't be made more pure and accurate than it is – note that line out and headphone out share the same signal path, so there's no electronics components to be bypassed. Unfortunately it's common practice on Head-Fi to add amps to everything and to spend money for shiny new gear, and maybe it's hard to resist the peer pressure. As an excuse for those on this path there's to be acknowledged that adding harmonic distortion can work like an equalizer or euphonizer, and many «audiophiles» aren't interested in high fidelity in the first place. However, I strongly recommend you to use a (software) equalizer if you're not entirely satisfied with the sonic balance instead of useless re-amping. And congratulations on your choice!
Thank you JaZZ for taking a part in teaching me some lessons.
I'm the guy who upgraded HD598 to HD650 and has discovered that the proper amp is a must to compliment the audio experience. With last year HD598 on my ears connected to my mobilephone or PC I was amazed with better sounds of my well known albums and I didn't dig up any deeper to find out if this is all I need, I didn't care? With this upgrade to HD650 I've started searching reviews of how to make the sound even better and soon after few reviews I've realised that I need good amp
I won't bore you with whole the story but I've learnt that at the first place I need good DAC and in my case it's Hugo... It's out of stock and they've promised to send me it next week...
Waiting waiting waiting.....
Yes, the tube amps have interested me because it's all new to me and the tubes used for those amps reminded me the old tv's and radios working on tubes and as far as I know the tubes used to be very well suitable to produce very high end audio gears if I'm right?
So as far as you know JaZZ I haven't had a chance to hear good quality audio yetHugo will come at the end of next weekOur friend icebear has mentioned that for the type of music I'm listening it might be even wrong choice of headphones I'm aiming to (HD800s)... This is makes me thinking twice if I ever will need anything better than Hugo for my listening needsProbably I can't be ever good with pure classic music as I preffer the harder rhytm and sound with a bit of power , and the perfect match I find with metal/rock bands using both, the rock sound with orchestra, vocals and sort of such music... I like all music though, what's counts to me is the very good clear sounding albums capable of delivering pleasure to listen to.
In this case it's not matter to me if this is classic, rock, jazz or any other type of music, what's matter is emotions included by the artists who can let me feel the whole story locked up in particular audio recorings...
I think JaZZ you're right, I think the Hugo will be enough to let me enjoy the whole spectrum of different music I'm listening, but I'm opened to try out the tube amp if I can, to find out if it's something to upgrade to in my caseThe Chord Hugo must be amazing ...
I've tried Oppo HA-2 for a week and returned it with many doubts regarding it's SQ, and the issues and disruptions while trying to listen music from my Android mobilephone, this was the main reason to return it... While connected to the PC I weren't amazed with better SQ at all? No reasons then to keep it... I could buy 5 Oppos instead of one Hugo... It tells me a lot of how good the Hugo might be compared to Oppo HA-2? I believe JaZZ that the Hugo is the thing I need to feel fully emotions given me by all spectrum of music I'm listening to and I'm opened now to try everything else when my Hugo + HD650 will be readyPure classic maybe? A jazz probably at the first place as it is music for soul too, I like to try all of it because I'm ready to hear the difference and I think that from now I'm able to discover something new to me,emotional too and interesting being on opposite side of hard rock music itself?
Thank you.
Hi Pogart
The greatest favor you can do to yourself is to cancel the idea of using a headphone amp with the Hugo. I'll explain in more detail. The tradition of combining DACs with headphone amps for headphone listening has its cause in the fact that DACs either don't have a headphone output or have a headphone amp built in that's considered mediocre compared to some audiophile devices. So the advantage from adding a high-quality amp is clear and undisputed. With the Hugo (as well as Mojo, Hugo TT and DAVE) it's a diffferent thing: It doesn't have a dedicated headphone output stage – the DAC's line-out stage is used to drive headphones directly. The goal behind this design is unmatched signal accuracy and purity in the form of extremely low harmonic distortion. This to enable full benefit from the sophisticated signal processing. Any additional amplification would use the same signal path as the headphone output, thus inevitably increasing harmonic distortion by adding its individual distortion pattern/coloration – an irreparable signal pollution if you consider how much care the developer has applied to get this low distortion figures. Here's what he has to say about it, and there.
Tube amps have their own charm, and I can absolutely reproduce that people like them. Solid-state amps may color the sound less obviously, but they do so nonetheless, mostly in a less obviously euphonic way. Both colorations have the ability to mask upstream and downstream shortcomings to some degree. That comes at the price of reduced transparency. Now since no headphone is perfect, particularly when it comes to tonal balance and frequency response, a matching (synergetic) amp may sound like an ideal solution. But at a closer look it's a poor solution: You use an expensive device full of signal-corrupting electronics components as a highly unflexible effect device with just one factory preset. I for one have freed myself from the necessity for component synergy. I simply use a good software equalizer for equalizing the notoriously uneven frequency response of my headphones – this under full preservation of the original transparency, and maybe even more: A passably flat frequency response makes for a further increase of transparency. And with the right settings, you can bring the sound of your HD 650 quite close to the HD 800's. You may even detect that you don't need the HD 800, which may be too bright for you (it is to me without modification and additional equalizing).