Yeah sorry, probably being a bit of a bore… please tune to another channel if this is irritating…
No irritating at all Simon see edit 
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Its good that you have found it to better your Hugo, as it is a significant jump in price, and thats without any mscaler or Blu2 that a lot of folks seem to like. Keep us posted.
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On the sideline soaking up information.
Why on the sideline, I don’t own a Hugo, TT, TT2, less known a Dave Blu 2 with scaler. But once again, it appears to be a direct relationship between price and quality. I commend the OP for sharing his experiences.
I will never forget, when I was contemplating on which Naim CD player would earn the right to reside in my rack, how an Audio Reviewer characterized the CDX2:
“There are two types of components to purchase: The Best, and very close to the best for a lot less.”
Needless to say, he felt the CDX2 was an exemplar of the later. With that being said, which Chord’s dac can be characterized as the aforementione d?
Furthermore, I realize some members have chosen to utilize the dac directly connected to their amp whilst others have chosen to run it through Naim’s Pre-Amp. Disregarding which sounds better , I was wondering could one scenario result in a warmer running dac?
Thanks In Advance!
PS. Very informative post. Back to the sidelines.
Not irritating at all Simon. The clue to the content of this thread is in the title. People can choose not to read this thread, if they wish.
Interested to hear more about DAVE. I assume you are using a NDX or NDS as the transport into DAVE?
NDX2 Nigel…
Are you still planning on trying the TT2?
…as a transport?
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Do you use an Entreq Primer Pro USB? Did you have any grounding issues before which the Entreq solved?
I am asking since I am having issues with my Hugo 2, which need to be attended…
Cheers!
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If battery is the.problem, can it run with a linear power supply and without battery ?
Yes indeed the original Hugo and for me the mojo are still incredible in terms of musical enjoyment.
The Dave adds refinement , bass, clarity, the massive soundstage, and ability to be paired with the amazing M Scaler… and also better ability to retrieve the musical information on the recording. Better retrieving of the beginning and ending of notes
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I did trial an Entreq Primer Pro USB between the Melco and TT2, and Pro RJ45 from the Cisco 2960 into the Melco. I already had the Primer Pro RCA interconnect from the. TT2 (as preamp) into my poweramps.
I didn’t find much improvement with the USB interconnect, probably because a) The other Entreq interconnects were having a greater impact, b) The USB was brand new. So as I was spending out on other components I had to make choices and returned the USB (and a TQ Black USB I also tried), and I use an AQuest Carbon USB I got from the bay.
I kept the Pro RJ45.
The dealer (David at Audio Therapy) is very helpful with loans and tradeins. I know he has had good results in other customer systems with both the RJ45 and USB as the ‘first Entreq install’.
Whether an Entreq USB this would help your Hugo I couldn’t say, as the main effect is lowering the sound floor. I had a Mojo that had a loose micro USB, it might be worth getting this checked.
No.
G
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I found Dave to be a step up from original Hugo TT in many areas, most notably more realistic sounding instruments and vocals, greater depth perception, more bass, and generally a more three dimensional soundscape. There was a big issue for me though, it just sounded slightly more processed and disjointed compared to my TT which to my ears was more coherent as a whole.
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The battery eliminates the need for a noisy linear power supply. No more buzzing transformers please.
FWIW my view is Blu2 or MScaler gives more sound for pound than the DAC based on things I’ve tried at Home, my pecking order would be
- Blu2 + DAVE
- Blu2 + Hugo
- DAVE
- Hugo
I use QED Reference USB cable with a floating ferrite jacket because it looks nice and impresses people (only joking). Over the last couple of years I’ve tried augmenting my Mac mini with iFI USB regenerator and RFI/EMI noise filters and replacing it with Sonore μRsendu. In the end I thought neither improved anything so I’ve abandoned gadgetry except for 4 Wurth Electrics Split Core Ferrite Rings on my dual Canare S/PDIF cables between Blu2 and DAVE, which Mr Watts kindly recommended. There was also the Corning Optical USB cable, which was recommended.
The WAVE cables are supposed be the ultimate upgrade, but I’d need a lot of convincing before trying any more tweaks.
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But there was a reason others have not used batteries , they will fail every few years.
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Nice to see you’re still around! I’ve been on a hiatus just returning recently. Being a novice about this streaming, its difficult following the dialog! Just curious, does this ring a bell:
" HALLOWEEN MAN MEMBER
8/27/16 3:37
yes, the hugo has its own internal preamp\volume\voltage control. it cannot be bypassed. connecting it to a second preamp will degrade transparancy, even if it was the best preamp ever made. "
I’m still confused, perhaps you can clear some things up:
Chords new Ultima Pre-Amp
In simple terms, this is a preamp with four balanced and four unbalanced line inputs, plus an AV bypass input , and three sets of outputs, again on both RCAs and XLRs. But you know it’s not going to be as simple as that as soon as you look at the size of the thing, and its array of controls…
, back on the sidelines.
Thanks In Advance!
They use them in my car and so far so good. I hope they do last as I’m hoping I’ll never have to spend money on another car unless it is one those I don’t have to drive, of course.
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Chord’s Blu 2 plus M-scaler may sound great, but…
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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Thanks, it’s always nice when someone notices you’re not around.
It does ring a bell. It’s common sense that inserting a component, no matter how good, unnecessarily into a signal path it will always degrade transparency/sound quality. With Chord DACS such as Hugo, TT, or Dave they all have a built in preamp that cannot be bypassed. If you connect these DACS to a dedicated preamp you are in effect connecting one preamp to another preamp. Of course, you may like the colour that the second preamp might bring to the party.
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