Centre Circle previews Chord Electronics' Hugo DAC/headphone amp

Chord Electronics' John Franks shows off his Hugo

CHORD Electronics proclaims that Hugo is the most advanced, reference-level portable DAC/headphone amp available in the market right now and Malaysian computer music audiophiles had a chance to find out how much of this is hyperbole (or not) when local distributor Centre Circle Audio held a launch/preview last Saturday. Oh, and the icing was the presence of the UK company's founder, John Franks himself.

Breaking it down to the bare essentials, these are what Hugo (because, you know, you can take it "wherever you go") does. It will drive two pairs of headphones, while a pair of RCA outputs signify that you can bypass your preamp and hook it up directly to power amp - there is a volume control on Hugo that changes colour when you swipe the rotary slider. In fact, Hugo will even drive a pair of passive speakers modestly well, provided the load is not demanding.

That's not all. Your computer isn't the only thing you can plug into Hugo - a couple of additional digital inputs allows it to integrate with your main hi-fi system as a standalone DAC. Plus, Hugo does not take power from its USB input but instead runs off an on board lithium battery, which is good for more than 10 hours of playback on a full charge (which takes about two hours).


Franks extolls the virtues of Hugo to a rapt audience

Given that it will possibly be moved around a lot, Chord has ensured Hugo's durability by building its case using aircraft-grade aluminium… as you may know, Chord products have a reputation for ruggedness and Hugo doesn't break that mould.

Hugo was conceived in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Chord's revolutionary DAC 64 and based on the same FPGA DAC technology that propelled the company to the upper echelons of digital audio.

The palm-sized unit, says Chord, takes you close to studio master-tape quality and boast 32-bit capability. It has five digital inputs - including A2DP aptX Bluetooth and advanced 384kHz PCM and DSD 128 playback for high-resolution DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition) files.


Getting a closer look at Hugo

Designed by Rob Watts, Hugo was conceived to be as future-proof as it gets for now - sample rates ranging from 44.1kHz to 384kHz (PCM) are decoded, while two USB inputs respectively handle legacy devices and high-definition signals of up to 384kHz resolution.

Additionally, Hugo also processes DSD 128 data using the latest DSD-over-PCM standard (DoP). Chord's proprietary driver software is provided, which removes restrictions of current operating system audio playback.


And trying it for sound...

Despite all that metal, there's some bling by way of coloured lights on top, these changing colour to reflect volume level and incoming sample rates - there's also a "porthole" to let you get a look at Hugo's innards.

Right now, Hugo comes only in silver livery, but Franks says they may offer black and other finishes when the numbers justify such diversification.

Centre Circle Audio will take delivery of its first batch of Hugos around mid-March, and the price is an eye-watering RM7,000-plus. Book us one!