Why is a Chord Hugo better than a Naim DAC

Just do a search and you'll find there has been several discussions on the subject.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/se...ryString=Hugo+v+naim

The simple answer is yes. 

My simple answer is no might be fine for headphones after all you cant do that with with ndac

AussieSteve, I have owned a NDAC and now own a Hugo.  The bottom line for me is that the Hugo sounds better/more natural and involving than the NDAC/555PS

I have written a review of the musical replay differences between the two on the forum.

 The NDAC does have more inputs but I think from the actual digital to audio conversion side the world has evolved a little since the NDAC was first designed - not least with reconstruction filter sizes and accuracy. This doesn't make the NDAC a bad DAC, far from it, but I think there are better for the same or less money that seem to work very well with Naim amplifiers.

Perhaps Naim will be utilising some of these newer enabling technologies in their new DACs or Streamer models.

Simon

According to my ears it is not.  Your ears may think different and that's what you should trust.

Everybody is doing DAC/headphone amps. Naim, Oppo, Marantz, Quad. Take your pick. Listen to them all and decide for yourself.

I wish Naim could a  portable hphone/dac amp ( I mean, compact here.) My headline is a bit big to carry around. But then again, Nain don't do small, do they?

Not especially. Although the V1 is a nicely proportioned little thing and to my ears also sounds better than a Hugo. But that's a different conversation (all be it with a very predictable POV on my part along the lines of: your money, your life, your ears, your choice).

I don't remember you reviewing the Hugo on here Harry. Under what circumstances did you listen to it? As with all good kit it needs to be set up properly and, of course needs identical ICs to make any rational judgement when comparing with another DAC.

Yes it is that much better.  I tried an Ndac against a Hugo for a week with the same system and, to my ears, the Hugo was much better and that is where I spent my money.  I would much have prefed to have bought a Naim dac with the Naim design and look but the sound difference was too great

I can say the same for the DAC-V1 Vs. 2Qute; 2Qute just sounds miles ahead to me.

I listened to the Chord Hugo Vs Naim Dac-V1 and brought the Dac-V1

Must be going deaf

Listen for yourself its your money

Indeed - there are few absolutes - its all subjective to a large extent

Simon

We've heard a Hugo and made some comparisons. We didn't seek one out but sooner of later we were bound to cross its path, which we did. I thought the presentation was clean and shiny. Rather like looking at a superbly air brushed picture of a beautiful model.  We've been listening to non Naim cables, and non Naim amps and streamers. I tend to only talk about the Naim stuff in here. We're very unlikely  to desert the brand but we like to keep in with the wider picture - not that you can ever get an accurate snap shot of the state of the whole market at any one time.

Steve,

Most people don't use that little chord thing. Its just that the few who do post ad nauseam. Suspect 2 of them were also doing the rounds persuading building societies to demutualise, because banks were so much better value.  Stick with Naim, simply truer to the music. 

Andy

Andy to help the OP what would you advise he try from Naim to compare with a Chord Hugo DAC?

I think we agree it's best audition and try these devices first given the price of them, and as you infer we all have different tastes.

Simon

Luckily I don't believe in blind faith.

I've had the Hugo for one year, the Naim for four and the Resonessence Labs Mirus for two years.

I tend to think slowly.

I've been feeding the DACs from a UnitiServe via S/PDIF, and don't have an NDX, which seems to be the magic combination with the Hugo.

The Hugo is now sold. The Naim DAC I can't bring myself to let go of, and the Mirus continues to amaze and seduce me, my other half, and various music nuts who visit.

The Hugo majors on capturing the leading edges, the attacks that tell the brain so much about what is playing, but falls down in the follow through, lacking the harmonic richness of the Naim or the Mirus. The Naim is more approximate, but tells me more about how and why an instrument is being played. The Mirus splits the difference.

Harry's description of the Hugo matches how I hear it. It's a cerebral experience, but I'm looking for the visceral.

Those are the differences as I hear and feel them. None is *better*. It depends on what you are seeking when you listen to music.

Jan

Jan, true, it does depend what you are looking for in the music. The Naim DAC for example to me had an organic quality to it.. It brought an attractive bass highlighted sound to my system that could really accentuate a rhythm.. It also had a brighter edge to the sounds that kind of highlighted or etched some music to make it stand out. I loved this for many years.

The NDS for me diluted this NDAC organicness and etching but brought instead cleanliness and purity.

The Hugo then did something different again.. It filled in the sounds and provided the textures and natural richness (voices, woodwind, strings, brass, etc) without drawing attention to itself that some how allowed an easier connection to the recording in a way that were some how implied with the other two.. It was a strange experience at first and did me have laughing out loud and grinning.. It almost felt like a trick was being played on me. It allowed me to listen to music in a way that I had not experienced before from a digital source and was quite similar to the feel of an LP12 I had heard previously I . It did not have the attractive rough organic feel of the NDAC, but I was ready to move on. If I had not heard a Hugo I could happily continued with the NDAC/555PS...but for me the Hugo with Naim amplification is a perfect synergy... I look forward to the next generation Naim DACs.

Simon

Als i helped à friend, I recently heard also a good Linn system. And I have to say it was also a point of view about music which I liked to hear and I was even asking myself if it was better than what I had. The point I want to make, all good brands have a sound signature and try to get closer to the real thing. Depending on your taste you will make the choices which fit to you. Depending on your budget you might challenge that decision when something better / or in other words something you like more comes along.

I hope Naim will keep on challenging me. As I like the sound signature of the brand.

Jan-Erik and Simon,

Nice posts. Well considered and the type I appreciate reading here.

On the former however, I suspect Erik was more the principal author than Jan.

I find it interesting that a comment by the NAIM executive in this thread gets (so far) uncommented. If I read your response correctly, Paul, I would surmise that NAIM does not acknowledge that the recent progress on DAC technology leaves the NDAC somehow behind... If true, it also means NAIM does not feel the need for coming up with a new DAC to challenge those contenders... That I find a pity...

Finally a nuanced thread and description of the differences, characteristics and strengths of both the ndac and the Hugo. Not just "walks all over", "much better" etc.

Like so many has described before, Naim has never been that much about colour and details first. Expression, "how and why", drive and groove. The ndac also plays bass extremely well. But, of course the Hugo is a steal at the price, and like many described better at other virtues.

Fred

I did not not directly connect those two ideas.  Some, including Naim's M.D. (former M.D. . . . I forget timing etc) prefer the Naim Dac's sound.  (Wouldn't we be shocked if he preferred the Chord?  Or if the CEO of Coke said that Pepsi tastes better?)  I think that's the "simple no" part.  But at the same time I'd be surprised if Naim believe that there is no benefit yet to be had in the dac world.

Wat, I hope someday you'll join us.  Then the world will live as one.