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

[JJB70]

One thing you couldn't accuse Chord of is just following the herd with unimaginative industrial design. People might not like it but they do it their own way, for better or worse.

On the Mojo, two things put me off. One is the battery issue, the other is it just doesn't seem to be especially well designed if you want to use it as a mobile device with the output from a smartphone, a regular flat and thin rectangle seems much more sensible. On the other hand it is also a competently designed device and for a product from a brand which usually inhabits the high end it is not especially expensive (although it is expensive alongside other lower price point supplier offerings).

 

[Jimster480]

One thing you couldn't accuse Chord of is just following the herd with unimaginative industrial design. People might not like it but they do it their own way, for better or worse.

On the Mojo, two things put me off. One is the battery issue, the other is it just doesn't seem to be especially well designed if you want to use it as a mobile device with the output from a smartphone, a regular flat and thin rectangle seems much more sensible. On the other hand it is also a competently designed device and for a product from a brand which usually inhabits the high end it is not especially expensive (although it is expensive alongside other lower price point supplier offerings).

Its quite expensive for what it is.... I mean its literally easily 4-6x the price of competing devices while at the same time not offering any good performance.

 

[JJB70]

Its quite expensive for what it is.... I mean its literally easily 4-6x the price of competing devices while at the same time not offering any good performance.

I guess a lot depends on local pricing. At the moment the Mojo is £299 here, that's not cheap but looking around it is pretty competitive with alternative offerings sold via a UK dealer network and not that much more than we pay for a JDS O2/ODAC for example. I could buy Topping or other Chinese products but they're hard to find from local sellers and by the time I pay international shipping and 20% VAT plus customs charge if buying from outside Europe I suspect I wouldn't save that much. To be honest I don't see the point of these products as I find onboard DACs to be satisfactory with no real improvement if buying a separate DAC and I think the JDS Atom does all I need from a headphone amp for a third of the price. However, if I did want a DAC/headphone amp then £299 doesn't seem excessive given it comes from a pretty high end manufacturer.

 

[Jimster480]

I guess a lot depends on local pricing. At the moment the Mojo is £299 here, that's not cheap but looking around it is pretty competitive with alternative offerings sold via a UK dealer network and not that much more than we pay for a JDS O2/ODAC for example. I could buy Topping or other Chinese products but they're hard to find from local sellers and by the time I pay international shipping and 20% VAT plus customs charge if buying from outside Europe I suspect I wouldn't save that much. To be honest I don't see the point of these products as I find onboard DACs to be satisfactory with no real improvement if buying a separate DAC and I think the JDS Atom does all I need from a headphone amp for a third of the price. However, if I did want a DAC/headphone amp then £299 doesn't seem excessive given it comes from a pretty high end manufacturer.

I suppose, but I mean;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Topping-Portable-Amplifier-Headphone-Compatible-Black/dp/B07S8B2LNJ/

its 159 quid and has basically the same performance as the mojo at 299 quid.

 

[Jimster480]

I always fancied one of these
https://chordelectronics.co.uk/product/red-reference-mk-iii/

While that definitely looks cool, I can't imagine using CD's in 2019.

 

[Music1969]

Test this year, this time at HFN by Paul Miller <https://www.hifinews.com/content/chord-ultima-prepower-amplifier-lab-report>

Both reviews you linked comment on power output measurements not quite meeting advertised specs.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I always fancied one of these
https://chordelectronics.co.uk/product/red-reference-mk-iii/

I can see the appeal, as it's almost a sculpture, but you'd need the right setting, yes?

 

[AudioSceptic]

One thing you couldn't accuse Chord of is just following the herd with unimaginative industrial design. People might not like it but they do it their own way, for better or worse.

On the Mojo, two things put me off. One is the battery issue, the other is it just doesn't seem to be especially well designed if you want to use it as a mobile device with the output from a smartphone, a regular flat and thin rectangle seems much more sensible. On the other hand it is also a competently designed device and for a product from a brand which usually inhabits the high end it is not especially expensive (although it is expensive alongside other lower price point supplier offerings).

Agree on the portability aspect but when HiFi World tested it they found it could drive some big Tannoys directly, albeit not to high volumes (that would be expecting a bit much). That's some headphone amp!

 

[AudioSceptic]

While that definitely looks cool, I can't imagine using CD's in 2019.

Next you'll be telling us that vinyl is dead.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Both reviews you linked comment on power output measurements not quite meeting advertised specs.

Yes, but we are talking huge numbers anyway, and remember the discussion elsewhere about where/how to measure power.

 

[confucius_zero]

Just wondering, for "portable dac-amp", should the NX4 still be king or is the Mojo overcome it?

 

[Frank Dernie]

While that definitely looks cool, I can't imagine using CD's in 2019.

You might not be able to but I, after being an early adopter of computer file music (over 15 years ago) got fed up with the multiple file formats, delays in listening because of crashes and boot up times particularly in the early days and the uselessness of the standard tagging that got adopted combined with my own lazyness I went back to CDs after a few frustrating years and couldn't be happier.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Agree on the portability aspect but when HiFi World tested it they found it could drive some big Tannoys directly, albeit not to high volumes (that would be expecting a bit much). That's some headphone amp!

After one of the reviews I did consider making up a cable of RCA to speaker cable to try it with my 109dB/watt horns but was too lazy to make the cable...

 

[AudioSceptic]

After one of the reviews I did consider making up a cable of RCA to speaker cable to try it with my 109dB/watt horns but was too lazy to make the cable...

Is that with a Hugo or do you have a Mojo too?

 

[Frank Dernie]

Is that with a Hugo or do you have a Mojo too?

Hugo

 

[heo44]

Hi Amirm,
Do you think a battery on the Chord Hugo is an advantage compare to other DAC in the same tier ?!
If not, well I'm going to save money to upgrade to Qutest or something else.

 

[Music1969]

Hi Amirm,
Do you think a battery on the Chord Hugo is an advantage compare to other DAC in the same tier ?!
If not, well I'm going to save money to upgrade to Qutest or something else.

Absolutely can be an advantage, depending on overall system.

Battery power eliminates a ground loop path, which can affect analogue output of a DAC.

But DACs with XLR outputs can also avoid ground loop related issues.

 

[amirm]

Hi Amirm,
Do you think a battery on the Chord Hugo is an advantage compare to other DAC in the same tier ?!
If not, well I'm going to save money to upgrade to Qutest or something else.

Nothing is an advantage unless it shows up in measurements.

That said, batteries in portable devices allow higher power level at times when the USB power is insufficient for headphone output.

 

[heo44]

Nothing is an advantage unless it shows up in measurements.

That said, batteries in portable devices allow higher power level at times when the USB power is insufficient for headphone output.

Absolutely can be an advantage, depending on overall system.

Battery power eliminates a ground loop path, which can affect analogue output of a DAC.

But DACs with XLR outputs can also avoid ground loop related issues.

Actually, I'm using Hugo as a desk dac and definitely it's not a good idea but I'm still happy with it
But do you guys think Hugo really versatile and competitive as the 2nd price ??

 

[VictorVRad]

Hi folks. I'm Hugo 1 owner and love its sound quality, bun one thing bothers me. Music disappears time after time when connected to my Windows 10 laptop. Tried to reinstall hugo drivers, change sample rates, nothing helps. Sometimes instead of music it can produce nasty noise. Does anyone have such problems?