Chord Hugo TT

With the Chord Hugo TT DAC / Headphone Amplifier ($5000.00 USD), Chord Electronics attempts to enter MSB IC space. Given our only desire is to see balanced headphone connections in the place of the 1/4" jacks, and an IEC connector in the place of the Hugo's USB jacks, this says something for the product design Chord has given this release.

Interesting are the IP and X-PHD labels. It's better looking, and less cheap than the Hugo, by far, and comes with a good looking set of XLR and RCA outputs, along with a nice BNC for digital input.

The rocker switch could use some work, and the power supply may need improving, but there's no question that this Chord TT improves upon the already interesting model, Hugo, and ventures towards more lofty MSB.

You could say it strikes a chord. Hugo was an utterly ridiculous Christmas movie, but this one-shell reaches to the stars above.

JP 2015/01/15
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