The streaming module 2go was announced long ago. At the Norddeutsche Hifi-Tage I could see an early prototype, and now the extension to the HUGO 2 is available. It turns the mobile converter-headphone combination into a digital audio player - but a tablet or smartphone is still needed as display and control panel.

As Roland Dietl's report on the HUGO 2 and the description of my experiences with a special Chord Company cable between No. 2 and Chord Electronics' M-Scaler show, the current HUGO not only makes a very good figure in mobile applications, but can also compete and beat many established stationary D/A converters - some of them in a much higher price range. On the road, however, its concept proves to be not very convenient: Only when it obtains its data from the smartphone via Bluetooth - but which audiophile can accept this transmission path? - no additional cables are needed. 

However, if you want to feed the HUGO with high-resolution music data, you need an external memory, this could be a simple DAP, which bypasses the converter and headphone amplifier, or a smartphone, which can also be connected via cable and, if necessary, with an adapter. This is exactly how it was with the product one level below the Hugo2, the MOJO, which is more compact. Additional cables and players caricature the mobile concept here even more. Probably for this reason, Chord first added a small, fine streaming module to the MOJO - which should stand for "mobile joy" - the POLY, which turned the combination of converter & headphone into a digital audio player without display.

The 2go is now the counterpart to the POLY and at the sonic level of the HUGO 2: it can access data from two micro-SD cards with a total capacity of up to four terabytes, stream Internet radio via WIFI or LAN and also access NAS drives within the network. I already mentioned that it can also receive music data via Bluetooth. To set up the module, Chord offers the GoFigure app for free in the Apple App and Google Play Store. With this APP , the 2go can be given an individual name, a Wifi connection can be established or the streaming module can be set up as a separate Wifi hotspot. 

Firmware updates are also possible via GoFigure. Yes, I also read about the problems with the Poly and in the beginning also with the 2go. Since files with the ending "aiff" on the SD-Card where not recognised, but been recognised on the NAS Drive, I update to the current firmware 1.0.3 and the error was fixed. After that I could not find the slightest irregularity in all operating modes - I confess to neglected Bluetooth, so within almost all operating modes: With me all connections and the operation via the Fidata app, which I prefer over the 8player that's recommended in the manual, worked without any problems. 

Even though I have just over 1.3 terabytes of data on each of my two Melcos in the living room and office space, I was able to resist the temptation to purchase two 1-terabyte SD cards, in order to be able to use my entire music collection for the test. Firstly, one would have had to switch between the two cards via GoFigure app and secondly, cards with this capacity are still extremely expensive. Although the 2go can theoretically manage a total of four terabytes, I have not been able to find the necessary 2-terabyte cards anywhere. Anyway, I filled a 512-gigabyte card with the most important albums and shortly after that I could enjoy my favourite music in extremely good quality. Whatever came from the SD card sounded - if memory serves me right - better than anything that ever got to the HUGO via USB from iPhone or laptop - no matter if CD quality, high res or DSD256. 

I really enjoy working with the Audeze LCD-X headphones, but to detect the smallest differences between different program sources, I prefer to rely on the Göbel Epoque Aeon Fine. So I connect the RCA outputs of the battery-powered HUGO 2 via Audioquests Sky to the Einstein preamp and the rest of the chain, and listen to a track first from the SD card, then via WiFi from the Melco N1Z H60/2. If the signal comes directly from the memory card, the HUGO 2 puts the listener in a slightly larger recording room, whose atmosphere is more intense, and spoils with an even minimally detailed playback. 

This positive result encourages me to make an extremely unfair comparison: Instead of the SD card, the HUGO now receives its signal via LAN cable from the Melco NAS via the Ansuz' PowerSwitch. The HUGO 2 makes the disproportionate investment in memory and LAN switch quite clear: Although the room appears to be slightly less deep, it sounds a bit warmer when wired, the converter seems to have received a small energy boost in the bass range. This makes music even a bit more fun. Looking at the prices for an SD card on the one hand and the prices for Melco, Ansuz and the corresponding cabling on the other hand, this result is nothing but a huge compliment for the 2go!

Contrary to all appearances, one could easily come up with the idea of choosing Hugo and 2go as the only domestic streaming solution. This can make sense for the converter, especially in combination with the M-Scaler. So I listen to the HUGO 2 once with the company's own streaming module and signals from the SD card, the other time with my high-end digital chain of Melco, Ansuz and Aries G1. From there it goes directly via USB cable into the HUGO. Well, a cost-no-object-converter, maybe even with an additional upscaler, would perhaps reveal greater tonal differences than the HUGO. But even with the HUGO it becomes clear that the high-class players inspire it to act even more powerful and vividly, but at the same time it is also clear that the 2go comes forbidden close to insane high-end setup.