MQN

[cvrle59]

"I love the Hugo but it's excessively priced, as are most Chord products, many are now being onsold, if it is that good then it's a wonder why so many moved on so quickly"
They could wrap it into a bigger box, and easily price it twice as much. People would still buy it, that's how good it is. They will be always some who try it and they sell it quick. We've seen it with more expensive stuff too.
On the other side you have people who are dumping very expensive Dac's, or streamers with external PS's, in favor of Hugo. Take a look to the naim forum...it is pretty panicky over there.

[Aleg]

"I love the Hugo but it's excessively priced, as are most Chord products, many are now being onsold, if it is that good then it's a wonder why so many moved on so quickly"
They could wrap it into a bigger box, and easily price it twice as much. People would still buy it, that's how good it is. They will be always some who try it and they sell it quick. We've seen it with more expensive stuff too.
On the other side you have people who are dumping very expensive Dac's, or streamers with external PS's, in favor of Hugo. Take a look to the naim forum...it is pretty panicky over there.

Agreed, the sound quality surpasses anything I've heard.
Regarding price, it is in fact ridiculously cheap for the quality your getting, it beats DAC setups going for ten times that price.

What it has going against is its exterior design, but its inside is top notch and above much of anything else out there.

Just listen to it yourself.

[dannyhc]

I know of one person who kept his Oppo 105 and returned the Hugo, the battle between the ESS9018 vs everything else is fierce.

If Germany wins this Monday I will use my winnings to upgrade, however I strongly feel that MQN is where the most difference is made, just using my Xonar Essence One in my Music Listening room and on my Xonar Essence ST on my Office PC, I can hear huge differences between various software versions. I struggle to believe that a DAC chip could make that much of a difference to which the Hugo seems to be getting this kind of game changing attention.

[erin]

I know of one person who kept his Oppo 105 and returned the Hugo, the battle between the ESS9018 vs everything else is fierce.

If Germany wins this Monday I will use my winnings to upgrade, however I strongly feel that MQN is where the most difference is made, just using my Xonar Essence One in my Music Listening room and on my Xonar Essence ST on my Office PC, I can hear huge differences between various software versions. I struggle to believe that a DAC chip could make that much of a difference to which the Hugo seems to be getting this kind of game changing attention.

The chip does make some difference but mostly it is to do with the surrounding electronics. I agree with you though. It may just be getting so much attention because it is affordable, and sounds good for the price, and the people buying it are posting many reviews. The same happened about 6-7 years ago with the Zero dac and also the Valab TDA1543 NOS dac because they were affordable and sounded good for the price. I havent heard the Xonar card, but I have a Juli@ PCI soundcard. Its a great SPDIF transport, but its analog audio isnt that great. A reputable external DAC I believe would improve your sound.

[nige2000]

is it maybe a bit digital ? don't know.

If I was looking for a dac I would want something with i2s input. I have a nad m52 and cuinas convertor which replaced an mf vlink 192

why i2s?
unless your into a bit of diy

[sbgk]

is it maybe a bit digital ? don't know.

If I was looking for a dac I would want something with i2s input. I have a nad m52 and cuinas convertor which replaced an mf vlink 192

why i2s?
unless your into a bit of diy

is i2s not a better solution for connecting the convertor to the dac ?

[sbgk]

a lot of versions, plan to go with 5.26 if people agree that it is ok.

[Ken Moreland]

Gordon, do you have a 24/96 version?
KM

[cvrle59]

I know of one person who kept his Oppo 105 and returned the Hugo, the battle between the ESS9018 vs everything else is fierce.

If Germany wins this Monday I will use my winnings to upgrade, however I strongly feel that MQN is where the most difference is made, just using my Xonar Essence One in my Music Listening room and on my Xonar Essence ST on my Office PC, I can hear huge differences between various software versions. I struggle to believe that a DAC chip could make that much of a difference to which the Hugo seems to be getting this kind of game changing attention.

MQn is still the best player, I know about, but I was listening by MQn to Naim Dac-V1 and now to Hugo. Beside MQn I use JRiver and JPlay for DSD files. All I can tell you that Hugo made significantly more difference in SQ than MQn compared to other players. I couldn't afford Dac's and systems with SQ at the level Hugo delivers. I heard them either at friends places or in the stores, and I kept dreaming about, until hugo showed up. It is the best piece of HiFi I ever purchased. It is Summer time, world cup too, so it's hard to find time for music, but when I sit down, it is hard to stop listening how enjoyable it is. Give it blast, and you'll learn quickly that it is much cheaper than it looks like.
This is taken from Naim forum. Try to find out how much NDS+PS555 are, and tell me if hugo is so expensive...:)))

"I will be honest in saying that I had an NDS with a 555 DR and felt the same way...that is until I got the Hugo on demo, and then didn't feel that way at all.
Now, I only have the Hugo...simples"

[Karl]

is i2s not a better solution for connecting the convertor to the dac ?

Of course.

I2S: 1 Clock

S/PDIF: 2 Clocks and therefore synchronisation

Only a few (expensive) dacs have very good S/PDIF receivers.