What Chord gear do you have?

Would be good to know how many members have Chord Electronics products: which models they have and perhaps why they chose them?

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Chord 2Qute – Primary system’s DAC. Grabbed one just before the Qutest hit the shops and got myself a very reasonably priced upgrade.

Chord Mojo – When I’m on the go or away from home. Thinking about buying the Poly too.

After auditioning many integrated DACs I was impressed by Chord’s approach and sound using discrete components for digital and analogue.

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I currently have on loan a Chord Mojo. It’s going back did not like it at all too polite for my tastes.

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I’ve got a Chord Hugo and Hugo 2. Use the Hugo 2 at home in desktop mode and the Hugo at work and on the go.

Chose Chord because I was previously using HQPlayer with roon and the xtr filter. This is supposed to be most like Chord’s. I got tired of dealing with HQPlayer and wanted all the processing to happen within the Dac itself.

I’m very happy with how both these dacs sound with my headphones.

Chord Mojo as main DAC. Never use it on the go.

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Hugo2 at the moment for me.

Had Dave for a year alongside Hugo2 and was quite happy with Hugo2 driving my headphones, so sold Dave. Also home demo’ed TT2 and M-Scaler but was quite happy with Hugo2 alone driving my cans.

Quite amazing what Hugo2 can do for it’s size. I’ve even used it as a digital pre-amp into active (analogue) nearfield monitors with incredible results, to my ears and tastes anyway.

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Hugo 2 and M Scaler combo with headphones.

H2 is great alone with high resolution sound, compactness and versatility.
But, HMS brings more brilliant timbre and deeper soundstage, IMHO.

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I don’t remember really being aware of Chord until the Mojo appeared and had everyone raving about it. Whilst I acknowledged that its sonic prowess must have been considerable (all those people couldn’t be wrong) I wasn’t too struck on the look of their products as they appeared to me to be like an expensive child’s toy or puzzle box!

However over time, I read more about Rob Watts’ design principles and the seeming never ending praise for their DACs and appreciated the whole FPGA thing opposed to using generic DAC chips. I was also won over by their quirky looks and really liked the look of the Qutest and eventually succumbed and bought one.

It seems like a quality piece of gear and I’ve been really enjoying it.

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Not that I could afford it, but does the m-scaler add enough to rock, alternative, indie type music? I do listen to jazz and classical from time to time but not that much.

I’m very happy with the Hugo 2 and my current headphones, AT-L3000. And in fact, I think the original Hugo sounds better on lesser headphones like my Grado 225e. The smoother sound benefits it.

Have had Mojo and Hugo, very pleased with them but they got too little portable use and i went for a cheaper solution instead, a Topping NX4 DSD. Works fine but i miss the Chords audio quality…
Still have a Hugo TT though, in daily use. Have recently compared the TT with Qutest (as a DAC) and i very much prefer my TT.

Hugo 2.

Extremely happy with it :slight_smile:

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HMS may reduce energy depending on the genre of music. It’s really rock, alternative and indie. Maybe it sounds too clean. Although not related to HMS, when I heard the high-res version of Deep Purple, I felt that the sound was lean. The same thing may happen.
No one wants to listen to deep purple with no distortion, right?:grin:

Mojo and Poly for headphone use.

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Hugo TT2 just running in now!

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Thanks. Felt I’m set with Hugo 2 and it’s more than powerful enough that I don’t need the Hugo TT2.

I bought an original Hugo a few years ago, and then bought a TT1 to go in the system.
I’ve just upgraded the TT1 to TT2, which works perfectly via USB from my Nucleus.

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Oh weird thing with Chord is I heard optical sounds best. This was true when I used an old iMac pro that seemed to be on its last legs. Battery couldn’t hold a charge. USB made the vocals a little edgy and sharp. Optical sounded smoother.

Picked up a used 2014 Mac mini and now the USB connection sounds best. More detail and soundstage. Optical is too smooth. So think it just depends on the source.

Is the Poly a worthwhile addition?

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I no longer need to worry about cables. I can place the two on the little table right next to the bed and use Bluetooth to connect to the media player while watching TV until late in the night. I can put the Mojo/Poly in the side bag of the pants and still be able to hold my phone in the hand. I no longer have to use special media players that allow for direct control over the phones USB port. And you can always disconnect the two and use the mojo alone, should the circumstances require it.

So for me and my use-cases, yes.

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Thanks, that’s really helpful. Sometimes I can be bothered with the palaver of getting all the cable out, so the Poly may mean more music time. Do you use the Poly with Roon too?

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