Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler
The Hugo M Scaler brings transient precision and analogue-like ease to digital playback, smoothing glare while sharpening bass attack, instrumental focus and spatial scale. Its million-tap upsampling makes CD-quality material sound unusually natural and dynamically fluent; The Ear found the gains especially compelling with a Hugo TT 2. A beautifully built specialist for DAC systems, it makes familiar libraries feel newly alive.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
95/100
Build Quality
92/100
Features Connectivity
78/100
Value for Money
87/100
Pros
Reduces grain, brittleness and sibilance while preserving detail, producing smoother, more natural timbres.
Improves transient attack, bass definition and micro-dynamic expression for more rhythmic, lifelike playback.
Expands soundstage width and depth while giving instruments clearer separation and focus.
Cons
Its high price makes it a specialist upgrade rather than an obvious first purchase for modest DAC systems.
Maximum upsampling performance requires a compatible Chord DAC with dual-BNC inputs; non-Chord DACs receive lower output rates.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 95/100
Across the reviews, the M Scaler is described as making digital playback markedly more natural, spacious, focused and lifelike, particularly when partnered with a compatible Chord DAC at its maximum dual-BNC output rate. The recurring themes are cleaner timing, reduced grain and glare, stronger instrumental separation, and a more expressive, less fatiguing presentation.
Tonal Balance and Musicality
95/100
SoundStage Solo heard sibilance and brightness tamed without losing detail, calling the result its most natural rendering of real music, with greater tonal colour and smoothness. The Ear similarly found music purer, richer and more lifelike with the Hugo TT 2, while other reviewers describe a substantial return of realism, flow and emotional involvement.
Resolution and Detail
94/100
Reviewers repeatedly report greater clarity, focus and transparency rather than an artificially etched form of detail. SoundStage Solo cites delicacy of detail and micro-dynamic enrichment, while The Ear says it makes note attacks, decays and reverb tails easier to follow by removing grain and brittleness.
Digital Performance
96/100
Digital artifacts are a central strength: The Ear says the M Scaler liberates digital audio from most, if not all, of the artifacts normally accepted as compromises. Reviewers consistently attribute the improvement to cleaner transient timing and reconstruction, hearing less smear, grain, compression and fatigue alongside notably more convincing CD-quality playback.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
92/100
The compact enclosure is repeatedly described as beautifully made, with a precision-machined, aircraft-grade aluminium chassis. SoundStage Solo also notes separate internally machined compartments intended to shield the processing hardware from noise and RF interference.
Features Connectivity
78/100
This is a dedicated digital upscaler rather than a conventional DAC or preamp, so it provides no analogue outputs, volume control or headphone socket. Its digital provision is nevertheless broad: galvanically isolated USB-B, two optical and two BNC inputs, plus optical, single-BNC and dual-BNC outputs; the latter enables 705.6/768kHz operation with compatible Chord DACs.
Value for Money
87/100
At roughly £3,495/$3,595 and above depending on market, this is a costly specialist component rather than an all-in-one converter. One long-term owner says it more than justified its cost, though other reviewers note that a Hugo TT 2 may be the better first purchase for owners of lesser DACs and that the price remains the main reservation.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
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Specifications
- FPGA
- Xilinx XC7A200T
- Filter tap length
- 1,015,808 WTA taps
- Power consumption
- Full power – 30 W Standby – 10 W
- Dimensions
- 4cm (H) 23.5cm (W) 23.8cm (D)
- Weight
- 2.55kg
Manufacturer's Description — Chord Electronics
The Hugo M Scaler is a highly advanced standalone upscaler capable of redefining sound quality from digital audio. It uses Rob Watts’ (our Digital Design Consultant’s) unique filter technology, the most advanced in the world, to upscale standard 44.1kHz digital audio up to 705.6kHz (16x CD’s 44.1kHz native resolution), ready to be passed to a suitable DAC; Hugo M Scaler extends its upscaling performance to 768kHz (from 96kHz input data) for our dual-BNC-input DACs: Qutest, Hugo 2, Hugo TT 2 and DAVE.
The Hugo M Scaler brings the unrivalled advantages of our ground-breaking FPGA-based WTA (Watts Transient Alignment) filtering technology to digitally connected audio devices, dramatically improving sound quality. Although optimised for use with selected Chord Electronics DACs (for the maximum 768kHz upscaling/decoding benefit), the Hugo M Scaler can be used with other DACs with suitable inputs, subject to their decoding capability.
The Hugo M Scaler’s compact form factor aligns with the TT (Table Top) series and has been designed to be stackable with other units in the range, including the TToby stereo power amp and the Hugo TT 2, to form a highly advanced yet space-saving system. In line with other models in the Hugo and Hugo TT series, the device features a number of illuminable fascia-mounted spherical controls, governing input selection, output sample rate and video mode for lower latency. The control spheres display data visually including input source and the incoming sample rate, using a polychromatic scale.
When partnered with either of Chord Electronics’ 768kHz-capable dual-BNC-input DACs, the Hugo M Scaler sets an astonishing technical benchmark for digital audio performance at it price point, redefining sound quality from digital audio.
‘Plays with Audirvāna’ hardware products are certified to play music from Audirvāna software over USB or network with the best level of integration and audio performance.
Tap-length filter: 1,015,808 (16FS filter)
Connectivity (input): 1x Galvanically isolated Type-B USB, 2x Coax BNC and 2x Optical
Connectivity (output): 1x Galvanically isolated dual BNC (enables upscaling to the maximum 768kHz), 1x BNC S/PDIF and 1x Optical
PCM support: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 352.8kHz, 384kHz, 717.6kHz, and 768kHz. 16 – 32bit
Driver support: Driverless with Mac OS X and Linux, driver required for Windows OS
Additional features:
The most advanced digital filter in the world
Adjustable sample rate output (with pass-thru mode)
Video mode (for lower latency)
Auto video and source selection
‘DX’ controls for a future product design
Key Features
Chord Custom Coded FPGA
1,015,808 Taps
Upsampling to 768kHz
USB Input
2x BNC S/PDIF Input
Optical Input
Dual Data Mode BNC O/P
BNC S/PDIF Output
Optical Output
Solid Aluminum Chassis
Convection Cooled
IR Remote Control Included
Roon tested
Included Accessories
M-Scaler Quickstart guide
Safety instructions
15V 4A Switching barrel type power supply
IR remote control
Type-A USB to Type-B USB cable
2x BNC to BNC cables
Optical cable
2x AAA batteries
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler
- Absoulute Audio plus Video — in-store — Aiken, South Carolina, United States (website)
- In Living Stereo — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- The Music Room — online and in-store — Erie, Colorado, United States (website)
- 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
- Accent On Music — in-store — Mount Kisco, New York, United States (website)
- Acoustic Designs Inc. — in-store — Scottsdale, Arizona, United States (website)
- Acoustic Sounds — online and in-store — Salina, Kansas, United States (website)
- Acoustic Streams — in-store — Lower Drift, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Acoustica — online and in-store — Chester, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Ajasom — online and in-store — Amadora, Lisboa, Portugal (website)
and 202 more verified dealers