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Chord Hugo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 77 25.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 111 37.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 87 29.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 25 8.3%

  • Total voters
    300

Ken Tajalli

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Where are these people hiding?
They could be hiding among those who vote on a device in reviews.
Specially those who have never seen nor examined it.
Look there, but beware there maybe reflections there!
;)
 

greg88rx

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Could someone help interpret these results? Where is the sweet spot (range) with the volume control wheel on Hugo 2? My Hugo 2 is in use as a preamp via RCA cables into my power amp then into my speakers. These graphs seem to show an optimal voltage range. I don't have a practical way to measure the output voltage, but is there a way to convert that approximately to the colors on the volume control wheel on the Hugo 2?

Secondly, and maybe slightly off topic, my power amp has three levels of gain adjustment (high, med, low). Based on the answer to the previous question after getting the Hugo 2 output in the ideal range I intuitively expect that I would then adjust the gain toggle to a general desired listening level and leave that gain parked while fine tuning the volume on my Hugo 2. Am I thinking correctly about this?
 

staticV3

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Where is the sweet spot (range) with the volume control wheel on Hugo 2? These graphs seem to show an optimal voltage range. I don't have a practical way to measure the output voltage
You can measure the output voltage with a $10 multimeter. Very handy for all things audio.
 

Ken Tajalli

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Could someone help interpret these results? Where is the sweet spot (range) with the volume control wheel on Hugo 2? My Hugo 2 is in use as a preamp via RCA cables into my power amp then into my speakers. These graphs seem to show an optimal voltage range. I don't have a practical way to measure the output voltage, but is there a way to convert that approximately to the colors on the volume control wheel on the Hugo 2?

Secondly, and maybe slightly off topic, my power amp has three levels of gain adjustment (high, med, low). Based on the answer to the previous question after getting the Hugo 2 output in the ideal range I intuitively expect that I would then adjust the gain toggle to a general desired listening level and leave that gain parked while fine tuning the volume on my Hugo 2. Am I thinking correctly about this?
Depends on your poweramp.
Hugo2 can output almost 5V, that's almost +8dB compared to a standard DAC output.
Simple test is, put it on green volume level, play something, the sound volume from speakers should be lowish, like night time listening, if it is not, switch your poweramp input sensitivity, to achieve that.
measuring the output with a voltmeter , gets you nowhere.
The sensitivity of your speakers, max. power of your amps, average level of a particular recording, all and all contribute to your dilemma .
Just use the commonsense approach above, and you are golden.
 
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JSmith

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Can someone tell which OPs are used in the Hugo 2?
Chord designed the Hugo 2 without any traditional amping stage (opamp, buffer, gain, etc).

The analogue section is just a single stage amp, coupled via individual resistors...


JSmith
 

Alex333

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Ok, thanks! I need some OPs which can drive my Hedd Audio Headphones. Really hard to find something…
 

Keith_W

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Ok, thanks! I need some OPs which can drive my Hedd Audio Headphones. Really hard to find something…

I don't think there is a portable amp in the world that can drive your Hedd Audio headphones. I already have trouble finding an amp that can drive my Dan Clark Stealths, and they are nowhere near as insensitive as your Hedd's. If you find one, let us know!
 

staticV3

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Ok, thanks! I need some OPs which can drive my Hedd Audio Headphones. Really hard to find something...
I don't think there is a portable amp in the world that can drive your Hedd Audio headphones.
Here is the HEDDphone's sensitivity and impedance according to different testers:
Screenshot_20230809-105701_Sheets.png


Using my listening volume as an example (80dB SPL Peak), the HEDD would need about 0.1Vrms at 43Ω or 0.23mW
That is $9 Apple dongle territory.

@prodby430 if you tell me what Peak SPL you want/need, then I can name you some Amps that can hit that, portable or not.
 

Ken Tajalli

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Using my listening volume as an example (80dB SPL Peak), the HEDD would need about 0.1Vrms at 43Ω or 0.23mW
That is $9 Apple dongle territo
On paper!
At an exhibition , i did try the Hedd with my own Hugo2 , at full volume, you could listen to it at a low to meh volume.
Forget about Apple dongle.
 
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amirm

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That was my experience with HEDD as well when I reviewed it:

Note that the headphone is quite inefficient requiring nearly 0.6 volts to produce 94 dBSPL at 425 Hz. Due to sharply declining bass response, you need to crank it up much more than this to get decent sub bass response.

Sensitivity ratings for headphones is at a single frequency so you can't generalize it too much.
 

staticV3

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Sensitivity ratings for headphones is at a single frequency so you can't generalize it too much.
They're easily coupled with frequency response to give sensitivity info across the entire spectrum.
 

Alex333

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My initial plan was to find an studio interface which can drive the hedds with full potential and just to replace the OPs in my mobile setup because I don’t want any latency.
 
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amirm

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They're easily coupled with frequency response to give sensitivity info across the entire spectrum.
Yeh but that is not a single value anymore. You have to find that value for bass frequencies where you need most power. And if the headphone drops way off in that region, then you need much more power as I indicated.
 

Ken Tajalli

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My initial plan was to find an studio interface which can drive the hedds with full potential and just to replace the OPs in my mobile setup because I don’t want any latency.
With Hugo2 you get latency!
look elsewhere .
 

Alex333

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@Ken Tajalli I know and since this is a no go for my studio setup it would be great to know which interface can drive the hedd headphones with full potential.
As soon as I know it, I would check the pcb to find out which OP was used and swap the original one from my interface with those which are capable to handle them.
 

Ken Tajalli

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From this review, Amir states:

1695480070320.png


Recently on Headfi, Rob Watts on a non-related reply to a different-equipment/issue said:

1695480493642.png


Now, if you own a Hugo2, do a listening test, to see if you can hear a change!
But please, if you do own it, and you do try.
Why?
Because from Amir's measurements, don't need to be a genius to assume that there would be no change, so don't just assume by glancing at the chart.
 
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