Acclaimed British sound engineer/producer Dom Morley who has worked with artists such as Adele, Sting, Jeff Beck, The Police, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Grinderman, Jet, The Verve, Live8, Morrissey and Underworld, has chosen Hugo 2 as his go-to DAC and headphone amp for his professional audio engineering work, stating it, “sounds as good as everything that I have in my studio”.

Morley is the latest award-winning music professional to embrace Chord Electronics’ proprietary digital-to-analogue conversion technology for studio use and follows Metropolis Mastering’s Tim Young who uses the company’s flagship DAC/headphone amp, DAVE, and Metropolis Studios’ Stuart Hawkes who also uses Hugo 2.

Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson

Based in his own Oxfordshire studio, Morley engineered on Amy Winehouse’s Number 1 album Back To Black, Mark Ronson’s Version and Record Collection, Richard Ashcroft’s These People and Keys To The World, Grinderman’s debut album, plus singles for Adele, Morrissey, JP Cooper and Estelle, amongst others. Other works include engineering or mixing for Rag’n’Bone Man, The Staves, Rumer, Keane, Birdy, Lemon Jelly, Jeff Beck, Sting, I Am Kloot, The Verve, Live8 (DVD) and Underworld.

Metropolis Studios

Dom’s career started at DEP International Studio in the late 1990s and progressed to Metropolis Studios, engineering for producers including Tony Visconti and Mark Ronson. His work with Ronson, on the Amy Winehouse album Back to Black, won him the ‘Record Of The Year’ Grammy Award in 2008.

Since then, Morley has become a freelance engineer and producer working with such artists as Sting, Adele, Grinderman, Kate Walsh, and The Police. Commenting on his Hugo 2, Morley said, “The Hugo 2 sounds as good as everything that I have in my studio… it makes life easy and it makes life simple.”

“I use these (Hugo 2s) outside of the studio as well… the Hugo 2 I can plug into my laptop, it sounds as good as being in my studio, but it also has a couple of features that are quite useful if you’re monitoring on headphones.”

About Hugo 2

Chord Electronics’ Hugo 2 is a transportable DAC, headphone amp and digital preamp in one compact and bijou package, benefiting from both mains, and for true audiophile operation, battery power. The device offers four digital inputs (optical, coaxial and HD USB) plus extended-range Bluetooth, with high-resolution file playback up to 768kHz and up to DSD512 (Octa DSD), via its HD USB input. Analogue outputs include 2x RCA, plus 3.5mm and 6.35mm headphone outputs.

Further features include a four-function switch filter, giving users the ability to frequency-shape the output, a digital crossfeed function for headphone users, offering three operation modes, plus in excess of seven hours of playtime from its 2x rechargeable custom Enix Energies 3.7V 9.6Wh Li-ion (lithium-ion, 2600mAh) batteries.

The Hugo 2 is now streaming-capable, too, thanks to the addition of the 2go streamer/server (£995) available now.

Hugo 2 is available now priced at £1,800

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