OK, 2 days ago at a Pal's place, I had a marathon listening session with 4 headamps, 4 HPhones and 4 Dacs, ie Lampi B7, Hugo, DirectStream and MSB Platinum stack upgraded with Galaxy 2 clocks. No speakers used, just Woo Audio (2)/Senneiser/hugo internal amp and the SennHD800, Stax, BDynamic DT990T and Hifiman HE-6 HPhones.
Suffice to say that the Hugo cannot compete with the big boys. It was shaded by the DirectStream (both were "poor" with DSD and good with PCM). The Lampi and MSB were levels above those 2 others. The MSB being more detailed but a tad harsher/harder than the more silky Lampi...so close that I could see either one being preferred by some depending on taste. Both were superb with DSD.
The Hugo is a great portable, but will be easily dismissed as a desktop once Chord updated the QBD with the Hugo+ digital section. At least that is my prediction based on the past model evolution. The Hugo's power section is just too limited to compete with the haute gamme Dacs of this world, but then its only a fraction of the price and very versatile. It will be interesting to see how the Qute form factor Hugo will fare once paired with a great LPSU as well.
Bottom line is that its an excellent portable and if you expect more than that, you may come away disappointed. For me, the DSD playback was a major disappointment. Its PCM is way better.
Suffice to say that the Hugo cannot compete with the big boys. It was shaded by the DirectStream (both were "poor" with DSD and good with PCM). The Lampi and MSB were levels above those 2 others. The MSB being more detailed but a tad harsher/harder than the more silky Lampi...so close that I could see either one being preferred by some depending on taste. Both were superb with DSD.
The Hugo is a great portable, but will be easily dismissed as a desktop once Chord updated the QBD with the Hugo+ digital section. At least that is my prediction based on the past model evolution. The Hugo's power section is just too limited to compete with the haute gamme Dacs of this world, but then its only a fraction of the price and very versatile. It will be interesting to see how the Qute form factor Hugo will fare once paired with a great LPSU as well.
Bottom line is that its an excellent portable and if you expect more than that, you may come away disappointed. For me, the DSD playback was a major disappointment. Its PCM is way better.