Chord Mojo(1) DAC-amp ☆★►FAQ in 3rd post!◄★☆

[esm87]

Bro, don't be surprised. I've owned lots of nice audio gear, and some things, I couldn't hear a difference, especially the electronics. Headphones or IEMS, different story. Daps, dacs, and amps all sound similar to me generally speaking. I could tell the difference between my Fiio X1 and my AK240... Easy. But my AK240 and ak120ii, not a chance, not even between my AK240 and ak100ii. Zero. Hell, my girls ipod 5g touch I could barely hear a difference, and I'm not convinced I really could. The damn thing sounded amazing to me. Then again, I've said I have the worst ears here... Might very well be true.

I'm definitely keeping the Mojo. Just because.

hmmm, im genuinely perplexed how plenty of people seem to be coming from already decent audio set ups, yet rave about how much better mojo is.

I'll put it like this. Im average joe, who just enjoys listening to music on a daily. I've bought the mojo expecting some sort of audio quailty upgrade, however, im just too stupid to get it to sound like it should.

Anyone considering buying the mojo shouldnt base any decision on my posts, i truly believe I dont know how to use it. Thousands of positive reviews from people cant be wrong. No doubt, its a quality piece of kit if used properly...

 

[warrior1975]

Not hard to use bro... Plug it in, you have sound, it's working. . Give it some more time too. Maybe you need to adjust. Just listen to the music, get lost in it, and enjoy. That's what I did.

Just because everyone else hears it, doesn't mean you or I will, nor the next guy. There are lots of experienced people here, maybe they know what sounds better? I'm still learning, but more importantly, I'm still enjoying.

One other thing I learned, temper expectations. I ordered Mojo almost knowing I'd hear no difference,, been down this road too many times. I also suffer from tinnitus, so that could be a role in my lack of hearing changes... I don't know... I just know I want to listen to it now and I can't...

 

[esm87]

Your headphones aren't garbage by any stretch, and your approach is fairly realistic. I suggest you read Rob's blog post on the subject of listening to help understand a little more about where some shortcomings may be happening in your listening experience, or at least to add a different perspective.

I'll link it again in case you missed it.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/800264/watts-up#post_12457933

yes, went through the whole of post 3 sub threads pretty much today. Never hurts to re read though. Cheers for the link.

I get where he's coming from, but... theres no doubt in my mind that there should be a fairly obvious detectible difference in SQ compared to my android dac and c5 lol.

Thing is, I blind tested my missus and her brother with my mojo and then my c5 and dac setup. Thats two people plus myself that said there was no difference, bear in mind mojo was tidal hifi streamed with red showing. My other setup with the same song is 128 kbps16 bit mp3 download. All I asked was they really concentrated on the song, vocals and background instruments, neither could pick up a sound difference in quality. Strange... deffinetley a cool looking gadget though!

 

[warrior1975]

Lol... Love your last statement, agree wholeheartedly. I love the look of it, surprised I do. I didn't care for it much in the pics.

 

[esm87]

Not hard to use bro... Plug it in, you have sound, it's working. . Give it some more time too. Maybe you need to adjust. Just listen to the music, get lost in it, and enjoy. That's what I did.

Just because everyone else hears it, doesn't mean you or I will, nor the next guy. There are lots of experienced people here, maybe they know what sounds better? I'm still learning, but more importantly, I'm still enjoying.

One other thing I learned, temper expectations. I ordered Mojo almost knowing I'd hear no difference,, been down this road too many times. I also suffer from tinnitus, so that could be a role in my lack of hearing changes... I don't know... I just know I want to listen to it now and I can't...

I've got 28 days return from the shop, will hold on to it for another week or so, see how I feel then. If you have another portable amp, and android phone, the sabre hifimediy android dac would be a good cost effective backup to keep in a works locker or car glove box. Should you forget your mojo or have a problem with it.

 

[warrior1975]

My cheap ass, yet brand new otg cable seems to be giving me issues. Worked for one damn day. I'm with you on testing it more. I want to make sure it's not new toy syndrome.

For now, I'm keeping it.

 

[esm87]

Lol... Love your last statement, agree wholeheartedly. I love the look of it, surprised I do. I didn't care for it much in the pics.

lol, oh I can picture it now, the old man taking my blind audio A/B test..... tells no difference. Enquires about mojo and price of both set ups. Follows up with a long, silent stare, ok this is awkward, but dad the little balls of light are cool in they?... for £400 lol

 

[kkcc]

hmmm, im genuinely perplexed how plenty of people seem to be coming from already decent audio set ups, yet rave about how much better mojo is.

No need to feel apologetic or wierd to not feel there is a big enough quality jump for you. In fact imho it is actually normal!

From my journey into this hobby (and hifi also), the most obvious or bang-for-the-buck upgrade is always the headphone/IEMs. For the components, be it amp or dac or transport or power mgmt or other accessories the diminishing return is way steeper than the speakers/iem.

Honestly I would not be as impressed by Hugo/Mojo had I not spent/wasted a lot of time/money on various DAC. It is only AFTER I had experienced the more "hi-end" DAC I would understand how intricate the differences could be, and how expensive these incremental improvement can be. Over time (a long time) I start to be able to pick up the difference - first I learn what I like, then I stsrt to understand why I like a particular DAC. For me part of the amazement for Hugo/Mojo is actually in the context of how it compared to the (much) more expensive DAC. I am quite sure I will appreciate it less had I not went thru what I went thru with various gears. From an absolute perspective, you are absolutely correct that a $500 investment im headphone will yield more improvement.

I also find the source material also make a big difference ib my appreciation of a DAC. Here I'm not referring to the sampling rate or bit depth, but the recording and mastering of the music - crap in crap out. Hugo/Mojo do not make my crappy tracks sound better (like how my tube amp does by giving me a less accurate sound) or magically add more details, they just recreate whatever is recorded most accurately.

Hope this make sense. Cheers.

 

[kkcc]

My cheap ass, yet brand new otg cable seems to be giving me issues. Worked for one damn day. I'm with you on testing it more. I want to make sure it's not new toy syndrome.

For now, I'm keeping it.

It might not be the otg cable. My Samsung phones/tabs would sometime not recognize the mojo after an app crashes or some other anomaly on the phone. Seems to be a Samsung issue as I don't have the same experience with my other android gear, including some really cheap Chinese no name tablets with the same otg cable. Try rebooting your phone and it would work again most of the time for me. It is a bit annoying and I prefer using iPhone6 as my transport - more stable than my Note5 and no upsampling issue.

 

[x RELIC x]

yes, went through the whole of post 3 sub threads pretty much today. Never hurts to re read though. Cheers for the link.

I get where he's coming from, but... theres no doubt in my mind that there should be a fairly obvious detectible difference in SQ compared to my android dac and c5 lol.

Thing is, I blind tested my missus and her brother with my mojo and then my c5 and dac setup. Thats two people plus myself that said there was no difference, bear in mind mojo was tidal hifi streamed with red showing. My other setup with the same song is 128 kbps16 bit mp3 download. All I asked was they really concentrated on the song, vocals and background instruments, neither could pick up a sound difference in quality. Strange... deffinetley a cool looking gadget though!

Hmmmmm, I don't think the link I provided is in the third post. It's a far broader topic than the Mojo.

And I would agree, source files and mastering quality in music is essential to hearing differences. Otherwise the nuance is lost with highly compressed files, or the subtleties are killed in dynamically compressed recordings. I'm talking about the difference between the loudest note and the quietest note, not file compression here. A lot of modern music and re-mastered music is dynamically compressed because the studios feel louder is better but this kills most sense of realism, which is what the Mojo brings to the table. Then again, I have no idea what music you listen to.

The only other recommendation I can make is to listen exclusively with the Mojo for about a week, then go back to your other gear. If the differences aren't apparent then it's not your cup of tea. Please make sure that you do feed it with at least CD quality files and well mastered tracks to maximize the potential differences heard.

 

[warrior1975]

kkcc-Tried rebooting my phone (lg) and tablet already. I'm out of options bro... But thanks anyway. I'll just cry myself to sleep.

 

[kkcc]

kkcc-Tried rebooting my phone (lg) and tablet already. I'm out of options bro... But thanks anyway. I'll just cry myself to sleep.

Oh crap... btw I'm sure it's not your issue but I did once have an issue with otg connection only to find out I connected the otg end (which is not marked) of the cable to the Hugo instead of my phone.

 

[esm87]

Hmmmmm, I don't think the link I provided is in the third post. It's a far broader topic than the Mojo.

And I would agree, source files and mastering quality in music is essential to hearing differences. Otherwise the nuance is lost with highly compressed files, or the subtleties are killed in dynamically compressed recordings. I'm talking about the difference between the loudest note and the quietest note, not file compression here. A lot of modern music and re-mastered music is dynamically compressed because the studios feel louder is better but this kills most sense of realism, which is what the Mojo brings to the table. Then again, I have no idea what music you listen to.

The only other recommendation I can make is to listen exclusively with the Mojo for about a week, then go back to your other gear. If the differences aren't apparent then it's not your cup of tea. Please make sure that you do feed it with at least CD quality files and well mastered tracks to maximize the potential differences heard.

I found the seperate rob watts thread earlier, whilst reading through post 3 to see if answers could be found, I searched other mojo threads, Thats what I meant. Cheers for the input. I think, had i gone from using only mu phone to the mojo the difference would be night and day, seeing as mojo is an amp aswell. Maybe the differences are too subtle for my ears coming from an external dac and amp set up. All good, I can return if I want to, sounds like the next major audio upgrade I can appreciate is a pair of shure se846. Im still determined to get awesome portable audio. I will concentrate on getting cheap cd's and converting to FLAC and build my playlists from scratch maybe.

Cheers for all your inputs and help

 

[esm87]

No need to feel apologetic or wierd to not feel there is a big enough quality jump for you. In fact imho it is actually normal!

From my journey into this hobby (and hifi also), the most obvious or bang-for-the-buck upgrade is always the headphone/IEMs. For the components, be it amp or dac or transport or power mgmt or other accessories the diminishing return is way steeper than the speakers/iem.

Honestly I would not be as impressed by Hugo/Mojo had I not spent/wasted a lot of time/money on various DAC. It is only AFTER I had experienced the more "hi-end" DAC I would understand how intricate the differences could be, and how expensive these incremental improvement can be. Over time (a long time) I start to be able to pick up the difference - first I learn what I like, then I stsrt to understand why I like a particular DAC. For me part of the amazement for Hugo/Mojo is actually in the context of how it compared to the (much) more expensive DAC. I am quite sure I will appreciate it less had I not went thru what I went thru with various gears. From an absolute perspective, you are absolutely correct that a $500 investment im headphone will yield more improvement.

I also find the source material also make a big difference ib my appreciation of a DAC. Here I'm not referring to the sampling rate or bit depth, but the recording and mastering of the music - crap in crap out. Hugo/Mojo do not make my crappy tracks sound better (like how my tube amp does by giving me a less accurate sound) or magically add more details, they just recreate whatever is recorded most accurately.

Hope this make sense. Cheers.

awesome post, cheers bud

 

[jjacq]

Gonna post it here since I haven't seen it yet. But Dignis X Chord Mojo. A bit high in price but figured some people would like to spend the extra coin.
 

 
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Original link: http://www.e-earphone.jp/dignis