Chord Hugo Dilemma

eazyryder

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After demoing the Hugo i was highly impressed by its sound quality but explained to the dealer at the time that i wasnt really after a battery powered portable headphone DAC as i would be using it in a home hi fi setup. But on sound quality alone i made the purchase.

I have had the unit for around 2 weeks now and love its sound, but have since learned that Chord aslo have the 2 Qute which i have read is basically a non portable Hugo for home hi fi setup and does not use batteries. My dealer hadnt mentioned this unit even after my comments about the hugo.
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My issues are -

Should i keep my Hugo and stop worrying about its batteries (lifespan) ?.

Should i trade it in for a 2 Qute ?.

Out of the 2 DACs which has the better overall sound quality ?.

My system at present is - Nova Fidelity X12 Storage/Streamer digital passthrough to my Chord Hugo DAC and into my Naim Nait XS2 amplifier, Speakers are AE Reference 1s.
 

BigH

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eazyryder said:
After demoing the Hugo i was highly impressed by its sound quality but explained to the dealer at the time that i wasnt really after a battery powered portable headphone DAC as i would be using it in a home hi fi setup. But on sound quality alone i made the purchase.

I have had the unit for around 2 weeks now and love its sound, but have since learned that Chord aslo have the 2 Qute which i have read is basically a non portable Hugo for home hi fi setup and does not use batteries. My dealer hadnt mentioned this unit even after my comments about the hugo.

My issues are -

Should i keep my Hugo and stop worrying about its batteries (lifespan) ?.

Should i trade it in for a 2 Qute ?.

Out of the 2 DACs which has the better overall sound quality ?.

My system at present is - Nova Fidelity X12 Storage/Streamer digital passthrough to my Chord Hugo DAC and into my Naim Nait XS2 amplifier, Speakers are AE Reference 1s.

From what I have read there is little difference basically the same in different cases but the Hugo is more expensive. I would speak to your dealer see if you can exchange it or have a demo of both of them.

Having read a bit more some say the 2 Qute sounds better but there is not a lot of comparisons.
 

eazyryder

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From what I have read there is little difference basically the same in different cases but the Hugo is more expensive. I would speak to your dealer see if you can exchange it or have a demo of both of them.

Spoken to my dealer, who was in a word "useless".

Have also spoke to other dealers, some have mentioned a straight swap and others have asked for a extra £100!!

I am starting to think i should dust off my Grados and be happy with my purchase.
 

BigH

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Dec 29, 2012
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eazyryder said:

From what I have read there is little difference basically the same in different cases but the Hugo is more expensive. I would speak to your dealer see if you can exchange it or have a demo of both of them.

Spoken to my dealer, who was in a word "useless".

Have also spoke to other dealers, some have mentioned a straight swap and others have asked for a extra £100!!

I am starting to think i should dust off my Grados and be happy with my purchase.

Who is your dealer?
 

expat_mike

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Mar 30, 2013
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eazyryder said:
After demoing the Hugo i was highly impressed by its sound quality but explained to the dealer at the time that i wasnt really after a battery powered portable headphone DAC as i would be using it in a home hi fi setup. But on sound quality alone i made the purchase.

I have had the unit for around 2 weeks now and love its sound, but have since learned that Chord aslo have the 2 Qute which i have read is basically a non portable Hugo for home hi fi setup and does not use batteries. My dealer hadnt mentioned this unit even after my comments about the hugo.

My issues are -

Should i keep my Hugo and stop worrying about its batteries (lifespan) ?.

Should i trade it in for a 2 Qute ?.

Out of the 2 DACs which has the better overall sound quality ?.

My system at present is - Nova Fidelity X12 Storage/Streamer digital passthrough to my Chord Hugo DAC and into my Naim Nait XS2 amplifier, Speakers are AE Reference 1s.

I started thinking about getting a Hugo for my commute last Autumn, but then Chord released the Mojo, which would essentially produce almost identical sound quality, at a third the price. I decided to wait, until Chord release the add-on modules for Mojo, which will add SD card functionality. In the interim I am using an OPPO - HA2.

A couple of weeks ago I spotted the 2Qute, and researched the details a bit more.

The Head-Fi forums have several interesting Chord threads, including many discussions and posts by Rob Watts (the Chord DAC designer), where he explains the technology and pros/cons. He usually suggests thinking about the Chord DACS in a family timeline - Hugo, then Hugo TT, then 2Qute, then Mojo and most recently Dave. The software code used to create the FPGA DAC functionality, has been stable for quite a few years, and is common to all the DACs, which explains why all these DACs sound so similar. Most of the recent DAC developments focus on the fine tuning, by improving the signal reaching the DAC in the first place. This partly explains the incorporation of the battery mode for the Hugo, to try and remove the opportunity for electrical noise from a mains power supply, to distort the DACs operation. Rob openly states that since the Hugo was released, he has done a lot of work on removing electrical noise from his power supplies, culminating with the DAVE power supply - mind you it costs a lot more than the Hugo.

So whether you opt for the Hugo or 2Qute, the sound will be similar, because the technology is similar.

The big difference between them is that Hugo contains a DAC plus a headphone amp, but the 2Qute is just a DAC, so that if you want to use headphones, you have to add a headphone amp, or connect the 2Qute to a preamp with a an integrated headphone amp.

So which is the better model for you depends a lot on whether you will need the Hugo headphone functionality.

To avoid this sounding like me just making a Chord sales pitch, here are a few forum threads for you to read:

In post #12592 Rob Watts gives an opinion about the likely Hugo battery life http://www.head-fi.org/t/702787/chord-hugo/12585#post_12200889

In post #13 Chord are quoted as stating that the 2Qute offers the Hugo (and close to the Hugo TT) sound quality, for those who don't need the headphone amp, or the digital preamp functionality. http://www.head-fi.org/t/749582/chord-electronics-2qute-dac-announced

In post#3 http://www.head-fi.org/t/784602/chord-mojo-the-official-thread-please-read-the-3rd-post Chord state that the Mojo battery is designed to last at least 12 years, and ".... the batteries are expected to last far longer than three years. The batteries in our designs are not subject to damaging deep discharge cycles or anything more than very light current demand .... Batteries used for power tools are quite a different matter, but in our units expect a life of greater than ten years. Mojo has a plug on it so it's just an easy replacement for a shop technician Hugo batteries will need soldering in place though but this is also a low skilled job which would be require rarely if ever.

John Franks."

Overall I think that for you, the battery life will be the least of your worries. The biggest consideration should be whether you need the Hugo headphone amp and digital preamp.

Hope this helps *biggrin*
 

eazyryder

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Expat_Mike, well i couldnt have gotten a better and more comprehensive answer, thank you so much.

All of the informative links you have posted have been invaluable
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.

I am going to keep my Hugo, it was the batteries lifespan and replacement expense that bothered me a little. And also whether the fact that because it uses perishable batteries, could lower resale value in a few years.

I do have an old pair of sr80 grados which i have dusted off and am ready to try "portable hi fi".
 

expat_mike

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Glad to help.

The pace of change/improvements in the DAC and headphone amp field is so fast, that If you can get 10 or 12 years life out of the Hugo battery, you will probably be itching to 'upgrade' by then anyway.

For me it is the headphone amp functionality that is the main interest, so the 2Qute is behind the Hugo and Mojo, in my thoughts at the moment.
 

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