Chord "Mojo"

Just read watts words... had to take a time vomiting. Oh hell, here comes the yesterday pizza again...

 

Today I had the time to compare extensively chord mojo in line out mode vs FiiO X5 III line out both connected to schiit Magni 3 and audeze lcd 3.
Once more, I gave gathered evidence of the chord comercial machine. When I bought mojo and the 2qute I had the felling that I was blessed to pursue the most hi tech and good sounding DACs. Now I just fell ripped of. Mojo was more compressed, more dull, less dinamic and I think a tad less detailed when compare to fiio. When connected directly, mojo wins by a hair but maybe the fiio amp is the problem.
Now I just feel stupid to own a chord mojo.... and to imagine that I almost bought the poly, the “Money ripper part 2”.... Thank god, someone bought my 2qute.

 

It's funny because while I agree they're overpriced without over thinking it I tend to really like Chord gear. The Mojo isn't technically impressive, but it has a very appealing tuning to it. The mids also pair really well with my Dita Dreams so maybe that's why I like it haha my iems are always mid light.

Anyway, I don't think you need to feel stupid owning a Mojo... It depends on what you're looking for. The Magni 3 was a very good amplifier, but kind of uninteresting to me for example. The Mojo dac is kind of warm with a not the best treble, but it still sounds fun to listen to.

I still say that as a pure dac it isn't very good, you can easily beat it for the money. But if you actually use it like it's supposed to be on the move it's one of only a small handful of options that aren't daps, and it's one of the better ones. I strongly prefer it to Oppo HA-2, and it probably loses to the GOV 2+ Infinity but there aren't all that many other options. You even said it edged out the X5 by a hair when you use it together... That's the only way I used it for like 6 months (like in a pocket) and I was quite pleased with it.

It's like Hugo 2. I thought it sounded quite impressive for a portable dac amp of that size. Tbh I preferred it over a WM1Z which I wasn't expecting. But it's complete garbage for a desktop dac / desktop set up. And of course Chord pricing always hurts...

Poly though... Yeah just don't do that... At WM1A pricing combined... And that's not gonna beat it.

Chords products I'll relucantly admit are good at their portable purposes, but only because the competition is so low. idek what else is competing with Hugo 2 that isn't a dap besides still the GOV2+. And if you don't use them that way there is no reason to get one. Dave therefore never really makes sense for that price...

Edit:
Also was reading through that thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-☆-poly-☆-advanced-wireless-microsd-module-for-mojo-☆★►specs-in-1st-post-◄★☆.831347/page-144#post-13772181
lmao the shilling

 

Don't feel sad - You are not alone. The Chord "marketing machine" is very efficient and well integrated.

 

Lol a old professor of mine once said: if you were sent to hell with all your friends, give the devil a kiss and make a party with your buddies...

 

I have had a Mojo for a while. I recently heard another dac in my system and now I feel stupid to have believed the marketing hype. The Mojo is ok as a portable low priced product. It can however not be considered a serious dac to be used in a home audio system.

Chord products are good in a way, but there are reasons why I won't buy them anymore.

1. I feel tricked by Mojo hype.

2. The price is not right.

3. The impractical/idiosynchratic design and the attitude of the designers that they know better than consumers is unacceptable.

4. Build quality is suspect. They do not back their products very well when it comes to things like maintenance such as battery replacement. In another forum a Chord user stated that he asked a Chord approved repairer to change a battery and was asked to pay a price that was beyond extortionate.

There are plenty of good dacs out there. Thankfully there is no need to be a hostage to Chord.

 

I ended up replacing my mojo as primary on most of my portal devices with the SMSL Idea mini. I would say ur getting about 95% of the Cord Mojo sound for $85. Someone The price/performance disparity of chord mojo/hugo 2 is just appalling. I still own the Mojo though because the wife likes it (pretty colors!).

 

Do you mean that as a dac or as a dac/amp? Even then, I've never heard a Sabre dac actually sound pretty much anything like Mojo. I'm not shooting it down as a product or anything I've never heard it, but I'd be surprised if it sounded the same style with those chips.

 

I agree, sabre dacs usually sound like crap but this one does sound incredibly good for what it is (Cheap usb dac/amp for phone). Might be the xmos implementation or the new-ish dac chip, not sure. I actually have 2 and would loan it out if people wanna hear it. But it is only $85 or cheaper on massdrop. Here's a detailed writeup with measurements: Link

 

So I've got the mojo on its way which I'll be using to drive some MrSpeakers Aeon Flows. Mostly I stream Tidal HiFi from a recliner, so no real "desktop", and I love the mobile option, but it'll be 10 or so times per year, the rest is daily in my chair. This thread has me wondering if I should order a Gimby/Asgard or Magni 3 to compare ... and since I'm streaming from my Macbook, maybe the Eitr.

Have any of you compared a closed-back planar (ortho) or similar with these types of set-ups?

 

Nice pic you got yourself lol
Yes I have used Modi Multibit and magni2 to drive audeze lcd2 and it was a very nice combination.

 

@Gruss Gott, The Mojo is a great device for your planned use. It’s best feature is “ no cord.” My use of the Mojo was very similar, but with Ether c v1.1’s and a couch. I decided to sell the Mojo though, and I am in process of building a Modi Multibit>Eitr>Modi 3 or Vali 2 rig. So far, the Modi Multibit and Eitr are on the way. I liked my Bifrost Multibit better then the Mojo as a dac, and I never leave the house with headphones. A Modi Multibit based option seemed a no brainer for my use. If I used headphones portably, I’d have kept the Mojo. For the record, portabable use for me is apple buds and an iPhone or ciems and an ak100ii.

Edited the target user of this post to @Gruss Gott.

 

Interesting ... maybe I can make a go of this Mojo thing after all ... maybe I'll get the Asgard 2 and spend this year using the Mojo and line-in to the Asgard, then next year get the Bifrost Multibit ... I just nervous about all the reports of the USB and RF weakness of the mojo, if all of that is true then I'm going to get annoyed fast, but sounds like it worked fine for you to get started?

 

I used the Mojo as it was intended - as a portable dac/amp. - I ran an AK100ii DAP into the Mojo via optical. It’s not at its best as a desktop dac stand in. If you need a dac for an Asgard, it would not be my recommendation. If you need to be on batteries with a dap or computer at your lounge chair, I’d recommend it.

 

Mojo is very well suited for the use case for which it was designed. It’s less than optimal in use cases for which it was not designed.

Shocking, innit?

 

alright super friends, here are my choices then:

(1.) Keep the Mojo: MBP/tidal hifi > usb > mojo > Aeon Flows
Pros: gives me a mobile option & get desktop next year, Cons: all of the downsides of using the Mojo given I'm not mobile

(2.) Get some Schiit: MBP/Tidal hifi > usb > gen 5 Bifrost Multibit > Magni 3 > Aeon Flows
Pros: SQ vs Mojo?, Cons: no mobile option, more expensive, may want to sell in the future to upgrade

So my SuperFriends question is:
Will the gen5 Bifrost Multibit / Magni 3 have better sound than the mojo in your fellas opinions? Subjective, I know.

 

You may want to pick the brain of @Ice-man. I read he quite enjoyed the Magni 3 with Aeon.

I disliked the sound - it was, to me, like trying to hit that tiny recessed button on your laptop, to boot into administrator mode, but using a Saturn V rocket to do it. The dynamics of the Aeon go well, for me, with the dynamics of the Mojo. The Magni 3, which I absolutely love, did not match.

 

I owned a Mojo for over a year and had no issues at all with USB. I had more issues with Schitt dacs and USB prior to Gen 5. As for RFI, I did not use the Mojo as a portable rather a desktop replacement running off its battery. Never experienced RFI issues in 3 of the systems it was used. It worked great as a desktop dac.

I just sold my Mojo for some other dacs used in various systems and I am sorry I did. Slight increases in SQ for lots more dollars. Anyone want to "dump" a mint Mojo? Pm me, I would buy it if priced right..

And I did own the Asgard 2 for a while and did not care for it. YMMV

 

Great feedback! Sounds like option 1 (mojo) is probably the way to go with the aeons for now as I've gotten almost universal feedback on a match with the aeons ... the Schiit sounds like it can be hit or miss.

And overall I'll say there's supreme amounts of disagreement on experience with high dollar DACs (e.g., Z reviews, others say they couldn't tell in a/b tests). And while there's lots of mojo hate on this thread, it sounds like the real test has to be with each person selected headphones. Ideally I'd like to create a baseline of sound with the Mojo and then go into a Schiit showroom and test, say, a Bifrost Multibit+Jot to see if it's better

 

Your option 1 is using the Mojo as intended. I do not like using the Mojo as a desktop replacement. @bixby seems to, and I know others like it for that use. Most of my dislike for that use was physical configuration. Than again, I was ok with a a brick of Mojo and AK100ii, so take my comments with a a salt block...

I did like the Mojo with the Ether C’s a lot. I suspect it is equally fine with the Aeon’s.