Chord Electronics Hugo DAC & headphone amplifier

Storage cost is not really a problem.

A 3TB internal hard drive costs less than $120, that's 4 Cent per GB. This must be doubled, because a backup copy is required. So that's 16 Cent to store 2 copies of one album (around 2GB for a 24/192 download)

It was much more expensive in the past to burn a CD-R, let alone the cost of cassettes in the analogue days.

If your're collecting a large number of CDs, you must also count the cost of the shelves, which is also at least 10 Cent per CD.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to get it this year. I'm planning to get my Oppo Digital HA-1 on September 29th, 2014 and I'll have it FedEx overnight. I should get mine on Tuesday, September 30th, 2014. As for the Chord Hugo, I'll have to wait until early January 2015 to make my decision. I don't like the fact that it doesn't have some key features like RCA stereo inputs, 4 pin AES/XLR headphone output, and DSD 256. This is really really expensive for me, but I can squeeze it in very late December 2015 if I stay focused on this product. I change my mind often too. I have to think very hard about this product because it's so expensive. I can easily afford the Oppo Digital HA-1 relatively soon though. I'd rather just keep saving my money.

 

I'm not changing my mind and I'm not going to re-rip and encode my large CD collection to a loss less audio codec. It's pointless to waste the time and money required to undertake this massive project. Put simply, I can purchase, download, and store several orders of magnitudes more MP3s than loss less audio files with no apparent loss in sound quality to my trained ears. I have 3,047 albums of which the overwhelming majority are MP3s. I can't hear the difference between Red Book CD 16 bit 44.1 kHz loss less audio files compared to MP3s. Loss less audio codecs are not efficient enough to meet my needs. I'm enjoying my MP3 music library just fine thank you.

 

AAC is an Apple audio codec. Vorbis is open source and I consider it to be much more modern and features rich compared to MP3s, but finding support for Vorbis or OGG Vorbis is a pain in the butt. MP3s rule the roost!

 

I'd much rather prefer to have 1+ TB of MP3s rather than FLAC, ALAC, APE, WAV, AIFF, etc. 320 kbps joint stereo MP3s sound very close to high fidelity to my trained ears. It achieves pretty good efficiency and transparency. Yes, there is a loss of ultimate fidelity compared to loss less audio codecs, but it's a small price to pay. I consider loss less audio codecs to be too extreme especially with digital extreme definition audio files. One 32 bit 384 kHz FLAC album that I own takes up more than 30.0 GB! That's crazy!

 

Anybody know where to get a loudspeaker cable to connect the Hugo to passive loudspeakers?

 

Didn't you read the posting by Claude up above and see the math involved, Welly Wu.
Actually right now you can get a 3 TB (or really 2.7225 TB) internal hard drive for $100 at Tiger Direct. Thus 3.7 cents per GB or in the case of the absurd 30 GB file, $1.11. With back up that comes to $2.22 for that 30GB music file. Which you shall enjoy and own for a lifetime with that $2500 Chord Hugo. Not a bad deal huh?
Plus we're only talking about the most extreme hi res files. In reality Redbook will be sufficient, which is absurdly cheap to store on Hard Drives. In fact it costs way more to hang onto hard digital copies (CD, DVD or BR), than to sell them back onto the market, after having stored them so cheaply on hard drives.

 

This really is an odd thread.

 

i use a audio quest forest rcax 3.5mini plug cable in the car on my Hugo and a Cardas Clear RCA cables on my Hugo at home

 

Thank you.

 

I hope to get the Chord Hugo in late December 2014. If not, then I'll wait until January 2015 to get it. This is a true desktop and portable reference audio product. I liked the colors that told me what is happening. The three modes of headphone crossfeed filters are quite natural and they're a smart feature to add. I'm lusting after this product. It will take me the rest of this year to save up, but I'm focused now. Actually, I'm much more focused on getting my Chord Hugo after my audition period. I really liked it a lot.

 

Forget it. I know that I keep changing my mind and I'm a bit of an enigma here, but I really do want to buy a Sennheiser HD-800 4 pin AES/XLR balanced headphone cable. The Chord Hugo doesn't have balanced headphone outputs. Balanced audio sounds much better than single ended audio on the whole. My CEntrance Hi-Fi M8 LX XL4 has one 4 pin AES/XLR headphone output and it costs $700.00 USD. So, I'm good with that product for a long time. I'm getting the Sennheiser HDVD 800. It has two single ended and balanced headphone outputs.

 

You would be better off selling the Senns, getting Audeze or Grado Professional Series and keeping the Hugo purchase imho.

 

No way! I can barely afford a new Chord Hugo as it is. I love my Sennheiser HD-800 headphones!

At this point, I have to be realistic so I'll choose the Oppo Digital HA-1. It should cost me $1,282.00 USD which I can afford to purchase on October 30th, 2014 or November 4th, 2014. I want a desktop DAC and headphone amplifier as soon as possible.

The Chord Hugo is outstanding, but it's too expensive. I'd have to wait until late December 2014 or early January 2015 to be able to afford to get mine.

The Oppo Digital HA-1 is super future proof. It should last me several years before I have to replace it with something that newer, better, faster, and cheaper.

 

Indeed.

No offense intended but IMO the OP would be better off spending less time thinking and posting about this and use that time and money to rip his collection to lossless. Send it out to a ripping service if you can't be bothered. It's crazy to complain about storage when your willing to spend $2500 on a DAC. Spend $100 on a hard drive and quit worrying about storage space. $2500 will go along way towards ripping and storage. I would rather listen to lossless thru a cheap DAC than mp3 thru a $2500 DAC. Polishing a turd comes to mind. Strictly my opinion.

 

I LOVE MY MP3s!

 

How does the Hugo compare to their other DAC? Really not interested in the headphone option that comes with the Hugo.

 

I have no idea. I never auditioned the other Chord products.

 

It's there latest and greatest until the release of the remade flagship dac around the beginning of the new year. I have a feeling this will be the reference dac that all others will measure up to. Exciting times.

Why?

 

I think it will likely be excellent. Watts is quite the designer.

 

I bought some headphones a year ago and didn't really like the experience. The stereo mix on some recordings is annoying through headphones especially the Blue Notes that would have an instrument hard left or right. Just my opinion.

 

Love your spirit!

 

No headphones.
Just use as line out.

 

Not a headphones person either except when editing my needledrops, I like my neighbors to experience my awful choices in music

 

I listen to jazz on speakers, and use headphones for classical (orchestral) and rock music only, also because I live in an appartment and cannot listen to the latter at "concert" levels.

I agree that hard-panned stereo jazz recordings are difficult to listen to with headphones. But with speakers, the separation does not bother me at all.