CHORD Hugo TT2 Review (DAC & HP Amp)

[Phorize]

I agree, yes, apart from the "unevidenced" part in your point (a), but yeah, I agree with what you're saying there.

I probably ought to rephrase it as what I wrote could be interpreted as saying that there is no evidence that Rob has made unfounded claims. What I meant was that Rob has made claims such as that noise artefacts that are far outside the audible spectrum can impact on those which are audible, producing no evidence to support that. He also claims to listen to dacs as a part of the design process, I have no idea what he thinks he will hear, and surely even if listening were needed then a proper controlled test with other listeners would be appropriate.

 

[Robbo99999]

I probably ought to rephrase it as what I wrote could be interpreted as saying that there is no evidence that Rob has made unfounded claims. What I meant was that Rob has made claims such as that noise artefacts that are far outside the audible spectrum can impact on those which are audible, producing no evidence to support that. He also claims to listen to dacs as a part of the design process, I have no idea what he thinks he will hear, and surely even if listening were needed then a proper controlled test with other listeners would be appropriate.

Don't worry, no need to rephrase, we & people know the main points we're making.

 

[Robbo99999]

I probably ought to rephrase it as what I wrote could be interpreted as saying that there is no evidence that Rob has made unfounded claims. What I meant was that Rob has made claims such as that noise artefacts that are far outside the audible spectrum can impact on those which are audible, producing no evidence to support that. He also claims to listen to dacs as a part of the design process, I have no idea what he thinks he will hear, and surely even if listening were needed then a proper controlled test with other listeners would be appropriate.

(I edited one of my earlier posts, for some reason I had completely misread it: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hugo-tt2-review-dac-hp-amp.36745/post-1301207 )

 

[amirm]

And you only answer one aspect of the post. In Dutch there is a proverb that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Do you think more people will be persuaded with the vinegar as present on this forum? It is a rhetorical question and I won't pursue the topic any further as I have hope I made the issue clear enough.

We have the same expression. Read my review then read Rob Watt's reaction to it. Tell me who is using vinegar then. I praised the good that the product presents. He returned no such favor.

Look, you can't go to every audio show, give a 1 hour presentation based on objective metrics of filtering and then fantastical claims of -300 dB and then expect folks to invite you for dinner when facts don't back those up. Add the thousands of dollars that this product costs and reaction is all but certain. Nothing here is about Rob, what home he lives in, what he does on the side, etc. It is all about criticism of his work and claims about audio.

Personally I think he has done a lot of damage to understanding of audio with those talks and posts on head-fi. In that regard, he should get strong push back when reviews like mine pull back the curtain. This is doubly so when he said about my previous reviews that he had not even read them, and now ridicule my measurements and work. You can't set yourself up for harsher criticism than he has. This is a pattern we saw from Schiit founders before they retooled. And likes of Danny from GR Research. Talk big and not speak the truth and folks will react strongly.

As I have said and repeat again, members of industry need to act professionally. Nothing good ever comes out of being flippant and rude toward the reviewers. When I was in product development, there was a reviewer who wrote for PC Magazine that was completely in the pocket of our competitor and hated us with passion. Yet, I stayed polite and eventually got him to write that our product was good as well. If I had acted like these people do, that would have never happened. That British "stiff upper lip" does have merit at times and this is one of them.

Mind you, just like Schiit, if he produces truly competitive products, I will praise it regardless of history. He should act the same way.

 

[Robbo99999]

We have the same expression. Read my review then read Rob Watt's reaction to it. Tell me who is using vinegar then. I praised the good that the product presents. He returned no such favor.

Look, you can't go to every audio show, give a 1 hour presentation based on objective metrics of filtering and then fantastical claims of -300 dB and then expect folks to invite you for dinner when facts don't back those up. Add the thousands of dollars that this product costs and reaction is all but certain. Nothing here is about Rob, what home he lives in, what he does on the side, etc. It is all about criticism of his work and claims about audio.

Personally I think he has done a lot of damage to understanding of audio with those talks and posts on head-fi. In that regard, he should get strong push back when reviews like mine pull back the curtain. This is doubly so when he said about my previous reviews that he had not even read them, and now ridicule my measurements and work. You can't set yourself up for harsher criticism than he has. This is a pattern we saw from Schiit founders before they retooled. And likes of Danny from GR Research. Talk big and not speak the truth and folks will react strongly.

As I have said and repeat again, members of industry need to act professionally. Nothing good ever comes out of being flippant and rude toward the reviewers. When I was in product development, there was a reviewer who wrote for PC Magazine that was completely in the pocket of our competitor and hated us with passion. Yet, I stayed polite and eventually got him to write that our product was good as well. If I had acted like these people do, that would have never happened. That British "stiff upper lip" does have merit at times and this is one of them.

Mind you, just like Schiit, if he produces truly competitive products, I will praise it regardless of history. He should act the same way.

In my view it's less about what you've done, and more what other people have written in this thread when "going over the top" to support your conclusions which has morphed towards name calling & more personalised attacks. You may have added a Like or two to a few of those more "over the top" posts, (not sure). I just don't think it should go too extreme as it reflects badly over at Headfi or with any other people that might benefit from interacting with ASR more in terms of them "seeing the light" (lol) and understanding the benefit of what you do here & what we support & get involved with. It's more about the escalation that has happened in this thread at times, rather than your review, for sure.

 

[Jimbob54]

More than enough handwringing in this thread.

The tiny violins that only Watts can hear playing for him are deafening the poor guy now.

 

[Robbo99999]

More than enough handwringing in this thread.

The tiny violins that only Watts can hear singing for him are deafening the poor guy now.

Ha, that is funny, I'll give you that (as I did actually laugh out loud), even though I think it's fine that me & some others raised these concerns/thoughts!

 

[Geert]

In my view it's less about what you've done, and more what other people have written in this thread when "going over the top" to support your conclusions which has morphed towards name calling & more personalized attacks.

That indeed seems to be the issue, and I also don't like it. But whoever thinks it's worse on this forum then somewhere else needs to get his head checked.

 

[Phorize]

In my view it's less about what you've done, and more what other people have written in this thread when "going over the top" to support your conclusions which has morphed towards name calling & more personalised attacks. You may have added a Like or two to a few of those more "over the top" posts, (not sure). I just don't think it should go too extreme as it reflects badly over at Headfi or with any other people that might benefit from interacting with ASR more in terms of them "seeing the light" (lol) and understanding the benefit of what you do here & what we support & get involved with. It's more about the escalation that has happened in this thread at times, rather than your review, for sure.

Yep, there are a couple of ugly posts, mainly by members with very little activity. Strikes me that this sort of thing is still very much an exception here though. It's genuinely hard to moderate so much activity. It may be that a bit more active moderation of genuinely personal stuff could help.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I wouldn’t go that far. The Chord TT2 does have some exemplary measurements and their FIR filter, although heroically over-engineered, had a lot of thought and development go into it. But as you indicated, the problem with the product is you have a mix of great, good, and so-so performance wrapped in an ugly, confusing skin that is 20x the price of products that outperform it in most respects.

 

[Lupin]

The Chord TT2 does have some exemplary measurements and their FIR filter, although heroically over-engineered, had a lot of thought and development go into it.

As a DAC it is not that terrible.
My problem with this DAC, or about any other Chord product, is that Chord/Rob is trying so hard to justify the astronomical pricetag with all kinds of audiophile snake oil mumbo jumbo. None of which can even be remotely verified by any scientific research or tests.

 

[srkbear]

I think we should lay off the personal attacks against the designers of these or any audio gear. I've never really looked at Head-Fi, but I was reading in their forum just now after one of you dropped a link to them....it's true it doesn't look good if we abuse the product designers personally. We're not all doing that, but it can start evolving into that direction as one post builds upon another. We already know what we need to know about the DAC from the review, it measures fine/good but costs a bomb. People can be pleased that there are less costly, equal or better measuring gear out there.

I didn’t disparage Watts on Head-Fi—in fact I challenged him on his efforts to disparage this site actually, in disingenuous and spurious terms. He called ASR “click-bait”, which is not only inaccurate, but is also astonishingly hypocritical to declare on an industry-funded site like Head-Fi.

I also called him out for encouraging his considerable audience of high-paying customers to ignore any valid criticisms of his products. Given that he does not offer any transparency—he neither produces his own legitimate measurements of his gear nor offers any convincing responses to independent reviews—he has no basis to claim that his authority on these technical and design matters outrank the credentials of his detractors.

My experience with this site suggests that both objectivity and an absence of conflicts of interest are fundamental to its mission. I’ve supported ASR for some very self-serving reasons—the reviews on here have had a significant impact on my budget, and have helped me put together a very enjoyable audio system with a level of confidence I might not have found elsewhere. I’ve also been manipulated and ripped off by the industry charlatans Rob Watts represents in the past, and I have valid reasons for resenting brands like Chord.

I’m not sure what your motives were in calling for decorum and pandering to these profit-seeking brand mouthpieces like Rob Watts, who unlike other honest engineers like John Yang and Dan Clark has not brought his products here for review free of charge, nor has he withheld retributions for honest criticisms. But to me, your response to my post comes across a bit like a facile opportunity for virtue signaling at my expense, no offense. I would agree with you if we were talking about a “designer” with some semblance of integrity informing his work, but not with Watts, Paul McGowan or similar engineers who also profit considerably through felonious markups.

 

[srkbear]

Yep I agree with you, IMO this is happening too often and it's:

a) not nice (imagine someone you cared about being called a crook online for talking about objectively baseless but probably sincerely held views on dac design audibility) and,

b) highly counter productive; what a gift it must be to someone who wants to dismiss rational criticism to be able to point at a post personally attacking Rob Watts and say 'they are medievals with measurements'.

Sadly the folks who liked your post here are primarily the folks who have been defending Watts and apparently missed what you did here

 

[Robbo99999]

I didn’t disparage Watts on Head-Fi—in fact I challenged him on his efforts to disparage this site actually, in disingenuous and spurious terms. He called ASR “click-bait”, which is not only inaccurate, but is also astonishingly hypocritical to declare on an industry-funded site like Head-Fi.

I also called him out for encouraging his considerable audience of high-paying customers to ignore any valid criticisms of his products. Given that he does not offer any transparency—he neither produces his own legitimate measurements of his gear nor offers any convincing responses to independent reviews—he has no basis to claim that his authority on these technical and design matters outrank the credentials of his detractors.

My experience with this site suggests that both objectivity and an absence of conflicts of interest are fundamental to its mission. I’ve supported ASR for some very self-serving reasons—the reviews on here have had a significant impact on my budget, and have helped me put together a very enjoyable audio system with a level of confidence I might not have found elsewhere. I’ve also been manipulated and ripped off by the industry charlatans Rob Watts represents in the past, and I have valid reasons for resenting brands like Chord.

I’m not sure what your motives were in calling for decorum and pandering to these profit-seeking brand mouthpieces like Rob Watts, who unlike other honest engineers like John Yang and Dan Clark has not brought his products here for review free of charge, nor has he withheld retributions for honest criticisms. But to me, your response to my post comes across a bit like a facile opportunity for virtue signaling at my expense, no offense. I would agree with you if we were talking about a “designer” with some semblance of integrity informing his work, but not with Watts, Paul McGowan or similar engineers who also profit considerably through felonious markups.

I wasn't referring to any of your posts necessarily, and I wasn't talking about posts on Head-Fi. I was just referring to the escalation of the posts here on ASR where some of them have been more veering on personal attacks against the designer. So, yes, I certainly wasn't singling you out, as I don't remember the particular users who I thought were leaning toward the personal attack side, I don't think I payed attention to which individuals were doing it anyway - instead it was just a general observation I made of the trends in this thread.

 

[amirm]

I was just referring to the escalation of the posts here on ASR where some of them have been more veering on personal attacks against the designer.

You keep saying this. What is "personal" about the comments here? Did folks talk about his family life? Where he lives? What car he drives? What?

 

[Axo1989]

You keep saying this. What is "personal" about the comments here? Did folks talk about his family life? Where he lives? What car he drives? What?

That looks a bit disingenuous. I'd categorise it like this (using some words from this thread):

Not personal:

"You've made extraordinary claims about your product for which I can't see any convincing evidence so I don't believe them"

Personal:

"You are a crook and a charlatan."

Note also that true/false is orthogonal to personal/not personal.

 

[PcChip]

I have dozens of amps and DACs, and the XLR taps on the Chord TT2 are by far and away my favorite source to drive Meze Elites - it's no comparison to anything else for this headphone

 

[JSmith]

my favorite source

That's fantastic... may I ask why and what is the rationale?


JSmith

 

[srkbear]

I wasn't referring to any of your posts necessarily, and I wasn't talking about posts on Head-Fi. I was just referring to the escalation of the posts here on ASR where some of them have been more veering on personal attacks against the designer. So, yes, I certainly wasn't singling you out, as I don't remember the particular users who I thought were leaning toward the personal attack side, I don't think I payed attention to which individuals were doing it anyway - instead it was just a general observation I made of the trends in this thread.

Really, you weren’t referring to me specifically? I was the one who “dropped the link to head-fi” that you highlighted as the impetus for your objection in the first place—the part where you said that it “doesn’t look good if we abuse the product designers personally”. I think I reasonably took that as an implication that I was sullying the optics of ASR.

I don’t know who the “we” was you were referring to exactly. However, I usually take that royal “we” as a pronoun of condescension one uses when scolding someone else’s allegedly inappropriate behavior.

The problem is that I didn’t abuse him, nor did I get personal—I challenged his own inappropriate behavior, that included wrongly disparaging and delegitimizing this site. So without belaboring this issue excessively, I’d just like to ask you to consider whom you were defending with you post, and why. Your post’s tone seemed to be in defense of this site’s reputation, but your methods seemed to have served the opposite. Perhaps you’re not aware that Watts has taken every opportunity to downright trash the integrity of this site in front of massive audiences, and he’s in a position of considerable power and influence. Just sayin’…

PS Full disclosure, I did call Watts a crook and a charlatan—not on Head-Fi, on here. And it was in no way abuse—it was a reaction to his abuse…of my wallet.

 

[PcChip]

That's fantastic... may I ask why and what is the rationale?


JSmith

why? because this combo just sounds the best. It's sharp and clear without being fatiguing, has the nice chord sound, and tons of power so dynamics are insane