Hugo

Hugo was an utterly ridiculous movie, and Chord's Hugo shares the same aesthetic. On it's face we see a name, a HAL face, a thought bubble, and nay, even a red balloon. In terms of quality, it's not above a Commodore C64.


The Commodore C64 was released in 1992 at a price of $595.00 USD, or $1500 today. To be fair, we'll add a 1541 (the disk drive) to the question, as the Hugo comes with two lights, in addition to the Commodore C64's yellow, white and red RCA's. The Commodore 1541 was released, simultaneously, costing $400.00 USD then, or $1212 today. Together, this was $995.00 USD, or $2712.00 today, adjusted for inflation.

By comparison, the Hugo is $2495 USD. While the quality isn't higher than the C64 or C1541 in the design or hardware, we're convinced that the sound quality will be.

There is a limit to what you can get off a USB powered device. The C64 used a serial connection, also. Thankfully, the Hugo is a battery powered. 14 Hours.

One could imagine a device the size of the Hugo comprising an entire modern PC, similar to Michael Barnes NorhTek efforts.

Unlike the C64, the Hugo offers a significant number of transistors, more so even than a portal transistor radio, to which you might also compare it. We're looking it up.

The Spartan 6 by Xylinx Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which powers the Hugo is marketed as a low cost / low power device, so one would imagine a $400 price for the Hugo.

However, it does has a 1050 MHz clock speed, which is exactly 1050 times speedier in cycles than a C64, and additionally offers serial performance up to 3.2 Gbps though that isn't needed for the Hugo.

While most lazy headphone amplifiers will not generate more than the Hugo's spartan 150 mW of power consumption for the FPGA, the Chord Hugo provides 110dB SPL into a 300 ohm headphone load (70 mW) and up to 700 mW at 8 ohms, a speaker load. You could use any amp from a Burson Timekeeper to Chord's SPM reference amp, from you Hugo, although a Scamp will do just fine.




Material covered will include DSD 64, 128 and PCM, 32-bit from 44.1 kHz to 320 kHz, which is rather above the C64's typically 4-bit, 6 kHz (though up to 6 voice) replay. Here's a modern C64 arrangement:

http://oxyron-party.untergrund.net/fanta_in_space.mp3

Comparatively,


The Chord Hugo provides a THD of 140 dB.


For those like us, who don't mind plonking down $2500 on a pair of Sunglasses, and don't mind another bulge in their pocket, we recommend it.

Product: Chord Hugo DAC / Headphone Amplifier
Price: $2495.00 USD
Manufacturer: Chord Electronics Limited, UK