[435279]

I just received my Hugo 2 today and am loving it so far, but there's one weird quirk with it that I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced.

The bluetooth connection out of anything other than my iPhone XS sounds great, just as you'd expect. For some reason when it's connected to my iPhone through bluetooth it sounds terrible; it's like a 5 year old bluetooth headphone with insane compression, weird artifacts, and other signal degradation. It's not like that's the end of the world, I can always use it with bluetooth on my laptop, but I was kind of looking forward to being able to use it with my phone.

I can say one thing, Apple devices don't support AptX so the connection will default to the SBC CODEC = very poor sound but it shouldn't stutter and break up.

You would be better getting a phone or small DAP that supports AptX.

Edit: Its kind of odd really if you think about it, the Chord Electronics company support Apple devices way better with the Poly but omit the AAC CODEC in the Hugo 2.

 

[rkt31]

I can say one thing, Apple devices don't support AptX so the connection will default to the SBC CODEC = very poor sound but it shouldn't stutter and break up.

You would be better getting a phone or small DAP that supports AptX.

Edit: Its kind of odd really if you think about it, the Chord Electronics company support Apple devices way better with the Poly but omit the AAC CODEC in the Hugo 2.

Why buy apple ?

 

[435279]

Why buy apple ?

Why indeed, I personally don't, but a lot of people do.

 

[GreenBow]

It’s been desktop for me almost exclusively since it was released.

The idea of a 1 TB sd card of hi-res is very appealing.

I’ve been holding off buying a DAP because of the 2Go—-H2 is that good.

I start travel soon...I was hoping for Spring announcement.

I was toying with the idea of using my DAP using Bluetooth, to send to the Hugo 2. That way there would be no cables. I am sure however that we wouldn't get full redbook quality sound. I think BT doesn't transmit full redbook. Not sure either what bitrate the Hugo 2 receives either.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I was toying with the idea of using my DAP using Bluetooth, to send to the Hugo 2. That way there would be no cables. I am sure however that we wouldn't get full redbook quality sound. I think BT doesn't transmit full redbook. Not sure either what bitrate the Hugo 2 receives either.

What DAP do you use?

 

[phillevy]

I've recently got a Fiio M11 DAP which I'm using as a transport with the Hugo2. After having issues streaming Tidal over USB where it would be always upsampled by Android to 48khz, I'm now trying using coax. A weird thing is occuring - when I try to play anything using Tidal the indicator on the Hugo2 remains on whatever the output of the previously played local file was - for example if I play a locally stored file encoded at 192khz and then play something on Tidal, the Hugo2 indicator stays on 192khz. If I switch to a different local file say at 88khz then the next Tidal track is shown on the indicator to also be 88khz - is this a glitch that the Hugo2 is not picking up by not resetting the LED indicator?

 

[514077]

I can say one thing, Apple devices don't support AptX so the connection will default to the SBC CODEC = very poor sound but it shouldn't stutter and break up.

You would be better getting a phone or small DAP that supports AptX.

Edit: Its kind of odd really if you think about it, the Chord Electronics company support Apple devices way better with the Poly but omit the AAC CODEC in the Hugo 2.

There's always hope that 2go will have the same AAC support as poly.

 

[x RELIC x]

I've recently got a Fiio M11 DAP which I'm using as a transport with the Hugo2. After having issues streaming Tidal over USB where it would be always upsampled by Android to 48khz, I'm now trying using coax. A weird thing is occuring - when I try to play anything using Tidal the indicator on the Hugo2 remains on whatever the output of the previously played local file was - for example if I play a locally stored file encoded at 192khz and then play something on Tidal, the Hugo2 indicator stays on 192khz. If I switch to a different local file say at 88khz then the next Tidal track is shown on the indicator to also be 88khz - is this a glitch that the Hugo2 is not picking up by not resetting the LED indicator?

Likely a glitch with the M11. I’ve found FiiO is really REALLY bad at maintaining the sampling rate on their digital outputs, at least beginning with the X5iii.

 

[GreenBow]

What DAP do you use?

I have a Sony ZX300, but why would that make a difference. Isn't Bluetooth limited anyway at different specifications, regardless of DAP. I would consider also using a phone, but I would imagine that would be the same. Shame because if BT did work at redbook, I would not even consider a 2Go. (Although in all reality I have no need or inclination to buy a 2Go now.)

I am happy with Hugo 2 fed by any source. I use for about the home, so I can manage with a DAP, or small fanless laptop/netbook. (I'd probably never take Hugo2 out of the house.)

 

[phillevy]

Likely a glitch with the M11. I’ve found FiiO is really REALLY bad at maintaining the sampling rate on their digital outputs, at least beginning with the X5iii.

So the question is how reliable is the Hugo2 LED - if it shows 192khz does that mean the Tidal stream is actually being upsampled to that? I appreciate the glitches in the DAP (probally due to Android), but I expected the Hugo2 to be accurate in showing what the actual output was?

 

[x RELIC x]

So the question is how reliable is the Hugo2 LED - if it shows 192khz does that mean the Tidal stream is actually being upsampled to that? I appreciate the glitches in the DAP (probally due to Android), but I expected the Hugo2 to be accurate in showing what the actual output was?

I’ve found every Chord DAC I own to be spot on accurate. It has one job and no messy OS to alter things. I see no reason why it would be off consistently. I’ve seen reports of brief glitches that resolve with a restart but nothing that has ever been like what you describe.

However, it’s not the first time I’ve seen Android upsample everything to 192kHz, or downsample to 48kHz either. I’ve also seen FiiO output different rates between USB and coaxial which is why I’d look in to FiiO’s Android implementation.

Perhaps contact Chord’s support if you feel there is something wrong.

 

[111MilesToGo]

I’ve found every Chord DAC I own to be spot on accurate. It has one job and no messy OS to alter things. I see no reason why it would be off consistently.

+1 here with Hugo 2. I‘m running it from a Linux laptop most of the time, directly via USB or via an intermediary USB-to-TOSLINK miniDSP streamer to optical input on the H2. On Linux, I have an easy way to continuously monitor both the audio player input/output formats and the USB stream format - no unexpected behavior ever.

Side remark for those engaged in Linux: Running openSUSE Tumbleweed and Manjaro. Player is mpd (Music Player Daemon) with Cantata. Monitoring via Conky, which looks at mpd and alsa with the help of scripts of mine. Sometimes stand-alone players like Audacious or DeaDBeeF, monitoring alsa then.

 

[phillevy]

I’ve found every Chord DAC I own to be spot on accurate. It has one job and no messy OS to alter things. I see no reason why it would be off consistently. I’ve seen reports of brief glitches that resolve with a restart but nothing that has ever been like what you describe.

However, it’s not the first time I’ve seen Android upsample everything to 192kHz, or downsample to 48kHz either. I’ve also seen FiiO output different rates between USB and coaxial which is why I’d look in to FiiO’s Android implementation.

Perhaps contact Chord’s support if you feel there is something wrong.

So assuming the Hugo 2 is reporting accurately, it means I can effectively pre-set my Tidal output by simply playing an appropriate local file beforehand! I will contact support to get their take on this.

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I have a Sony ZX300, but why would that make a difference? )

Because if no announcement comes in about 2Go, I may get a DAP and am researching.

 

[Amberlamps]

Question for those folk lucky enough to have a new model ipad or ipad pro, the ones with a USB C port instead of a lightning connector.

Does Hugo 2 work on those new ipads, if so, what is needed to connect them both, just an Apple USB-C CCK kit ?

Or is it something else, a link to the exact item would be cool, as I notice apple have a few different types of CCK kit.

Thanks