Hello everyone!! New member obviously, came from the Hugo 2 thread from HF. Just wanted to join the discussion. I consider myself a music lover, an extremely unskilled and limited audiophile, and a lover of electronics.
I've yet to hear the Hugo 2, but own a mojo. Never heard the OG Hugo either.
I do like the Mojo, sounds good, pretty much like a lot of things I hear. I don't have measurements to add, and a lot of the stuff I see is way over my head.
As someone that recently joined the insanity of the higher end audio world, about 3 years back, I've spent a lot of time, money, and effort to learn a whole lot.
My most important lesson was that of the hype. I've purchased a lot of gear, researched it to the best of my abilities, and although not been disappointed in my purchases, have not been able to hear a lot of what others do. I did love my mojo after a few days, I honestly believed it was better than most things I had heard at the time.
Fast forward to today, where life has kept me from being overly involved with HF, and unfortunately with a lot of my audio toys, and I have a new perspective on things.
For the last couple of weeks, I've done a lot of listening again, lots of a/b testing and have realized how much of an impact some of the audio forums have had on me and what I hear, or thought I've heard. Prime example was earlier today, I was using my HD650'S, which I happen to really enjoy, and was using them straight from my Sony 1z, then with my ALO CDM. I really had to struggle to hear the differences between them, and tbh, it was some of the biggest differences I've heard.
Prior to that, I've been messing around with my mojo, 1z, Cowon S, cayin C5, headstage arrow 5, dx200, and some of my iems. I'd be lying to say if I heard much difference between any of them (minus the iems and headphones) especially if I turned my eq off in the source. The exception being the Ibasso dx200 which I think I can hear the most difference from, not saying good or bad. Flipping between mojo and all these sources, I'd be lying if I said I could hear a difference.
I know chord products are well made, I like their look for some reason, and will have a demo of the Hugo 2. I am fairly certain that I won't hear much of a difference, especially when volume matched.
I'm glad to be a member here, from what I've read, it seems like this place is based on some rational thinking, which I prefer. A blend of measurements and reality.
There are a few things that irk me on the Hugo thread, and chord threads in general, the rabid fan base and the hypocrisy that pops up from time to time with their fans/customers.
I've spent the last two weeks or so reading through the Hugo 2 thread on HF, and saw enough of that nonsense. Really drives me crazy that people can not mention the shortcomings of a Chord product without being maligned by someone there.
I found it quite amusing on one hand, how well chord products measured (with their tests) and how adding an amp is sacrilege due to the added distortion from the additional amp, while a good portion of those people never even tried it. They regurgitate what Rob Watts said about the added distortion, without even listening to it. Then those same people, claim how great Hugo 2 is, due to the posted tests, how much better it is than almost everything else.
Then, when this thread was linked, how immediately it was said that people need to listen to the Hugo 2 before passing judgment...how this was invalidated immediately because the Hugo 2 was not listened to by Amir.
Found that quite amusing. There were a couple of video reviews posted as well, and one or two of them were less than 100% complimentary and immediately dismissed and not taken seriously. One of the videos, which was rather long, about 40 minutes IIRC, the first 20 was spent discussing some of the shortcomings of Hugo 2, while the rest was praising the device, over all the reviewer gave it a very positive review. Unfortunately, the review was honest or appeared to be, but didn't say the Hugo was perfect, therefore, bad review.
Sorry for my rambling on and on, just frustrated from that thread. I know measurements are excellent guidelines, and listening is obviously important. Together, you should be able to educate yourself enough to make some smart purchases...
As far as magazine awards, well, suffice it to say that would never influence my purchase decision.
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to reading and learning more while I'm here.
Oh, and don't get me started on cables, high resolution audio, etc... I'm too busy burning in my $2500 iem cables to discuss how much of an impact those things will have on your audio experience.
Last thing, I know it was mentioned but the tap numbers and impedance numbers are off. Hugo 2 has 49,xxx taps, and it's OI is supposed to be much lower, .025 I believe. I think that should be fixed in the op as to not give a bad impression with wrong numbers or information.