Article: Chord Electronics QuteHD Review

[Hugo79]

just info, today i go to my local distributor in indonesia they already have the hugo.

so i request a short listening from him with 3 dac

 

1. Chord Qute Hd (stock power supply, spdif from cd player to dac to chord power amp

 

2. Chord Qute Ex (same stock power suply , and same spdif connection)

 

3. Chord Hugo (same setting with spdif)

 

the eguipment use for testing is very expensive from chord power amp, chord cdp, raidho acoustic denmark floor standing speaker with ribbon tweeter.

the test only with spekaer no headphone coz my needs is only play this little beast with spekaer

 

my impression with some chinese song, diana krall, nora roberts

 

Hugo Beat the Ex and Qute , the detail, sound stage is bigger not by large but subtle.

in power and dynamic sometime i feel ex have more than hugo. but lose to hugo in details.

i can hear more details in the music but again only subtle. so i decide to buy hugo.

 

the bad news is

1. hugo price in indonesia is higher than ex.

is higher around 150pounds. i complained to my distributor here why in uk ex and hugo is same price why indonesia hugo more expensive, he said hugo price in march will increase to 1400 pounds. and he already got informed.

 

2. my unit still have the same problem small rca jack hole and spdif , i have to remove my interconnect cable lock to connect to hugo, here is some pic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i can confirm if you use kimber rca cable it will fit perfect but still i prefer my own interconnects which doesn't feet without removeing the lock

 

just some hope from me to chord

 

plz when you finish the second batch hugo case which have bigger rca hole and spdif hole

plz make it free for upgrade for all who already buy the first batch (including me)

or maybe if it's not free plz make it affordable . this is my wish for John Frank (Chord)

thanks

[Hugo79]

forget something annoy me, i can't bypass the hugo built in volume , already tried the manual from hugo which

said

 

Volume bypass

press and hold the crossfeed switch whilst turning on to active volume bymass mode.

have tried several times buit not worked, maybe someone here know the way plz share

thanks

[John769]

According to Matt at Chord: The digital pot is used to scale the output level internally inside the DAC and is not like a conventional volume control and so when it is not turning it does not influence the circuit. It is always active so even when you set fixed mode if you turn the volume it will still alter the volume.

[John769]

Folks, not saying the Hugo isn't (by all accounts) a landmark product but it's easy to get carried away on a wave of forum buzz. As Hugo 79 just said, it beats the EX, as you would expect from its upgraded spec, but not by very much! And the EX will most likely be upgraded itself.

 

Also for people who will mainly use it at home, running a battery-powered Dac does have its downside and it's also small and fiddly. The Hugo has a 3 year warranty, while its battery has a 1.5 year warranty with a (undisclosed) fixing charge by Chord if it needs replacment. As for portable use, not sure I really want to risk taking out a £1400 component outdoors on a regular basis for fear of it getting lost or stolen.

[Hugo79]

Folks, not saying the Hugo isn't (by all accounts) a landmark product but it's easy to get carried away on a wave of forum buzz. As Hugo 79 just said, it beats the EX, as you would expect from its upgraded spec, but not by very much! And the EX will most likely be upgraded itself.

 

Also for people who will mainly use it at home, running a battery-powered Dac does have its downside and it's also small and fiddly. The Hugo has a 3 year warranty, while its battery has a 1.5 year warranty with a (undisclosed) fixing charge by Chord if it needs replacment. As for portable use, not sure I really want to risk taking out a £1400 component outdoors on a regular basis for fear of it getting lost or stolen.

 

this is somewhat my opposite opnion before i buy hugo compared to ex

 

if i buy ex, i must buy again power supply linear to replace the stock psu

like teddy pardo psu cost around $350-more. to improve the clean power.

but hugo dont need any linear psu coz it run on battery which already clean power. so iam saving $350, and plus i got headamp even i will not use that feature for me is just a bonus.

 

the only downside for me

is the very annoying small rca jack and spdif jack hole which cant accept high quality interconnect.

which i hope and wish that chord will charge free for everybody who already buy hugo to upgrade to better casing. even is it not free plz just make it affordable.

[John769]

Hugo79, with your name, I think you were always destined to chose the the Hugo from the Chord lineup.

 

Congrats on your purchase and enjoy!

[Hiro]

So here is what I feel Chord needs to do to modify the Hugo to satisfy the audiophile market. These items are not mind blowing and not something that should be thought about. They are just too straightforward and common sense to avoid:

 

1. Enlarge the two holes for the left and right RCA jack interconnect plugs so the DAC section can be used in a normal and typical home audio system.

2. Enlarge the one hole for the SPIDF RCA jack so likewise, an audiophile grade or even cheap interconnect can plug in to it.

3. Re-program the Hugo so even if we have to go through gymnastics to get it connected to a home system, allow us to turn it off and for it remember the state that we put it in so we don’t have to touch the darn thing and poke it with toothpicks like some kind of weird gymnast.

4. Make the on/off switch useable with fingers, and not the fingers of some tiny person, but grown guys. Come on. You know that most audiophiles are men and we’ve got reasonable sized fingers and expecting us to first hunt (where my reading glasses) and then be able to actually move that darn recessed tiny switch? Oh well, I tried to express myself and hope others communicated loudly these problems.

 

FIX 1-4 BEFORE SHIPPING ANOTHER BATCH OF CHORD HUGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great, informative review.

 

I hope that Chord will eliminate these design flaws in their next DAC.

[aumamp]

One more post to provide the most accurate info about the new Chord Hugo. I just completed an interview with Robert Watts, the designer of the Hugo. He gave me permission to post this interview on my website but doesn't want to open up any conversations on forums. I don't blame him. So this is a one way conversation but totally honest and extremely revealing. He also included a technical powerpoint presentation that I've attached to this page as a PDF download. You won't get better info than from the designer himself. Here's the link:

 

 

http://www.aumacoustics.com/robertwatts.html

[Racy]

One more post to provide the most accurate info about the new Chord Hugo. I just completed an interview with Robert Watts, the designer of the Hugo.

 

Thank you Richard, really interesting, especially concerning why memory was left out in the initial iteration!

in further listening with Hugo ( I didn't use my IFI iUSB the first time) I'm surprised that it squeezes a definite improvement in sound from the Hugo! It makes you wonder how many further performance boosts can be wrung from this thing with other tweaks!!

[Racy]

One more post to provide the most accurate info about the new Chord Hugo. I just completed an interview with Robert Watts, the designer of the Hugo.

 

Oh and the revelation that we're getting a 20k DAC :-)

[ted_b]

As the owner of this article/thread I must make the following CA caveat: thank you Richard for the great mini-review, and sponsoring/creating the wonderfully open and honest core dump by Robert Watts. However, I must advise folks who are reading this that Richard is indeed a Chord dealer and is financially motivated to have us buy the Chord dacs. That being said, he has been very forthright, and we've never strayed from the discussion of Qute vs Hugo. For that, Richard has been upfront about his honest feedback as to the differences. But it needed to be disclosed clearly when a manufacturer or dealer presents a review of a product he/she has financial bias/interest in. Thx

[shsoh]

I have just placed an order for the Chord Hugo. I have also checked with Chord and they told me that the maximum clearance for the rca inputs is 11mm but I wonder if this refers to the current or "new" batch of Hugos. I have measured and indeed a 11mm clearance can certainly accommodate a WBT plug.

[Hugo79]

maybe if wbt plug didn't work you can take out the shell and modified the shell, i just got some help from my friend who design the vermouth rca cable iam using, somehow he modified the shell from my rca shell now it worked like charm, you can check my previous attachment pic, first time i must take out my rca cable shell to make it worked, now i can use the modified shell to my rca cable to proper fit hugo

[koyie]

Has anyone been able to compare the sound quality of Hugo vs the QuteHD with an external power supply such as the Hynes SR3-12? I have only seen comparisons with the stock QuteHD, which isn't a fair comparison since a battery power supply is better than a wall wart switching mode power supply. I am particularly interested in the sound quality of PCM over SPDIF.

[wisnon]

Check over at Headfi

[hifitubes]

Check over at Headfi

 

I'm very tempted to try the Hugo next to my Vega.

 

One thing no one seems to have mentioned, except maybe Mr. Brecker, is that the Hugo S/PDIF is RCA not BNC.

 

I'd love to try the Hugo AP1 or Hydra-X via BNC...

[wisnon]

HifiTubes

 

I can never get you on Skype!

 

The Hugo and the new PS Audio DirectStream both seem VERY interesting. For me, more so the Hugo as it is complementary to my stand alone Dacs, as it is portable with HP amp and battery powered.

 

Yes, its RCA and not BNC and first batch is a tad compromised in that it does not allow for connection of Gucci RCA interconnects. They claims its been rectified, but i think Huge will sell like hot cakes in any case.

 

Huge tap lengths make for state of the art performance, but I am worried it may be on the bright side of neutral. I need to probe Richard with more such questions...

[ted_b]

03/12/14 Addendum:

 

Chord has announced a new Mac Mavericks driver for use with both the Qute series DACS (HD and EX). Thanks to coolhand for the heads up.

News: Mavericks driver updated

 

As far as updates to my listening, the EX has considerable hours on it now and is producing lush wonderful music in both PCM and DSD. I am convinced the DSD side is better than the HD's was, with a bit more life and pop (which was needed). PCM has gotten more rich in timbre and continues to be detailed in a way that is both revealing yet still musical (I like toi say that we don't listen to music through a microscope). If the Hugo is that much better than this, well....I don't know..must be mind boggling

 

The Hydra-X+ 384k/DSD128 capable USB/SPDIF converter is on its way (I have Fedex tracking). Stay tuned.

 

(Note: This addendum is intended for the body of the review but hasn't posted yet somehow, so I thought I'd do it here just in case)

[wisnon]

Yes, Ted

 

The Hugo has me curious, especially with the complementary features...

[xamastrok]

The Hydra-X+ 384k/DSD128 capable USB/SPDIF converter is on its way (I have Fedex tracking). Stay tuned.

 

Ted, thank you for the update! But if you say that usb input in the Qute EX now sounds better thatn the coaxial input, what do you need the converter for?

 

I have also just upgraded the QuteHD to EX but it's too early to decide whether I like it more or not. I think it has a more refined sound though.

[ted_b]

The Hydra-X was ordered before I evaluated the SPDIF differences, which also was a very cursory eval. The Audiobyte Hydra-X+ is considered a very good converter so I'm also excited to simply try it (and the fact that it is one of few DSD128/384k capable ones adds to the excitement).

[JHG]

The Hydra-X was ordered before I evaluated the SPDIF differences, which also was a very cursory eval. The Audiobyte Hydra-X+ is considered a very good converter so I'm also excited to simply try it (and the fact that it is one of few DSD128/384k capable ones adds to the excitement).

 

Ted, I don't believe you mentioned in your addendum which converter (Matrix or Berkeley?) you used to compare the EX USB and coax inputs. This, I would think, would have a bearing on the outcome of the comparison. I too am interested in how the Hydra might affect the outcome.

 

Jim

[ted_b]

Yeah, I simply used my Matrix X-SPDIF (which, although $250, made a nice difference in the HD, but my first impression was not that way with the EX). I don't have access to the Berkeley anymore.

[xamastrok]

The Hydra-X was ordered before I evaluated the SPDIF differences, which also was a very cursory eval. The Audiobyte Hydra-X+ is considered a very good converter so I'm also excited to simply try it (and the fact that it is one of few DSD128/384k capable ones adds to the excitement).

 

I was only half-joking, but this is actually an interesting topic for me. I would so much like that the usb port does not sound inferior to the coaxial, because I would not like to spend more money on a converter, plus I need all three inputs (Blu-ray player, etc).

 

A non-musical difference for me is that where the QuteHD ran hot (to the point it was not so comfortable to touch), the upgraded Qute EX is just warm. The same exactly goes for the connected Kingrex LPSU, hot before, barely warm now. I noticed that the stock power supply for EX provides only 0.6A, as compared to the 1.0A of the QuteHD stock power supply.

[Niall]

I was only half-joking, but this is actually an interesting topic for me. I would so much like that the usb port does not sound inferior to the coaxial, because I would not like to spend more money on a converter, plus I need all three inputs (Blu-ray player, etc).

 

A non-musical difference for me is that where the QuteHD ran hot (to the point it was not so comfortable to touch), the upgraded Qute EX is just warm. The same exactly goes for the connected Kingrex LPSU, hot before, barely warm now. I noticed that the stock power supply for EX provides only 0.6A, as compared to the 1.0A of the QuteHD stock power supply.

 

 

I'm interested in this too. I'm wondering whether to upgrade the HD to EX or maybe add Audiophilleo2?

For any who have upgraded I'd be interested in what you think.

 

 

And now the Hugo is throw into the mix...!!!

[h=1][/h]