John Darko
We’ve already seen the 2go: Chord Electronics’ bolt-on brick that turns their transportable Hugo2 DAC into a streaming DAC to offer Bluetooth, AirPlay, (gapless) UPnP and Roon Ready capabilities. Chord’s accompanying GoFigure app additionally gives us access to songs stored on a microSD card inserted into the 2go’s side as well as Tidal, Qobuz and Internet radio integrations. Now comes the 2yu which turns the 2go into a network bridge.
Instead of attaching the 2go to the Hugo2, we screw it onto the 2yu to marry the afore-detailed network streaming capabilities to three S/PDIF outputs: TOSLINK, 50-Ohm coaxial or 75-Ohm BNC. What about that USA port? According to the press release, it’s “a cleverly integrated and highly flexible USB-A output giving a wide range of connectivity options”. Boiling the 2go/2yu pairing down to its bare essentials, we get Ethernet or Wifi in, S/PDIF or USB out.
Detailing the internals, the Chord Electronics’ press release says, “2yu boasts 2,000 MIPS (million instructions per second) of processing power, automatic downsampling (for use with sample rate-limited legacy DACs), plus a low-jitter audio phase lock loop.”
The 2go/2yu combination ships with Chord Electronicsโ latest 2go update (v. 1.5.0), which introduces new radio-listening and microSD card album playback features (no more playlists!) and, according to the Kent-based manufacturer, improved stability. Future firmware updates will arrive over-the-air.
The 2yu is available now for ยฃ449 – your choice of black or silver – but requires a 2go (ยฃ995) to form a fifteen-hundred quid combo.
Further information: Chord Electronics
