NDX and Chord Hugo

Has anyone compared the Hugo 'naked' using iTunes and MacMini against the Hugo being used as a DAC with NDS or NDX? What I'm trying to say is whether the Naim streamers add anything to the equation.

Steve

Marky Mark I can see where you are coming from.  We seem to be having a load techy things being thrown at us without any explanation of why they are desirables.

But is that new?  Nah couse not, the first DACS had no over sampling (gave me a toothache) and then we got oversampling (still gave me a toothache), which allowed the noisy 'Brick Wall' filter to be moved to higher a frequency, way out of the audio band.  Then someone presented some dubious maths that told us that the fewer number of bits used in the DAC the better, so we got single-bit DACS or Bitstream as they become known (still gave me a toothache).  Some very expensive Bitstream DACS appeared.  The Bitstream, we were told, was no good and then we went.......  (Toothache not so bad).

Hi Steve

I have tried jriver on a cheap windows 8 netbook direct via usb, cheap cable, into Hugo. I haven't had enough time with it, but i have to say it produced a much wider clearer soundstage, but i would say less musical than feeding via the NDX.

I do wonder if i was using a mac mini and a decent usb cable if this could be overcome.

Graeme

Big Bill - I'd get a better dentist  

So after so much talking about this dac I managed to borrow one from my vendor and I am using it since one week with my NDX.

I don't know nothing about DAC specifications deeply so I am just listening and  I like what I hear, it seams like the sound has become more deep and more true and more tridimensional (sorry but I don't know if those are correct terms).

Specially with some kind of music the difference is evident.

Before HUGO my idea was to upgrade the NDX to a NDS+555 and then upgrade my NAP 250 to a NAP 300 with my preamp NAC 252+SUPERCAP

As I did not have the opportunity to make a comparison between NDX+HUGO and NDS+555 now I don't know what to do. If there was no HUGO I would go, as soon as I can, for the NDS and then  the NAP 300 but now I am not sure if the best move to get the strongest upgrade in sound quality would be the NDS+555 or the NAP 300!

Lorenzo

Only you can decide - to my ears and tastes I preferred the Hugo to a NDS/555PS - but then I preferred the NDAC/555PS overall to the NDS/555PS for drive and rhythm.  I hear things and enjoy a musicality on the Hugo that I did not notice on somebody else's NDS / 555PS / 555PS.

HOWEVER each to their own... surely this has to be a very personal thing as both devices are very highly specified.

Simon

I didn't explain this very well.  I literally do get a toothache when I listen to cheapish CD players, no joke I really do.  I go to a private dentist and my teeth are as good as you could hope for at my age, at least they are all my own!

I have never had a toothache with my UnitiLite, 16 or 24 bit toothache is not known.  But with my previous Micromega Duo based ystem some early CDs would give the old tooth trouble.

It's no joke Simon!

NDS+555, NAP 300 is a great upgrade but NDS+555 provides to you some exceptional natural analogic musicality besides the drive & rythm.

Simon now can start to do those 500 x nDAC "sound is worse" replys & forgot NDS ???

Yes I am sure of that as I heard it al lot of times (not on my system) but now I wonder if the difference between NDX+HUGO and NDS+555 on my system would be so great or if the difference between NDX+HUGO NAP 250 and NDX+HUGO and NAP 300 would be greater!

It is all about the overall sound balance NDS+555+252+300 = you cannot go wrong. It is very special, Hugo might take you a bit different direction which might be OK or sound with fast comparison better. I still would like to remind that many people changed CD555 to NDS+555 some time ago & same kind of hype with ndac & now only very few who have listened NDS or have really changed NDS+555 to Hugo (one?). 

Wat, indeed, I certainly position my preference as a personal preference... the ndac/555ps, NDS / 555PS and NDS /555PS /555PS provide great DACs and great audio, albeit different presentations. But there are some interesting product developments  out there that I don't want to ignore and .. some of them don't have to cost a sizeable chunk of cash (relatively) to enjoy IF you prefer them. Life is too short and this is all about better being able to enjoy one's music.. Well it is for me as indeed I perhaps reflected in my review near the start of this thread. Perhaps it's from me being an engineer that  I am also interested in technology and innovation, and I like to support British engineering where I can (ie Naim, ATC, Chord Electronics etc) .. So if it all comes together and for the time being it  means a strange looking small silver box with different coloured lights atop my Fraim, using a cheap looking wall wart SMPS..then so be it. I never really subscribed to the lifestyle design aspect or rigid price/quality structure aspect of this hobby, but I respect those that do.

Simon 

I already have the HUGO and I use it with my NDX and I love it.

My doubt is if the NDS+555 will bring a lot more or not!

I heard the NDS a lot of times but not in my system and it's difficult yo make a comparison on my system.

NDX+HUGO is so different from NDS+555+HUGO?

Would there be any benefit to NDS+555+Hugo compared to NDX+Hugo. Cant say it makes monetary sense but maybe SQ would be better

As I am not an expert nor an engineer I don't know if what I am about to say makes any sense.
In these days I am making comparison between the bare NDX and NDX with HUGO and as I said to my ears and in my system I prefer the sound of the NDX + HUGO.
As some experts have written in this thread HUGO uses a particular new technology which is different from the technology used by NAIM in the NDS and in the NDAC.
If this is true (and I am sure it is) then it might be reasonably expecting NAIM to present something new in this direction in the future. If this makes any sense as I like very much the sound I get today and also because NDS + 555 is so expensive I am wondering if it worth to wait and see NAIM next moves and/or simply invert my upgrade options (NAP 300 before NDS or what ever will be).
I am not in a hurry as I am very satisfied with what I have now!

LCV

If your not in a hurry, then enjoy your music now and see what appears in the future. Some on this thread say that NDX into Hugo is comparable to NDS + 555. If this is the case, and only you can decide, then i for one couldn't justify the outlay for the NDS combo. I would like to know how an ND5/Hugo compares to NDX/Hugo.

However if your trying to put together a complete Naim setup then i doubt you could go far wrong.

Graeme

If it becomes received wisdom that Naim DACs are off the pace, having been left behind by the the new generation, then they might crack on rather than watch sales suffer. They took a hell of a long time to sort out the regulation of the power supplies, but that was less urgent as Naim stuff was still very competitive with the mainstream competition. 

I suppose they could slash their prices instead! Still, we're not quite at the point where dealers, the press and internet chatter all agree that there's no point in spending more than £1,400 on a DAC,

Keith 

I have just brought HUGO home and unboxed it , listening over Bluetooth whilst getting all my wires sorted and I'm very impressed out of the box. Luckily I found an old lavender RCA to DIN lead so i'm away and even though its inferior to my TQ black DIN interconnect it sounds great . Obviously it needs a bit of running in but so far so good and its very liberating being able to play Spotify etc over bluetooth.

In line out mode , what colour does everyone have the volume control ?

Thanks . 

Peter.

I'm line-out into a SN2 and have set the HUGO to 'bypass'. This gives me an average 'nine o'clock' listening volume into PMC Twenty.23.

G

Hi Peter

If your impressed out of the box, wait till a week or so down the line after its burnt in. It seriously improves. I leave mine on power 24/7.

I have left mine on the defalt line out mode setting, even though technically that isnt what it is, and mine has a lightish blue LED colour. Have to say it looks a lot darker in the evening though.

Enjoy your music, its a real ear opener.

Graeme

Thanks Guys. First impressions are that I now know what everyone means by 'Digital Harshness' , none of that with the HUGO. Very natural.

Indeed. Mine now about 10 days in and I'm listening to 'Telegraph Road' - that last 3 minutes or so is dense with so much going on it can present as a bit of a wall of mush. Not with HUGO. Every detail (some I've never heard before) has its own space and character in the mix. 

G

Funny I am listening the same song with the same feelings!

Wait till you hear the drumming in private investigations. Stupendous

If you haven't done it already, just listen to early Beatles music with Hugo!