Chord Hugo TT2 DAC Review (video)

[amirm]

Video review of my recently reviewed Chord Hugo TT2 DAC:

Not much new information although you get my nuances of how I feel about the product and its performance.

 

[amirm]

BTW, due to a bug in my capture software, occasionally the beginning of the video is missing an I-frame causing corruption of the video stream. When youtube transcodes it, it partially fixes it with an i-frame from later in the video. This causes a static video until it hits the actual time for that borrowed i-frame.

Since I don't edit my videos, I have no way of fixing it short of a reshoot. So sorry about that.

 

[lc6]

An excellent review, @amirm . I do not believe you mentioned the external SMPS. Do you consider the lack of a built-in power supply acceptable or even desirable in a device like that and at this price level? Also, the power consumption -- the SMPS is rated at 15 V / 4 A, which makes it 60 W. That seems be pretty high for a DAC + headphone amp. Does the unit get hot when normally operated and especially under test with lower-impedance loads?

 

[Lambda]

or even desirable in a device like that and at this price level?

I consider it desirable.

1. the power supply can be made by an external supplyer, it can proven, tested and certified save design.
this saves money and makes it saver.
(I wold not trust Mains power going most cheap DACs)

2. The power supply is the component most likely to fail first and can be easily replaced.

3. I don't want noisy AC cables close to my signal cables.

 

[amirm]

An excellent review, @amirm . I do not believe you mentioned the external SMPS. Do you consider the lack of a built-in power supply acceptable or even desirable in a device like that and at this price level?

For me it is not acceptable at all. For anything more than a few hundred dollars, power supply must be built-in. It also looks cheap with the external power supply.

And yes, this thing is power hungry. I am sure it uses good many watts just sitting there. When I pull out the headphone plug, it actually feels warm to the touch!

 

[amirm]

I consider it desirable.

1. the power supply can be made by an external supplyer, it can proven, tested and certified save design.
this saves money and makes it saver.
(I wold not trust Mains power going most cheap DACs)

2. The power supply is the component most likely to fail first and can be easily replaced.

3. I don't want noisy AC cables close to my signal cables.

In this case you may want to revisit. I was warned that if you plug-in the power supply first before connecting the DC cable to TT2, it blows up an internal current limiter in the DAC! It then has to be shipped back to them for repair. An owner went through this twice.

Note that for internal use, they can buy an off-the-shelf power supply as well.

 

[GXAlan]

In this case you may want to revisit. I was warned that if you plug-in the power supply first before connecting the DC cable to TT2, it blows up an internal current limiter in the DAC! It then has to be shipped back to them for repair. An owner went through this twice.

Note that for internal use, they can buy an off-the-shelf power supply as well.

Wait -- I would change my vote for the product then. Simple reliability against these types of accidental errors should be priority #1.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

If you're in your 70's, have some real money and buy this, better never let your kids find out what you paid for it or you could find yourself in a financial conservatorship.

 

[Lukino]

Thanks for the summary video. It confirmed that this product has potential, but it needs more modern outputs, simplification, and at the same time they would bring out even more potential. It seems to me that the author did not want to use engineering thinking at the end. Thanks again for your diligent hard work Amir.

 

[Endibol]

Video review of my recently reviewed Chord Hugo TT2 DAC:

Not much new information although you get my nuances of how I feel about the product and its performance.

@amirm Interesting review where you show the steep reconstruction filter. To be honest, I am a bit confused lately. Why do we (still) need steep reconstruction filters when modern DAC's do internal upsampling? Doesn't this mean that there is a wide space between the audio images so that less steep filters can be used?
Could you perhaps in future do a tutorial or a powerpoint on modern ADC-DAC processes? Would be great, at least for me.. Thanks

 

[rollmottle]

You can get top-tier professional conversion -- the same ones mastering engineers use --- for LESS money than this and get more features, better performance, better usability, better appearance (IMO), etc. Why would anybody buy this?

 

[amirm]

You can get top-tier professional conversion -- the same ones mastering engineers use --- for LESS money than this and get more features, better performance, better usability, better appearance (IMO), etc. Why would anybody buy this?

Simplest way to answer that is this. I watched another youtuber gush over this and say it is better than Topping A90. I then see a comment from someone saying they were debating the two and bought the TT2. This is why I do these reviews. Something has to bring the reality to youtube channel.

 

[amirm]

@amirm Interesting review where you show the steep reconstruction filter. To be honest, I am a bit confused lately. Why do we (still) need steep reconstruction filters when modern DAC's do internal upsampling? Doesn't this mean that there is a wide space between the audio images so that less steep filters can be used?
Could you perhaps in future do a tutorial or a powerpoint on modern ADC-DAC processes? Would be great, at least for me.. Thanks

Good question. Upsampling trades analog filtering for digital. Yes, by upsampling, the analog filter requirements become very easy. A gentle filter works well since the new Nyquist limit is much higher in frequency.

The digital upsampling needs to cut off the out of band spectrum (i.e. what is out of half the sample rate) in the process of creating the new samples. Without this, you spread all of that out of band energy across the new spectrum and wind up with no filtering to speak of.

The idea here is that digital filtering/interpolation can be done using digital process which is far more feasible to do so on chip. And that is what we have.

That interpolation filter can have programmable parameters and that is what we see in DACs.

 

[brandall10]

And yes, this thing is power hungry. I am sure it uses good many watts just sitting there.

Welp, it was designed by "Rob Watts", so apropos?

 

[Ler0ck]

Best Chord so far is Qutest.

 

[Endibol]

Good question. Upsampling trades analog filtering for digital. Yes, by upsampling, the analog filter requirements become very easy. A gentle filter works well since the new Nyquist limit is much higher in frequency.

The digital upsampling needs to cut off the out of band spectrum (i.e. what is out of half the sample rate) in the process of creating the new samples. Without this, you spread all of that out of band energy across the new spectrum and wind up with no filtering to speak of.

The idea here is that digital filtering/interpolation can be done using digital process which is far more feasible to do so on chip. And that is what we have.

That interpolation filter can have programmable parameters and that is what we see in DACs.

@amirm Do I understand correctly that the process of interpolation creates "new" out of band content close to the 22 kHz so that a steep digital filter needs to be applied?
If so, what's the origin of this phenomenon (interpolation creating undesired spectral content)? Do you know a good text book describing this?

 

[Bogda]

If you're in your 70's, have some real money and buy this, better never let your kids find out what you paid for it or you could find yourself in a financial conservatorship.

I doubt any 70 year old person would buy a product with this design (or any Chord DAC designs).

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I doubt any 70 year old person would buy a product with this design (or any Chord DAC designs).

Now, now! I may well have been 70 plus at the time of the Hugo 1. Mid 70s for the Qutest!

 

[Bogda]

Now, now! I may well have been 70 plus at the time of the Hugo 1. Mid 70s for the Qutest!

Sorry, I am almost 50 and Chord DAC designs are already too funky for me.

 

[TabCam]

BTW, due to a bug in my capture software, occasionally the beginning of the video is missing an I-frame causing corruption of the video stream. When youtube transcodes it, it partially fixes it with an i-frame from later in the video. This causes a static video until it hits the actual time for that borrowed i-frame.

Since I don't edit my videos, I have no way of fixing it short of a reshoot. So sorry about that.

I also did recordings in one take but I always try to start recording a little early and until a little later than the end. That way you can trim the ends which doesn't require a full fledged editing suite and works very fast. Quicktime can do it easily on MacOS and the photos app from windows 10 on.