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Chord Hugo


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this guy is a dealer :)

 

Yup, I know he's a dealer.

He advertises here, in HWZ and VR-forums very regularly.

And recently he's been carrying audio products. (previously more PC components, which I guess no one buys now)

 

What I'm concerned is whether the stock he's carrying is old or new version (like someone mentioned in this thread).

I Googled and can't seem to find any info about the different versions except for some packaging and power supply differences.

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It looks like a decent deal. Not sure what official receipt means... for warranty purposes?

What DAC are you using now? Interested to know how this turns out for you.

 

Thanks, yeah I guess it's for warranty purposes.

 

When it comes to DACs, I'm a complete dinosaur. I did have a Teac 501 and a very old California Audio Labs Sigma II, but that's about it.

I've been concentrating more on vinyl, but now I'm shifting overseas and it's kind of hard to shift a vinyl setup over.

 

The Chord looks just nice - a portable-sized DAC with hi-fi standard sound. Will be pairing with my Macbook Pro and Sony phone for now.

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Thanks, yeah I guess it's for warranty purposes.

 

When it comes to DACs, I'm a complete dinosaur. I did have a Teac 501 and a very old California Audio Labs Sigma II, but that's about it.

I've been concentrating more on vinyl, but now I'm shifting overseas and it's kind of hard to shift a vinyl setup over.

 

The Chord looks just nice - a portable-sized DAC with hi-fi standard sound. Will be pairing with my Macbook Pro and Sony phone for now.

 

you can check with him. I believe he doesn't keep stock hence his stocks are "fresh".

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you can check with him. I believe he doesn't keep stock hence his stocks are "fresh".

 

haha! Yeah, looking at the range of products he carries, I guess he buys from distributor when people order.

If not then he must be damn rich..... even has Woo Audio WES in stock.  :)

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haha! Yeah, looking at the range of products he carries, I guess he buys from distributor when people order.

If not then he must be damn rich..... even has Woo Audio WES in stock.  :)

 

He operates from his house in Bt Panjang. I think that's the reason he can sell at lower price as lower operating cost than those that have to maintain store fronts.

You can drop him a PM as he's quite prompt in replying to queries

 

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He operates from his house in Bt Panjang. I think that's the reason he can sell at lower price as lower operating cost than those that have to maintain store fronts.

You can drop him a PM as he's quite prompt in replying to queries

 

Thanks, widget. Will do that.

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Thanks, yeah I guess it's for warranty purposes.

 

When it comes to DACs, I'm a complete dinosaur. I did have a Teac 501 and a very old California Audio Labs Sigma II, but that's about it.

I've been concentrating more on vinyl, but now I'm shifting overseas and it's kind of hard to shift a vinyl setup over.

 

The Chord looks just nice - a portable-sized DAC with hi-fi standard sound. Will be pairing with my Macbook Pro and Sony phone for now.

 

I've never heard the Hugo in a proper hifi setup, but judging from happy users all over the world, I think it is a very good one to upgrade to if you have an old DAC or one that's about $1000-$1500.

I've heard DACs ranging less than $2000 in the past. Overall to me, they just sound different, some more detailed, some more bass, etc. It's a matter of preference to me.. but once you go up, the quality DACs start to differentiate themselves from the common. How much you are willing pay is the question to ask(to me).

 

The Hugo DAC would fall under the quality DACs category. Its probably all you'll ever need.

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I'm now a proud owner of a Chord Hugo, here's some of my thoughts about this product:

 

I bought the Hugo from this seller:

http://forums.vr-zone.com/home-theater-audio-equipment/3231655-audio-equipment-promotion-june-july-2015-a.html

(note: I do not have any affiliation to the seller, just a happy customer)

 

I was skeptical at first, because the price was quite low and with a very nice free gift, and also because it's not a brick and mortar shop, which is kind of scary for a $2k product.

But on Saturday night, I bit the bullet and sent the seller an email to enquire.

Communication by the seller is pretty quick..... not immediate but at least he replied within the same night.

His emails are very "to-the-point", very business-like. A few questions I asked went unanswered, but oh well at least the main ones were answered.

 

I made payment via Internet bank transfer on Saturday night, and the items were duly delivered on Monday morning via Ta-Q-Bin.

Items were very nicely packed, everything looked good and definitely not a used or fake set.

I'll give the seller a huge thumbs-up for this transaction. It was very smooth, very fast and I was very satisfied with the product. Definitely will buy from him again.

 

My impressions on the Hugo:

Like so many people before me, my first impression was that the packaging looks cheap.

But knowing that I would be relocating overseas, therefore throwing away the box, it's not a very big deal.

They supply a bunch of cables including a pair of very thin optical cables.

 

The Hugo itself is very hefty and well-built. It looks great in black, especially with the lights lit up.

My only gripe here would be their visual indicators. Everything goes by the color of the lights - the volume, the input selection, the cross-feed...... you are actually expected to memorize the color coding to know what is happening. Ditto for the buttons and the input jacks. Nothing is labelled, so you'd need to constantly check the manual to know what's what.

I guess this will be ok after prolonged use, but for a new user it's a bit annoying.

 

Sound quality:

Connected it to my Macbook Pro using one of the supplied cables, used Audirvana and listened to a WAV file through my cheap UE TF-10 IEMs.

At first listen, I was very puzzled - it sounded very ordinary, nothing like what so many people had described.

 

Then I remembered that I had a more "audiophile" USB cable lying around, a Gourd Audio I bought for $99.

And since the seller had given an Audioquest USB-B to Micro-B adaptor as a free gift, I swapped to the Gourd Audio USB cable to try.

And WOAH! suddenly the music came alive! This was now a totally different beast!

 

In terms of sound quality, I can safely say that my previous DAC - TEAC 501, doesn't even come close!

The Hugo makes the music very listenable, very foot-tappingly good. I've been listening to my LP12 for the past few months with my headphones, and I can say that the Hugo comes very, very close to that kind of standard. Lots of PRaT, if you will.

 

Sound quality is very detailed, it digs deep into the music and brings out nuances that I never heard previously like the echoes off the walls or the slight rasp in the singer's voice.

The sound itself is very lush, it digs deep into the bass and yet soars at the high frequencies.

But the most important thing is the lack of listening fatigue. You could listen for hours and not get tired, you just keep wanting to try track after track after track.

 

I threw all sorts of genres at it, and it never missed a beat. From the despair of Radiohead's Creep to the bouncy rhythms of Beyonce's Beautiful Liar, everything sounded very good, very accomplished.

 

Conclusion:

My conclusion: This is a great product, and destined to be among the all-time legends in audio.

Before I bought it, I held back because $2,000 to shell out for a portable DAC sounds a bit too rich for me. But having just sold off more than $10,000 of much loved hi-fi gear, I felt that I deserved a bit of comforting.

Now after listening, I think this was $2,000 very well-spent. If Chord made a balanced version and tagged it at $3,000, I'd probably bite. It's that good!

 

Only major problems I see are the too-small and too-recessed connectors. Not every cable you have will fit, especially for us audiophiles. Even my Neutrik earphone plug can't fit into the recessed space.

For the hardcore headfi crowd, they might also quibble about the lack of balanced outputs but since I don't own any balanced equipment at the moment, I'll close one eye.

 

But when it comes to sound quality, I think I've found my LP12 stand-in..... at least until I settle down and get a real setup.

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I m still trying to come to terms how could you sell off your LP12 ?  :(  ...  ;D

 

Haha bro, I'm shifting overseas in 1 week's time. It's extremely difficult to carry an LP12 there.

Believe me, I've thought long and hard about that.  ;)

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I’m looking to replace the stock USB & optical cables that came with the Hugo, with the hopes of improving the sound. The ones offered by Moon Audio look appealing but they are expensive. Are there any alternatives that you guys are already using? Thank you.

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Guest AndrewC

I'm now a proud owner of a Chord Hugo, here's some of my thoughts about this product:

...

Sound quality:

...

The Hugo makes the music very listenable, very foot-tappingly good. I've been listening to my LP12 for the past few months with my headphones, and I can say that the Hugo comes very, very close to that kind of standard. Lots of PRaT, if you will.

...

 

Nice!  :)....

 

(Welcome to the wonders of the Spartan-6 FPGA  ;D)

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  • 10 months later...


hello, a friend will be selling me his chord hugo at attractive price. I'm just wondering how much would a brand new set cost at the lowest price available here locally. thank you!

 

i think it's currently going for $2399 - this was the price @ the recent CanJam in SG.

 

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i think it's currently going for $2399 - this was the price @ the recent CanJam in SG.

 

Thank you!

 

 

Doggie >> Don't think its clear that it out performs Hugo according to different reviews, especially as a standalone DAC.

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Chord would have retired Hugo if the Mojo beats it for less than half the price. Anyway, I had a quick chat with the Chord people when they were here. Basically, Mojo is a smaller sounding Hugo. Not surprising given than the amount of filtering caps is a lot lesser in the Mojo.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Chord would have retired Hugo if the Mojo beats it for less than half the price. Anyway, I had a quick chat with the Chord people when they were here. Basically, Mojo is a smaller sounding Hugo. Not surprising given than the amount of filtering caps is a lot lesser in the Mojo.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Have a listen.

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Have a listen.

I did at the show. Couldn't really tell much diff via the cans. I think they are excellent for a headphone rig and the diff is small. On the main rig with big speakers is another ball game IMHO.

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I did have a listen and I do feel the Mojo isn't as good as the Hugo. Maybe it depends what headphones you use it with?

 

I thought the Mojo was quieter with IEMs vs the Hugo. And that translated into a more detailed and more expansive soundstage.

 

I thought there was a review where they used a good interconnect and found the DAC line out on the Mojo was better too. But can't seem to find it.

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I thought the Mojo was quieter with IEMs vs the Hugo. And that translated into a more detailed and more expansive soundstage.

 

I thought there was a review where they used a good interconnect and found the DAC line out on the Mojo was better too. But can't seem to find it.

I know that Chord tweaked the Mojo to be more efficient with IEMs but I've not tried with a set. :)

 

Do you have any thoughts on the DAVE?

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