Hugo headphone socket
Posted by: dayjay on 27 April 2016
I ordered a pair of Meze 99 Classic headphones last week, mainly to use when on holiday as I rarely listen to headphones at home. They arrived this morning, which in four days is pretty good going from Romania, and are very nice indeed. I've spent couple of hours playing with them through my SN2 headphone socket and have been pretty impressed with them straight out of the box. Just before I stopped listening I plugged them into my Hugo and what a shock! The difference in sound quality between the Hugo and SN2 is nothing short of amazing, super clear, loads of detail and very very musical. Clearly I have been ignoring one of the Chord's strengths by not using the headphone socket whcih is something I intend to put right!
The Hugo was, I thought, intended as a portable headphone DAC/amplifier for use with headphones. The Mojo is smaller and slightly more convenient as a portable device and delivers about 80% of the Hugo's SQ at 1/3 the price.
I have mine connected to my SN2 and have never used it as a portable device - it's pretty magical as a main system dac to be honest but it clearly also shines as a headphone amp. I'll have to have a play around and find a way that allows me to use it without fiddling with it volume and affecting my main rig sound
Mine also spends most of its life connected to my SN2 but the portability is a huge bonus as I can run it off my mac book pro or iPhone when travelling. Dayjay, did you audition the Meze 99 against any other headphones? I was thinking of something like the oppo PM 3 to replace some Bose noise cancelling ones I have at the moment, but have seen some good reviews of the Meze 99 and am kinda curious as I'd never heard of them before
I bought them without audition as I couldn't find anyone in this country that sold them. I was looking for a closed back set that sounded open with good soundstage and, as I very rarely use them, I didn't want to spend silly money. Did a lot of research on line and these seemed to fit the bill. They are really well made, you would think they cost much much more than they do and they sound superb. Very good soundstage and super clear with a nice tone. I'm really pleased with them but the Hugo really makes them come alive.
Thanks.....tempted
I doubt you'd be disappointed at the price. They are easy enough to drive too, even my smartphone can do it. If you are anywhere near me you are welcome to have a listen, I'm NW Uk
Thanks kind offer, unfortunately I'm SE uk! They do look good though
I use CJ tube amps with my Naim gear.
Let's talk about tube rolling shall we. I'm sure everyone visiting will be interested. Can' t listen to non tube amps myself. Maybe because I don't currently own anything else.
Of course Chord don' t make tube amps. Losers. Tubes sound so tube like. I like KT 120s myself. I particularly like how they glow in the dark.
I recently tried using my 2Qute (with T*ddyP power supply) directly into the power amp section of my SN2 and using the 64 bit volume control built into Audirvarna. I was quite surprised at just how much more clarity and control there was by bypassing the SN2's pre-amp. Also, noticeable increases in soundstage width and depth, with the speakers disappearing more. However, wasn't convinced this setup had quite the same musical enjoyment as before and when I went back to the normal setup, something definitely returned that had gone missing before.
The Hugo should be better in a preamp-less arrangement as I seem to remember it's internal volume control is implemented in such a way that the DAC always operate at full resolution regardless of Hugo's output level. In fact Hugo owners here seem to use that advantage to trim the output level to better match the pre-amp's input, seemingly without a sonic penalty. The above experiment did clearly demonstrate though that the SN2's pre-amp can certainly be improved on in many respects (hello 282, 252, etc.) and it's left me wondering if a Hugo TT direct to a power amp might be a viable and practical approach rather than a pre-amp upgrade, if I ever considered going that route.
I had a little play around Allan with my Hugo running a Nap100, which was fine, and direct into the SN2 bypassing the preamp which was also fine, but I found I prefered the Naim preamp, not least because I retain remote control of the volume. Naim make damned good preamps designed to control their amps, I'm sceptical that a little Chord dac can beat one to be honest. As a dac though into a Naim pre they are superb.
DayJay, I was not particularly impressed with the Hugo directly feeding my NAP250. It was ok, sounded detailed and quite respectable, but no magic. Connect the Hugo to a Naim preamp like the 282 or higher and its a different experience completely...
Simon-in-Suffolk posted:DayJay, I was not particularly impressed with the Hugo directly feeding my NAP250. It was ok, sounded detailed and quite respectable, but no magic. Connect the Hugo to a Naim preamp like the 282 or higher and its a different experience completely...
Agreed, respectable but no magic is a good summary of my findings on lesser kit
Mmm, interesting. So if there is no loss of digital resolution / no sonic degradation using Hugo's internal volume control, yet it still doesn't sound as good as when the signal is pushed through a pre-amp, I wonder what it is the pre-amp is "adding"? Perhaps it's a better drive capability or impedance matching with the pre-amp?
So maybe what's required, is a very simple "Naim-like" buffer between the devices. I wonder how simplified the signal path is when using a uniti-gain input on the pre. Might give best of both worlds? ... or possibly worst!