estreeter
Super Member
Hi All,
Per my HD800 thread in the Headphones section, I bought a Hugo today. Hate the name, hate the styling and someone at Chord has a fixation with form over function, but so far I'm enjoying the important part - the music that emerges from each of its outputs. The downside, I guess, is that I simply haven't heard any of the 'movers and shakers' between $1500 and 3K to be able to give any sort of meaningful comparison - I just know that the competition doesn't meet my need for a transportable solution - if the batteries powering the Hugo are cause for some to mock the design, so be it.
The M51 is at the other end of the city, Sydney's traffic is horrendous and I'll have to wait until I get settled in Asia - for now, the Hugo is the best digital sound I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Also ecstatic to finally get my hands on a decent HDTracks 24/96 download - Dream Theater's self-titled 2013 album is an excellent collaboration between talented musicians and an equally talented production team. This is the first time I've felt a genuine connection with hi-res music, as opposed to simply appreciating the extra clarity of a sample track from some obscure group of musicians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Theater_(album)
If we can put the inevitable new toy joy and purchase justification to one side for the moment, I sincerely hope the other options do blow me away : I think the Hugo has set a high bar for future DAC auditions and the digital pre functionality will come in very handy when I start auditioning active speakers and a dedicated headphone amp. I guess what really blew me away was when I stopped messing around with the HD800 and plugged in my Yamaha EPH-100 IEMs. They took on a whole new dimension - faster, more air, better separation and a host of other clichés I wont bore you with. Cant wait to hook this thing up to a pair of active Dynaudio or Focal monitors. I am especially thrilled with the fact that it doesn't tear lesser music, including my Youtube downloads, apart - if anything, it has brought several of them to life, at least with the bassy Yamaha in-ears.
As a footnote, Chord Electronics seems to cop it on a few forums as being 'overpriced', 'dry and sterile' and other perjoratives - I suspect that certain fanboy reviewers haven't helped by openly comparing the QuteHD, QuteEX and Hugo to seriously expensive DACs from Meitner and their ilk. I haven't heard any of their other gear, but nothing I'm hearing from the Hugo sounds 'sterile' to my ears - all I can do is suggest that you have a listen if you get the chance : dismissing these DACs purely on the basis of a few forum warriors foaming at the mouth makes no sense to me. I'm also keen to hear this DAC hooked up to a good OTL tube headphone amp - all in the fullness of time. :thmbsp:
Cheers,
estreeter
PS I'll try to take a decent photo tomorrow - just want to keep listening to music tonite
Per my HD800 thread in the Headphones section, I bought a Hugo today. Hate the name, hate the styling and someone at Chord has a fixation with form over function, but so far I'm enjoying the important part - the music that emerges from each of its outputs. The downside, I guess, is that I simply haven't heard any of the 'movers and shakers' between $1500 and 3K to be able to give any sort of meaningful comparison - I just know that the competition doesn't meet my need for a transportable solution - if the batteries powering the Hugo are cause for some to mock the design, so be it.
The M51 is at the other end of the city, Sydney's traffic is horrendous and I'll have to wait until I get settled in Asia - for now, the Hugo is the best digital sound I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Also ecstatic to finally get my hands on a decent HDTracks 24/96 download - Dream Theater's self-titled 2013 album is an excellent collaboration between talented musicians and an equally talented production team. This is the first time I've felt a genuine connection with hi-res music, as opposed to simply appreciating the extra clarity of a sample track from some obscure group of musicians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Theater_(album)
If we can put the inevitable new toy joy and purchase justification to one side for the moment, I sincerely hope the other options do blow me away : I think the Hugo has set a high bar for future DAC auditions and the digital pre functionality will come in very handy when I start auditioning active speakers and a dedicated headphone amp. I guess what really blew me away was when I stopped messing around with the HD800 and plugged in my Yamaha EPH-100 IEMs. They took on a whole new dimension - faster, more air, better separation and a host of other clichés I wont bore you with. Cant wait to hook this thing up to a pair of active Dynaudio or Focal monitors. I am especially thrilled with the fact that it doesn't tear lesser music, including my Youtube downloads, apart - if anything, it has brought several of them to life, at least with the bassy Yamaha in-ears.
As a footnote, Chord Electronics seems to cop it on a few forums as being 'overpriced', 'dry and sterile' and other perjoratives - I suspect that certain fanboy reviewers haven't helped by openly comparing the QuteHD, QuteEX and Hugo to seriously expensive DACs from Meitner and their ilk. I haven't heard any of their other gear, but nothing I'm hearing from the Hugo sounds 'sterile' to my ears - all I can do is suggest that you have a listen if you get the chance : dismissing these DACs purely on the basis of a few forum warriors foaming at the mouth makes no sense to me. I'm also keen to hear this DAC hooked up to a good OTL tube headphone amp - all in the fullness of time. :thmbsp:
Cheers,
estreeter
PS I'll try to take a decent photo tomorrow - just want to keep listening to music tonite
