NDX and Chord Hugo

I'm using Chord Anthem 2 RCA-DIN into SN2 to great effect.

G

I am no where near the 100 hrs break-in  time yet that the  dealer is suggesting but I would say that the answer is - yes. I find that the volume needs to be louder than I am accustomed to but it is better after the 50 hours or so that it has played! I am quite optimistic and look forward to further improvement.

Wouldn't you know it- after the battery ran down using it as the portable, Hugo would not 'function' when plugged  back in! I was calling up the dealer not realizing the need to wait the while for it to charge back up! Obviously it does not run off the a/c! Silly me!

This happened to me too and it can be a little unnerving.

As the designer explains : the battery charger senses the battery voltage. If the batteries are fully depleted, then you need to charge with very low currents, a current level that is not enough to turn on the FPGA, so it takes some time to get its initial charge. Once the battery voltage is at a safe level, it will go into full charge mode, which is enough to power Hugo and charge the battery. If it flashes red at you, turn off the unit, then re-charge,...

I cant think of anything more unnerving than walking down the street with Hugo in my pocket and expensive headphones fixed to my ears. Think ill leave it on the rack.

You're not the first. As Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables (p 155):

"I put it in my pocket. A minute later, I feel in my pocket. There's nothing there"

First of all you have to hand it to Naim that they haven't found some reason to zap this tread.

I had a look around my usual fora and interestingly (well to me anyway) is that PFM and  Tir na HIFI also have a buzz about the Hugo, whereas the Linn forum and the Wam have hardly a mention.

Also I find it notable that no-one here has preferred the Naim nDAC if they compared it to the Hugo (or at least I've missed it if they have).

Gets me to wondering if there is some synergy going on here between Hugo DAC and Naim amplification or is it just something in the water?

SJB

Could be but there's 319 pages of mostly positive comments on Head Fi. Not too many Naimees over there. The Hugo appears to "synergise" with just about everything.

I don't know why they would lock this thread. I think Naim would be the first to admit they can't be at the forefront of all the categories of equipment they produce all the time and I'm confident they will fight back as they always did.

I am anxiously awaiting the inevitable British HiFi price wars.

Problem with my Hugo……  While listening to Hendrix's "Are You Experienced", I suddenly wanted to get really stoned.  Is this normal or should I call my dealer?

Get the old bong out of the attic Kevin. 

I should be be getting a Hugo for demo at the end of next week courtesy of Paul at HiFi Lounge to cross reference between it and the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, the two DACs on my short list.

But Steve, your profile says no digital source allowed. Is Hugo going where none have gone before, boldly or otherwise?

I would try a dealer first and if that fails try someone who sell HiFi equipment.

Kevin,

Whatever you do, don't play Jefferson Airplane's 'Surrealistic Pillow' over your Hugo!

Hmack

Nor 'After Bathing at Baxters' either.

Sloop John,

I upgraded my DAC from the nDAC to the Bel Canto 3.5vb a few weeks ago. Now this is great in my system, but I do wish I had held off for a few weeks and seen the hullabaloo about the Hugo.

I am consoling myself with the following thoughts:

1. Love what I am hearing;

2. Any system is a sum of parts, and the DAC is only one of them;

3. There is no certainty that in my system the Hugo would be a step up; and

4. The world moves on - I will benefit when I next update.

But given another few weeks I would have made sure that I auditioned the Hugo too - as you will.

M

Interesting write up of PS Audio's DirectStream DAC in the August edition of Hi FI News for those that are interested.

Now if only they compared to Hugo

My totally uneducated view is that folks are using a "portable" dac at home.  Might it be somewhat predictable that Chord would (will) adapt this for full-time home use, sans battery?  The battery 'thing' seems a bit odd.  I would assume that there is more to come using the basic architecture of the Hugo, again, sans battery.

Having had the Hugo set up in my system, I removed it briefly and returned to the ND5 SX. The benefits of the Hugo are now more evident to me than when I first set it up. I shall definitely be retaining the Hugo, and will eventually compare the ND5/Hugo combination with my Klimax Renew (which doesn't have any digital inputs, other than Ethernet, or outputs)

On another matter, I then decided to download a number of sample DSD files with a view to trying them out using the HD USB input on the Hugo, then realised I have no idea whatsoever how to do this. Can anyone help?

I have a Windows (Windows 7) laptop, and have installed the Windows drivers that come with the Hugo. I have changed the Hugo input setting from co-axial (red) to HD USB input (white). What else do I need on my laptop to stream DSD files (or FLAC) to the HD USB input on the Hugo. Do I need to install a media server that supports DSD? If so, what would you recommend.

Thanks.

JRiver Media Center is an excellent media player that will play DSD files natively and if you wish even convert PCM to DSD on the fly. It is free for a month, so you've very little to lose giving a try. You'd just need the appropriate USB lead to connect your laptop to your Hugo. JRMC does a very good job with redbook rips too imo, and is excellent for managing metadata and searching and organising your music. If you take to it there is also a superb remote control app called JRemote which runs on iPads and iPhones.

You can also use Foobar for playing dsd to Hugo and that one is free, forever.

just Google foobar dop or foorbar dsd over pcm

BTW it isn't required to switch to Hd USB for playback of DSD, I noticed it also works when using SPDIF, which I prefer because my USB/SPDIF converter is better than Hugo's.

cheers

Aleg

That's perceptive Nigel. I've put together an iTunes library to stream to two other devices in the house so I thought I may as well hook it up to the main system via a DAC for background music whilst I work on my computer. This will add a little life to my Kandid. I'll have to change my profile?

ATB

Steve

Likesmusic and Aleg,

Thanks for your replies. I have downloaded and installed JRiver Media Center on my laptop, & might try Foobar later. JRiver looks quite slick though, and doesn't cost too much so I may stick with it.

A couple of things. Just noticed that the DSD files I have downloaded have file extensions of DSF and DFF which I believe is what's expected. They appear to play perfectly through the Hugo via JRiver, However, one thing is not as expected. The Hugo manual states that the frequency colour should change to 'White' when playing DSD files. When I play these files  over USB, the frequency light is displayed as 'Red' or 'Orange' (indicating 44KHz or 48KHz - difficult to tell which). Is there an incorrect configuration setting in JRiver?  

I also had an additional problem in that my laptop had to be physically close to the Hugo and I was getting a bit of background noise breakthrough which appeared to be rated to hard disk activity. I guess the logistics of using a USB connection are just a little too problematic for me.

Hmaok .. as I don't have a Hugo I can only point you in roughly the right direction re JRiver.

Firstly, I'd be inclined to believe the lights on the Hugo, thus there is possibly transcoding going on in JRiver. First check the Audio Path by clicking on the "Audio Path" icon, which is underneath and to the left of the search box in the header of the standard view. This icon lights up blue if no processing or transcoding is taking place; when you click it it will show what is going into JRiver and what is going out. I suspect the Audio Path icon isn't blue, which would indicate JRiver needs setting up..

In which case, check your settings. Tools > Options > Audio >  ..

Check that the Audio Device is set to your DAC

If your DAC has a native ASIO driver (it'll say ASIO next to the Audio Device), go into Device Settings and select DSP bitstream in DoP format (and possibly device only uses most significatn 24 bits)

If your DAC shows up with [WASAPI] next to it, then Click the "Bitstreaming" dropdown in Settings

and pick DSD.

In either case, if you want to convert PCM to DSD (just to see what happens) go into DSP & Output Format and switch the Output Encoding to DSD.

Hope this helps. Alas I haven't got a Hugo so can't be more precise. Give me a shout if you get stuck. JRiver has lots of options which can be a bit confusing to start with.

A bit worrying that the Hugo is sensitive to noise from your pc. Worth figuring out whether it is from the physical proximity of the pc, or coming down the USB cable. In the latter case some isolation may be possible.