Chord "Mojo"

The Mojo hyped worked: it made me buy one. I bought it for desktop use because the lead designer assured on Head-Fi that you can easily leave it plugged in to power 24/7, just use a low noise power supply like one the the Apple power adapters. Do I like it? It´s not as good as the hype claims, but I don´t think it´s a bad product either. The Mojo - compared to the usual 300-500 euro/dollar delta-sigma DAC products - sounds very nice. It doesn´t have the same amount of glare and the midrange is quite liquid. Bass is weak, but it always is without heavy power supplies. All in all I think it´s (despite its flaws) good value for money. Things are different now, but for a long time it didn´t have much competition at its price point.

My Mojo is now waiting to be replaced by the dealer. The battery broke down and won´t charge anymore. My guess is that it it simply not well suited for desktop use no matter what the designer claims. The battery type it uses functions best when it is depleted entirely and then fully recharged. Used on the desktop it often overheats (the intelligent battery level management that keeps it at an optimal level all the time didn´t work well on my unit). The USB connection was also wonky: there was some clicking and popping sounds in the music in the beginning when you play a song, but no such thing if you use it as it was mainly designed to be used (i.e. portable).

EDIT: Made a few small clarifications/fixes. Also got a new one via warranty. This time I´ll be trying it with the official USB cable (one cable for both data/charging) to see if the USB clicks/pops disappear. This one has a much higher serial number than the previous one, perhaps there have been some fixes in the later production runs. Going to be interesting to see if the intelligent charging circuit works better on this unit. I´ll report more on my findings in this thread once I´ve been able to thoroughly test it.

 

Here is the link for the Mojo add on, Poly. Overpriced IMHO.

http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/product/poly/

@Vorlon try keeping the Mojo on its side, it has more surface area and cools faster that way.

 

Not a fan of the pricing either... I would have loved to see a desktop version of the Mojo, optimized for USB and with a more powerful headphone amplifier. That would have been a very interesting product and would have complemented the Mojo nicely (portable + desktop).

I´ll try that, thanks. I´m going to test to see how it works as a line-out DAC with the Valhalla 2 before I sell it.

 

I like it with the Valhalla 2, I think they sound good together.

 

Sounds like you're describing the Hugo 2.

 

I took the bait...http://www.head-fi.org/t/784602/chord-mojo-dac-amp-faq-in-3rd-post/28455#post_13148210

 

On the desktop, it compares very badly to the much cheaper Modi Multibit. That's why mine is only a mobile device these days. The difference isn't even all that subtle, through a Jotunheim or better.

Yay, I hope you get abusive PMs, too, calling you an "anti-Chord hater" for daring to suggest that something Chord made isn't automatically the best fit solution for all use cases ever. I always enjoy those. I tend to tell them to "go away"; I suspect you'd be more robust.

 

I don't know, this seems to have unleashed a lot of pent up frustration. Lots of people questioning the utility and price of the Poly.

 

The Hugo 2 will still run off a battery with probably the same issues as the Mojo. Plus it still has tons of inputs, I doubt they managed to fit something like an XMOS chip inside and properly do galvanic isolation. It tries to do everything at once instead of doing a few things well.

 

For all of Mojo faults, I have to disagree with some folks here as I did not find the Modi better sounding than the Mojo. Different yes, not better in my setups. I am happy to use both.

 

Yeah, it's the True Believers like that xRELICx guy who get really bugfuck crazy, the properly brainwashed who don't see shades of grey anywhere.

It does feel to me like the Poly is a weirdly unfocussed device though, one that doesn't really know what it's for. The Mojo was an easier sell as just a DAC/portable amp that set out to do one very specific thing that people actually wanted, either on the desktop or on the move- and I feel like I have almost been getting my money's worth in that respect. The weird wireless player/hub..thing? It's a very poor fit for mobile use- especially when it costs more than nicer sounding full-blown DAPs to buy both that and a Mojo.

Don't get me wrong, I'd accept a free one if someone else is paying, and I'd try to work out what it's for.. but it doesn't exactly strike me as a "must buy".

Through a desktop amp and transducers that are at all resolving, there's no comparison, with resolution or staging between the Mojo and the much cheaper Modi Multibit. We're used to splitting hairs to hear differences in components, but if you can't hear this one, then I'd worry.

 

If I ever decide what desktop dac to buy... I flip flop all the time. Yggdrasil, spring, Gungnir Multibit, mody... I'm all over the place with figuring out which dac to get. At this point and time, it's between Yggdrasil and Holo.

 

That's you told!

 

I'm having a chuckle.....its been a while since that thread had so much negative feedback Lol....even the fanboys can't defend chord this time Lol

 

The wretched thing only has one microSD slot, too.. it seems like weaksauce all round.

 

Is the Modi Multibit a big step over Geekout v2+ or Sony Zx2's if I pair with an andro? I would have to get a pairing amp, but I somehow feel ZX2 with andros have such good synergy, it might be hard to beat with a modi.

 

If all you use is the Andros then personally I think you're fine with the ZX2 and the GO. I have yet to see a consensus on a desktop amp that has great synergy with the Andros and also not excessive hiss. Maybe the Ragnarok? But then you're going into a whole other level.