Chord DACs

Nina posted:

Just ordered my Hugo 

When I get it I will charge the battery then use it on battery alone before plugging it back into the mains to re-charge

I have read through lots of feedback of the Hugo on this forum and other sites and it would seem that the Hugo is a fantastic bit of kit, especially for the money

I've read that some people prefer the Hugo to the full Naim Dac as well as the DAC-V1 which, if true, is some achievement considering the price and it's diminutive size

I have also just ordered a very reasonable BNC to RCA interconnect to go between the CD5 XS and the Hugo that should be with me in a couple of days

Sorry but I think its a pity all this unused electronics in CD5xs !

I would try it powered with dedicated psu (FC or HC or third party) against transport/Hugo

This is a crazy hobby

Nina posted:

Thanks Christopher for the info

I am really careful when I plug something new into the system to the extent that I also switch off at the wall as well, and even then I let the whole lot cool for 10 minutes before touching anything

Nina, just in case you hadn’t picked up on it already, the volume colour seems to matter when connecting the Hugo to Naim... many around these parts find around turquoise about optimal.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Nina posted:

Thanks Christopher for the info

I am really careful when I plug something new into the system to the extent that I also switch off at the wall as well, and even then I let the whole lot cool for 10 minutes before touching anything

Nina, just in case you hadn’t picked up on it already, the volume colour seems to matter when connecting the Hugo to Naim... many around these parts find around turquoise about optimal.

Thanks for that Simon... turquoise it is 

Just out of curiosity and because I tend to get a Chord dac too...

What is the reason why the relatively high volume is considered best? Is it to be on the sweet spot of the volume range of the pre-amp, or to have less interference on the interconnect, or because the Chord Dac does not have such a good digital volume adjustment functionality?

Thanks

Nina posted:

After reading loads about the Hugo and pretty much all I read was very positive I just have to try one.  From what I can make out the Hugo is a 'special' item and somewhat of a game changer

I am not interested in it's headphone section or it being portable etc, I am only interested in using it as a Dac for one of my CD transports in my main system

I think I have secured a Hugo and all being well should be with me in the next week

If I don't like it then I can sell it for what I paid for it   

 

Hi, please update once you have listened to the Chord Hugo in your system.

I understand you intend to run the Hugo DAC with the Naim CD5 XS CD player which is perfectly fine. However, it would be useful if could use the Hugo DAC solely to play digital audio files from your PC thus negating the need of the CD player. I presume you would have some lossless or uncompressed audio files and it wouldn't do any harm to try listening to these with the Chord Hugo vs. playing a CD on the player. Try it and see. 

Ardbeg10y posted:

Just out of curiosity and because I tend to get a Chord dac too...

What is the reason why the relatively high volume is considered best? Is it to be on the sweet spot of the volume range of the pre-amp, or to have less interference on the interconnect, or because the Chord Dac does not have such a good digital volume adjustment functionality?

Thanks

Actually its the other way around, with the Hugo, the turquoise colour is quite a low level line out, and so you may find yourself with your preamp at 10oclock for normal listening levels on some content.

I don't know why this should be so - and to be honest there could be countless reasons, so rather than analyse it I just enjoy it

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Ardbeg10y posted:

Just out of curiosity and because I tend to get a Chord dac too...

What is the reason why the relatively high volume is considered best? Is it to be on the sweet spot of the volume range of the pre-amp, or to have less interference on the interconnect, or because the Chord Dac does not have such a good digital volume adjustment functionality?

Thanks

Actually its the other way around, with the Hugo, the turquoise colour is quite a low level line out, and so you may find yourself with your preamp at 10oclock for normal listening levels on some content.

I don't know why this should be so - and to be honest there could be countless reasons, so rather than analyse it I just enjoy it

Which to me suggests that the Hugo output at that level is better suited than the higher level outputs of many other digital devices, because it is nonsensical having so much gain that the volume control is only ever used over a small fraction of its travel!

I've been listening to Massive Attack's Heligoland today with Naim DVD5 as transport into Chord 2Qute DAC, Supernait2 amp and Epos ES14s with REL subs. I haven't compared directly to Hugo, but 2Qute sounds absolutely fantastic to me. Obviously the Naim amp, but also the Chord DAC and Epos speakers seem to be designed to preserve the timing side of things well. The Supernait2 is just a cracker of an amp. Bliss!

Innocent Bystander posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Ardbeg10y posted:

Just out of curiosity and because I tend to get a Chord dac too...

What is the reason why the relatively high volume is considered best? Is it to be on the sweet spot of the volume range of the pre-amp, or to have less interference on the interconnect, or because the Chord Dac does not have such a good digital volume adjustment functionality?

Thanks

Actually its the other way around, with the Hugo, the turquoise colour is quite a low level line out, and so you may find yourself with your preamp at 10oclock for normal listening levels on some content.

I don't know why this should be so - and to be honest there could be countless reasons, so rather than analyse it I just enjoy it

Which to me suggests that the Hugo output at that level is better suited than the higher level outputs of many other digital devices, because it is nonsensical having so much gain that the volume control is only ever used over a small fraction of its travel!

I have a Supernait and an AV2 which both use now and then. I also have a Dragonfly Black which has a relative low output - I think 1.2 volts or so. On the Supernait, it means that I can indeed use the volume knob around 10 which seems to be where the Supernait is happy. On the AV2, I need to go 50+ to get a normal volume level and then the Ovators show a lot of noise.

This tells me that once one has a good preamp, the low output is fine - maybe even preferable as Simon suggests based on his own findings. When one has a lowly rated preamp, higher output from the Dac could be preferable. Will check this once I've a decent Dac.

Ergo, it is very system dependent.

My Hugo has arrived but not unboxed yet

Unfortunately my BNC to RCA cable has not yet arrived so I won't be able to try out the Hugo yet.. damn it..  

The Hugo is tiny !

It actually looks like a toy so I hope it sounds better than it looks  

when I had one I sat it 3 small feet it seemed to run cooler ,which is a good thing  ,

Nina posted:

The Hugo is tiny !

It actually looks like a toy so I hope it sounds better than it looks  

Some people hate its looks - I always thought it was rather cute.

And, as they say, it is not size that matters, but performance! And Hugo is the epitome of that - hopefully your ears will find the same.

I'm interested in why you've chosen the dac route rather than the Flatcap route. It's not like many people have ever said, 'Oh, btw, the dacs in Naim CD players aren't much to write home about, get yourself a decent dac and all will come good'.

Given that Hugo has been found by many to improve on Naim's DACs in relation to streaming solutions, itbmust surely be expected to have a similar effect with CD, albeit that I don't recall any specific instances of anyone reportingbsuch a use.

A plea - Richard, please can you remove the errant apostrophe from the title of this thread? It would make an old fart very happy. Thanks in anticipation!

There you go Tony.  Enjoy your evening.

tonym posted:

A plea - Richard, please can you remove the errant apostrophe from the title of this thread? It would make an old fart very happy. Thanks in anticipation!

Ooops sorry about that 

Oh deep joy!  Thanks Richard, I can now enjoy my weekend.

tonym posted:

A plea - Richard, please can you remove the errant apostrophe from the title of this thread? It would make an old fart very happy. Thanks in anticipation!

Interesting challenge. I always used to add an apostrophe in the plural of an abbreviated noun to represent the missing letters (as should always be the case for an apostrophe). In this case the missing letters are, of course, ONVERTER. Over recent years I've decided to omit the apostrophe in such cases, but I think I could still be persuaded either way.

Nunc dimittis

That’s got me confused. How does nunc dimittis fit in?

Clive B posted:

tonym posted:

A plea - Richard, please can you remove the errant apostrophe from the title of this thread? It would make an old fart very happy. Thanks in anticipation!

Interesting challenge. I always used to add an apostrophe in the plural of an abbreviated noun to represent the missing letters (as should always be the case for an apostrophe). In this case the missing letters are, of course, ONVERTER. Over recent years I've decided to omit the apostrophe in such cases, but I think I could still be persuaded either way.

If that were appropriate thfen the singular would be D'a'c', however it is an acronym not an abbreviation, and as the singular is DAC, the plural is DACs, and DAc's is the posesdivem meaning something belonging to the DAC. Very simple, but near universally done incorrectly. It always grates with me, so thanks to Tony/Richard for fixing in this case. I have even had to get a government to change a similar wrongful use on its website (PDFs).

Nice to see such grammatical concern and correctness, but isn't it all getting a little too anal, gentlemen (and women, of course). Let's just get back to the hifi please?

what the f*** have apostrophes got to do with hifi or music and no smart arsed replies I think I may actually die of boredom.