Review and Measurements of the Chord Hugo 1 DAC & HP Amp

[BDWoody]

The difference between Chord and companies like PS and TotalDAC is that behind the asinine ramblings and snake oil feeding tendencies of Watts, Chord are actually technically very accomplished and know what they are doing. Crazily expensive IMO and not worth it but if you are going to dabble in expensive gear then at least Chord stuff tends to be well designed.

Agreed on Chord. They don't make Schiit. Auralic seems to be in that category of high price but high performance as well.

I'd like to see one of their newer models tested.

 

[typericey]

Thanks Amir.

Maybe if there's a really good deal on a used one, then yes.

Those who already have one now have a reason to keep it (and sleep a little better at night).

Curious if you can eke out a bit more performance out of it at 2V.

 

[amirm]

I have heard horror stories on batteries going bad and Chord charging a lot to replace them. So be careful with used or old ones. Spec says "custom" Lithium-Ion battery.

 

[Blumlein 88]

@amirm, what's going on at 24kHz in the white-noise FFT?

Yes, a good question. Would be nice to know if its possible to find out.

 

[Jimster480]

While the performance of this is quite good, I don't think that it offers any real perceivable difference in performance vs an NX4 DSD which is ~140.

 

[JJB70]

While the performance of this is quite good, I don't think that it offers any real perceivable difference in performance vs an NX4 DSD which is ~140.

Indeed, you really don't have to spend much at all to get an audibly transparent DAC and headphone amplifier. Many devices have perfectly acceptable on-board DACs, the Apple dongle offers excellent performance for $9, and for headphone amplifiers the JDS Atom offers brilliant performance for $100. We live in great times if you just want access to great SQ.

 

[Frank Dernie]

The machined from solid case and fancy lights are probably a significant part of the cost.
I have one but stopped using it when I found my phone was powerful enough.
I tried it in my main system and, as one might expect, it sounded the same as the others I tried.
It was pretty well the only portable amp/dac available here at any price when I bought mine.

Edit
I rather like the colour of the lights changing with volume and sampling rate the volume control and "porthole" fwiw

 

[ShiZo]

Do you think they'll ever include xlr outputs for speakers and headphones?

 

[Frank Dernie]

Do you think they'll ever include xlr outputs for speakers and headphones?

Probably not since this is made for portable use.
The desktop version has xlr line outputs as well as rca. The headphone jacks are 2x ¼" and 3.5mm.

 

[LLL]

This is a great example of the Brand Value. Just like a Birkin bag, is there any handbag out there that you think really worth over 5-figure? No.

You pay = Utility value + Brand value...

At least Chord doesn't engineer crap.

 

[LuckyLuke575]

I tested a Hugo 2 a while back but it was with my old analyzer. So a member kindly sent me an original Hugo DAC and headphone amplifier to remeasure. I wa shocked to find out that the Hugo cost US $2,500 when it came out!!! Man that is expensive for a portable DAC and Amp.

Here is a shot of it if you have not seen it:

View attachment 35678​

I can't stand the lights you have to have a decoder ring to decipher. The tiny power slider. General lack of labeling, etc.

For this testing, I took advantage of putting the RCA out at fixed level so there is no complaints about using volume control. Speaking of volume control, the rotary plastic knob is super stiff to turn. Not sure if they degrade to this or came this way. Definitely does not feel good. But I guess if you put it in your pocket it won't change on its own easily.

Anyway, the purpose is the measurements so let's get into that.

DAC Audio Measurements
I tested the DAC portion by feeding the Hugo using USB and measuring what came out of the RCA jacks using fixed line out mode:

View attachment 35682

As you see, the Hugo outputs that oddball 3 volt. It is not a bad thing but is more than nominal 2 volt we expect. Performance may be better at 2 volt but as it is, the SINAD (signal over noise and distortion) is quite good for a portable product at 109 dB:

View attachment 35683

Jitter performance was likewise good other than a couple of inconsequential spikes:

View attachment 35684

Chord's claim to fame are very large tap filters. We can see their response by feeding the DAC white noise and see what comes out after fair bit of averaging:

View attachment 35685

I like the super sharp cut off at required bandwidth (22.05 kHz). There is some relaxing after a while which should be fine. Certainly better than a lot of DACs which take their time to get to 24 kHz and beyond.

Linearity was perfect:
View attachment 35686

IMD results show a bit higher noise level than our reference but otherwise is good:

View attachment 35687

Dynamic range is very good as well:
View attachment 35688

Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
Let's start with signal to noise ratio at full output level (which clipped horribly) and just 50 millivolts:
View attachment 35689

Full range is fine but 50 millivolt is not that great:
View attachment 35690

There is likely some hiss with sensitive IEMs.

Most important here is THD+N versus power. Let's start with 300 ohm load:
View attachment 35691

Was surprised that at the high gain of the amplifier causing the graph to start pretty late. My testing is at full volume though so in practice, you can reduce the level and be fine.

Power is good at 65 milliwatts. Certainly a lot better than a phone or dongle.

Switching to 33 ohm we get:
View attachment 35692

Noise floor+distortion rise fair bit now. But we still have plenty of power for a portable product at nearly 0.4 watts.

Output impedance is quite low and hence good:
View attachment 35693

Conclusions
Typical of Chord products, even the version one of Hugo is competently designed, approaching performance of desktop DACs. As noted though, I can't stand their user interface, the looks, or the sky high price. So can't recommend it personally but you have the data to use as you see fit.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Amir

$2500 for this???? Bring out the smelling salts...

Whenever I see pics of these units posted on forums, it always feels like people trying to show off. I guess it's positioned like luxury item or something.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

If Chord would just add standard XLR (instead of BCA), and list the device at $999 as an all in one, portable. The dap market would be dead. The Hugo 2 and Hugo 1 both sound great, but the price is just ridiculous.

 

[maxxevv]

That's why they have the Mojo.
Its targetted at that market.

 

[Music1969]

At least Chord doesn't engineer crap.

Well the design engineer for their current model DACs is Rob Watts. So I would say Rob Watts doesn't engineer crap.

Would be interesting to see how Chord's non-Rob Watts products measure, like their amps. They are super expensive though.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I tested a Hugo 2 a while back but it was with my old analyzer. So a member kindly sent me an original Hugo DAC and headphone amplifier to remeasure. I wa shocked to find out that the Hugo cost US $2,500 when it came out!!! Man that is expensive for a portable DAC and Amp.

Conclusions
Typical of Chord products, even the version one of Hugo is competently designed, approaching performance of desktop DACs. As noted though, I can't stand their user interface, the looks, or the sky high price. So can't recommend it personally but you have the data to use as you see fit.

Amir

I'm sorry, Amir, but your conclusion is really inconsistent. You have recommended other products with high prices and barely adequate performance. The Hugo was expensive but its performance is much more than adequate, and was there another product as good or better for the money in 2014?. I feel you have let your dislike of its styling and interface, which some welcome as a relief from the boring "me too" mainstream, overcome your normally objective judgement.

 

[AudioSceptic]

If Chord would just add standard XLR (instead of BCA), and list the device at $999 as an all in one, portable. The dap market would be dead. The Hugo 2 and Hugo 1 both sound great, but the price is just ridiculous.

By "all in one" you mean with storage as well? Without that it's not a DAP. But Amir wouldn't like it even at $500...

 

[Veri]

I'm sorry, Amir, but your conclusion is really inconsistent. You have recommended other products with high prices and barely adequate performance. The Hugo was expensive but its performance is much more than adequate, and was there another product as good or better for the money in 2014?

It's 2019. Recommendations are for present use or purchase.

 

[AudioSceptic]

It's 2019. Recommendations are for present use or purchase.

Is it still available new? It's been replaced by the Hugo 2, so its value should be judged as a used item.

In any case, in other reviews Amir has ignored the price of expensive (overpriced?) products and still recommended them because they performed merely adequately.

 

[JJB70]

This is a luxury item, it exists in that segment where desirability and willingness to buy are not necessarily a function of performance. Nobody needs to reach the level of measured performance delivered by companies like Chord and Benchmark or the luxury build of companies like Accuphase or Luxman or the style and image of Macintosh etc. However people may very well want these things and if they are willing and able to pay for them then I can think of sillier ways to spend money. I am not into a lot of this stuff but there are high end audio goods I would be happy to buy, such as Accuphase or Benchmark. I would not be buying them for SQ but for other entirely subjective and personal reasons. If you want great SQ, especially from a DAC and headphone amplifier you can get tremendous sound for peanuts.
However if sound is a factor in reviews then I think we have to be consistent. No way is the price of this items justified by the SQ but I would argue that is equally true of all other high end DACs and headphone amps, including Benchmark, Violectric, Matrix etc. If viewed as a luxury good then the criteria changes. People don't buy IWC or Breguet watches just to tell the time.

 

[ShiZo]

Yeah amir is being disingenuous @AudioSceptic. Paying $10,000 (dave) instead of $1,000 (rme adi 2 dac) for a comparable dac is totally worth it.