Hugo 2

It is my belief that Naim amplifiers are the most popular amongst Naim owners as we seldom hear (on this forum) about people preferring X or Y over the Naim equivalent. The same cannot be said about sources or DACs as seen on this thread. I believe Chord's strength is in their DACs, not so much on their amplifiers or other stuff. I have had a look at the Chord amps and CD player and they all looked one of a kind, more like stuff from the 23rd century. The looks are not really up to my taste although sound quality may be stellar.

Naim has been lenient with posts such as these and in a way I agree with Emre's post above. However, Naim make good amps and it would be difficult for others to "steal money" from Naim in this regard.

With reference to amps, if I were to win the lottery I would be tempted to have a listen to different amps, most definitely including Naim, to see if there is anything I'd like better than what I have, but I would need the time I won't have until I tpretire in a couple of years, because it is such a time-consuming exercise to audition. Nothing of what I hear in my present system tells me I need a better amp, or that something else would be better, but then neither did it when I had Hugo...

I have attended a good 20 HI-FI show's over the years and have always found to my ears the sound from the Chord rooms to be excruciating.Foward and bright.Maybe Rob Watts could market them as some sort of sonic wall paper stripper.......I know Tony M uses his DAC to make a lovely fried breakfast.

So happy with my system.Nagra and Dartzeel amps.Nagra CDP and a NAT 01 and Quad 2805 electrostatics.I just put music on and enjoy.I never analyse the components to death like Hungry Hallibets observation on the tedious obsessive posts.Do people listen to music or is it the equipment......?

Perhaps its to compensate using a hidden tone control, because some say the Chord sound can be too laid back  *chuckle* 

But seriously it is very rare I have been to a hifishow where I have appreciated true replay performance... the notable exception has been the Signals East Hi-Fi Show at the Suffolk Show ground in England... great systems, sensible rooms, not too many people, great opportunities to listen...

If I had wanted a forward bright sound, I would have been sorely disappointed with my Chord DAC.. it just can't deliver that kind of sound.. the wretched thing just insists on being neutral 

I'm very happy with my Naim source, a Chord Hugo DAC, Naim amps and Martin Logan speakers. And with a forum which, by and large, permits and encourages reasonable and sensible discussion of the mixed manufacturer equipment above.

I agree Nick. Though when does reasonable and sensible become tedious and obsessive? Judging from some comments that seem to elevate Rob Watts to the level of a minor god, I'm not convinced that the boundary is clear.  

Good question. I tend to find all unquestioning orthodoxy boring.

Have you discovered the blocking feature? Used very sparingly a year or so ago, it has rather improved my forum experience.

That's only because you no longer had to experience my tedious drivel.... Actually, I have only ever blocked one person as they were so aggressive, but it seems they have now departed. 

Rest assured HH - I have never contemplated blocking you. Your description of the 252 as the dullest amp from Dulls-ville still has me double-checking my ears!

Hungryhalibut posted:

That's only because you no longer had to experience my tedious drivel.... Actually, I have only ever blocked one person as they were so aggressive, but it seems they have now departed. 

Oh no, you didn't have them exterminated did you? Infidels beware.

I think they got bored... My wife worked with someone who had her husband gunned down in a drive by shooting in Thornton Heath once. It was in the early nineties and cost £10,000 apparently. Her feigned distress was very convincing. Unfortunately for her it was shattered when she was unceremoniously escorted from the office by two burly policemen from the Met. All very exciting. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I think they got bored... My wife worked with someone who had her husband gunned down in a drive by shooting in Thornton Heath once. It was in the early nineties and cost £10,000 apparently. Her feigned distress was very convincing. Unfortunately for her it was shattered when she was unceremoniously escorted from the office by two burly policemen from the Met. All very exciting. 

The sort of excitement we can do without!

Hopefully on this forum assasinations will remain verbal (and, of course, polite, decent, honest, truthful and dignified), or the cause of the desire dealt with by ignoring, with or without use of the block button, though the latter may be a useful surrogate trigger if the urge reaches criticality...!

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

Halloween Man posted:

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

Or she wanted his money

Hungryhalibut posted:

I think they got bored... My wife worked with someone who had her husband gunned down in a drive by shooting in Thornton Heath once. It was in the early nineties and cost £10,000 apparently. Her feigned distress was very convincing. Unfortunately for her it was shattered when she was unceremoniously escorted from the office by two burly policemen from the Met. All very exciting. 

How many, like me, read this story and thought 'Wow, Thornton Heath, of all places...' ?

Hungryhalibut posted:

This endless discussion of Chord dacs is becoming rather tedious, with some portraying them as a cure all for everything from the common cold to erectile disfunction. Perhaps Naim should start charging Chord for hosting their forum for them. I know, I can ignore it if I want, but they seem to be mentioned on nearly every thread. If someone asked about a new teapot someone would suggest that their life was incomplete with out a Hugo 2, mojo 6 or whatever Rob Watts has knocked up in his tea break.

HH, try one for a while.

Hungryhalibut posted:

This endless discussion of Chord dacs is becoming rather tedious, with some portraying them as a cure all for everything from the common cold to erectile disfunction.

Funny. I remember a while back when Tellurium Q black was all the rage, or so readers here heard endlessly. There's a topic running now on it.

 

Perhaps Naim should start charging Chord for hosting their forum for them.

Or simply make a competing product folks here will want to discuss more.

Nigel if Chord DACs allow many (though clearly not all or even most) Naim customers to enjoy their Naim amplifiers, preamplifiers and streamer transports all the more, and want to upgrade them to sound even better, I am sure Naim are quite positive  to have Chord DACs mentioned in that context on their forum.. you could say it's a symbiotic relationship Naim and Chord have, where I suspect Naim is the host.

+1 to what S-I-S says

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Nigel if Chord DACs allow many (though clearly not all or even most) Naim customers to enjoy their Naim amplifiers, preamplifiers and streamer transports all the more, and want to upgrade them to sound even better, I am sure Naim are quite positive  to have Chord DACs mentioned in that context on their forum.. you could say it's a symbiotic relationship Naim and Chord have, where I suspect Naim is the host.

Couldn't agree more. I also see Naim and Chord as complementary brands to each other, just like how this forum is full of discussion on how great Naim is with speakers like Kudos, Neat, and others (while Naim used to have its own speakers) now it is about Dacs with Naim amplification.

Personally, I wouldn't substitute Naim amplification with anything else, but I am willing to try different Dacs including Chord and other brands as well. This is an area where fast and continuous  innovation is leading the way and as a consumer I want to reap the benefits.

So which DACs are we allowed to discuss? 

What about equipment racks?

Or turntables?

Still going on foreign dacs and Stuff!

For me any product or brand( other than lp12 which is a step sister) surfacing here, is a sign of a good product, if the users of this forum talks about them a lot, that means there is something to it, enough to spoil nice looking rack visual full of classics with colored balls funny named gadgets, who prefers to do that in this Forum? 

We want a naim dac that will stop this non sense strange name products Asap!  And a headphone Amp! Classic looks Please! 

Meanwhile I may get a hugo2 as a headphone amp if it is far better than a mojo

well about LP12, while Naim and that company may have started together, I understand they are now rivals.

Naim have their own range of digital sources, which are very good as they have all the Naim qualities of musicality, pace rhythm and timing.

About Hugo 2 vs Hugo 1, not sure anyone has done this comparison yet...... 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I agree Nick. Though when does reasonable and sensible become tedious and obsessive? 

That is how your mind interprets what you are reading, may be worthwhile having a more open mind to the fact that there are other manufacturers and other products out there. Saying that I've owned Hugo's and didn't rate them one bit.

analogmusic posted:

well about LP12, while Naim and that company may have started together, I understand they are now rivals.

Rivals? Linn seem to have taken a divergent path to hi-fi replay as of late. Digital amplification, room correction (Space Optimisation), and the ability to upgrade their speakers (Linn still makes their own speakers) from passive to active in stages, all via one silver or black box. A sensible, modern, real-world approach to me. My only misgiving that they take the analog signal from a TT and convert it to digital; this probably only a concern to us baby boomers that have begun going the way of the dinosaurs. I'd speculate that in ten year's time Naim/Focal will look more like present Linn than current Naim. Millennials care little about big toroidal transformers.