Chord Electronics Hugo Portable DAC and Amplifier

In the past years I have migrated from using CDs to FLAC files and up to now have used the Sonos Connect box to stream music into stereos in two rooms of the house - in one room I took a digital coax out and used the DAC in my Classe pre-amp and in the other I used the DAC in the Connect box and connected with phono cables. I was unhappy with the sound out of the Connect box DAC and took the plunge to buy a Hugo. My regular hifi shop even told me not to bother to audition the Hugo as there is nothing else comparable at the price (or some way above). Note that I am using the Hugo as a DAC only, so I can't comment on its performance as a portable headphone amp.First the easy conclusion - the Hugo has transformed the music in the second listening room at home, where I was using the DAC in the Connect box. So it should given it costs 6x the price of a Connect box, but the improvement in music quality cannot be stressed enough. It adds clarity, detail, and "body"/depth to the music all at the same time (I find most bits of hifi struggle to do all three) . It can be a bit "full" and is over-whelmed by particularly powerful rock music, but the performance with any music that is electronic, acoustic, vocal, and pop music and even well produced rock music is, well, transformational.In fact the Hugo was so good I thought I would see what difference it made running the digital signal out of the Sonos Connect box and through the DAC in the Chord compared to that in my Classe pre-amp. Given the price of the Classe pre-amp I was surprised (and perhaps a little annoyed) that the music of out the Hugo is on balance "better" (to my ears). The was no denying it pulls more detail from the music (lots of little touches that I either had not noticed before or which were just more available) but it also provides a bit more body and presence to the music compared to my pre-amp. If actions speak louder than words, I have bought a second Hugo for the main listening room as well.Like so much in hifi, I'm sure the Hugo's sound might not suit everyone, but I strongly suspect it will suit 90-95% of listeners. With the exceptions noted below it really is the best thing you can do to your Sonos system (if you are using Sonos as a source into a regular hifi) and given its outperformance of my Classe pre-amp I suspect it will improve almost any static or portable system which includes any DAC costing below £2,000 (and probably a lot more than that).In terms of rock music (the only genre where I have had mixed results from the Hugo), on my listening so far the Hugo has struggled with tracks from Auf der Maur, Girls Against Boys, and ... Trail of Dead. But it loves Garbage, Tool and a host of others (well produced) as well as anything electronic or industrial (including "full on" stuff like Alien Vampires, Psychlon Nine, NIN, Ministry, etc), all acoustic or lighter rock (Martha Tilston, Sinead O'Connor. Fleetwood Mac) and vocal, such as Lisa Gerrard / Dead Can Dance. It might be that even the rock music where it has struggled is more an issue with the rest of my system(s): mostly Linn and Classe pre-/power amps and B&W speakers.

Astonishing piece of kit. I use on the move with a pair of Audeze headphones to wonderful effect.

Needed a portable DAC/Amp combo that rivaled my Fostex HP-A8C to power my Fostex TH900's. Perfect compliment. Controls could be better labeled though - had to constantly refer to my user manual.

Excellent product for both desktop and mobile (on the go) use. Nothing to fault really, flawless. It is amazing how they fit all that into such small size.I returned the item because I decided to go with Chord Mojo, which was fit for my purpose and sound quality is very close to Hugo. Mojo is cleaner sounding but Hugo is warmer. I would have kept Hugo and returned Mojo if Hugo was as cleaner sounding as Mojo but for the price difference, Mojo was a no brainier for my use. You can't go wrong with any of these products.

Fantastic product highly recommended.

Probably the best sound portable DAC money can buy in present, but still, for me the price is too high. Moreover, the built quality is not perfect,especially the delicate HD USB input. For a High-End product, obviously it's not an issue can simply be neglected.

Read nothing but glowing reviews of this product so decided to purchase one touse with my various DAPs.It really is a groundbreaking product and really has to be heard to be appreciated.It is a portable DAC and headphone amplifier.The Astell & Kern AK240 is a wonderfully sounding DAP but using the optical out and listeningthrough the Hugo beats the AK240 own DAC and amplifier.Until now my favoured listening was AK240 and Fanmusic tube BL 2 amplifier.The combination of AK240 and Hugo beats it by a fair margin.It does however make the AK240 a very expensive transport.Theoretically all DAP should sound the same utilising their digital output, but in truth I do not find this so.I tried my Fii0 X5 via digital output and it does not sound as good. That may be the fact the AK240 uses opticalfor its digital output.The ports on the Hugo are somewhat recessed so finding an optical cable that fits is not easy though you do get a number of cables with the Hugo. I ordered a cable from Sys Concepts in Canada made especially for this combination and it works a charm.The controls are very intuitive and I love the way the different bit rates are reflected in different colours.I have used it with my Shure 846, my Grado PS1000 and my Sennheiser HD800 and it works superbly with all of them.It certainly has the power to drive quite demanding headphones.Highly recommended, apart from the silly name.It goes where Hugo.