2Cute or Hugo?

Hi BigH,

Suggest you have a look at this thread:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...12#47464754304097412

GraemeH has indicated that the 2Cute works fine with the SN2 with its higher imput sensitivity of 130mV (compared to Naim preamps e.g. the NAC250 which has a lower sensitivity of 75mV)

sjbabbey

You didn't mean NAC 250 did you?

Oops, no of course I meant the NAC252 preamp. Silly me

I suppose the question is to stop the voice in the head saying:-

If the Hugo sounds better when it's not flat out, would the 2Cute sound better reigned in a bit?  

Or is it the volume section that sounds quality in "turquoise" zone, and the 2cute not having this has a good signal?

Assuming the input of the 52 was overloaded what would the symptoms be?

Me thinks my Angels wouldn't stop nagging if I had a 2Cute, maybe I'll wait for S/H H.

My Chord DAC's also 3V output. I never gave it a thought before, works just fine. One more thing less to fiddle with & it'll sound just great.

Personally I found my Hugo works better into my sn2 with it turned down a little.  I wouldn't move to another Chord dac that didn't offer me the facility to do that, but that's just me - others are happy without the volume control

Chords website indicates

Measured performance.

THD: 0.0003% at 3v RMS 1kHz; 0.0002% at 2v RMS 1kHz.

If it's not possible to output 2v, why quote performance at 2v.

Why do we all assume that the Chord sounds better when turned down. Maybe by turning the input to the amp down we make the amp work harder and it is in fact this that makes it sound better. Just a thought.

As I'm swapping out my Hugo with a 2Qute as a favour for a friend I was concerned about this. I called Chord and consulted a couple of dealers who have heard the 2Qute and apparently there are no issues. There is a definite improvement in SQ having the volume on Turquoise on the Hugo to my ears in my system but when listening at high volume, which I'm prone to do, the 500 has to work much harder than when I play vinyl. I see the 2Qute to be a stepping stone to the future release of a DAC only version of the Dave.

I am trading in Hugo and an amp i have for the TT. then when Dave is released i have the option of a full refund on the TT against Dave. need something with a remote on it for headphone use. Will be interesting if i can hear a difference of the TT over Hugo

I've always assumed that it sounds better because the output volume better suits my amp rather than that the quality of the output is improved

Dayjay

What you actually meant was, stupid Fox everyone else new this already. 

I await you findings Steve.

i have hugo and 2qute and you can be rest assured that into sn2 there are no issues, it sounds wonderful, at least as good as the hugo whatever the hugo volume. dont worry about it and just get the 2qute if the features meet your needs and u dont need the extra fuctionality of hugo. hugo has left my main system for portable duties.

saying that, i am half deaf and sn2 is not as sensitive as some other naim amps.

Well said.

G

That's what I'm confidently expecting too. Theoretically the 2Qute has a possible sonic advantage with the galvanic isolated USB input. The order for mine went in about 10 days ago. Does anyone know what the wait time is likely to be?

Steve, quite long if your dealer didn't have any on order so I've beeb informed. Mind you what exactly quite long is I can't say

Mine came next day courtesy of Analogue Seduction.

G

I am interested to hear feedback from Steve, Graham and others. I have read the notes of Rob Watts elsewhere, and he believes from his listening tests  on coax and toslink the 2Qute only gets close to the Hugo in performance, but it's on USB where it is ahead due to the USB ground plane isolation in the 2Qute compared to Hugo. I think I have learnt and heard on my set up that USB is not the Hugo's strongest card sonically.

If the designer's listening experience is shared by others, perhaps the Hugo or TT is the best with a Naim digi source using coax?

Simon

Ime of both 2Qute & Hugo I'd say they are indistingiushable on coax fed by Sonos Connect W4S Reclocker & DC1/HiLine cabling.

Sorry to be dim but how does one connect with the USB to gain supposed advantage through 'Galvanic Isolation'? Is this through a PC rather than NAS?

Cheers,

G

Graham, yes will need a PC(windows, Unix, OSX) to connect via USB. It will use synchronous audio USB.

The Hugo USB has no ground or galvanic isolation so is prone to RF noise from the USB digi source. The 2Qute has this isolation inserted.

Coax and Toslink are galvanically isolated on both the Hugo and 2Qute alike.

Simon

Simon does the TT have galvanic isolation also. I believe so

Yes I believe it the TT also has USB galvanic isolation.

Simon

Will be interesting to do a comparison, although the USB cable will need to be different so not a direct comparison unfortunately.