Hugo

About the Hugo

The Chord Electronics Hugo is a portable DAC, headphone amplifier, and preamplifier that supports high-resolution audio playback up to 384kHz PCM and DSD128 via DoP. It uses Chord's custom-coded FPGA architecture with a 26,368-tap WTA filter and Pulse Array DAC design for advanced digital signal processing. Digital inputs comprise optical TOSLink (44.1–192kHz, 16–24bit), coaxial S/PDIF (44.1–384kHz, 16–32bit), a driverless USB input for legacy and portable devices, a high-definition asynchronous USB input for up to 384kHz PCM, and A2DP aptX Bluetooth wireless (44.1–48kHz, 16bit). Outputs include two 3.5mm headphone jacks, one 6.35mm headphone jack, and a stereo RCA analogue output, allowing use as both a headphone amp and preamp/line-level DAC. Hugo features a high-quality digital volume control in 1 dB steps, selectable line-level mode, and a crossfeed filter option for more speaker-like headphone imaging. It is battery powered by dual 3.7V Li-ion packs, offering over 10 hours of playback, and is housed in a compact precision-machined aluminium chassis measuring 100 x 20 x 132 mm and weighing around 0.4 kg. The unit is driverless with macOS and Linux, requires drivers for Windows for high-resolution playback.