Not too long after the announcement of the Mojo it was teased that Chord was working on a line of accessories and a few of the ideas caught my eye immediately. On moon-audio.com, Drew Baird shared that Chord was experimenting with add-ons that could add Bluetooth, WIFI streaming and an SD card slot. Based on Drew's recount it was looking like these were going to be separate devices, but I was still salivating over the idea of taking my Mojo around without it constantly tethered to my phone. An SD card reader and a Bluetooth module? I couldn't wait.
Today Chord has officially revealed the Poly and I simply cannot contain my excitement. The Poly was designed to mate with the Mojo and it looks like they're a perfect pair. The Poly adds a MicroSD card slot, Bluetooth A2DP and 2.4GHz WIFI connectivity to the Mojo all in one compact package. Thanks to the Poly it's it's now possible to stream any music app, or any app at all really, from a smartphone to the Mojo. It's also possible stream music at home from network-attached storage (NAS) without being tethered to a chair. And thanks to the MicroSD there's no need to fill a smartphone's storage with music for offline playback.
Like the Mojo, the Poly has a precision machined aluminum casing that's designed to stand up to the stresses of everyday use. On the outside face there's a USB port for charging, MicroSD slot and an opaque acrylic window for the wireless signals to get through the metallic enclosure. The Poly contains its own 2200mAh lithium polymer battery and when connected to a power source will charge at the same time as the Mojo's internal battery. With the Poly attached, the Mojo can get over 9 hours of wireless listening on a charge and both can be fully recharged in under 4 hours.
Poly will be available later this year for £499 GBP.
Chord is also unveiling a redesigned Hugo which they've called the Hugo 2. The Hugo 2 is snuggled inside of a redesigned, precision-machined aircraft-grade aluminum case. It retains the button configuration from the original Hugo, but the new body is sporting a sharper, lower profile shape. The spherical buttons are now top-mounted for future expansion modules (and I do so love expansion modules). The colors are retained as well, indicating the current power state, filter, input and crossfeed settings. The volume sphere locate on the top has been made larger for easier access, huzzah! Chord has even created a full-function remote control for the Hugo 2 in order to improve the user experience when using it as part of a desktop or full-size 2-channel system.
The Hugo 2 is loaded with Chord's latest FPGA and Watts Transient Aligned (WTA) filters bringing the Hugo into Chord's modern age. Chord is reporting improvements in the timing accuracy. dynamic range, noise reduction and headphone amp power in the new Hugo 2. Chord has also improved the battery life with the Hugo 2, increasing it to 14 hours, up from the Hugo's 10. Every input and output from the original Hugo are still here, ensuring that owners of the current Hugo will not have to worry about changing their stereo configuration if they upgrade.
The Hugo 2 will be available later this year for £1,800 GBP.
To round out Chord's announcements they've also revelaed another prouct refresh with the Blu MkII. The Blu MkII is an upscaling CD transport and replaces Chord's original Blu. The Blu MkII features a powerful new FPGA core, one that Chord says has extraordinary capability. The Blu MkII's Xilinx XC7A200T FPGA, containing 740 DSP cores, was paired with Rob Watt's WTA filtering and upscaling algorithms, outputting up to a digital signal up to 705.6kHz. That's 16 times a CD's normal 44.1kHz resolution. Watts' M-Scaler technology ensures maximum memory efficiency to allow the FPGA system to operate without skipping a beat. The Blu MkII also features a redesigned chassis with a curvy face lift, one that doesn't look out of place alongside the Chord DAVE.
The Blu MkII will be available later this year for £7,995 GBP.
(Chord Mojo and Poly)
Today Chord has officially revealed the Poly and I simply cannot contain my excitement. The Poly was designed to mate with the Mojo and it looks like they're a perfect pair. The Poly adds a MicroSD card slot, Bluetooth A2DP and 2.4GHz WIFI connectivity to the Mojo all in one compact package. Thanks to the Poly it's it's now possible to stream any music app, or any app at all really, from a smartphone to the Mojo. It's also possible stream music at home from network-attached storage (NAS) without being tethered to a chair. And thanks to the MicroSD there's no need to fill a smartphone's storage with music for offline playback.
Like the Mojo, the Poly has a precision machined aluminum casing that's designed to stand up to the stresses of everyday use. On the outside face there's a USB port for charging, MicroSD slot and an opaque acrylic window for the wireless signals to get through the metallic enclosure. The Poly contains its own 2200mAh lithium polymer battery and when connected to a power source will charge at the same time as the Mojo's internal battery. With the Poly attached, the Mojo can get over 9 hours of wireless listening on a charge and both can be fully recharged in under 4 hours.
Poly will be available later this year for £499 GBP.
Chord is also unveiling a redesigned Hugo which they've called the Hugo 2. The Hugo 2 is snuggled inside of a redesigned, precision-machined aircraft-grade aluminum case. It retains the button configuration from the original Hugo, but the new body is sporting a sharper, lower profile shape. The spherical buttons are now top-mounted for future expansion modules (and I do so love expansion modules). The colors are retained as well, indicating the current power state, filter, input and crossfeed settings. The volume sphere locate on the top has been made larger for easier access, huzzah! Chord has even created a full-function remote control for the Hugo 2 in order to improve the user experience when using it as part of a desktop or full-size 2-channel system.
(Chord Hugo 2)
The Hugo 2 is loaded with Chord's latest FPGA and Watts Transient Aligned (WTA) filters bringing the Hugo into Chord's modern age. Chord is reporting improvements in the timing accuracy. dynamic range, noise reduction and headphone amp power in the new Hugo 2. Chord has also improved the battery life with the Hugo 2, increasing it to 14 hours, up from the Hugo's 10. Every input and output from the original Hugo are still here, ensuring that owners of the current Hugo will not have to worry about changing their stereo configuration if they upgrade.
The Hugo 2 will be available later this year for £1,800 GBP.
To round out Chord's announcements they've also revelaed another prouct refresh with the Blu MkII. The Blu MkII is an upscaling CD transport and replaces Chord's original Blu. The Blu MkII features a powerful new FPGA core, one that Chord says has extraordinary capability. The Blu MkII's Xilinx XC7A200T FPGA, containing 740 DSP cores, was paired with Rob Watt's WTA filtering and upscaling algorithms, outputting up to a digital signal up to 705.6kHz. That's 16 times a CD's normal 44.1kHz resolution. Watts' M-Scaler technology ensures maximum memory efficiency to allow the FPGA system to operate without skipping a beat. The Blu MkII also features a redesigned chassis with a curvy face lift, one that doesn't look out of place alongside the Chord DAVE.
(Chord Blu MkII and DAVE)
The Blu MkII will be available later this year for £7,995 GBP.
