Hey, Drew Baird from Moon Audio again, here at the LA Audio fest. So we also
want to talk to Colin about the new Hugo 2, which everybody is really excited and
can't wait to get their hands on. The original Hugo was just a splashing
success, and I can only imagine the success that we're going to have with
Hugo 2 with all the new improvements and functionality. It should stand to be a
stellar product, not only for portable but also for your 2-channel hifi setup.
So, Colin, tell us a little bit about what you guys have done to improve the original
Hugo and and what kind of functions it now has.
Okay, so I'm really excited about Hugo 2.
what we did was basically we looked at
the success of Hugo one and instead of resting on the laurels of success,
which is a very easy thing to do, we looked at everything that we though could be
improved. We studied all the forums. We listened to all of the criticism,
positive, negative, whatever. It's okay, if someone feels that don't like something
let's make something that really works for them. So when Mojo
came out, we realized people were using Mojo much more as their mobile device and Hugo
was becoming more of a desktop device it's still small enough that some
audiophiles want to walk around with it but we're finding -- yeah -- we're
finding that in general what seems to me happening is we'll use it to home office, put in
the bag, take it to your work office maybe on the plane, or the train. I'm on a plane
half of my life so for me this is ideal. You'll notice the actual shape that's
similar but we've sharpened the edges off a little. The reason for that is you'll
notice on the front we've reduced just to one USB input now. We don't see the
necessity for the two micro USB. But you'll see we've also made
them flush now. So the guys and ladies out there who want to use the
thicker ended cables, we're not getting in the way of that. We've added USB
charging. So there's no way to get confused accidentally plug your laptop charger
into it, you know, make it more Universal. It's the way that a lot of products are going these days.
On the rear you'll see the optical again,
flush mount. No more connection issues. Yeah, making life easy for you guys.
We changed the coax to a three-and-a-half mil. Now, there's actually two
coaxes in there. Coax one, coax two, so one is tip and one is sleeve. And widen holes
where we could, clear out the outputs realizing there are customers still using these
things in their home two-channel systems. And then reduce to one three-and-a-half
and I think you guys call it six-and-a-half mil -- quarter-inch -- yeah, you're with me. Quarter-inch jack
so we'll stick with that. Bluetooth. When we made Hugo one bluetooth was designed for
people like me. I've put my wires in my suitcase there in the hold in the plane.
So you put your Hugo and you put your phone. It's a short-range bluetooth.
That's what it was designed for. But customers started putting that in their Hifi
system, sitting across the room and using the phones or whatever, and then saying
that the Bluetooth wasn't good enough. Okay, so we could have turned 'round and said it did not
fit the purpose. That's not the way to look at it.
what it has wonderful
So we've incorporated the same Bluetooth section as the Hugo TT. So we've tested
this up to about 45 meters and absolutely rock-solid with the window
here to help with the reception - improving the offering.
Hugo one, a lot of the functionality you had to remember
through a light system inside Hugo. I always had to look at the carton and say
'what color is this, what color was that' So what we got here
you see the power switch here? The power switch now has your battery indicator in it.
So blue, green, yellow, red. Flashing red, get it on charge. cross feed
remains so reduction of intense aerial imaging if you find it makes a little
bit tired. Off -- 1, 2, 3, off. So line of sight, nice and easy. Input selection
again changing color within the button. Nice and easy to remember. One thing we've
added is a range of filters. Rob Watson and John Frank's worked on this. We've got a
lot of head phones out there with different characteristics there's a lot
of different styles of music and recording types. If I want to listen
to Robert Johnson nineteen twenties possibly recordings and one a smooth
slope yeah you're going to maybe want to make it a little easier on yourself
especially in the morning after a heavy night. So basically what we've
got a very -- four different filter settings, very subtle
differences just to help you maybe get a slightly
different feel for it. Internally you're going to expect we've upgraded it yet as
in the US EPA robots worked really hard on the sound quality this.
This thing rocks. It sounds I mean Hugo one was great Hugo 2 - this
thing is incredible. It sounds absolutely amazing. Can't wait for the reviews to
start coming in - so guys or girls out there can really start enjoying it and
we've added remote control. A nice little function obviously put it in home stereo
across the room, you don't want to be getting up, changing. Again, just trying to
make your life a little bit easier. Now the remote control is Bluetooth so could you use
another Bluetooth remote as well if you have a, you know, like your iPhone with
your normal Apple AirPlay remote, can use that? The remote is actually IR.
Okay, it's IR. It's IR remote. But, nice, simple, non-cluttered, function -- what do you want a remote to do?
Sync easily, do the job.
Sounds good. And as you expect: black and silver. And will be shipping to America
very shortly. We're actually in production now. Next couple weeks.
Thank you much. -- Nah, it's my pleasure.