Chord Hugo - Audio Cable Solutions

MOON AUDIO STAFF | MOON AUDIO STAFF/

The Chord Hugo is one of the HOTTEST USB DAC's on the planet right now and everyone is talking about it. In fact, I knew the Chord was something to talk about when I first heard it at CES in January. I immediately bought it and became a dealer. More on WHY I knew the Chord Hugo was a gamechanger in high-end audio is HERE in my original post.

Are you searching for some great audio cables for the Hugo? Are you wondering about how to optimize the sound with all the different sources that you want to use the Chord with? Finding the right cables that bring out the Hugo's advanced features has most enthusiasts wondering "What's the best?" and we answer a lot of questions on this daily here at Moon Audio.

The Top 4 cables I recommend for the Chord Hugo for portable use are:

  1. The Silver Dragon USB digital cable
  2. The Silver Dragon Toslink digital cable
  3. The Silver Dragon Toslink Form Fit digital cable
  4. The Black Dragon Mini Coax digital cable

Silver Dragon USB digital cable

Silver Dragon USB Cable

Silver Dragon USB cable with Chord Hugo

The Silver Dragon USB pulls the digital audio from a computer and transfers it to the Chord Hugo USB DAC. This USB cable is unique as it is capable of transmitting large High Res files that standard USB cables cannot. It uses ultra pure silver conductors, our single crystal UPOCC silver construction for the best in signal transfer. Most USB cables are made of copper.

What does this mean for you?

You'll get the highest quality sound out of your digital audio files without losing detail and clarity during signal transmission.

Silver Dragon Toslink Digital Cable

Silver Dragon Toslink Digital Cable

Silver Dragon Toslink Digital Cable with Chord Hugo and Astell&Kern AK120

Silver Dragon Toslink Form Fit Digital Cable

Silver Dragon Toslink Form Fit Digital Cable with Chord Hugo and Astell&Kern AK100

The Silver Dragon Toslink SPDIF Digital Cable is great for connecting devices like the Astell&Kern AK100 or AK120 to the Chord Hugo, with bandwidth to deliver up to 24bit 192k resolution as well as DSD (Direct Stream Digital) signals and minimal connection loss.

The Silver Dragon Toslink Form Fit Digital cable allows you to connect smaller portable devices with the Hugo seamlessly while still maintaining the low connection loss.

Black Dragon Mini Coax Digital

Black Dragon Mini Coax Digital Cable

Black Dragon Mini Coax Digital Cable with Chord Hugo

Like the Toslink Cable, the Black Dragon Mini Coax Digital Cable is another great option for transferring digital signals between your portable source and Dac.

This flexible cable transmits digital signals through electrical currents as opposed to light pulses and is the better option if both Toslink and coax digital connection options are available. Coax SPDIF transmission is less prone to jitter which is digital noise and thus is the preferred option. However, do not worry as today's DAC chips do an incredible job at reclocking the signal to eliminate jitter.

Understanding the different connection options for the Chord Hugo:

While these cables have the same basic function, transferring digital audio from one device to another and picking the right connection type is important.

USB - specifically used to pull digital audio from a computer. If you have most of your music on your computer, then a high-quality USB cable is a necessity to add to your Chord setup.

Optical - transmits digital data to receivers using light pulses. Some portable players that use this connection are the Astell&Kern AK100 and AK120, the Centrance HiFi-M8 LX, and the iQube V3 Portable Headphone AMP/DAC. If you use the Chord for portable use and store all of your music on a digital media player, then the Silver Dragon Toslink Form Fit Digital Cable is a great option. It has a small footprint and it makes carrying the portable setup much easier.

Coax - transmits digital data using an electrical current. This is always the preferred method of connection if available because there is less jitter using coax versus Toslink connections.