Chord Hugo 2 / 2Go with SL2s

  1. Would this be a good enough source?
  2. How good is the user interface?

Unfortunately a home demo is not possible.

Currently my source is a CD5x/Hicap for a bedroom system with SL2s. It sounds great. Amps are rotating between Nait 2, 62/140, and 32.5/hicap/250. Keeping CD replay is important to be because, while I like Qobuz, I have hundreds of CDs that are not on the streaming service.

The CD5x/Hicap is creating two problems for me however:

  1. The system is on my wife’s dresser and it takes up too much space. Getting a rack would solve that, but then again we don’t have room in the bedroom for a rack.
  2. My wife is a light sleeper and the glowing green logos of the CD5x/Hicap is a problem for her. Powering the system down at night is an obvious solution, but I don’t want to rely on her to deal with the correct power down sequence if I have the 32.5/hicap/250 system in there.

The Hugo 2/2Go seems like it would be an elegant solution. Footprint is very small. Power up and down is simple. The card storage would allow me to play those CDs that are not available on Qobuz.

Thanks for any feedback you might be able to provide.

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The Hugo 2 cum 2go is a superb source — I use mine with a 282/250, and previously with a high-capped SN2. I can recommend this Chord combo without any reservations.

After 24 hours, the Hugo goes down into desktop mode. To extend the battery’s life time one should not switch on and off frequently, but remain in desktop mode. The Hugo’s lights cannot be switched off, but dimmed. But that should be fine in the bedroom, in my experience — unless the Hugo sits on the bedside table.

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Thanks Dragon. Nice to see an unqualified endorsement.

Do you use it just for streaming or do you also play music off a memory card?

Which speakers do you use?

Hi there Snarfy.
I’ve been using Hugo2/2go for a couple of months now and from a sound quality perspective I’m pleased with the results when integrated into my 252/Supercap DR/250 DR based system.
I also listen with my Grado PS1000 headphones from the Hugo2 and I’m also pleased with the performance.
……however there are a couple of points to consider/be aware of:

  1. Third party software is required to control the 2go. I use MconnectHD on IPad and find it performs well.
  2. The Chord Gofigure app is, at best clunky in my experience. A web search will provide further insight into this. I believe there’s a forum for Hugo users.
    Regards,
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To be honest, I haven’t played music off the memory. All my music is stored on a NAS, and played via Roon. Also, Qobuz is played via Roon. All without any problems.

I was planning though to use a memory card when staying abroad for work during the summer. As you might expect, this research trip to the Far East won’t happen this summer. I actually mainly bought the 2go because I “normally” spend quite some time away from home because of work and family – parents and in-laws live in our home countries. Sadly, Covid-19 has postponed testing the mobile “qualities” of the 2go.

One 2go criticism though I should record: the wifi capabilities of the 2go aren’t great. Fine for CD quality and “smaller” hi-res files. But it struggles with “high” hi-res files. No it’s not our wifi – it’s rock-solid in our house. But I don’t mind this weakness of the 2go too much since my Hugo 2 cum 2go is wired up when used in the main listening room (our sitting room) or my study (here, it’s the occasional headphone duty).

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Almost overlooked this one: during on-going building work, I am using a pair of Russell K Red 50 – a lovely pair of compact speakers. Got them second-hand, before the builders started… But once the house is back to normal, I will unbox my beloved PMC Twenty5.23. :grinning:

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Why not get a Muso II and a NAS drive. Rip all your CD’s to the NAS the NAS would sit wherever your router is. You could even spend less and get a Bluesound Power Node. I still think you should get a NAS and rip all your music. It’s simple and puts all your Cd’s at your finger tips. Your wife will love you even more since it a nice simple, and not ugly one box solution. Honestly I haven’t played a CD in my house in 15 years! I still buy lots of them but straight off rip them to my NAS which makes them and all my other CD’s available to everywhere in the house. My wife even has here own zone out on the porch with very nice all weather speakers! Sorry but for me playing CD’s is so old school :skull:

How does the chord combo performs vs your Ndx/ Ndac pairing?

Hi there French Rooster,
I’m finding the Hugo2/2go most enjoyable.
The Chord combo’s presentation of music is very different to the NDX/NDAC/XPSDR set up.
They both have their respective strengths and weaknesses.
In summary the Chord combo presentation is more light, open & airy. It’s easier to follow the music and there’s a delicacy to it’s delivery of music that the Naim set up couldn’t match.
The Naim setup counters with a darker presentation with more low down heft & slam which I found suited certain genres of music very well.
On a side note I now have the NDX connected to the Hugo2 with a Chord Shawline cable and have moved the XPSDR to the NDX.
I’m weighing up the need for the NDX/XPSDR in my set up at all now as the 2go will find my Unitiserve.
This would free up funds towards the NAP300DR……but that’s another discussion.
Regards,

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A Uniti Atom is a very elegant one-box solution with Naim sound characteristics- and can ‘front’ a power amp.The Atom HE also being an alternative in this use case.

I have both Hugo2 (as a DAC for TV, and for headphones, in my main system) and Atom with Iotas in the office. Both are excellent at what they do.

I have heard the 2Go with Hugo2 and that would be my travelling system…

What amazes me about Chord Hugo 2 cum 2go is the form factor – super small, cerainly when compared to multiple Naim boxes (e.g. NDX/NDAC/XPSDR as in the case of @Hallowed_be_thy_Naim ).

I get that amplification benefits from multiple boxes for separation – fair enough. But 2 or 3 big black boxes for the source really puts me off – despite the temple calling Hallowed by thy Naim… :wink:

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Sorry to go off topic but I’m dying for a two-sentence comparison of these classic amps!
(perhaps better suited for the Chrome Bumper topic, but hey here we are)
Your situation of having all these in your possession and being able to use them in and out of an otherwise same system, makes this a very valuable review IMO.
Good, Better, Best, or more to it?

On topic, you could of course rip and store all those CDs with a dedicated Naim server?

Maurice

I’ll reply in the Chrome Bumper thread

I have just received and set up a 2Go and paired it with my existing Hugo2.
The setup via the “Go-Figure” app takes some patience and on the base firmware 1.0 the 2Go will only recognise dedicated 2.4Ghz WiFi (it refused to connect to my BT WholeHome discs which work concurrently on 2.4 and 5 GHz, but would connect to my Plusnet router), but once I upgraded to 1.03 those issues disappeared- the early users of the 2Go had a lot of Wi-Fi issues especially with mesh networks.

I can only describe the sound, via my Focal Elears, as being like a “Baby Dave”, ‘light and airy’ as described above, and the roon / RAAT streams being better than on other streamers, ND and Muso included.

Just playing the H2/2Go straight into my Etude, with roon on 2xupscale from locally stored files on my Melco N100 (with Plixir PS), as a trial for near field listening - bass light for sure but thats necessary for me with thin, resonant walls in this house. It’s no nDAC / 300DR that’s for sure.

I bought this to be my travelling and garden system, but it’s nice to experiment - I am impressed. Hugo2’s are now readily available s/h and the 2Go is now a stable proposition.

Better than a ND5XS2, or an Atom HE ? Let your ears / room/ system decide because those are good too…

Tomorrow a 1Tb SD card arrives so I will copy some of my library onto that so I can “2Go”.
I may demo a 2yu (with the 2Go) soon to see how that works with other DACs.

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Thank you @T-elmi

I’m interested to know how your experience goes with the 2Go rips

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