First I want to thank Todd for sponsoring this Mojo/Poly combo tour. I received the units on Jun 3rd and spent one week of time with the combo units.
I would like to call this an impression rather than review because I think I would need more than one week to try out all the features to really form a more matured opinion about this combo unit.
So let’s start with the Mojo (Mobile Joy). I actually owned the Mojo a while ago so this is not really something new to me. In terms of sound quality there has been many positive reviews on the web. It’s a highly regarded portable DAC/amp. I did compare the Mojo with some of the portable devices I have/had, such as the iFi iDSD Nano BL, JDS C5D, AK70, Onkyo DP-X1, FIIO X5 III, and Cayin N5 ii. The Mojo is the best sounding device to my ears. It’s rich, detailed and crystal clear. I do agree with some reviewer’s comment that Mojo is one of the best sounding DAC/amp units under $1K.
Now on to the Poly. I admit that I didn’t really know much about it previously. I watched several Youtube videos and downloaded the Poly User Manual to learn how to set it up. Configuring Poly with the GoFigure app is really quite easy. It took less than 5 minutes to start listening to streaming audio on the Mojo/Poly from Spotify running on my iPhone.
Initially the sound level coming out of Mojo was very low. I had to crank Mojo way up in order to hear the music and there was an auditable hissing in the background. After a couple of minutes I realized that the volume level on my iPhone was set to very low (about 20%). The volume on the iPhone should be set to maximum when using a Bluetooth device. So after correcting the volume level on the iPhone the hissing on Mojo went away and the sound became pure and sweet.
In terms of Bluetooth connection, I had no trouble with the initial pairing between iPhone and Poly. While playing Spotify through Poly, I have not experienced any interruption or dropout. The connection between iPhone and Poly seems to be very robust. Every time I powered up Poly it always connected to iPhone. I think I did try to pair the X5iii with Poly at one time but wasn’t successful. The X5iii couldn’t detect Poly. I think that’s probably because I didn’t install GoFigure on the X5iii.
Here are my opinions about the Mojo/Poly combo.
Pros:
1. Sound quality of this combination is just outstanding. The Mojo’s FPGA DAC really makes a difference in sound quality. It is also powerful enough to drive many full-size headphones.
2. Bluetooth connectivity is robust after the initial pairing. The reliability of Bluetooth is actually quite good.
Cons:
1. The Price. Poly doesn’t do anything on its own. The current market price of $749 makes it a very expensive piece of expansion module for Mojo. Note: Poly has a micro SD card playback function although I didn’t try it during the time I had the combo units.
2. The user interface. There is no easy way to tell the volume level on the Mojo other than trying to remember the color combinations. For Poly, it seems that GoFigure app is the only way to configure or to change settings of the device.
3. The built. The way Poly is connected to Mojo made me think that Poly was a product of afterthought. I was so afraid that I may accidentally break those two plastic hooks on Poly. I think the best way to protect them is to keep them in the premium leather case. But that’s another $200 investment.
Final thoughts:
The Mojo+Poly combination produces the high quality sound and wireless capabilities at a premium price. It almost makes the combination unit operate like a display-less DAP. I really hope that Chord could design a new DAP based on the Mojo+Poly combo. Oh and I wish there is a balanced output on Mojo.
Again, many thanks to Todd for sponsoring this product tour.
(although it seems like the Tidal app can stream on it's own, a lot to cover for me, doing my homework now so I can dive into this unit with no hiccups, exciting!)
