HPower

Well, I have had the Hugo in my system for a week now and can say this is a very detailed DAC with great retrieval of sounds I was not picking up with my JKenny. It is also more forward sounding than the Ciúnas. Unfortunately with my speaker system, this may not be a good thing. I am REALLY like all the extra detail, but overall feel like the Ciúnas fits my Jubilee horns better.

No verdict yet... I do see by my tracking that Baby Hugo is "out for delivery", today. I hope to get some listening time this weekend.

Just to make an update... I decided to go with a Chord, Hugo. It is a little over 2 years old and got it at what I "think" was a fair price. It was a very close call between the used Hugo and a brand new MP-D2. Hugo should arrive by end of this week and I am really looking forward to hearing it vs the Ciúnas.

Hey Nikhil, Thanks very much for the heads up on the MP-D2, I just did some reading on it and it does seem like a very cool machine. There is a good thread on CAM, with several happy new owners that have posted. https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=42058 It almost has too manny features/options, especially compared to the Ciunas. I would not want to spend all my time rolling caps and tubes... I want to listen My initial thoughts were something like the Burson, Conductor V2+ or perhaps stretch a bit more for one of the W4S, DAC-2v2 Series units. But this MP deservers some more research!

I have been enjoying my Ciúnas DAC for a couple years now with no real complaints but I am wondering as technology advances, what of the current USB DACs might offer significant performance gains? I would not want to blow my brains out in the budget department and would consider something under $1500'sh. (I don't mind buying gentle used to meet budget) I have upgraded other parts of my system lately, most recently I just completed a DIY Klipsch Jubilee clone, which will be an active system. Mac Mini server...> Ciúnas DAC (Audirvana Plus)...> Sonic Frontiers Line1 (balanced preamp) ...> Xilica XP4080 (digital Xover)...> Classe CA150 (SS amp for bass bin) and Triode Labs 2A3 (SET to run HF 402 horn and Faital HF200 compression driver). With my Line1 having Balanced inputs and outputs, a DAC with balanced outputs might make sense?