Hugo 2 ~ not working?

[creativepart]

If you're playing MP3 files then you - all on your own - are wasting the £2000 DAC in inferior compressed music. And, what's playing the music files? What software? Are you using Apple Music or something better?

 

Don't expect too much if you're playing music from your iPhone into the DAC, either.

 

You bought a first rate DAC, it's intended to be fed via a true audiophile player to play bitperfect, non-compressed music files, CD Quality or Better (Tidal Masters) and first rate headphones wouldn't hurt either. The B&W are Bluetooth, active and noise canceling. This is great if you're listening on the subway, train or airplane. B&W is telling users that they sound best via Bluetooth and that plugging them in isn't the ideal way to use them.

 

I found a discussion on Head-fi.org:

 

Quote

the PX is designed to sound it's best wireless. And it does. I compared a lot is my ears clearly tell me the same. B&W themselves say so too when I asked them (they are very responsive via FB Messenger). The best possible sound quality is via Bluetooth Aptx-HD. Followed by AAC and the SBC, which makes sense. USB-C playback is only there for conveniece to allow playback during charging.
Maybe your Macbook uses Aptx-HD while playback via your phone uses AAC or SBC? iPhones don't support Aptx(-HD) for instance.

 

Perhaps it's going to take a while for you to get everything setup and in order to really enjoy your fantastic DAC/Headphone Amp. You've made a big leap and it's going to require you to go a bit further. OR return/sell the DAC and enjoy those headphones as they were intended, to play highly compressed, compromised music files from consumer grade devices in a noisy environment.

 

PS. The suggestion of using the MacOS version of Audirvana Pro player is a great place to start. You can use it to play and organize music on your Mac and with Tidal all together in one place. And, seriously, try Tidal Masters it costs a bit more per month but worth it. Or try Qobuz. It's "Studio" option is cheaper than Tidal Masters per month and is 100% uncompressed music files. No MP3s at all.

 

 

 

 

[creativepart]

2 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

.... Hugo 2 is not MQA compliant ... 

I am aware, I meant the HiFi account option to get CD quality music. I was thinking it was called “Masters”. My mistake.