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Chord Hugo ?

Has anyone (or could anyone) try the Chord Hugo as a DAC in their system. It's getting tremendous attention in the headphone community as a revolutionary DAC that competes way beyond its 2400-dollar price that is up there with the best DACs at any price. I have never heard it so I don't know if this is true, but buzz about it is striking.
I see little about it here, so I thought I would ask. Thanks.
rgs92
ghasley
2,507 posts
 
Wisnon, thanks for the offer to discuss offline the merits of publishing listening impressions for a piece of gear without ever listening but I simply would rather not, I'm not sure I have the patience to discuss why some people have "special powers" while others do not. You and I can agree to disagree as gentlemen though: i take a firm position that in order to form an opinion, right or wrong, on the sound of a piece of gear that it seems preferable to actually hear one, thats all.

To Ssos101: congrats in advance on getting a Lampi7 but your impressions, while valid if you do in fact get one, probably belongs in its own thread rather than a Hugo thread.

Warm regards to both of you.
wisnon
700 posts
 
Suit yourself.
That was not what I wanted to discuss.

BTW, I didnt intoduce Lampi in this thread. I read the HF thread and did not see anyone saying its better than the Lampi L7 and asked about that. So few people have it, I would be surprised by that comment.
ghasley
2,507 posts
 
Wisnon, agreed on both fronts.....whomever made the comment(if it was in fact made) that the Hugo was better than the Lampizator 7 was probably just another troll, desperately needing to communicate and appear like they were some sort of expert.

Ssos101 brought it up again and while I would really enjoy reading about someones listening experience with any cool new product, it just deserves its own thread. Best wishes, GH
wisnon
700 posts
 
Agreed.
sebna
15 posts
 
Hi Guys,

It just happens that we did direct comparisons of many mentioned here DACs. Among them Hugo, Lampi lvl 4.5, Meitner MA-1.

In my view, the easiest way to sum it up, is that one is getting what he is paying for.

Hugo is great little DAC but cannot compete with MA-1. Hugo is great DAC but only better in one aspect then Lampi lvl 4.5 and that is ultimate detail retrieval / resolution which is slightly better on Hugo. In all other aspects Lampi is better DAC in my view without any doubts.

Hugo is anything but lean, and I am surprised that anyone can even suggest this. Hugo is so reach in tonal balance that I perceive it as over contrasted / over saturated and in fact it is a minus for me as it does not sound natural.

The fullness of sound is at same level as Lampi but the increased contrast makes it look as it would be even richer then on Lampi, however as stated before to the extent it sounds unnatural to me.

I also owned Job 225... the hype around it is amazing but I dont rate it at all. On plus sides, it has great flow and fluidity. Depth and natural sound staging but also it lacks resolution and blurres the sound. It makes sound monochromatic and is extremely power cord and speaker cable dependant (it is not a good characteristics IMHO).

So here you go. Those are only my but first hand opinions.

Cheers
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