Page 53 - Hi-Fi World (January 2020)

REVIEW

without the romance I associate with I fancied there was a tad
it. more detail but then
With classical DSD tracks like there was less
Dejan Lazic playing Brahms' 'Piano low-end drive,
Concerto No3' although there David Bowie's
was fabulous insight - the almost 'Suffragette City'
relentless clarity of this DAC made missing a bit of
for a lack of organic warmth that propulsive power. So a
was not what I expect from DSD. bit of a compromise here
Again though, the tremendous sense but do-able all the same.
of timing and broad sound stage Headphones are best used at Our DIY loudspeaker adaptor
gave Hugo TT2 a sense of rigid Lo gain that limits output to 3V leads, XLR to 4mm line socket
composure no other DAC can match, – more than enough. Sound quality (not available commercially; go
strings coming through with assured showed all the traits I heard with to RS Components).
presence. loudspeakers, cross-feed (XFeed)
After writing the above I was making the experience less in-head. peculiarly tight yet punchy bass. It is
told Hugo TT2 converts DSD to a little short on warmth, especially
PCM, presumably because the CONCLUSION with DSD, majoring on deep analysis
custom FPGA chip lacks a DSD Hugo TT2 resolves both CD and hi- instead – undoubtedly its forte.
process route with low pass filter. res digital with breathtaking clarity, To hear CD and hi-res like you’ve
This explains what I heard though. giving a starkly clear and concise never heard it before, and as you will
With hi-res classical such as sound unmatched elsewhere. It not hear it anywhere else, this is the
the Minnesota Orchestra playing also has fantastic timing and almost DAC to audition.
Korsakov’s 'Dance of the Tumblers'
from 'The Snow Maiden' (24/96),
TT2's large canvas made the MEASURED PERFORMANCE
orchestra sound both vast and The crucial EIAJ Dynamic Range value full scale (0dB FS) to match other
dynamically engaging, kettle drums of Hugo TT2 was 124dB in DAC mode manufacturers. Our -60dB test is more
having sudden and solid power when and 128dB in Amplifier mode, set to Hi meaningful and now widely used. S/PDIF
struck, the instruments all seemingly gain and with volume advanced to avoid and USB gave identical figures.
well separated with clear air between output clipping (light blue on the volume Distortion with CD (16bit) measured
them. Again, it was time to run up the control). Both are exceptionally high 0.19% at -60dB, not a lot different to
volume! values not bettered elsewhere, although usual due to quantisation noise inherent
This was something I kept doing ESS DACs match the figure. in 16bit. Dynamic range was 101dB.
and suddenly the penny dropped. DesignerRob Watts insists distortion The S/PDIF electrical (BNC socket)
Using Amp mode at high gain – light is more important than dynamic range and optical digital inputs (with supplied
blue and above on the volume sphere and here the Hugo TT2 produced a optical cable) both accepted 192kHz
– maximises dynamic range. And I record low value of 0.008% at -60dB sample rate PCM, frequency response
was running at light blue and above, with 24bit - see our analysis. At best measuring flat to 55kHz (-1dB) with Filter
effectively achieving a dynamic range rivals manage 0.02% so Hugo TT2 has 1 and 3 before slow roll off to the 96kHz
of 130dB or more. That’s way above half their distortion. Note that Chord upper theoretical limit, our analysis
the 120dB of top class rivals. Electronics only quote distortion at showing Filter 1. Filters 2 and 4 had a
An issue Hugo TT2 raised FREQUENCY RESPONSE 21kHz (-1dB) upper limit – low. They are
was that of ‘insight’. It appears to quite strong filters..
have insight into digital, as it were. At Lo gain the headphone outputs CHORD
Transcriptions of old analogue perfor- delivered 3V max, at Hi gain 8V max. ELECTRONICS
mances had their faults revealed and – more than enough for all headphones. HUGO TT2 £3,995
did not sound wholly better. Modern Distortion an dynamic range values were
hi-res recordings fairly assaulted identical to Line out at Hi gain, just tad
me with everything from detail to lower at Lo gain. OUTSTANDING - amongst
dynamics, sounding almost too good Results with M Scaler were identical the best.
to be true. Good CD was fine but although dynamic range did reach
old CD was revealed as, well – old 129dB. VERDICT
Fabulous DAC with
CD and not so nice. DISTORTION Hugo TT2 delivers class leading analytical and precise sound.
Bluetooth worked well once measured performance in all areas. It has Unimpressive with DSD.
I had entered the PIN number huge dynamic range and unusually low
demanded, which the handbook fails distortion. NK FOR
to mention: it is 0000. Interesting that - great sound from CD
the limitations of aptX compression - styling and build quality
- small size
became quite obvious in contrast to Frequency response 5Hz-55kHz - wide range of inputs
all else. Distortion (-60dB, 24bit) 0.008%
And finally Hugo TT2 did indeed Dynamic range (EIAJ) 128dB AGAINST
drive our Martin Logan ESL-X Noise -126dB - lacks warmth
- dry DSD
loudspeakers quite loud (Hi gain) Output Hi gain (Ph/XLR) 8.5V / 17V
3V / 6V
via the XLR output sockets, using a Output Lo gain (Ph/XLR) 2.5V / 5V Chord Electronics
Output DAC (Ph/XLR)
pair of adaptor leads I soldered up Output H’phone (Lo / Hi) 3V / 8V +44 (0)1622 721444
(XLR to 4mm line socket). At times www.chordelectronics.com
www.hi-fiworld.co.uk JANUARY 2020 HI-FI WORLD 53