Chord Mojo

[jp11801]

So I picked up the Chord Mojo as a B-day gift to myself and wasn't expecting to be blown away but so far after 2 days I am pretty stoked. Bests the portable players I have here like the Sony NW x2, iBasso dx90, Caylx and the 901. Sucks that it is not a full dap and I have to strap it to a note3 or iPhone or computer but worth the hassle. 

 

Anyone else here take the plunge on this, it so far has kicked ass with the JH13 and 16s as well as my LCD X and the AT W3ks, Lots of texture and spatial cues with the mojo. More info t come if anyone is interested. Pairs very well with IPAs and pale ales! 

[ironbut]

First I've heard of the Mojo.

I've always enjoyed the sound of Chord's digital gear. I'm surprised you can get it at such a low price.

[tyrion]

 Look forward to checking this out when you are down here in December.  Good thing I just spent my Mojo money on a new knife.

[skullguise]

JP, got one myself, using it at work.  Spot on IMO when you say "Lots of texture and spatial cues."

Using mine with Cardas-cabled Senn 650's.

 

BTW, when I first went to install the driver, something hiccupped on my machine....it gave me a message that made me sad in an Austin Powers kind of way (OK now)

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by skullguise

[Dusty Chalk]

5 hours ago, skullguise said:

That's just sad.

[jp11801]

just plugged it into the mac mini and pressed play, sorry to hear about driver issues and hope you get it sorted soon.

 

I've ben discovering the joys of Plex and playing my high res content from my mac mini through my phone out to the Chord Mojo. I found the Ne Player app for IOS works great to play the high res content where the Plex app played all files as 16/44 and the Ne player played all at the correct sample and bit rates.

[purk]

21 hours ago, jp11801 said:

So I picked up the Chord Mojo as a B-day gift to myself and wasn't expecting to be blown away but so far after 2 days I am pretty stoked. Bests the portable players I have here like the Sony NW x2, iBasso dx90, Caylx and the 901. Sucks that it is not a full dap and I have to strap it to a note3 or iPhone or computer but worth the hassle. 

 

Anyone else here take the plunge on this, it so far has kicked ass with the JH13 and 16s as well as my LCD X and the AT W3ks, Lots of texture and spatial cues with the mojo. More info t come if anyone is interested. Pairs very well with IPAs and pale ales! 

I mentioned the same thing on "what are you listening now thread".  I have the Mojo for over a month now as Chord representative sent me a sample.  It is excellent DAC/amp that really redefined the product segment.  John, you should try the MOJO with full sized and harder to drive headphones.  It is powerful enough to drive the HD800 and HE1000 really well.   The A17/ZX2 > MOJO > HD-800 is a really good combination.   I actually think that it is a tad too small in footprint.  I wonder what Chord will be able to do given more space.  The MOJO is pretty much the same size as the original Astell & Kern AK100.

[skullguise]

3 hours ago, jp11801 said:

just plugged it into the mac mini and pressed play, sorry to hear about driver issues and hope you get it sorted soon.

 

I've ben discovering the joys of Plex and playing my high res content from my mac mini through my phone out to the Chord Mojo. I found the Ne Player app for IOS works great to play the high res content where the Plex app played all files as 16/44 and the Ne player played all at the correct sample and bit rates.

Oh, it's fine, instant re-install and all worked great.  I just liked the message....still, it would be fun to TRULY plug and play....when will Microsoft get it?

I had Plex installed on one of my machines, ended up with JRiver (server service) which worked better for me, and also allowed my Pioneer N-30 streamer to recognize my library easier.

 

[jp11801]

Purk, I too in a world where we wanted portables small would have preferred a slightly bigger size. I have matched the Mojo with the AT3ks and the LCD-X (its all I have at the moment) and they both wound wonderful, I thought about pairing the mojo with the Sony but is seems like ridiculous overkill, I need to get an adaptor to make the cable I have work. I am trying to figure out the best way to use the Mojo as a desktop device and as a partner to the iPhone. 

For the $600 price tag it is a segment redefiner, I hope they don't try to make up their low margin with expensive add ons like the iPhone snap on kit. I would pay a few hundred for a snap on card reader player. 

I am going to try and pair it with my Genelec 8050 in the coming weeks but need a series of adapters to go from the mini out to XLRs for the speakers. 

[nnotis]

I just got one of these.  The comments about depicting spacial information are right on.  I've never before heard a portable manage this level of resolution.  I'm surprised to read some of you like to use it with HD800s.  It seems crazy to drive them from a portable, but I haven't heard the pairing.  I did try it with LCDXs though, which worked surprisingly well.  Unfortunately for me, giving the Mojo enough gain for HD800s means an audible noise floor when using Roxannes.  But at $600, it's otherwise good enough to recommend anyway.  I've got a resistor and custom Onkyo Player EQ setting to neutralize the frequency response, which otherwise gets messed up by the resistor.

[eggil]

I have tried the Chord Hugo and that it was way overrated.

I tend to be very skeptic of all these new players designed with specs designed for bats.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

It's not "designed for bats", it's "over-engineering", which is the head-case way.

In general, not talking about the Chords, haven't tried either.

[DeeJayBump]

Reviving dormant thread, sorry.

 

Purk,  and anyone else who have compared the HM901 and the Mojo: How does the Mojo sound compared to the HM901, and what amp module(s) were in the 901 when comparing them?

 

Thanks.

[purk]

No experience with the HM901 here but the Mojo does sound like a good sounding $500ish desktop amp.  I would put my money on the Mojo.

Edited August 20, 2016 by purk

[DeeJayBump]

Thanks, Purk

Thought you either owned the HM901 or had heard it at some point.

[VPI]

As a late adopter of the Mojo, I am reading up on the piece.  

I am intrigued by the Poly add on that should be coming out soon.  Evidently it connects to the Mojo and gives it SD Card and Wireless capability.  Kind of like a DAP, that you control with your phone or ipad.  It appears to stream from the cloud for Tidal and Spotify but I am not sure if it will stream from the iPad, etc. or just sign in to Tidal itself..

[jp11801]

Jeff I have a mojo and love it but I do have to say WTF on the Poly costing the same as the Mojo. Cool idea I just didn't figure I was buying half a DAP with the other half coming 16 months after the first. I am curious to see how well integrated the Poly Mojo feels after snapping them together. I hate traveling looking like  Macgyver, between the phone, camera cable, usb cable strapped to the mojo.

Edited January 14, 2017 by jp11801

[swt61]

^ Reminds me of the soft cases that Tyll used to sell back in the day. Sections for portable CD player, amp, battery packs, headphones etc...

Portable is a relative idea.

[VPI]

2 hours ago, jp11801 said:

Jeff I have a mojo and love it but I do have to say WTF on the Poly costing the same as the Mojo. Cool idea I just didn't figure I was buying half a DAP with the other half coming 16 months after the first. I am curious to see how well integrated the Poly Mojo feels after snapping them together. I hate traveling looking like  Macgyver, between the phone, camera cable, usb cable strapped to the mojo.

I agree the pricing seems strange, but if I can get a DAPish like device that does real DSD for less than the price of the AK240 or something it could be a nice deal.  Especially since it seems the Mojo sounds better than the A&K stuff.

[purk]

The AK100 is also an excellent candidate in term of a form factor adding on to the Mojo instead of a more expensive transport.  I have the FiiO X5 Gen III in the house and it is an amazing DAP for the price.  I expect it to be a big hit when they become widely available.

[VPI]

Yeah, I am been trying to figure out when the Gen 3 would ever be available.

However, reading their statement that they were releasing it here late since several things didn't work so they were just giving it to China to begin with does not speak to a device that will not piss me off and get thrown in the trash angrily.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Iron_Dreamer]

On 1/14/2017 at 4:37 AM, jp11801 said:

Jeff I have a mojo and love it but I do have to say WTF on the Poly costing the same as the Mojo. Cool idea I just didn't figure I was buying half a DAP with the other half coming 16 months after the first. I am curious to see how well integrated the Poly Mojo feels after snapping them together. I hate traveling looking like  Macgyver, between the phone, camera cable, usb cable strapped to the mojo.

I tried them hands-on at CES. The two when put together do feel quite well integrated, the connection was not loose at all.  It's a nifty setup, if slightly kludgey. I agree that a one-box solution would be more elegant, and possibly smaller.

The Hugo 2 was where I was more impressed with audio performance, and it looks like they have solved some of the easily broken connectors of the original. However, despite being "higher power" according to the designer I spoke to, the headphone amp doesn't cut it compared to the Pico Power I had on hand.  I found it odd that the main designer/engineer kept trying to impress upon me that the headphone amp was capable of driving speakers (all the statistics on it were quoted into 8ohm loads, rather than a more typical headphone impedance), and ignoring how it performed with actual headphones.  Chord certainly can build a DAC, but their integration with the headphone world is definitely still a work in progress, IMO.

[HiWire]

I listened to the Mojo at a local headphone specialist shop and I was blown away. We hooked the Mojo up to my Panasonic SL-CT820 portable CD player using an optical cable listening out of the Beyerdynamic Amiron headphone and I had that Eureka! moment... the Mojo was immediately, obviously better than the PCDP's output in every audible dimension.

I'll buy one as soon as I'm able to afford one.

[skullguise]

^^^ bunch are FS at H-F.....low to mid-400's IIRC......

[HiWire]

Thanks for the tip. I was getting overly excited when I found out that all pre-2016 MacBooks also have an optical jack in their headphone out... the lure of the new toy. The stuff on my computer is 320 kbps AAC, so nothing special, but my setup has been the same for a long time.

It wouldn't be a good idea to have such an expensive gadget on my desk at work, though.

Edited February 21, 2017 by HiWire