Chord Electronics Mojo

CK Moustache

100+ Head-Fier
Link to my review and measurement index thread where one can also find a full review overview, more information about myself as well as my general-ish audio and review manifesto: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/956208/




I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:


5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.

4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.

3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]

2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]

1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]






Chord Electronics Mojo


Source:

Personal unit.


Miscellaneous:

Very small.
High build quality.
I'm not fully sure whether the “balls” are made of glass or plastic.
All of the labels and logos are finely engraved (and not laser-etched, so they shouldn't fade over time).

Unique and unusual design, but I like it.
The four small grooves are actually there to help stacking the device using thick, round rubber bands.

Decent amount of inputs (micro USB, full-sized optical input (something that is only rarely found on portable devices – I really like the fact that the Chord Electronics Mojo has got one), mini coaxial input). Separate USB charging and data sockets.

Poor battery life (probably around 6 hours in real-world listening scenarios) and fast battery drain when it is turned off.
USB oscillators chirp and whine with many (but not all) chargers while charging.

The quirky balls rotate but don't actually do anything. They're basically just "caps" on top of actual buttons, so one has to press them in in order to actually change the volume and operate the device etc.

The brightness of the illuminated balls can be reduced adjusted in two steps by pressing both volume buttons. Holding all three buttons during the boot process jumps straight to 3 V output voltage ("Line Out Mode"). Thereafter, that value can still be altered, though.

User interface (volume status display, sample rate display) is not easy to get used to and not intuitive at all as it consists of nothing but colours.




Sound:

The Mojo is a DAC that uses upsampling.
No traditional DAC chip but instead an FPGA-based solution running the designer's code is used inside.

The two 3.5 mm headphone outputs output the same signal in parallel (and therefore act just like a normal stereo y-splitter adapter).

Volume Control:

No intuitive volume indicators; volume indicated by the colour of the two volume adjustment balls.

The lowest possible volume setting could and should be lower in order to listen quietly with very/extremely sensitive in-ears (that’s quite a disappointment for me), but should be fine-ish for many people.

Rather big step size in the very low adjustment range. Gets better (smaller steps) the higher the volume setting is (1 dB if I recall correctly).

As the volume is adjusted digitally, channel matching is thankfully excellent.

The last setting is thankfully saved.

Hiss Performance:

Using very sensitive, near-extremely sensitive in-ears such as my Shure SE846 or Ostry KC06A and Pai Audio MR3, there is a mild to moderate amount of audible hiss; in this regard, the Mojo is about comparable to the Cowon Plenue D or Plenue J, hisses a slight bit more than the FiiO Q5 with AM1 module, hisses clearly more than my iBasso DX90 or the DX200 and DX220 as well as the Apple USB-C to Headphone Jack Adapter, and is a good bit away from being ideally hiss-free as my RME ADI-2 DAC’s IEMs output (and even its PHONES output) is.

While the Mojo is ultimately still on the better side in terms of hiss performance with very sensitive in-ears and not “horrible”, it is ultimately not quiet enough for extremely sensitive in-ears, and I would have expected it to perform better.

Frequency Response (no Load):


FR unloaded

The response characteristic is similar to that of a slow roll-off filter.

Output Impedance (various Loads):


FR loaded – Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10


FR loaded – various IEMs


FR loaded – various full-sized Headphones


FR loaded – into external Amplifier’s Line Input (Leckerton UHA-6S.MKII)

The frequency response deviation one can see is not what one would typically see from devices with a consistent output impedance over the entire frequency response. The reason behind that is that the Mojo’s output impedance is very close to ideal 0 Ohms over most parts of its frequency spectrum, but climbs towards slightly below 2 Ohms, as measured and confirmed by several other sources, towards 20 kHz, which is why lower impedance loads will cause a drop in the high to very high frequencies that can already become audible, depending on the in-ears or headphones that were used, whereas the output frequency response changes towards an ideally flat line the higher the connected load’s impedance is. This, to me, is definitely another aspect about the Chord Mojo that is somewhat disappointing.

Subjective Listening Impressions:

While the vast majority of (properly designed) devices (with low output impedance and good-enough hiss performance), with properly matched volume in a direct (sighted) side-by-side comparison sound identical enough to me in real-world listening scenarios, with sometimes only very minor, difficult to point out reproducible differences with in-ears and usually no audible difference with full-sized headphones, the Mojo is a little different in this regard.

Using it directly with in-ears (but not those that would make it obvious right away due to their sensitivity and low impedance), it sounds just a touch “smoother”/”softer” in terms of cymbal attack. Clearly just a small nuance and rather negligibly small in an everyday scenario and even during critical non-comparative listening, but nonetheless reproducible.
However, what’s noticeable to me as well, is that the soundstage also appears to be a little “smaller” than usual (this is however only something I am hearing with rather low impedance in-ears and none of my full-sized headphones that on the other hand still appear just a touch "softer" in the upper highs’ cymbal attack, which is also something that carries over when using the Mojo as a pure DAC connected to a separate amplifier, which is a characteristic that happens only very rarely). It's neither "better" nor "worse", but just a slight bit "different" sounding and probably nothing that one would reproducibly notice without properly done and exhausting direct comparisons, but nonetheless with a bit of its own “sound character” while sounding audibly very transparent even with critical in-ears (most well-enough modern devices do).




Conclusion:

While clearly not a bad device, the Chord Electronics Mojo is a good bit shy of being close to objectively perfect when used with very sensitive, low impedance in-ears due to its still reasonable but not ideal hiss performance and its output impedance rise towards the higher frequencies that can already lead to audible tonality changes depending on the connected load (as well as its rather bad battery life and high battery drain).
While not fully ideal for my personal requirements that are stricter than most other peoples’, its volume control with a fair number of steps and 1 dB per step attenuation once a certain threshold is passed is something that is good about it, along with its build quality and reasonable amount of digital inputs. Ultimately though, it is a device that is definitely better suited to be used with higher impedance, lower sensitivity loads.


Photos:

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meomap
meomap
Hi,
Where did you get the yellow jacket for MOJO?
CK Moustache
CK Moustache
@meomap

DIGNIS Laetus genuine leather case - got it directly from DIGNIS. Very high quality, protective and feels super nice in one's hands.

boodi

Headphoneus Supremus
Chord Mojo Review : worth the money
Pros: + sound quality + share some of the qualities of the full size's and can be compared with them + it is portable + sweet/warm/complete sound ++ timbrically competent ( unlike many portables )
Cons: - price - bit heavy to transport for someone maybe ( not ultra-portable )
Introduction
I'm adding a short review , unplanned but due , for the Chord Mojo portable dac/amp . I won't cover all the specs , operations , built and my own history as audiophile or audio enthusiast ; I will just describe what I have found as for sound quality , when the Chord Mojo is compared to some other portable gears .

Gears and background
I was on a quest for extreme sound quality > on portable use ;
I went quite far with it , finally buying a lot of " gadgets " that are actual in this department ( E1DA 9038 , Fiio BTR5 , Qudelix 5k , LGV30 , LGV40 to name what went into this quest before the Chord Mojo , during the last months ) ; and I have paired them with Senn hd600 , Senn hd25-1 II , Grado ps1 , Grado hp2 , Onkyo A800 and Beyer DT1990 , they are possibly enough to report about sound .

Sound
In the beginning I wanted to review one of the other listed portable units, but eventually I kept on questioning for a better sound , in the end of the quest this is the one I will voice : it is the only that can compete with a full set rig --even if not the most exotic- for sound quality .

The Chord Mojo sound is a sound that is both in the land of audiophile's for quality , and cohesively musical , not missing in big way in any particular department ; dynamic and coherent enough ; the quality of the tuning of its output is a tad dark and warmy if anything , solid , well paced , well weighted in all of the different frq. parts , fluid but not overly ,and not particularly bright or shrill anywhere/with any instrument ; I couldn't define the unit as sounding "bright" by any mean; details are not portraied and presented in a bright fashion by any mean , highs will not peak or stand out on the Chord Mojo , or separate from the rest , in fact they feel as a fluid continuation of mids which are a strong point of the Mojo. A tuning that pairs quite well with headphones exposing some inches in brightness.

Chord Hugo is said to be more analytical and I see where this points . But foremost the Mojo has that superior quality noted by many and house of Chord's products , that is : it is timbrically competent . Leaving apart the description of the already well covered tech and design that lays inside the Chord products , the result of it is that details are presented nowhere grainy , instead they go flawlessly fluidly well into building the instrument's right timbres or voices like a full sized unit usually does or try to do , and not preferring a set of instruments in particular over the other ; that is where in the higs pitched and dingly sounds can show ( deliberately at times: depending on recordings of course ) and where the Mojo tends to tame that part of the peaks ; this thing is quite noticeable from first listenings and is possibly more of a quality then a lack , in fact it is also quite a miss here and there on other portable units... and it was something I was searching for. A portable gear that wouldn't do some instruments particularly wrong or glary / or i.e. artificial on chorused high pitched strings / or light in body / lacking base / or metallically pitched on some drums / plastic digi-picthed on snare drums ..etc .

The Chord Mojo delivers in wide and well in this aspect.
Voices are done pretty right, well nuanced too , both males and females voice come out front, and well defined in their character without any grain , any edge , faithful to the owner of the voice and in an upfront rendering . Which is -surely- not the best show that the other portable's unit have to offer . There is no V shape here that I notice . Mids quality is overall high or even very high , the rendition is transparent and detailed , without any hint of glare or any recession .

The bass is not particularly overstanding or weighty or anyhow hardly can be described heavy or overpresent for character. Solid enough , very tight , deep enough and never overblown ( no presence of bass boost switch, of course as in any proper full build unit ) . For bass quality / texture and layering , the size of the unit and components of circuits possibly counts quite . In this regard I think also it was in the will of the designer of the Chord Mojo to integrate a measured amount of bass : measuring more on sub-bass extreme , and more light on mid-bass section . Had it a little more bass overall ?, it wouldn't disturb me- but as well I understand how it could detract from the whole fluid cohesive organic and pretty transparent sound they succeded putting in a such tiny unit , many wouldn't dare call it an audiophile presentation then .

There is no bass boost button or lever it comes pure with its precious sound , but a little equalization can be added , both on pc and on mobile apps . It is easily done on the Mojo to the levels and tunes one needs , and it works well without any evident distortions or shortcomings in the presentation ; equalization in 2021 is a widespread thing and even audiophiles sometimes use it without fear of persecution . It is not that the presentation of Mojo lacks in weight of notes or voices or instruments , at all ; but it is also a fashion of late and of many to have pleasure from some extra bass or extra body in the bass for their listenings . I'm in the group of them . Chord Mojo reacts well to equalization of 35 40 hz , and up from there - bass can be beefed easily even on high volume levels , and become prominent and weighty, still kick tight without overboarding in mids.


The Chord Mojo is competent also in representing complex passages when a piece is demanding and a moltitude of overlaying instruments or voices get crowded in the mix with volumes and levels : the score gets deciphered with less uncertainities then I heard in other portables , with an unexpectd degree of authority in controlling the different parts of the complexity of music that it is fed with . Again , like a full size unit usually does or try to do .
__________________________________________________

I can wholeheartedly advice this dac/amp unit for portable use ; and quite not only for portable use, as it seems to compare nicely or well with an entry level full set too, to me.

This applies :
-if you are searching for a quite higher step in sound quality > on portable use ,
-if its price as a portable unit is not a concern
-and if some more weight to carry is neither the problem ,as the unit is not uber-light with its aluminum sturdy built housing , that makes it durable but also a little bit more heavy then a most usual portable gear or amp.

I know there's many reviews around for the Mojo ; I added this for my own surprise ( good surprise , as I did not consider the Mojo in the beginning and when I eventually decided to try it was surprised ), and to provide some other feedback about the sound i.e. some differences with other cheaper portable units listed that I bought before of it.
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R
Ronnie54
Good review!

I built an A/V Server with a modified Soundcard a few years back and upgraded to an external DAC (MOJO), which made a significant difference.
I've used MOJO as my main DAC for my 2-channel loudspeaker system and recently upgraded to QUTEST.

The MOJO now resides in my Headphone Setup: HiFiMan ARYA, Topping A90 Headphone Amp (and MOJO) and proved to be a fantastic combination.

On the subject of MOJO and Battery/Power juggling: I never did worry about battery cycling and left MOJO plugged in 24/7. The battery lasted just over 3 years under those conditions then suddenly died.

I pulled the battery from MOJO and leave it plugged in all the time and see no reason to replace it.
There seems to be NO performance penalties (no reduction in Deep-Bass or other power demanding passages) and MOJO functions exactly the same way as it does with a battery.


Cheers
boodi
boodi
@Ronnie54 great info about battery life and use , thanks . Nice to know Mojo lineout mode ( not a usual pure lineout ) pairs well with many amps . Arya are on my radar too .. hopefully next month .
R
Ronnie54
"Official" MOJO Batteries are available here in Canada and are easily user-replaceable for $100.00 CDN although I personally don't need MOJO to be battery powered, ever.

I've been looking for headphones that approach the sound of my 2CH Loudspeaker setup and the ARYA certainly hits that target.

ARYA is a very large step up from the HiFiMan Edition X V2 I sold last year.
They have a very-large Soundstage but, by their open nature, leak a lot of sound to nearby ears if you are listening to them at performance-levels.

They ARE a bit power-hungry and although MOJO can drive them, I'd recommend a high-quality Headphone Amp in addition to MOJO.

Regardless of your position on burn-in, I found the ARYAs' requires a week of actual run-time to sound their best.

Sidebar: I found MOJO and QUTEST (brand-new) sounded a little thin (especially QUTEST) but that fades away after a few days of constant running.
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Dobrescu George

Reviewer: AudiophileHeaven
Pros: + Full Metallic Build Quality
+ Good ergonomics, nice aesthetics
+ Lots of inputs and two headphone outputs for headphones
+ Excellent battery life
+ Clear, clean, smooth, fun sound
+ Good musical note weight and good dynamics
+ Natural overall sound
+ Good price / performance ratio for a device that is used in lots of recording studios as well as by music listeners
Cons: - Gets hot while charging
- Charges quite slow
- Portability is a bit of a question mark, it is very thick but short, you have to get creative if you're using it portably
- Doesn't come with all the cables required to make it work, or with anything really
- Smooth treble may not be for those looking for a bit more sparkle

The Majestic One - Chord Mojo DAC/AMP



Chord Mojo is an interesting little DAC/AMP, as it relies on a rather different DAC technology than most, relying on a FPGA, or Full Programmable Gate Array, rather than a normal DAC, paired with a pretty clean power stage, to deliver what Chord calls "the world's most advanced portable DAC/ Headphone Amplifier". We'll be putting to test and see whether Chord's statement holds true in today's review of Mojo.




Introduction

Chord is a large company from UK, who is known for having created and designed some of the world's best DAC/AMPs, like the original Hugo, which left me quite impressed at the beginning of my audiophile journey, as well as the Hugo 2 they created now, and countless others. Chord is known for good warranty and customer support, as well as interesting sales going now and then. Locally, Chord is known to be a true workhorse, and people are using their products as reference, but more about that in the "Portable Usage" part of this review.

It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with Chord, I am not receiving any incentive for this review or to sweeten things out. This review is not sponsored nor has been paid for by Chord or anyone else. I'd like to thank Chord for providing the sample for the review. The sample was provided along with Chord's request for an honest and unbiased review. This review reflects my personal experience with Chord Mojo. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it, the purpose of this review is to help those interested in Chord Mojo find their next music companion.



About me

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/p/about.html



Packaging

As I poited in my Youtube Video, Chord Mojo has one of the most basic packages out there, the stuff you get in the box being a really short USB cable. That's all.

For a 500 USD DAC/AMP, this is lower than competition offers, but, most people may be interested in upgraded cables either way.



What to look in when purchasing a high-end DAC/AMP


https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/p/what-to-lookl.html



Technical Specifications

Inputs:
1x Micro USB 768kHz/32-bit Capable Input
1x 3.5mm Jack Coaxial 768kHz/32-bit Capable Input
1x Optical TOSLINK 192kHz/24-bit Capable Input
1x 1amp Micro USB Charging Port Input


Output:
2x 3.5mm Headphone Jacks


Technical Specs:
Output Power @ 1kHz – 600Ω 35mW
Output Power @ 1kHz – 8Ω 720mW
Output Impedance: 75mOhms
Dynamic Range: 125dB
THD @ 3v: 0.00017%
Weight: 180g (0.4lbs)

Dimensions: 82mm (l) x 60mm (w) x 22mm (h)



Build Quality/Aesthetics/UI/Firmware


The build quality of Chord Mojo is as solid as it gets, quite literally, this is one fully metallic device that looks like it will survive a 100 Meter drop, if you ever wanted to treat it to one. The aesthetics are on the cool and avant-garde side of things, with colored marble buttons. If you've ever had Chord Hugo before, you may think that the buttons of Mojo rotate, and they do, but to use the buttons, you need to press them.



There are two color strength options for the buttons, and the buttons colors indicate what level you are in with Mojo. The operation is quite basic actually, despite how difficult it may seem at first to operate Mojo.

To open it up, press the power button for a few seconds. The volume buttons are marked with Plus and Minus, and the colors go from a variety of rainbow colors, depending on the volume and level you are in. To make the buttons dimmer, just press both the volume buttons at once.



To charge Mojo use the charging port, and to use it as a USB DAC, use the USB data port. Mojo also has Optical and Coax inputs, if you wish to use those, I actually have found myself using Optical most of times because it was more convenient to me, but the USB data port works just as well for using Mojo as a DAC/AMP.


Mojo connects to pretty much any smartphone, as long as it is Android and more recent, at least it did with all that I threw at it. For windows, you need a USB DAC Driver.



Other things to keep in mind are that Mojo gets quite hot while it is charging, it can't use the same port for data and charging, so you will need two cables, if you'll have it stationed at your computer as a desktop DAC/AMP, it is backed by a one-year warranty from Chord, but if using it as a desktop DAC/AMP you may be churning its battery and its battery life quite fast, and it may not live very long.

Mojo has two headphone ports, both in a 3.5mm single ended mode, and both work very well, are created equal and can be used at the same time, in case you wanted to share your sweet music with a loved person.


Mojo has tiny rubber feed, but those may not be enough for strapping it to a smartphone, in case you wanted to take it with you, and a rubber band separator is recommended.

The battery life of Mojo is decent to very good, and in normal usage I haven't managed to run out of battery in a normal day of usage, as it lasts for around 8 hours in my typical usage, which is in purple-ish mode in both balls, which is the maximum volume I can use with Mojo and any headphone, without running into distortions. This color, as far as it is explained in most sources, represents a voltage of 2 Volts, anything above simply enters clipping. Charging time is about 4 hours, which is considerably longer than most competitors, which have implemented Type-C USB interfaces and quick charging by now.

Understanding the technology and why Chord decided to not use an industry-standard DAC, and instead developed their own is not necessary to use Mojo, or enjoy it as a DAC/AMP, and I think, would give more expectations bias than necessary to listen to it. I personally did not read the technical papers on why and how it was designed, because I wanted to provide feedback on its actual sound and performance more than about its theoretical design.



The driving power of Mojo is very good, and besides QLS QA361, DX200 and X7mkii/Q5 is one of the very few DAC/AMPs that can drive HIFIMAN Sundara to pretty much their full potential. Very few DAC/AMPs are capable of giving Sundy the dynamics, punchy, impact and detail it should have, and Mojo is one of those. Furthermore, Mojo can also drive IEMs without any hiss, and Chord has provided a good price / performance ratio for its actual driving abilities.

Studying the circuits inside reveals that Chord used a very nice overall electronic scheme for Mojo, and it should provide a clean sound, along with good performance, no cheap electronics, and pretty well-thought design.

Overall, it is a flawless DAC/AMP, without driver issues, no hiss, good noise isolation, but it charges a bit slow, and relies on microUSB, both things which may be a touch inconvenient. The battery life is long, the operation is hassle-free, and quite frankly, it is well built as well.



Sound Quality

The most interesting part about such a raved product is talking about its sound, because the design and operation have been talked about in-depth, but the sound is the most interesting aspect, and the reason you'd want to invest almost 500 USD in Mojo.




The overall sound and tonality of Mojo is quite interesting, as it is a warmer, more fun tuned than Hugo is, and Mojo feels like a more commercial version of Chord's main house sound. The detail levels are insane, and the treble is quite smooth in textures, but not overly cut out nor absent, or too smooth. The overall tonality is very natural, and musical notes have both good thickness and weight, although in all fairness, it may be a touch too smooth and too thick to be called dead neutral. Mojo feels like it has the details of an analytical DAC/AMP, without being analytical by itself, but rather being musical. It is interesting to try and describe it, but you have to imagine that a typical analytical sound extrudes details out of music, with a strong emphasis on textures and micro-detail, while Mojo has those details, but has more emphasis on a natural, thicker more smooth and musical sound, although it doesn't lose extension at either end.

The bass is quite deep, and actually quick, despite my description of it being natural, the bass doesn't feel slow or sticky at all. In fact, this is one of the things I love the most about Mojo, that it has the speed to be quick, but also the power to deliver a healthy punch, so for EDM and Metal music, it can keep up even with aggressive music, while with Jazz the bass stays in a more natural speed. There's another thing about its bass that kind of differs from the typical DAC/AMP experience, the bass of Mojo just flows, it doesn't feel overly quick or snappy, with lightning fast decay, which is why it can stay slower for a Jazz experience, but also speed up for metal, it responds naturally to the music that is being played. For classical music, the bass provides both the authority, and the depth required, but also the texture in the bass needed for a more typical analogue experience.

The midrange of Mojo is extremely natural and musical, it feels full and lush, without feeling too thick or boomy, simply, it feels natural. The tonality feels pretty spot-on, and with guitar solos, you can hear that juicy tone you want from a guitar, and the same can be said about male voices, which can sound deep and authoritative. Performance on stringed instruments is also very good, with nice amounts of detail and clarity, the midrange can feel snappy and quick, but once again, the decay of each musical note is on the natural side of things, rather than being set on fast, so you don't feel like music is rushing on your, but you don't feel like things are being too slow. There is a hint of vocal forwardness and the soundstage isn't expanded unnaturally, but Mojo doesn't feel congested, and the instrument separation is quite good, and in line with other 500 USD DAC/AMPs.

If the bass and the midrange of Mojo are very natural, the treble is slightly too smooth to be called perfectly natural, instead, treble-lovers may not find what they are looking in Mojo. The articulation and detail in the treble are quite excellent, but Mojo doesn't have any hint of sibilance, and no grain either, so the texture in the treble may feel a touch too smooth. The treble has one of those experiences where you can't say you were unhappy, though, because it has all the detail you'd like, and it is one of those fatigue-free trebles that you would want to listen for longer.




I said in my video review that the dynamics weren't quite that impressive on Mojo, but after more listening to it, I notice now that I grew a bit too used to the dynamics of a 2000 USD system, and this is why I felt a bit underwhelmed by Mojo, now that I had more time to analyse it, it is in line with other similarly priced DAC/AMPs in terms of dynamics, like iFi xDSD and such. In fact, Mojo's dynamics aren't the highlight simply because it sounds natural, it doesn't lack dynamics, rather, it doesn't place a strong emphasis on them either, it simply strives to be as natural as possible, with a touch of smoothness and warmth, that enables a really long listening session, after which you can feel about zero fatigue.




Potable Usage


The portable usage of Mojo is more or less average, because although it has a good battery life, it has a long charging time, and it isn't the most easy to stack with a smartphone. Something like iFi xDSD can use a short, simple OTG cable that's easy to find in most shops, while for Mojo, you either need to look for a special Type-C to microUSB, or microUSB to microUSB short cable, to connect it to a smartphone.

Furthermore, Mojo's shape isn't the most friendly for stacking, it is short, and quite thick, which means that with most smartphones, it will cover about half of the smartphone, although this leaves enough space for the headphone cable.




Now, the funny thing about Mojo is that a lot of people have been using it as a Desktop DAC/AMP. In fact, Mojo is the most widely used DAC/AMP for headphones, and even as a standalone DAC in music production, throughout Romania. Most music producers found that its versatility in driving both IEMs and Headphones, having a perfect phase, and the kind of smooth detail it has, being able to both reveal all details, and provide a clean sound at the same time, but without inducing fatigue, are all perfect abilities for a DAC in their setup. Indeed, I have seen a Mojo DAC/AMP on the table of almost all sound engineers / live mixing engineers / and music workers in general in Romania, and around the world, it looks like this is quite a nice reference DAC/AMP that they use for their process, and well, if they consider it both fit and perfectly fit for music production, it should also be nice for music listening as well.

The thing is, most people seem to have taken it out of its intended usage scenario, and instead of using Mojo portably, as it was intended, it is widely used for desktop DAC/AMP setups. Even I have used almost half-half on-the-go and on desktop, simply because it has the power, depth, clarity and detail to make a nice desktop unit, but the physical thickness and overall shape, combined with the microUSB port makes it a bit less likely to be used as a portable unit.




As far as its driving power goes, Mojo can safely drive HIFIMAN Sundara, which is pretty much the hardest to drive portable I'd use while on-the-go. It struggles a bit with HIFIMAN Arya and HE6SE, but then again, those are not what you'd normally take while on-the-go. Mojo can drive Kennerton Thror really well, as well as Audeze LCD-MX4, and it pairs beautifully with Beyerdynamic Amiron, but with IEMs it shines just as bright, being able to give an excellent sound to Beyerdynamic Xelento, Dita Fidelity, Fealy and Dita Truth, Campfire Atlas, and many more.

What came to me as a surprise is that it was able to handle also CrossZone CZ-1, which is fairly hard to drive well.


This eans that Mojo isn't afraid of either hard-to-drive headphones with low or with high impedance, and this indicates that both its voltage is very clean and clear, and so is its current, both headphones that need a good voltage and which have a high impedance sound good, and the same can be said about IEMs and headphones with really low impedance that hunger for large amounts of current.

All in all, the portable usage of Mojo is mixed with the desktop usage, but it is a very versatile and capable DAC/AMP, and the fact that it can be used equally well in both modes, and that it can drive pretty much all of the normal headphone under 1000 USD, and even headphones and IEMs that are true flagships or Summit-Fi makes Mojo a truly versatile product.



Comparisons


Chord Mojo has to stand well against three main competitors to be worth its asking price, and being a portable product, all of those are portable DAC/AMPs. The 3 products it has to stand well against are iFi xDSD (400 USD), FiiO Q5 + AM05 (450 USD), and iFi iDSD Micro Black Label (500 USD). There are other interesting DAC/AMPs out there, but almost all questions and inquiries about Mojo were about comparisons with those three, and so I'll be focusing on those.



ChordMojo vs FiiO Q5 (AM05) - Things start to get funny as soon as you start comparing Mojo to other devices, because, besides the sonic quality, how practical a device is, comes into play. Q5 + AM05 from FiiO is pretty much the versatility master of DAC/AMPs, it is pretty much the most versatile one, it has both the power and the abilities to be named as such, it has Line Out, Bluetooth, multiple AMP modules, and it has the shape that makes it perfect to stack to a smartphone. Furthermore, Q5 also comes with all the cables required to connect it to pretty much anything, making it a better package as well. Where things start to get interesting is at the sound level, because Mojo has a different sound, Q5 with AM05, which is the best configuration for Q5 will be wider, considerably more neutral, and have similar note decay to Mojo, but at the detail and micro detail level, Mojo reveals more details and micro details than Q5. Mojo is also more dynamic and deeper, but I'd say that Q5 is a touch more crisp in the treble, where Q5 is smoother and more fatigue-free.

Chord Mojo vs iFi xDSD - iFi xDSD may take a few trophies home for its design and aesthetic, but when it comes to the package, it is also pretty nice, with all the cables and accessories necessary to use it included in the package. The battery life between xDSD and Mojo is quite similar if we're being honest, and so is the overall usage scenario, but xDSD has some tweaks, like the X-Bass and the 3D Soundstage tweaks that you can simply flick on or off with a button. When it comes to the overall sound, Mojo feels more detailed, more smooth, has a way smoother treble, but still with a natural amount of energy, xDSD feels a touch wider, while Mojo feels deeper and more layered, Mojo feels like it can expose certain details better, while xDSD feels like it has a slightly more versatile approach. The driving power is better on Mojo, and it can drive quite a few more headphones, louder, with better control, and can drive Sundara, for example, to its full potential, better than xDSD, although both Mojo and xDSD are pretty much dead silent with IEMs and low impedance headphones. It is probable, though, that users who invest so much in xDSD won't use the Bluetooth function on xDSD quite that much, so at the end of the day, the two features that xDSD has, and are quite important, are the 3D soundstage, and the X-Bass enhancements, and this is because sometimes just turning those on will make the EQ process of a headphone simpler. On the other hand, although for Treble, you may feel like Mojo is a touch smooth, for bass, its overall performance is smoother and yet more detailed, has more authority and is more powerful than xDSD, simply put, Mojo naturally drives headphones better (when talking about hard to drive headphones especially). Both xDSD and Mojo can be used as a full time desktop DAC, but only Mojo has 2 Headphone outputs. xDSD has a Balanced outputs, although the sound is very similar to its single ended output if you use it (they have a unique approach to balanced outputs). xDSD can decode MQA, while Mojo can't, but on this note, within my rather large collection of music, I have about zero albums available in MQA (including my Tidal library), so when deciding between the two, you should check whether you actually have any albums in MQA in your collection. At the end of the day, if you're looking for a more portable versatile device, that charges faster and which is a touch more versatile, then xDSD is a nice choice, but Mojo does overtake it in terms of overall technical detail, smoothness, and depth, and also in terms of driving power and control.


Chord Mojo vs iFi iDSD BL Micro - iDSD BL Micro is actually the one device on this list that's actually less portable than Mojo, and by a rather good margin, because it is both heavier, and it is also larger physically, although, it does have more raw driving power than Mojo. The sound of iDSD BL is different from Mojo, iDSD BL has a very different approach to music, with less emphasis on dynamics, more emphasis on depth, and with a considerably less forward and a much much more laid back presentation. This makes Mojo stand out as more dynamic, more punchy and more forward, with more detail, and judging by the fact that most people describe Mojo as slightly laid back, you should get an idea of where each of them stands. In terms of micro-details, both have good micro-details, but with the very laid back character of iDSD Micro BL, you feel like those micro-details are farther away from you, while Mojo brings them closer, and makes them slightly more articulate. The driving power of iDSD BL is considerably stronger than Mojo, but by the point you need that driving power, you're most probably standing at a desk rather than using either of them portably. Overall, iDSD Micro BL is an excellent device for audio portability, features a true line out, 3.5mm Aux input, it features one of the best DACs seen in a portable, can charge a smartphone, and can also take Coax signal input, making it really easy to recommend as a portable DAC/AMP. Mojo, on the other hand, kind of completes it, with a more forward sound, also taking in Coax input, but optical as well, having two Headphone Outputs, Optical Inputs, and also having a really nice battery life, the two DAC/AMPs, at the end of the day, feeling a bit more complementary, you're most probably in need of one or the other, but it is good to take into account that Mojo is quite a bit more convenient to take portably, while iDSD Micro BL not exactly.



Pairing


The pairing of Mojo is pretty much flawless with any Headphone and IEM unless they are exceptionally hard to drive or picky, and as such picking just 3 to write about in this review has been quite challenging, but I have selected Dita Fidelity, for its excellent resolution and clarity, for its analytical sound that will surely reveal Mojo's characteristics well, HIFIMAN Sundara, which I consider a true workhorse for portability, I actually use this quite often while on-the-go, and consider that Mojo and Sundara make a great pair (now that I had more time to listen to them), and also Audeze LCD-MX4, which is a true flagship that's beautiful to pair with pretty much anything for their enjoyable sound, and to spend more time with them. Sennheiser HD660S pairs just as nicely with Mojo, and so does Campfire Atlas and many others, but the ones above are my choices for today's review, as offering more pairings would make this a really long read.



Chord Mojo + HIFIMAN Sundara - Sundara makes an interesting pairing with Mojo because Mojo has all the power needed to drive Sundara, but above that, Mojo adds an amazing layer of micro-details and clarity, but also a nice depth to Sundara. The dynamics are as amazing as you'd expect from a well-driven Sundara, making this pairing really easy to recommend, especially to those who wanted a Sundara that has a more full and smooth sound, rather than their usual neutral-ish presentation.

Chord Mojo + Dita Fidelity - Dita fidelity is another example of headphone that makes a great pair with Mojo, and this is because Fidelity is one analytical IEM, and Mojo compliments their nature quite well if you wanted them to have a fuller, deeper and more smooth sound. Of course, you lose a bit of edge and sparkle when pairing Fidelity with Mojo rather than with a very neutral DAC/AMP, but you gain quite a bit in smoothness and in overall enjoyment for long hours of listening, as otherwise an analytical sound can get a bit fatiguing after a while.

Chord Mojo + Audeze LCD-MX4 - LCD-MX4 is one of the best flagship studio monitoring / mastering headphones out there, created and designed by Audeze and made to be a statement in how good a Planar can be for monitoring, mixing and mastering. Mojo has all the power needed to drive LCD-MX4 quite well, and also pairs well with them in terms of sound, giving them a deep and precise sound, and enhancing their already smooth signature to allow you to work for many hours in a row to get that perfect mix / master you've been looking for. The details of this pairing are quite great, and so are the dynamics.



Value and Conclusion


Chord Mojo has been one interesting DAC/AMP to review and you can understand both its price tag, and the reason why it is so widely used, just a bit better now. The fact that it stood the test of time so well, having been released quite a while ago, without dropping in price much, and still being not only considered, but also bought by many, shows that it provides a fair performance for its price.



The package is very basic, and I can't say I'm quite satisfied, there are 100 USD DAC/AMPs that come with more, but to be fair, besides some rubber bands, and a silicone band separator, which isn't even absolutely necessary, there's very little that you could desire for more with Mojo. It is probably a good idea to purchase high quality cables for Mojo anyways, and an OEM probably wouldn't have been quite as good as a good aftermarket cable, but still, Mojo will not win any competition for its package.

The build quality is extremely solid, Mojo has a nice touch finish, it doesn't get scratched easily, and even after taking it out during rain, snow, storm, and sandstorm, it has zero scratches and works as new. Pretty great job from the guys at Chord. The software is also pretty much rock stable, and although it charges a bit slow, it provides good battery life, and its operation is hassle-free.




The colored balls of Mojo are fun to use, and I don't mind a bit of color in my DAC/AMPs, and if you walk a lot late at night, they make a good flashlight, although I'm not sure they were designed as such. The volume and driving power is enough for pretty much all your typical and even for most hard to drive and special headphones, bar the 2-3 in this world that you wouldn't take outside anyways (this is keeping in mind Mojo is Chord's Portable DAC/AMP).

Chord Mojo sounds pretty majestic, with a natural sound through and through, a great depth and weight to its music, a slightly forward yet smooth and extremely detailed midrange, and a fatigue-free treble that still bears all the detail and clarity it should have, but has zero fatigue. The soundstage is natural in size, and the dynamics are quite amazing for its price point, making Mojo a really nice overall DAC/AMP.



At the end of the day, if you're looking for a well-built, portable DAC/AMP that you can also use for your desktop setup, which has two headphone outputs, which has USB, Optical and Coaxial input, which has a good amount of driving power and is extremely versatile, with a really natural, yet incredibly detailed sound, you should check out Chord Mojo, as it may become your next music companion, as it did even with a ton of music industry workers and other music lovers.



Full Playlist used for this review

While we listened to considerably more songs than those named in this playlist, those are excellent for identifying certain aspects of the sound, like PRaT, Texturization, Detail, Resolution, Dynamics, Impact, and overall tonality. We recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you're searching for new most, most of them being rather catchy.


Tidal Playlist

https://tidal.com/playlist/64555551-ec3c-4279-ae44-248fdfcf6c4b

Song List

ats - Gamma Ray Burst: Second Date
Eskimo Callboy - Frances
Incubus - Summer Romance
Electric Six - Dager! High Voltage
Kishida Cult - High School Of The Dead
Dimmu Borgir - Dimmu Borgir
Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow
Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame In All Of Us
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Infected Mushroom - Song Pong
Attack Attack - Kissed A Girl
Doctor P - Bulletproof
Maximum The Hormone - Rock n Roll Chainsaw
Rob Zombie - Werewolf, Baby!
Escape The Fate - Gorgeous Nightmare
SOAD - Chop Suey
Ken Ashcorp - Absolute Territory
Machinae Supremacy - Need For Steve
Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Wanna Stop
Crow'sclaw - Loudness War
Eminem - Rap God
Stromae - Humain À L'eau
Sonata Arctica - My Selene
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back
Metallica - Fuel
Veil Of Maya - Unbreakable
Masa Works - Golden Japang
REOL - Luvoratorrrrry
Dope - Addiction
Korn - Word Up!
Papa Roach - ... To be Loved
Fever The Ghost - Source
Fall Out Boy - Immortals
Green Day - Know The Enemy
Mindless Self Indulgence - London Bridge
A static Lullaby - Toxic
Royal Republic - Addictive
Astronautalis - The River, The Woods
We Came As Romans - My Love
Skillet - What I Believe
Man With A Mission - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Yasuda Rei - Mirror
Mojo Juju - Must Be Desire
Falling Up - Falling In Love
Manafest - Retro Love
Rodrigo Y Grabriela - Paris
Zomboy - Lights Out
Muse - Resistance
T.A.T.U & Rammstein - Mosaku
Grey Daze - Anything, Anything
Katy Perry - Who Am I Living For
Maroon 5 - Lucky Strike
Machinae Supremacy - Killer Instinct
Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
Sirenia - Lithium And A Lover
Saving Abel - Addicted
Hollywood Undead - Levitate
The Offspring - Special Delivery
Escape The Fate - Smooth
Samsara Blues Experiment - One With The Universe
Dope - Rebel Yell
Crazy Town - Butterfly
Silverstein - My Heroine


I hope my review is helpful to you!

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Dobrescu George
Dobrescu George
szore
szore
Great review. I wonder how the sound compares to the Sony 1a?
Dobrescu George
Dobrescu George
@szore - If I'll have a chance to hear 1a, I'll surely let you know! At the moment I only heard 1Z, and there, I actually felt they were somewhat similar, Mojo felt more liquid, also had more punch, where 1Z was warmer in general.
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Rhamnetin

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Great sound in a tiny form factor.
- Great bang for your buck.
- Solid physical construction and easy to use via three buttons.
- Nice array of input options.
- Dual analog outputs.
- High performance dedicated DAC.
- Surprisingly decent headphone amp that is able to deliver respectable performance to low impedance, rather inefficient headphones like Fostex T50RP variants.
- Long battery life.
Cons: Not really a con but just a warning: it runs particularly hot when playing and charging at the same time. And don't even use the device if using the optional leather case, it needs to be exposed when in use due to temperatures.
The Chord Mojo seems to be one of the hottest items in the high end audio world today. It can be found in the $500-600 range (I paid $500 for mine from Amazon), is of a very small form factor (it measures approximately 3.2" x 2.4" x 0.9") and is battery powered, it is both a DAC and headphone amp and supports high bitrate files including DSD, features advanced technology that everyone likes to talk about, and has an attractive aluminum chassis and cool buttons to control it. So the Mojo is certainly designed to meet first impressions, as are all Chord products with their distinct looks and impressive physical build quality.

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The Mojo next to a big brother, the Hugo 2.

The Mojo accepts micro USB (768 KHz/32-bit), optical TOSLINK (192 KHz/24-bit), and coaxial 3.5mm (768 KHz/32-bit) digital inputs, and has two 3.5mm headphone jack outputs which are active simultaneously. It also features a micro USB charging port, and supports DSD256 (4x) and DSD via DoP. Note, I absolutely do not care about DSD because hardly any music is true DSD (much of it is converted from PCM and even then, the amount is small). Here is a phenomenal article on the subject:

https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/dsd-vs-pcm-myth-vs-truth/

I have used the Chord Mojo as a portable DAC and amp, and also as a dedicated DAC connected to various amplifiers via 3.5mm to dual RCA cables (it has a line output mode). It has a distinct sound signature: somewhat laid back, it sounds as if it results in a reduced lower treble response than most other DACs. This does not cause any recession, just less up front upper mids/lower treble, reducing fatigue on fatiguing setups and reducing perceived 'energetic sound' so it isn't a perfect match for all systems.

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As a portable amp and DAC, I have primarily used it with two headphones: the ZMF Blackwood and ZMF Ori, both modded Fostex T50RP MK3's, so I will focus on these. These are 50 ohms rather inefficient headphones; the stock T50RP MK3 is rated for 92 dB/mW, the ZMFs are probably even lower.

Despite that, the Mojo does an admirable job with them. They can get plenty loud long before maxing out volume on the Mojo, and the Mojo brings no obvious bad sound quality to these headphones. Only when you use a powerful, decent dedicated amp like the Schiit Lyr 2 or 3 (which I've used hence me naming them, as I would recommend a Dynalo over either of those), or step it up to a Hugo 2, do you notice the Mojo's relatively minor deficiencies: reduced bass impact and fullness (but bass of course isn't thin with the Mojo and these headphones), less refined upper mids (to the point where some harshness is introduced when just using the Mojo, can be detected in some songs that emphasize female vocals), and less detail retrieval.

Still, for such a small portable device to do this well with modded Fostex T50RPs is very impressive. Exceeded my expectations.

I did also use the Mojo as a standalone DAC and amp with two other headphones: Audio Technica ATH-W1000Z and Sennheiser HD 6XX. Both of those systems sounded poor to my ears, though I don't blame the Mojo specifically. The ATH-W1000Z is just a terrible sounding headphone, the most unrealistic, unbalanced tonalities I have ever heard. It sounds terrible out of everything because it just sounds terrible, period. The HD 6XX + Mojo just lacks synergy, they are a bad matchup for one another to my ears. It just sounds dull and lifeless, although I think the HD 6XX/HD 600 sounds dull and lifeless out of everything but really colored tube amps (not even tube hybrids) so that's just me.

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As a dedicated DAC, I believe the Chord Mojo can hold its own against any 'traditional' delta sigma DAC that uses common DAC chips. I base this on my experience directly comparing the Mojo to my former Bel Canto DAC 3 with a Stax SR-007A + KGSS system. The Bel Canto DAC 3 is a massive, heavy DAC with balanced outputs and used to cost over $2,500, but with my Stax SR-007A + KGSS system, the Mojo gave up nothing! Technical performance seemed identical between them, but the Mojo's sound signature was preferable; more musical and less sterile is how I describe it, no doubt caused by the Mojo's slightly laid back sound presentation.

So yes, the Mojo can compete with desktop DACs, particularly generic delta sigma chip designs. This is not just a portable device, this is a serious audio product for anywhere.

ah6ntwk.jpg

Unfortunately, I cannot yet directly compare the Mojo's performance to a modern high end DAC. As you can see, I do own a Chord Hugo 2, but I am not yet ready to compare them as dedicated DACs because I keep changing primary system components. Once I settle down, I will compare them and update this review accordingly.

As a standalone DAC/amp combo unit, the Chord Hugo 2 does outclass the Mojo considerably as the price would suggest (though the Hugo costs around 5x more, I would not say it is anywhere near 5x better). The Hugo 2 delivers better clarity, instrument separation/layering (though even with the fully closed back ZMF Blackwood, it has no issues with sounds overlapping when they shouldn't), more refined upper mids/lower treble (the slight harshness with just the Mojo is gone), loses the laid back character for better or worse, fuller bass, much more bass impact. I will be reviewing the Hugo 2 as well of course.

Nevertheless, I think the Chord Mojo will compare favorably to any non-Chord portable DAC/amp. It is very impressive both for portable and at-home use, being able to compete with devices far larger and more expensive. My experience with Chord has led me to believe that their DACs are the only delta sigma DACs worth buying these days, their FPGA implementation is impressive both on paper and in practice.

So while I rate this product 5 stars, that is considering its price and functionality, not just its sound quality. Keep this in mind.
gazzington
gazzington
Is this still the best portable or should I consider something else?
Rhamnetin
Rhamnetin
The Chord Hugo 2 is the best portable but that's a totally different price range. For the price I think Mojo is king, sounds much better than any FiiO device I have used (have not tested newer iFi stuff however but I'd bet on the Mojo).

Drewminus

New Head-Fier
Pros: Amazing detail, separation and articulation
Cons: Bit pricey (especially with poly), polys still needs some fine-tuning
Chord Mojo & Poly Review
So I admit that this is a little. Later than I had originally planned to have this review out, life getting in the way and all that, but finally here it is, my review of the Chord Mojo & Poly.

img_4031.jpg


I purchased these myself as a pack that also includes a case (more on that later), I was hoping that gofigure (the poly configuration app) would be out by the time it came to publishing this review, but as I understand it’s still stuck in approval limbo, so I’ll have to update this review after it is released, though for the most part it doesn’t affect my opinion of the Mojo-Poly combo.

Chord Mojo

The Mojo comes packed in a fairly small box, the box has a picture of the Mojo on it as well as the usual specifications, overall while full gloss colour its nothing too over the top.

img_3870.jpg


Inside the box you will find the Mojo held securely in place with some foam packaging and a very short USB cable……and that’s it, now I like minimalism as much as the next person but I do feel a manual could have been included, still I guess everyone has the internet and it’s hardly a difficult product to use.




Design

Onto the Mojo itself, its design, like 90% of dac/amps is a rectangle, though in this case it is a rounded rectangle and the volume and power controls are significantly different from anything else not made by chord, but more on that in a sec.



So on the top of the device you get three buttons, the leftmost button is the power switch and shows the source quality being played via a colour coding, next you have the volume up in the middle and volume down on the right, again using a spectrum of colours to show what the volume currently is. Adjustment of the volume is very easy, the increments are quite small so you can fine tune it for sensitive IEM’s, you can also hold both buttons in on power up to set the device to line out volume.



On one end of the device you have two 3.5mm headphone jacks, not sure why they decided to put two in but I guess you can share with a friend if your phones have similar sensitivity/impedance. On the other end there is a USB in, USB charging port, optical in, and coaxial in. Under the USB charging port there is a LED which shows the battery status, again using a colour code. The Mojo also has four rubber feet that keeps it in place on your desk.

Sound

The first thing that stood out compared to other DACs/AMPs/DAPs when listening to the Mojo was the superior separation and its presentation of micro-detail. The sound produced is incredibly articulate, its very easy to pick out the individual instruments and vocals in a track, the definition and detail is simply amazing.

In addition to the detail I was stuck by the crispness presented, the sound of cymbals is near perfect, they sit above the music, completely un-muffled and clear. This is potentially the Mojo’s strongest trait. Now I’ve harped on about detail so I should clarify, I wouldn’t describe the sound as analytical, the amplification section has a slightly warm feel to it, making the Mojo sound alive, not at all sterile.

While the Mojo is incredibly detailed, it thankfully isn’t too harsh on lower-quality sources. So stuff like Youtube still sounds quite good with the Mojo bringing out the best in it without ripping it to shreds. That said, there is a limit where bad is bad.

img_3892-e1520487738420.jpg


My predominate listening to the Mojo has been with the Chord Poly as a source and my Campfire Audio Jupiter’s, which have a fairly laid-back sound, but offer incredible detail. I have also done a bit of listening with my Sennheiser HD650’s and more recently Campfire Audio Cascade’s (impressions with these will have to wait for later).

img_3888.jpg


I was not initially impressed with the pairing of the Mojo and the HD650’s but on further listing I’ve found the articulate crispness starting to come through. I can also hear much greater separation than I normally hear with Modi 2 – Vali 2 stack. The micro detail I heard on my Jupiters is there, but not nearly as obvious, the 650’s are simply not as resolving.

The soundstage on the Modi/Vali feels, if not better, more realistic than the Mojo, but the Mojos is preferable to the Opus #1′ so it might just be the Vali’s tube injecting a little more life into the music. I did however find the bass on the Mojo to be tighter and cleaner than either of the other two.

On the whole I really can’t fault the Mojo, there might be some features I’d like it to have and it could probably be slightly cheaper, but it’s really at the pinnacle of truly portable audio, I give it a 9/10.

Chord Poly

Just like its partner in crime the Poly comes in a reasonably sized gloss box. Inside the box you will find Poly packed in the same sort of foam as Mojo, however unlike Mojo Poly comes with an instruction manual (and rightly so, as its certainly less straightforward) as well as a configuration pin, a slightly longer yet thinner USB cable and, a Roon voucher for a two-month free trial.




img_3882.jpg


The Poly has the same rounded aluminium shape as the Mojo, but has no buttons save for a configuration pin hole and also has a plastic corner to allow for greater wireless reception.



On one end Poly has two male USB connectors and a couple of plastic pins to connect it to the Mojo, on the other end you get a USB charging port (this also charges the Mojo while its connected to Poly), a micro SD card slot, the small configuration pin hole, and a light-pipe and LED that shows the batter status of the Poly and Mojo (the Poly’s LED also shows its connection status, flashing if there’s no wireless connection).

img_4035.jpg


The Poly feels fairly solidly attached to the Mojo, but it doesn’t take much force to connect or disconnect, so if your planning to use them together on the move then you will probably need a case (which my pack came with, but more on that later). To use Poly all you need to do is power on your Mojo and the Poly will automatically power on shortly afterwards.

To set up the Poly you use a pin to push the configuration button on the end and then connect to its network, doing so opens up a web page where you can enter network details that Poly will then automatically connect to in the future. In this set up screen there are also some other options including setting your Poly to Roon mode. In future all of this will be replaced by the Gofigure App, the greatest benefit to this being the ability to easily swap between normal and Roon mode as well as being able to add networks on the fly, which currently is inconvenient to say the least.

Now to actually use the Poly you need a smartphone (or computer, but I think that defeats the purpose a little) and for Poly and your control device to be on the same network (I haven’t filled with it too much but there is also the possibility to stream to the Poly via Bluetooth as I understand it). Now there are a few options when it comes to playing music usingt he Poly, you can use it as a Roon endpoint, you can stream music from your device to it (I use an iPhone and as such stream to it via airplay, it currently does not have chrome cast support but hopefully will in the future), or you can access music on the internal SD card and either play this music on another device (the Poly acts as a DLNA server) or set Poly as the output and play directly through the Mojo. This last method is why I bought this combo as I thought this was a great idea, the ability to store and play music on a portable dac/amp but control it from my phone really appealed to me.

On usability I find for the most part its very reliable, I control Poly using Glider (there a few apps available that will control Poly, but this was the best one I found) which is fairly seamless and easy, but occasionally I simply run into an odd bug somewhere (Poly, Glider, the network? no real way to know) but even then it only means your playing of music takes 30 seconds longer than one would like, not massive in the scheme of things but slightly annoying.

I find the Mojo-Poly combo manages its 9ish hours of battery life quite comfortably, the bigger issue being the drain of power on my phone from being in hotspot mode (I should add, if your willing to sacrifice the ability to use the net, you can connect to the poly’s network instead which is probably a little kinder on your phones battery)




A further point on usability, a case to hold them really is essential to use them on the move. The one that was included as part of the combo is very nice, it’s made of a rubberised plastic of some sort, nice and solid and but nice to touch, and is lined with a kind of fabric to keep Mojo & Poly pristine. Chord also makes a leather one which looks really nice but has a price tag to match.

Conclusion

The Poly is an interesting device, it has more features than I’ll ever use and this is probably my main criticism. I feel a more focused and potentially cheaper device might have been a better choice, and I can’t help but worry about the reliance on 3rd party apps. That said it is a really impressive device and for me personally it does exactly what I want, its a bit useless to score it on its own so I give the Mojo-Poly combo 8.5/10.
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ZGojira

100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Detailed sound, Great form factor, Solid build quality
Cons: Easy to accidentally power on device in pocket, Gets very hot! , Overpriced (depending on where you are)
There are enough pictures of the mojo from every possible angle, even internals, on the internet. There is nothing amusing about my particular about my unit, aside some scratches here and there, so I won't provide any photos. :wink:

Background
I have a nice enough desktop system for all my critical and detailed listening, so my portable (transportable) system is mainly for travel and office use. Currently my mobile DAC/Amp is an XDuoo XD-05 with Burson V5i opamp. My travel IEMs are a pair of Final Audio F7200, and Sony XBA-4, and my office can is a pair of Fostex TH-X00 with E-MU ebony cups and ZMF cowhides, and sometimes a pair of STAX SR-001Mk2. I don't require my portable setup to be the most detailed, only for it to be engaging and not out of control.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the XD-05, I just want something more refined and controlled.

The Mojo
The Mojo has received a lot of attention in almost all headphone and audio sites, the overwhelming number of them are very positive. Users also consider it to be anything from "best in price bracket", "drives HD800 well", to "desktop DAC killer". All these bold claims had lead me to be interested in not only this wonder device, but also it's bigger brother Hugo.

My interest in this device reached it's peak when I had to chance to try out a Hugo2 with my F7200. It was some of the most beautiful sound I have ever heard coming out of the F7200, but that's a discussion for another time. Anyway, I was thinking if the Mojo was anywhere as good as the Hugo2 I would be happy for it to be an upgrade to my XD-05.

Cut along a few weeks, I found myself in a (different) shop with both the Hugo(1) and the Mojo. Did some quick tests, after failing to hear any drastic difference between the two, I walked out with a Mojo in hand.

Sound
Here comes the most important part, the sound. After a couple of quiet listening sessions here is what I come away with. The Mojo is able to produce detailed sound, and sadly not too much else.The imaging and separation seems below average. Whilst it certainly drives my HD800 better than other portable DAC/Amps and even some desktop DAC/amps I have tried, it is still a far cry to say it drives them well. Adequately, would be a much more realistic description, not to suggest that it is an easy feat :wink:.

Somehow, the Mojo manages to make everything sound intimidate, regardless of track. Separation, although better than entry level options such as Fiio E17K and E07, it is no better if not worse worse than cheaper options such as the XD-05 and Oppo HA-2.

With most of the negative points out of the way, time for positives :smile: The DAC is very clean, adding an amp afterwards usually degrades the signal. Signature leans towards the brighter side, with medium attack and impact. I.e. in bassy tracks, you can hear the bass but not feel them. Mids are liquid smooth, with hints of harshness on both ends. Overall, this is great for a portable device of this size, but maybe not at the given price.

Other Notes
  • The Mojo retails in Australia for anywhere between $800 and $900
  • The lights.....I was able to remember the light codes after around 3 uses.
  • I find find that the device was turned itself on every time I was carrying it in my jacket pocket.
  • I was charging the device, whilst it was off, and notice that it got dangerously hot (to the point where it was too hot to hold, and I would be very concern about the internal battery)
Summary
  • The sound was nice, but not really as outstanding as the hype would let you believe. Especially given the high price.
  • As a portable DAC, the power button is very easily pressed accidentally
  • The device can get dangerously hot (read: NOT warm)
  • I am going to sell it
axw
axw
Fully agree, this thing is a bit overpriced
acap13
acap13
If you have tried it with a decent source from coax connection, you will not sell this at all. It sounds much better than USB(from my laptop and Iphone) connection and probably Toslink. To my ears, it sounds much much more holographic and dynamics(start&stop) with coax input from my Ibasso DX200 compared to USB connections as mentioned. But I’m not sure if this review was based on which connection since not mentioned. Or I missed it somewhere in the lines

Deftone

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Exceptional Audio Quality, Solid Build, Musicality, Price.
Cons: No Auto Shut Off
                                                                                                                        20160313_221725.jpg         
 
 
Every now and then i try a product and instantly say to myself "Wow"
Chord Mojo has impressed me from the first minute of playback and still does everyday since buying it February 2016.
 

 
Packaging
The box itself is small and compact, Mojo comes tightly packed in some foam and short micro usb cable is supplied. A simple package but i would of like to see a standard 8 inch micro to micro OTG cable with a clip on ferrite choke in the box.
 

 
Build & Design
The design is perfect in my opinion, solid metal black box with illuminated acrylic balls for adjusting the volume and power on/off. The power ball LED changes colour depending on the sample rate fed to Mojo, simple but effective. Build Quality is also exceptional, a really solid feeling unit.
 

 
Power & Battery Life
Mojo can power almost every headphone available from 8ohms to 600ohms and i no problems driving many iems and headphones with it. Two of my favourite headphones to use with mojo are Sennheiser HD650 (300ohms) and AKG K612pro (120ohms) 
 
I have found that battery life is around 7-9 hours which is good enough for me personally but what i would of loved to see on this device is an auto shut off feature, maybe 10minutes after not receiving any signal from my smartphone when using OTG for music playback for example. this wont be a problem for everyone but for me who sometimes goes to sleep listening to music this would save another charge in the morning.
 

 
Music & Listening
98% of my music genre is metal and rock with the occasional acoustic album.
Sources used; 
(1) Windows 10 PC - Jriver 22 - ASIO - 16/44.1 WAV CD rips
(2) Archos 55 Diamond - Android 6 - Usb Audio Player Pro - Bitperfect mode - 16/44.1 WAV CD rips
 
Beyond Creation - Omnipresent Perception (Techical Metal)
I like to use this track for testing transients as its got a lot of layered instruments played fast. Mojo shows its exceptional speed and effortlessness, instruments are well separated without any smearing or blending.
 
Horrendous - The Vermillion (Acoustic)
A stand out instrumental piece from an otherwise chaotic and intense album, the twang and plucks from strings are rendered beautifully, a timbre and realism i have not heard in a DAC before.
 
A Perfect Circle - The Package (Progressive Metal)
This is a track i like to use for testing out LF response on a system. if there is a focus on bass this song will simply sound bass heavy and overbearing, not with mojo, the bass guitar is very tight and clean with a ton of detail and texture.
 
Machine Head - Bite The Bullet (Heavy Metal)(Live)
A live track which can show how wide and deep the soundstage can be with just headphones, with mojo im getting an impressive full 3D soundstage not just wide or deep. 
 

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Conclusion - Mojo is very well built, simple but effective design, musical, smooth and very detailed sound, easily the best DAC/Amp i have heard under £1,000.
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mswlogo

New Head-Fier
Pros: More powerful than you might think, Musical
Cons: Get's pretty hot (normal), not great for a straight DAC because it has no true line out, Much prefer a Volume Knob (especially if you are in a hurry)
Equipment to compare.
 
iFi iDSD Black Label AMP/DAC (returned)
Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen Headphones (returned)
Meridian Explorer 2 AMP/DAC (returned)
Beyerdynamic A20 Amp (returned)
HiFiMan X V2 Headphones
Chord Mojo AMP/DAC
 
When I received the iFi I thought for sure that it was the winner.
 
    The bass boost feature was very nice (very mild boost) and had lot more power than Explorer 2.
    The iFi has 3 gain settings, Eco, Normal and Turbo.
        On Eco it was slightly less power than the Explorer 2.
        On Normal it had quite a bit more power than Explorer 2 and similar power to the A20.
        On Turbo it added like another 25%. It had the detail of the Explorer and the Bass of the A20.
 
    iFi iDSD also could function as my USB to SPDIF/RCA for the DSP 5K's (eliminating my need for M2Tech Hiface2). Really nice package.
    The ifi driver behavior was also flawless. Where when I bounced around a lot between apps and bit rates with the Explorer 2 it would occasional get wedged.
 
When the Mojo arrived I almost didn't open it.
   How much better could it be in such a small package 1/3 the size and spec of 35 milli watts into 600 ohm.
   Also to top that off the slimy place I got it from had a ribbon around the box with 20% restocking fee if opened.
   But I had to know and knew I would not bother ordering another without restocking fee since I was so happy with the iFi.
   So I opened it. I am so glad I did.
   So many reviews kept saying "more musical". Well I have to agree. It is more detailed, without being bright or harsh. The bass is awesome without any boost.
 
   The whole package is a bit odd. I really prefer a simple volume knob instead of the quirky buttons. But it sounds too good to not keep it.
   The Mojo also has PLENTY of power to even drive 600 Ohm headphones. It is probably around the "Normal" range of the ifi.
   The iFi would be more Musical and engaging if I turned it up fairly loud, like some speakers.
   But the Mojo was engaging at modest volumes. Kind of like Meridian speakers do (I have ton invested in Meridian)
 
#1) Mojo ($529)
#2) ifi iDSD BL ($400 on sale at Adorama)
#3) Explorer 2 ($200)
#4) Explorer 2 ($200) with A20 amp ($350 for A20)
 
I could have tried every combination because they can all function as an Amp or DAC Only (Except Explorer 2 cannot act as an Amp only).
I really wanted the iFi to win because I really liked the features, package and price.
 
I heard way more improvement with both iFi (on 600 ohm cans) and Mojo (on both headphones) than I strained to hear with MQA.
 
iFi participates on Head-Fi.org but I believe it's a marketing person and is a total turn off. Blabbing about # of cores and the credentials of the developer. He then starts babbling about Ada programming language that the Developer used years ago, with Wikipedia links, so bizarre, so weird.
 
Anyway to Quote John Atkinson of Stereophile Review
 
All I can say is "Wow!"
 
P.S. If buying on from FatWyre, avoid them due to 20% restocking fee. Always buy from "Fullfilled by Amazon" when possible.
Hooster
Hooster
Well done. The Mojo sets a very high bar. Well done by anything that gets close.

Sil3nce

Lives in Liebesträume No. 3
Pros: One of the best value all-in-packages, Musicality, Comes close to the Chord Hugo, Build Quality
Cons: Runs extremely hot, Battery-life not the finest, Included USB cable useless
*This review comes from my Portable Amp / Dac Shootout.
Posted as a reference for users. For the full review, see: 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/798562/portable-amp-dac-shootout-ifi-micro-idsd-vs-resonessence-concero-hp-vs-chord-mojo-vs-ifi-idac2-vs-hrt-microstreamer
 

 
 
Manufacturer: Chord Electronics Limited U.K.

Model: Mojo

Price: $599 at moon-audio.com

 
Volume Control: One “+” and one “-” volume ball button.

Power Connector: USB, Micro B

Battery Life: 4 hours to fully charge, 8-10 hours of operation.

Inputs:

1x TOSLink optical capable of playing 44.1KHz to 192KHz PCM and DSD64 in DoP format.

1x 3.5mm COAX SPDIF capable of playing 44.1KHz to 384Khz PCM (768KHz special option) and DSD64, DSD128 in DoP format.

1x micro USB capable of 44KHz to 768KHz PCM and DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 in DoP format. Driverless on Mac, Android, and Linux OS. However Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 will require a driver which can be found on our Mojo webpage.

Outputs:

2x 3.5mm stereo jacks for headphones capable of 8 ohm to 800 ohms playback.

1x 3V line-level output (Both volume buttons must be depressed while Mojo is turned on)

 

Specifications:

From (http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo)

  1. imYdS8N97npvuRLKvXcwOop-0VYyY6FZNnKIfl1LOe7sjv7SNsI0bPKNan81bLj6DK3Ls-C46vgsGtdZU3rt3MbImXSMmA0DgYvlAlY2cBr8lkW_uGbdc_zk3Nscgw5Ff3bP_HUI
    Output Power @ 1kHz
  2. hA9d2nqMsnjBB6N_JnsyF6rNyQpVHGYHtgtk52IylHa7cZaqyQQCZ8WSFpMbvdUN75I7RK8qXKfp2soaAfFIJNgyBt260fzIIgLGOXb0AWdyaTb5YAK6M6uFkmurXdaTm6HArZQJ
    600 ohms 35mW
  3. I1qTMJ9mpWfBU8sANMYHWtS61SQS1PZ0ZseaTQHhtgMuMsI6WpgSQgnswUc91Pal0gu8lsYmrOVBz_0pcjSzMTkZQaGYUorYNhQdfZdKfAXWVA5bjQ8Ya-JKQA7IwqGeChh1etMJ
    8 ohms 720mW
  4. Obw8-ZV625KRMJpSRrPVXZXKV68pc1pPrnMgfxmS8oFdh2Hu5WToZgMPCCIuN-CtB7OZI8TrFEx8cIp7wgEPjGknC7bK53gKhY0Cc5vS3a5bMB5UOziS8WNjGo3oX7RQnptzaeXd
    Output Impedance: 0.075 ohms
  5. V0zOCikXtXYY0pJrZoawiWH7j1tUWIG3lpLz8VH3r_bVisa6DeWDuSrBdQgBD0J1Su1G7kzkNlAICWk-o44TDCm7tJH0atthY0FkNttCgGh-eFgu-Sn_f14-91JfhN7YMxWvgAP7
    Dynamic Range: 125dB
  6. PSjk2Ny8_FzQoug0hPLW8Rti1SYSCCT8Ut_ikHWN9aLabapj95PWZWurdQlsQPxVIXjGeBkwm-Yx6zb6O4qzi4H0j_I_wDvc0WKMgCHCgntvlGgTL6sJJIQ1WbB9m-VDt8mZRn8j
    THD @ 3v - 0.00017%



 
Build and Finish: Machined aircraft-grade black aluminum, finished with a soft anodized finish. Built like a tank, with clean-cut corners. Phenomenal build quality, feels like a solid work of art.  
 
Accessories: Comes in a small box. Don’t throw this away! On one side, it displays what colors show up on the Mojo, pertaining to what sample rate is currently detected.
 
Comes with: 1x Micro USB Male (Type B) to USB Male (Type A), 1x Quick Start Guide.
 
Note: Mojo works with the Micro USB, not the commonly used Mini USB. In case you accidentally order the wrong aftermarket cable.
 
Technology and Design: A+ design and extensive interior technology behind a spartan exterior. Comes with Chord’s exclusive designed FPGA DAC that is engineered for USB playback of 32-kHz/768-kHz PCM and DSD 512. USB input is the preferred connection, offering the highest playback and quality. Volume control buttons light up different colors to reflect different sample rates, and the device includes an auto-sensing memory for the last utilized volume upon turning the unit off.

 
Sound / Comparisons:
 
The Chord Mojo. A tiny black-box that recently received widespread attention from audiophiles everywhere. Does it outperform other portables and set a standard of quality for what you can obtain nowadays for $599?
 
Upon first listening, I really didn’t want to analyze the sound characteristics of the Mojo.
It just sounded so comprehensive and involving that I didn’t feel any particular characteristic of the Mojo that stood out. Call it a clear and musical corridor to your music.
 
There’s a startlingly good sense of space with instruments and details suspended softly in the foreground. Don’t get me wrong. While musical and easy to listen to, the Mojo is extremely resolving and can be a razor-thin tool that reveals every tiny nuance in the recording.
I can definitely hear the influence of the Hugo’s sonic character. It’s this trademark Chord quality where the music is not only hyper-detailed/accurately portrayed, but it sounds darn good too.
 
But while the Hugo can tend to sound a tad sterile and lean, the Mojo somehow manages to provide ample enjoyment in a smoother signature.
I’m not sure if this is due to the changes of the amp section on the Mojo, but it somehow seems to seamlessly blend music together and inundate you with its energy and power.
The Mojo also brings out the best of the Ethers; the Mojo sounds so realistic and natural with classical and vocal tracks in an expansive landscape. I had hours of listening pleasure on highly technical songs where there’s a need to portray ambience and atmosphere.
 
The closest to the Mojo is the iDSD, both have excellent details and speed while maintaining a naturalness to the music that just can’t be achieved by the Microstreamer, ODAC, etc.
But in terms of space and dynamics, the Mojo is closest to the Concero HP. Both have impactful tight bass, and well-extended treble that is never sibilant or hot to the ears.
The standout feature of the Mojo, however, is the super sweet mid-range that just always sounds melodious and tonally right--without hints of odd coloration or artificialness.
 
The Mojo is a huge hit in my opinion, providing the dynamics and resolution of a full-size desktop setup in a bite-size package. It’s miles ahead ahead of lesser offerings, and this becomes immediately apparent when you listen to it extensively.
 
Pros: Musicality, Expansiveness, Detailed, Performance lives up to expectations!
Cons: Gets hot, Simple overlay (like it or not), Volume control lag, Stock USB cable hiss
 
Overall Score: 9.5
 
    -Bass: 9
    -Mids: 10
    -Treble: 9
    -Transparency: 9
    -Dynamics/Transients: 10
    -Resolution/Details: 9
    -Soundstage/Presentation: 10

bpandbass

100+ Head-Fier
Pros: outstanding sound quality, plenty of power, unique, made-in-England design
Cons: Not cheap, accessories come separate
Putting the Mojo into Perspective:
 
The Mojo competes more with high-end portable DAC/amps like the Centrance HIfi-M8, the Cypher Labs Theorem 720 (now discontinued), and the considerably more expensive Sony PHA-3. So when considering those competitor prices, the 600 dollar MSRP of the Mojo does not seem as exorbitant. In addition, it is about 1/4th the price of the Chord Hugo, and while it may not have as many features like RCA line out, the Mojo is a great compromise.
 
Build Quality:
 
Made in England, The Mojo is about the size of a stack of 52 playing cards or a pack of cigarettes, so it fits perfectly in the hand. It is heavier than one would expect considering its size, at 0.4 lbs, or 182 g. The Mojo is made from a single piece of black-anodized aluminum, with the Mojo name and Chord company name laser etched onto the finish. There are also four soft silicone feet affixed to the bottom of the Mojo, which prevents the Mojo from sliding around on the table or when attached to a phone, and having its underbelly scratched. The only slight rattling you may hear is from the acrylic marbles, but other than that the Mojo is as solid as a volcanic rock. There are also divets on each corner of the top of the Mojo to help secure rubber bands to it. It’s a precisely made yet elegantly simplistic and modern-looking device. Importantly for Astell and Kern AK100 and AK120 users, the Mojo is about the same height and width of those devices, so it should strap together nicely.
 
 
Connectivity:
 
The Mojo can be connected via three different digital connection ports: Micro USB, 3.5 mm Coaxial, and a standard TOSLINK/SPDIF Optical input. There isn’t a dedicated line-out jack, but you can switch the Mojo to a fixed-level line-out 3v mode by simultaneously pressing the up and down volume buttons once while immediately after powering on the Mojo. Line-out mode is indicated by the two volume marbles turning a lilac purple color. While I have not connected the Mojo to my Schiit Lyr 2 Class A hybrid tube/solid state headphone amplifier yet, I have a friend who runs the Mojo out via line-level to his solid state Violectric HPA-V200 headphone amplifier, and he is more than satisfied with the synergy. Some users have complained that they had experience clipping issues while plugging their Mojos in this mode to a stereo system, so your mileage may vary. Also, the Mojo will automatically switch out of line-level out mode when you turn off the device and turn it back on again, to prevent users from making the mistake of connecting their headphones and blowing out the drivers/their ears. To set the Mojo to remember line-out mode, simply press the minus volume button once, and then immediately press the volume up button once, while the Mojo is in line-out mode. This is useful if you keep your Mojo plugged into a desktop amplifier and do not want to have to keep switching to this mode every time you power on the device. Also, keep in mind that the Mojo, unlike the Hugo, does not have a manual input source button, so it automatically prioritizes the USB input, then the coaxial and optical inputs. If you have the Mojo connected to a coaxial or optical source, make sure you disconnect any Micro USB cable from the digital-in port. The Micro USB power socket is an entirely separate port from the Micro USB digital-in port, so it won’t affect the source connection.
 
I recently discovered that my 2011 MacBook Pro 13 inch has SPDIF optical out via a Mini Toslink connector built into the headphone jack, so I have been running the Mojo that way. In my opinion, if you have a laptop with USB ports that have power issues and distortion problems, then see if your computer supports optical out, because running the Mojo on optical for me not only cut down on distortion and interference noises from a USB DAC, but it also brought back a ton of bass impact that was lost when I ran it off the USB ports. 
 
Volume Adjustment and Controls Explained
 
 
The Mojo is rated at 75 miliohms, so the output impedance is ideal for use with super sensitive IEMs and 600 ohm full-size headphones alike. Unlike the OPPO HA2-SE or Centrance HIFI-M8, the volume adjustment on the Mojo is digital and not analog. This means that although adjusting the volume can be a somewhat slower affair, the FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) chip on the Mojo is able to recall the last volume setting you set on it prior to switching it off; something the Hugo did not have. This is an immense help if you need to fine tune the volume setting on a sensitive headphone/IEM that you frequently use, and do not want the frustration of having to constantly readjust the volume every time you switch the Mojo on and off. While I do not own a highly sensitive IEM, I did try the Mee audio M6 Pro’s, and the background was dead silent on the Mojo. This is a tuly capable device. The headphone impedance is adjusted to by the Mojo, so there is a great deal of electronic wizardry going on under the hood of the Mojo, certainly more than what meets the eye.
 
The volume level is indicated by the volume marbles changing colors. And volume range is indicated by a color gamut that follows the spectrum of the rainbow. For the lowest volume level, the color is a reddish-brown. This switches to red, then orange, then to yellow, greens, blues (such as cobalt blue, electric blue, cyan, etc), then to purples near the top of the volume range, and then finally to white. At the lowest volume range, you enter a low gain adjustment mode, where the volume up button stays a pinkish red, and the minus button descends through the rainbow from white down to red before both button LEDs switch off. The top of the volume range is high level, and is indicated by the minus button lighting up white, and volume up button starting with pink/red and ending in white. While unconventional and requiring a little getting used to, this in fact is a highly unique design, and becomes intuitive in no time at all. It’s a detail that adds a special compliment to the Mojo’s design, while being a standout feature that as far as I can tell, no other company has done with a device like this before.
 
Accessories:
 
If you buy the Mojo and you do not have all the accessories you need to get it started and hooked up to the devices of your choice, then consider investing 100 dollars in the Mojo Cable Accessory Pack.
 
In it you get:
 
*Two sets of silicone bands of two different sizes for strapping the Mojo to your device
*A Micro USB Cable
*A Micro USB Cable with two Micro USB jacks to both connect and charge the Mojo at the same time.
*A 6.3mm to 3.5mm adaptor to run ¼ inch jacks of headphones off the 3.5mm jacks on the Mojo, similar to the adaptor you get on the Sennheiser HD650.
*A 3.5mm to standard Optical cable
*A regular optical cable
*An OTG Micro USB to Micro cable for plugging into an Android phone
*A Micro USB to female USB A adaptor
*A Ferrite Suppressor for fitting around one of your USB cables, in other to cut down on signal noise.
*And most importantly for iPhone users, the USB adaptor module. I will further discuss this in the iPhone connectivity section.
 
While 100 dollars might seem like a steep price to pay, it is convenient to get everything you need for the Mojo, and I think in the grand scheme of things is worth the investment. Keep in mind, though, that you will have to still buy the 30 dollar USB Female to Lightning adaptor from Apple, called the CCK.
 
 
Charging the Battery and Usage:
 
Now I have not been able to find any information on the Mojo’s battery size, but Mojo rates it as 8-10 hours of battery life when powering most headphones. The battery life is indicated by a small LED next to the charge port that lights up blue on a full charge, turns green below 75 percent, yellow below 50 percent, red below 25 percent, and flashes red when the battery is less than 10 percent, and is about to die. From my usage, the maximum 10-hour life seems spot on and consistent; I can easily get through a full day from the battery. The Mojo charges off a standard micro USB cable, which uses its own separate jack from the digital-in USB jack, in order to lessen USB bus power noise. The Mojo will charge off any power source at least 1 amp, and takes 4 hours to fully charge. Plugging in the Mojo to a higher output power source like a larger Anker external battery does not seem to speed up the charging time, so Chord likely limits the Mojo to a 1 amp input maximum; no quick charging here. Judging from the time it takes at a presumably 1 amp input limit, I would hazard a guess to say the Mojo has anywhere from a 3,000-4,000 mAh battery. This means it takes a while to charge the Mojo, but a 1 amp input limit is probably meant to save the longevity of the lithium polymer battery, which is a technology that is susceptible to degradation of life extreme heat. The Mojo never became hot enough to cause me any alarm, though. The Mojo has no problem being charged from a variety of Micro USB cables and external batteries, so the mobile user who likes to use an external battery to charge their devices will be happy here.
 
 
Connecting to the iPhone:
 
In a previous post comparing the Mojo to the OPPO HA-2SE, I was rather a bit harsh toward the Mojo for its pairing to the iPhone. Allow me to be a bit more nuanced here.
 
The Mojo, does not have a USB A input, so you cannot use it with a standard Lightning to USB cable. To connect it to an iPhone, you need to plug the included Micro USB cable into the iPhone CCK USB adaptor, and the Mojo will automatically connect to the iPhone once you turn it on, indicating this by the power/input source marble lighting up red. This pairing is a little less elegant looking, but there are a number of alternatives you can choose.
 
One of them is to connect the iPhone to a Lighting-to-Micro USB OTG-style cable. FiiO makes one called the L19, and it is a short cable that retails for 30 dollars US.
 
If you have bought the Apple CCK Adaptor and Mojo Cable Accessories kit, then you can use the USB Adaptor module that comes with the accessories. This unit basically is a module that plugs into the 4 digital connection slots of the Mojo, extending the length of the Mojo to about the same length as the iPhone 6/6s/7, and replacing the USB digital input with a recessed USB A male slot. This slot is perfectly drilled out for you to plug in the CCK Adaptor, and now you have a fairly streamlined device to strap to your iPhone. The Module still has rubber feet, much like the Mojo, and still has a USB charge port and battery indicator light. My only complaint is that it is made from plastic, and not metal. Also, keep in mind that the Micro USB to female USB adaptor that comes with the accessories does not fit into the adaptor module as snugly as the CCK does, so there is a bit of wiggling.
 
The Mojo does pick up signal antenna noise if is connected to a smartphone and in close proximity to the phone. A solution to this is to switch the phone to Airplane mode, in order to disable these antennas. If you use Pandora, Spotify, or Google Music, then run your smartphone from a Wifi signal. I wish the Mojo did not have this problem, but unfortunately there are technological limits with USB connection technology.
 
This is what the Mojo looks like while it is connected to an iPhone 7.
 
DSC02482.jpg
 
DSC02490.jpg
 
 
 
AND FINALLY, THE SOUND
 
This is the best way to describe the Mojo: relentlessly detailed, yet beautifully polished.
 
The Mojo has an overall slightly warm, while neutral and powerful sound. While the sound may not immediately pop out at you because of the slightly warmish tint, the minute you listen to brighter, less detailed and refined DACs, you will appreciate the sound of the Mojo. Compared to an OPPO HA-2SE, the Mojo may sound less sparkly and less open, but this is not a bad thing. Because firstly, from my perspective, it is better to have a slightly dark system than a slightly bright system. More often than not, a brighter amp can make bright headphones overly bright and harsh to listen to. The Mojo’s sound signature never clashes or makes a bright or picky headphone sound harsh. You can run it on the pickiest and most unforgiving of headphones, and it won’t sound harsh, nor will it sound distant. This is because the Mojo does not have to restrain its vocals and treble in order to sound detailed or engaging. They are present and are unstressed on their own. This is where a naturally detailed DAC and a refined amp section come into their stride. Soundstage may seem a little more intimate than some other DACs that are brighter, but by no means does this equal a constricted or inaccurate imaging, because imaging is excellent. Bass is also a strong suit, with plenty of quickness and thud when you need it, while staying unobtrusive when you do not. The DAC is 32 bit and has a maximum sampling rate of 768k on USB, and supports DSD 256. S/PDIF has a maximum of 32 bit 192 kHz.
 
To give you all an idea about this flexibility, I auditioned a Mojo at my local hifi audio store here in Chicago. I listened to two headphones on the Mojo: the Sennheiser HD800 and its newest sibling, the HD800S. The Sennheiser HD800 is notorious for being a relentlessly unforgiving headphone when it is not amplified right, or when it is plugged into an insufficiently powerful, dry, harsh or bright amplifier. This usually entails spending much more than the HD800’s value on its own just to get a suitable DAC and headphone amplifier. And often this will mean getting two different devices that are only meant for desktop use. One would think the picky, 300-ohm impedance of the HD800 would bring the tiny, battery-powered Mojo to its knees, but not so. The Mojo tames the dragon that is the HD800, and not only does it do that, it makes the HD800 absolutely sing. This is how the HD800 should sound: musical, unstressed and full bodied. No, the Mojo will not give the absolute best performance to the HD800 like a more expensive desktop balanced headphone amplifier, such as the Eddie Current Balancing Act or Woo Audio WA22, will do, but it is darned impressive on its own. Having a Mojo is more than enough to give a satisfying sound experience to the HD800 that will not make you think you are serving the HD800 an injustice by feeding it from an insufficient source. If you have an HD800 and you do not want to sell your other kidney to buy a good amplifier and DAC, then consider getting the Mojo. The HD800S is the same story, but it sounds even better than the HD800 to my ears, and takes on a brilliant sense of musicality with the Mojo.
 
 
Audio-Technica ATH-M50:
 
Now I've had my M50s since 2012, and I have never liked them then and I still do not like them to this day. I thought they are harsh, grating headphones with an obnoxious, spikey, rough, grainy treble; recessed and dull mids, and a muddy and loose bass. I thought that nothing would make the M50s sound listenable, and the Mojo proved me wrong. The Mojo improved the M50s, and I mean a night-and-day difference. The treble was cleaned up considerably, the bass became tighter with better impact, and the mids became more pleasurable. That is something I have noticed about the Mojo: the ability to sound great regardless of the headphone.
 
AKGs:
 
One of the most source-unforgiving headphone model ranges from my experience is the AKG K7-series. Their dry, lean bass, combined with their often shouty upper-mid-to-lower-treble frequency boost makes them sound dull and at times incredibly harsh and obnoxious on many otherwise good-sounding DACs and amps that have a hint of brightness or lack of refinement. The Mojo, once again, comes into its stride, pairing beautifully with my K712 Pros.
 
In more ways than not, the Mojo’s sound signature reminds me of another British digital audio product: The Meridian Audio Director (Direct DAC), only with its own amplifier stage, and with a better detailed and smoother sound.
 
Conclusion:
 
While not cheap, the Mojo is absolutely a top-flight, world-class audio product, and easily the best portable DAC/amp on the market right now. There are little to no compromises you need to make, and the Mojo can pretty much power anything you plug in into, except for maybe the most power-hungry planar magnetic headphone. If you are looking at an all-in-one device that can drive IEMs and full-size headphones alike, while playing double duty as a desktop amplifier or DAC, and a hifi portable system on the go, then look no further than the Chord Mojo. And now that Chord has just come out with the Poly, which is a module that supports wireless streaming from a source device, and can store songs on its own SD card expansion slot, you can have a modular, truly all-in-one hifi system that will fit into your pocket. 

snellemin

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: Great sound. Reveals all the little details in your music.
Cons: Looks like a kids toy
It would of gotten a 5 star rating, if it wasn't so expensive.
 
So I got to listen to the MOJO yesterday through the JVC SZ1000.  Total different animal of an amp.  Nice clean subbass, while staying musical.  MOJO sounds like the good stereo equipment from the 70's and 80's with the JVC's plugged in. You can hear all the little details in your music.  I think it's worth 350,- , but not the current asking price.  Looks like a child's toy, but feels solid. 
Still amazes me how well the JVC responds to EQ and on different equipment.  I've been "remastering" some of older music and been using the JVC's for that.  When I listened to the MOJO, my old music sounded like they were remastered by me.  Stereo image is a tad wider, has a bit of BBE/sonic maximer effect going on.  Mojo for the win.
 
I used the MOJO as a dac only most of the time.  Didn't like the sound signature as much, which is a personal thing.  So I used line out mode and send the output through the FIIO's and Parasound equipment of mine and liked it way more.  The biggest difference in sound quality for me, is when playing my music from the Iphone through the MOJO.  Huge difference in sound quality.  Mojo for the win again.  
 
Subbass is really really really clean.  Sounds like a pair of 18" EV horn loaded subwoofers.  MOJO for the win yet again.  
 
Hearing all the little details in my music with the MOJO, reminds me of when I use my old Luxman C12 preamp.  The Luxman is a big dinosaur and the MOJO is the evolution of it.  So with the MOJO you get the T-Rex sound,  from a unit the size of a house lizard.  Mojo for the WIN!
 
 
 
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Hawaiibadboy
Hawaiibadboy
Nice review bro!
pbui44
pbui44
Dang, just another reason to possibly set up another local meet in the coming months. ;+)
snellemin
snellemin

kydu

100+ Head-Fier
Pros: musicality, size, battery life, build
Cons: micro B connector is too fragile for pocket use
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Chord Mojo is hands down, the most fun portable dac to listen to under $1000.  It plays all genres equally well, and turns all my music from my phone into a sound I can feel engaged to hours on end. I cannot recommend this product enough! it pairs very well with my Venture Electronics Zen2.0 earbuds and Runabout 2.0 amp. This combo is a game ender for me for quite some time! 
DoctaCosmos
DoctaCosmos
Where'd you get it for $400?
kydu
kydu
audiigon
fezzyness
fezzyness
great review, and also had to comment... I have that same Himalayan crystal lamp XD

Ike1985

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Small, Natural/organic reproduction of sound, Incredible resolution and detail
Cons: Lack of included adapters, Lack of case, Battery Issues (I had a warranty replacement)
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Review Contents
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Introduction
Review Approach
Technical Specifications
Under the Hood
Hands On/Operation/Aesthetics
Charging/Battery
Sound Quality
            Signature
            Depth
            Sound Stage
            Resolution
Mobile
            Mojo’ing on iOS
            Mojo’ing on Android
            Mojo’ing on Mac
            Mojo’ing on DAPs
Protecting Your Mojo
Conclusions
 
Introduction
 
           I am both a stereophile and an audiophile.  I am an audiophile so as to further my enjoyment of the music I consider essential in life.  Life without music isn’t much life at all, when I’m able to hear details I couldn’t hear before in a song I’ve heard hundreds of times or said song is brought to life even more via better reproduction, the reason for seeking higher sound quality and reproduction becomes self-evident.
 
           I have had Mojo since it was released in October 2015-approximately one year ago.  I listen to the Mojo around 5-8 hours a day, everyday.  I have been able to hear deep into the Mojo, I hope you’ll gain some insights into whether Mojo is right for you from my review.
 
Review Approach
 
           I listen to Mojo using either my “old school” 2011 Macbook Pro or my “new school” Samsung S7 Edge.  I used iPhone 5 before I got my S7E, therefore I can speak to using idevices with Mojo as well.  When listening with my Macbook Pro I use Jriver Media Center 21 and a micro-USB to USB cable.  With the S7 Edge I use a micro-USB to micro-USB OTG cable and the excellent UAPP app(purchasable in the Play Store).  I prefer portable setups and use IEMs exclusively, in this review I’ll be using the ADEL A12 CIEMs.  You will find everything you need to know about using Mojo in a portable capacity in this review.
 
 
Technical Specifications:
 
Dynamic Range: 125DB
THD: 3v – 0.00017%
Power Output: 1kHz
Amplification: 600ohms 35mW, 8ohms 720mW
Output Impedance: 0.075 ohms
Plays: Up to 768kHz & DSD256
 
           In my opinion the most important specification for you as an average user is output impedance.  Ensure that your headphones/IEMs match up well with the low impedance Mojo.  Audiophile level sources are low impedance for good reason, per Rob Watts:
 ​
“…It’s much better if fed with a low impedance source - damping is better, giving a tighter and faster bass, and frequency response variations due to impedance change are better controlled.”​
 
           If your IEM’s sound better with a high output impedance source, I suggest you DO NOT look beyond Mojo but instead look to an adapter like the Ultimate Ears Buffer Jack($~10 via UE) or similar adapters that will increase output impedance.  The majority of audiophile level IEMs/headphones will pair well with Mojo-needing no impedance adapter.
 
If you want to geek out, here is a link to detailed measurements/technical specifications:
 
http://ohm-image.net/data/audio/rmaa-chord-mojo-24-bit
 
Under The Hood:
 
           Mojo was designed by Chord as a programmable FPGA, per Rob Watts:
 
"...an FPGA is not a DAC chip, it’s a sea of gates that you can connect together to make any digital device you like. You could make a PC processor out of an FPGA, or a device that controls a rover on Mars, or the digital parts of a DAC. I also create IP and designs for audio to make silicon chips. And my designs could be used to make a dedicated DAC chip, or it could be used to program an FPGA. The benefits you have using an FPGA are considerable, as you can have thousands of times more processing power than is found inside high end audio silicon chips. Indeed, Mojo has 500 times more processing power than conventional high performance DACs."
 
It was designed to have as few components as possible as each component can color/influence sound quality.  Much of the magic of Mojo is in the programming utilized in the FPGA.  This programming creates the unique signature of Mojo and the type of sound people familiar with Chord products call the "Chord sound".  Central to Chords sound and indeed the main focus of their products is addressing the timing of transients.  According to Rob Watts, transients are responsible for pitch, sound stage, timbre and the timing (stopping and starting) of notes. Immense computational power allows Chord to address these timing issues and as a result Mojo sounds more lifelike than anything I've heard before.
 
           It wasn’t until recently that it was even possible to build a device as small and powerful as Mojo, the technology didn’t exist.  When the Xilinx Artix 15T 28nM was released, Chord turned their attention toward completing Mojo.  Mojo is a computational monster, upsampling 2048 times-that’s ~16 approximately times more than their competitiors.  Upsampling eliminates RF noise, noise floor modulation and jitter is eliminated by a factor of 64.  This creates an inky black background unto which Chord creates their signature sound.
 
           Mojo has a discrete transistor output stage, this means it can drive just about any power hungry headphone.  Chord had a battery custom made that could meet the unique requirements of the Mojo.  Using cutting edge chips, customizable programming and innovating where necessary is a hallmark of Chord.  This has allowed Chord to offer novel solutions to recreating a digital signal in analog form; improving sound quality by addressing the timing of transients, THD, noise floor and other technical aspects which cannot be addressed as effectively using traditional industry technology and methods to the extent Chord have using their proprietary progamming and FPGA approach.
             
Hands On/Operation/Aesthetics
 
            Mojo is very small-smaller than a pack of playing cards in fact-yet it is quite heavy: 6.1oz.  Holding it in my hand and pressing down on it with a good amount of force produces no bend or give anywhere in the high quality aluminum housing.  Eight tiny screws hold the case together into a solid block and four solidly-glued bumpers keep the device in place on your listening surface.  None of the bumpers have come off in a year of daily use, that's some serious adhesive!  Holding Mojo gives an impression of durability and quality not found in the hardware of other mobile devices.
 
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           Mojo was designed such that it can charge while in use (even from total battery depletion) as there are separate data (middle left in the first image below) and charging micro-USB ports (middle right in the first image below).  This is an excellent feature as you never run out of sound so long as you can plug Mojo in.  The optical port is on the right and the 3.5mm coaxial on the left. 
 
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 Dual 3.5mm headphone ports are on the other side:
 
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           Plugging into and out of the headphone port creates a solid reassuring click.  The micro-USB ports are also solid but care should be taken to avoid stressing them.  Invest in right angle micro-USB cords and avoid putting pressure on these connections, such as putting Mojo in your pocket while in use.
 
           I’ve recoiled in horror when dropping Mojo or believing I've scratched it, only to find it unscathed.  Rubbing a finger on the hairline scratches caused them to vanish and the solid metal body prevented any damage from the fall.  The finish and overbuilt design are very satisfying. I suspect Mojo is a device you’ll be able to listen to decades from now.
 
           Chord realized many of us will be stacking, thus they cut notches into the corners of the aluminum body creating grooves into which rubber bands can clasp Mojo more securely when stacking.  Stacking will increase RF/EMI interference, I suggest using ferrite devices (discussed later) or to eliminate RF/EMI completely use airplane mode when stacking.  When I'm listening at a desk and cannot use airplane mode I'll attach ferrite chokes as seen below and position Mojo as far away from the phone as possible.  Restricting background data to essential apps only like (text messaging, email, etc) will help reduce RF/EMI as well.
 
           Three buttons sit atop Mojo recessed into the aircraft grade aluminum case.  The lone orb is the power and sample rate indicator orb, the other two are the volume orbs.  The orbs do well to remind you of your listening settings.  Mojo will remember the last settings you were using when you shut it down so you don't have to scroll to your desired setting everytime you use Mojo.  The power orb indicates the sample rate of the music you’re listening to.  Note that the correct light will not be displayed unless the software you’re using is properly configured to output bitperfect data.  Scroll down to the Mobile section to see how you can do this on Android, iOs and Mac.
 
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Charging/Battery:
           
            When Mojo arrives, open it and charge it immediately with a powerful wall plug charger (1A+).  If charging correctly Mojo will display a solid white LED below the charging port.  If charging incorrectly this LED will blink with a white light.  If it blinks switch to a more powerful wall plug.  Charging will take excessively long with a low powered (.5a and below), for example: Apple iPhone square block chargers or laptop USB ports.  When the charging light shuts off, Mojo is fully charged, taking approximately 4 hours.  Mojo may get hot while charging and playing at the same time, this is not cause for concern per John Franks:
 
“Yes. The Mojo uses 1.7W of power, so it will get comfortably warm during use, and has thermal cut-outs that prevent it overheating, even if charged at the same time.”
 
           Mojo has a built in auto-off feature that automatically shuts it down when a certain temperature is reached.  This has never happened to me and I charge and listen with 12 driver CIEMs everyday, you shouldn’t worry about Mojo shutting down on you.  Mojo indicates battery status via LED under the charging port: blue is fully charged, green is 75% charged, yellow is 50%, red is 25%  and blinking red means the battery is critically low.
 
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           My first Mojo had to be sent back for warranty because I was getting 3-4 hours of use from a fully charged Mojo.  The Mojo I received back is getting 8-10 hours from a full charge as advertised.    Some have reported a buzzing/whining sound while charging Mojo, I have never heard this sound and I’ve used many chargers and cables.  This buzzing/whining was an issue with early run Mojo's that Chord addressed and remedied within a few months of release.
 
Sound Quality
 ​
Signature
 
            If you look at the website I linked under the Technical Details section you will see from the graphs provided there that Mojo has a neutral/flat signature with the highest highs slightly rolled off.  This echoes what my ears are telling me, Mojo sounds neutral with a hint of warmth.  Very slightly rolling off the highest high’s means your ears won’t get fatigued.  I can still clearly hear the highest notes without attentively searching for them-none of the detail is lost.  I can find no dips or peaks in the Mojo’s signature except the aforementioned sparkle roll off and it is very subtle.
 
            Sub-bass extends quite a long time, doesn’t bleed into mid-bass and punches fast and tight.  It hits with authority when it’s called for and takes a back seat when it isn’t.  There is no mid bass bloat or bleed to speak of.  Mid-bass is easily discernible even while the sub-bass is punching hard.  I can focus on the bass guitar and pick it out of the mix and follow it through the whole song without ever losing it.  The mids as a whole are full, rich and exceptionally clean.  Mid-highs standout nicely from the mid-bass.  Everything is balanced with an ever so slight emphasis toward the mids.  High’s sparkle without being harsh, grating or fatiguing. 
 
            Mojo produces the most natural realistic sound I’ve ever heard.  Upon hearing Mojo for the first time I said to myself:  “Studio recordings sound live! All my music sounds live!”  In my opinion it is the timbre and tone of the instruments as reproduced by the device that creates realism.  Mojo is off the charts with regard to realism.  This high level of realism adds transparency-the sensation of having everything else disappear and only the music remains.  If Mojo sounded unnatural, we would constantly be reminded of using it while listening.  This realism adds an energy and live-ness to the sound that other portable DACs/DAPs I’ve heard do not have and as a result the music produced by these other devices can sometimes feel tired and clinical.  I never get this feeling with Mojo, the energy is always there.       
 ​
Depth
 
           Perhaps the most striking feature of Mojo is its’ depth of sound.  The layers and complete separation of each instrument is astonishing.  You can sit back and let the naturalness and effortlessness of the song wash over you or you can change powers on your mental microscope and peer into the layers of a song, hearing micro details and sometimes even layers you never heard before.  I have never heard anything like this before; total layer separation without a clinical, harsh or bright signature.
 
           Consider how a dog’s nose functions as compared to human nose.  When a dog smells a vegetable soup it smells every single ingredient separately.  The dogs' nose will single out every single ingredient as its’ own unique smell.  A human nose will smell the soup as one smell we call “vegetable soup”.  This is one of the strongest selling points of Mojo, its’ ability to single out every layer, place it accurately in-stage and get out of the way so you can enjoy the music.  You don’t have to try to separate layers, it’s there for you the same way a dog smells yet instruments won’t stand out and say LOOK AT ME in a distracting way instead they’re presented as “vegetable soup”; naturally and effortlessly with incredible separation imaging and resolution.  I suspect the inky black and utterly silent background in addition to Mojo's impressive computational power and Chords FPGA programming are the reason for this separation effect. 
 
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Sound Stage
 
            The stage isn’t extremely wide or tall in an artificial way.  It’s a moderate stage except for depth which is spectacular.  To me this is perfect as I don’t want an artificially wide stage that is pulling me out of the experience of the music and distracting me, reminding me that I’m listening to a song instead of hearing and feeling it in the moment.  Yet I can still be treated to a good stage when I want to hear it.  For example, when I listen to a track with good sound stage width, it sounds as though the sound is coming from 1”-3” (depending on the track) outside my A12 CIEMs as it journey’s into my head.
            The imaging/separation discussed earlier aids in pinpointing the position of the instruments in the room.  I can tell the drum player is sitting on the back right of the stage or the singer is performing to the upper left front of the stage.  These effects don’t stand out and say LOOK AT ME but they are there as part of the experience and the extremely high resolution and separation of Mojo allows me to laser-beam focus on them if I wish. 
 
Resolution
 
            Due to its’ immense computational power Mojo is able to produce a higher quality image than the competition.  Consider a massive uncompressed image, now imagine compressing it down into a 300x300 cover art image.  When you zoom in and look at the compressed image you will notice much of the detail is gone and the much larger image is much more resolute.  This is quite the accurate analogy for how Mojo renders sound.  You will hear things you’ve never heard before.
 
Mobile:
           
           When using Mojo with mobile devices there three things important points to remember:
 
1. Ensure data is being sent to Mojo bit-perfect (covered in Mobile section)
2. Address RF/EMI interference
3. Choose cables for the right reasons
 
           First when it comes to micro-USB cables, it would seem logical to purchase expensive audiophile cables, but as Rob Watt’s says this can often be counter-intuitive:
 
“Does this mean that high end cables are better? Sadly not necessarily. What one needs is good RF characteristics, and some expensive cables are RF poor. Also note that if it sounds brighter its worse, as noise floor modulation is spicing up the sound (its the MSG of sound). So be careful when listening and if its brighter its superficially more impressive but in the long term musically worse. At the end of the day, its musicality only that counts, not how impressive it sounds.”
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and
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“A lot of audiophile USB cables actually increase RF noise and make it sound brighter, and superficially impressive - but this is just distortion brightening things up. Go for USB cables that have ferrites in the cable is a good idea - it may also solve any RF issues from the mobile that you may have too.”
 
           In my opinion, it’s best to purchase cables for connecting to Mojo based on:
 
1. “Does the cable eliminate the need for a second cable?” (increasing transparency)
2. “Does the cable have better durability and reinforcement than cheaper cables?”
3. “Does the cable address RF/EMI interference?” (RF/EMI reduction can also be done by adding ferrite chokes to an un-choked cable)
4. “Will the cable reduce stress on device ports by utilizing a right angle configuration?”
 
           I recommend not putting the Mojo in your pant pocket but instead using a belt holster and rubber bands if you wish to use Mojo on the go and don't want to hold it in your hand, this prevents you from putting pressure on the ends of the cable and more importantly the Mojo ports.  You can even use Mojo at the Gym easily if you’re so inclined:
 
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           Other than bit-perfect-ness, RF/EMI is the biggest factor that can affect the sound quality of your Mojo setup.  The simplest and cheapest way to completely eliminate RF/EMI is to put your device in Airplane mode.  The next best thing is to put ferrite chokes to the data cable feeding Mojo, making sure to get them as close as possible to the Mojo as you can as seen below:
 

 
           Some report differences between using a DAP or a phone to feed Mojo, I do not hear any differences.  In my opinion Mojo + android running UAPP is top tier mobile sound quality at an excellent value.  If you use a phone to feed Mojo you don’t have to carry around a third device.
 
Mojo’ing on iOS:
 
           In order to connect Mojo to an idevice such as the iPhone you have two choices: an Apple CCK cable, see below:
 
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or a simpler single-cable approach.  Lightning to micro-USB cables eliminate the need for two cables thus increasing transparency, they can be purchased from forum vendors.  You’ll also need to download Onkyo HF from the App Store in order play HD (FLAC or higher quality) music on an idevice.  You will need to buy the HD version of the app in order to play these HD files.  Once you have Onkyo HF HD, configure the settings accordingly to enable bitperfect output:
 
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           Now connect the device to your Mac computer via your phones USB charging cable, open iTunes, select your phone and navigate to Apps, select Onkyo HF.  Open a new Finder window, navigate to your HD files and drag and drop them into the box as seen below:
 
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           If you’re importing Mp3’s or similar non-HD music onto your device simply drag and drop them into iTunes as you normally would and Onkyo will recognize them and store them under the iPod header inside the app. 
 
           Onkyo HF often has difficulty displaying cover art.  I suggest naming cover art as cover.jpg, keeping files below 500x500 pixels for best results and keeping it in the same folder as the music files.
Onkyo HF allows you to send data to Mojo bitperfect, which is essential if you want maximum sound quality.  I don’t use EQ but in playing with the EQ in Onkyo HF I have found it adequate.  Onkyo HF should sound no different than UAPP on Android since they are both sending data bitperfect to Mojo but to me Onkyo HF sounds slightly less alive and a bit more veiled/low energy than UAPP.  Onkyo HF is also quite inferior to UAPP in regards to features and capabilities.  Unfortunately on an idevice-at this time-you are stuck with Onkyo HF.  There are a few other choices like JetAudio or Capricio, but I find Onkyo to be the most neutral and it comes recommended by Chord.
 
Mojo’ing on Android Phones:
 
            If you don’t have a micro-USB to micro-USB OTG cable for your Android device, you will need to use an adapter-again forcing you to use two components.  I use cheap micro-USB to micro-USB OTG cables purchased from Amazon and attach a few ferrite chokes to them as seen above.  I believe this is the best setup you can have with Android.  I have tested many Android music apps with Mojo and there is a huge gulf between the quality of these apps and UAPP.  UAPP is the undisputed king of mobile audio on Android in my opinion.  The sound it produces is neutral like Onkyo HF but sounds more alive.  There’s an excellent 64 bit equalizer and a purchasable parametric EQ as well as a plethora of tweaks, features and capabilities.  You can even link it with some streaming services.  It nearly always recognizes cover art and adding files to it is as easy as dragging and dropping into the MUSIC folder on your Android phone using Android File Transfer as seen here:
 
Screenshot2016-10-07at5.26.38PM.png
 
To setup UAPP to send bitperfect data to Mojo simply enable the following settings:
 
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Mojo’ing on Mac:
 
            I have experience on Audirvana, Jriver and iTunes.  For me, Audirvana was the most intuitive, but lacked a good library-like experience.  Jriver has a steeper learning curve but offered the best sound quality as well as library like experience.  iTunes was my least favorite, being stuck in the Apple jail unable to use FLAC and other formats without conversion was annoying.  Audirvana and Jriver can produce bitperfect output to Mojo and will play anything you can throw at them.  In my opinion the best experience with Mojo on Mac can be had with Jriver Media Center, here are the settings you need to get bitperfect output to Mojo in Jriver irrespective of file format:
 
 
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Regardless of which program you chose to utilize with Mac, you will need to configure your Mac’s audio settings as follows:  
 
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Mojo’ing on DAPs:
 
           If you want to connect your Mojo to a DAP you’ll need an optical or coaxial cable, because I do not use DAPs I cannot comment on them.  I have heard them paired with Mojo on occasion and see no use in using them as my Apple iPhone 5 or Samsung S7 Edge sound just as good if not better (assuming all the devices are transmitting bitperfect data).  Choosing a phone instead of a DAP means you don’t have to lug around a third device.
 
Protecting Your Mojo:
 
            Chord now sells official cases for Mojo and they look very nice.  I just use an old camera case I had laying around, many others are using pelican cases and the official Chord case.
 
Conclusions:
           
            Mojo may seem expensive but it is outperforming desktop and mobile setups that cost multiples of what it costs.  I do not think you will find a better price to performance ratio at this time in the audiophile industry.  I have had Mojo a year now and feel no need to upgrade to a more expensive DAC or DAP. 
Ike1985
Ike1985
Thanks Guys!
Shini44
Shini44
this review should be taught in universities :wink: but seriously thanks for this super guide ^^
bancanus
bancanus
@Ike1985 Thank you for the great review! I am new to head-fi and just got a mojo, I wish I discover mojo earlier because I really like its sound! I am using Onkyo HF player, and the current version is slightly different from your screenshot. Should I turn on the "real-time DSD Conversion" to get the bitperfect sound?
Pros: Versatile, excellent sound, build quality, internal battery
Cons: Design, no analogue input, gets very hot when connected to a PC for longer time
The Chord Mojo was loaned to me by fellow Head-Fier @kvad. Thank you very much for giving me the chance to me hear it!
 
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The Chord Mojo is available from Penon Audio and numerous other online and domestic (most places) resellers. The price at the time of this review was $599: 
 
http://penonaudio.com/Chord-Mojo,
 
For more information about the Mojo you can also visit the Chord Electronics website:
 
http://chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/
 
I’m not in any way affiliated with Penon Audio or Chord Electronics.
 
Short introduction to Chord Electronics:
Chord Electronics was established in 1989. It’s a British based company known and appreciated for their upper end audio products for both professional and home usage.
 
This is what they say about themselves and their technology on their website:
Chord Electronics was founded in 1989 by John Franks who had previously held Directorships with Astec, the world leader in high frequency power supplies, Raytheon and AT&T. A thorough mix of graduate level intellect, design experience and dedicated craft persons embody Chords production team, with our sales being achieved through a reputation of technical excellence, reliability and superb sound quality.
 
Years of research and innovation have been invested in the Chord range. From the outset, when Chord started applying the technologies that lifted products from the mainstream, the company has been leading the field. With the watchwords of innovation and uncompromised audio quality, we have consistently invested our products with precision engineering and attention to detail. This is as true for our professional products as the astonishing hi-fi portfolio that continually wins the hearts and minds of listeners and reviewers alike.
 
About me:
I’m a 43 year old music and sound lover that changed my focus from speakers to headphones and IEM’s about five years ago. At that time I realized that it wasn’t realistic for me to have all the different setups that I wanted and still house a family of four children and a wife so my interest turned first to full sized headphones and later also IEM’s.
 
My preferences are towards full sized open headphones and I believe that also says something about what kind of sound signature I prefer (large soundstage in all directions, balanced and organic sound).
 
My music preferences are pretty much all over the place (only excluding classical music, jazz and really heavy metal). My all-time favorite band is Depeche Mode although I also listen to a lot of grunge/indie, singer/songwriter/acoustical stuff as well as the typical top 40 music.
 
I tend to value function over form within reasonable limits.
 
I do not use EQ, ever.
 
I’m a sucker for value for money on most things in life Head-Fi related stuff is no exception.
 
 
Built, accessories and functionality:
The Chord Mojo is a DAC with a variable line out that's designed to drive IEMs and headphones.  
 
The Mojo is available in one version in the color black.
 
Output power is rated to 720mW@ 8Ohm and 35mW@600Ohm, I’ve also read about measurements rating the output to 680mW@16Ohm (@50Hz) but this is not official so take it with a grain of salt. Output impedance is rated at a very low 0,075Ohms.
 
The Mojo is very solidly built at has a good weight to it making it feel very durable. The chassis is covered my some paint like material making it less prone to scratches than bare metal. The physical controls available on it doers also feel very reliable and not loose in any way. Personally I would have preferred a thinner form factor with a larger footprint (if necessary) for easier stacking with a phone or DAP but I can also see the advantage with the currant design for home usage.  The overall impression of the Mojo is still that it’s a very well built and thought through piece of equipment.
 
The Mojo offers one micro USB digital audio input and one separate micro USB power input. It also offers both coaxial and optical inputs. For the output there are two 3.5mm outputs for headphones making it possible for two persons listening at the same time or very convenient when comparing headphones or IEM’s.  I’d like to have an analogue input as well to be able to combine it with other, non-digital sources.
 
The Mojo works very well with Android when connected with an OTG cable and using USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) as music player. Although Android and sound does not have a great reputation the Mojo have worked with every Android device I’ve tried it with (sometimes with the help of UAPP). The internal battery does eliminate the need for power banks or other external power when using it with a phone or tablet, it does also help with power drain that is much less from the hosting device than when using a product without internal battery. For further information about the complex relationship between Android and DAC’s I highly recommend visiting this excellent thread:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs
 
The Mojo is also supposed to work with Apple devices using the Camera Connection Kit (CCK) but I haven’t been able to test this myself.
 
The biggest advantage of the Mojo may also be its biggest downfall in my opinion.
 
The Mojo support all popular file formats for audio up to DSD512 and 32bit/768kHz files.
 
On the top of the unit you’ll find physical buttons for changing the volume up/down. These have the same design as the indicator showing what sample rate is played (by showing different colors) giving a very neat visual presentation.
 
The accessories included are:
1 USB cord
 
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The specs:
  1. Micro USB 768KHz/32bit capable
  2. 3.5mm jack coaxial 768KHz/32bit capable
  3. Optical Toslink 192KHz/24-bit capable
  4. Output Power( at 1kHz):
  5. 35mW@600Ohm
  6. 720mW@8Ohm
  7. Output Impedance: 0.075Ohms
  8. Dynamic Range: 125dB
  9. THD( at 3v):0.00017%
  10. Size:82x60x22mm
  11. Weight:180g
 
I’ve used the Mojo for the last eight days and my unit arrived already burned in.
 
Demo list:
Mark Knopfler – Sailing to Philadelphia
Røyksopp (Feat.Susanne Sundfør) – Save Me
Ane Brun – These Days
Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana
Metallica – Die Die My Darling
The Peter Malick Group – Immigrant
Eva Cassidy – Songbird
Thomas Dybdahl – A Lovestory
Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why
Celldweller – Unshakeable
Jack Johnson – Better Together
Seinabo Sey – Younger (Kygo remix)
Dire Straits- So Far Away
Björk - Moon
Lupe Fiasco - Deliver
Morrissey – Earth Is the Loneliest Planet
 
Sound impression:
I’ve got to be honest and admit that I find it pretty difficult to describe the sound from an amplifier. To me the sound of headphones/IEM’s is more easy to describe than that of amplifiers and DAC’s but I’ll do my best and hopefully the comparison section will also be of help.
 
The first thing that I noticed when I started to listen to the Mojo was the amazing amount of air and space it produced.
 
Bass extension and quality is very good and I don’t feel as if there’s any noticeable roll off in the lower frequencies. Mid- and upper-bass is more subdued contributing to the great sense of space and airiness that the Mojo produces.  Although the impact of higher bass is quite low the Mojo never sound thin in its presentation but rather airy and relaxed.
 
The midrange is liquid and smooth with plenty of details. The Mojo sounds very linear through all frequencies and the midrange is no exception. Nothing stands out and it sounds very natural and makes a very relaxing listening experience.
 
The treble is very well extended, airy and smooth. It adds further to the liquid non-fatiguing and natural overall sound. As a matter of fact I think the treble reproduction is the best part of the Mojo’s sound. I find it really good and it has an almost hazy character (in a very good way) while stil keeping all the details.
 
The overall presentation has great soundstage in all directions and layering is very good as is the amount of air between the instruments. The background does also feel very close to perfectly black. Transparency and dynamics is also easily noticed. The timbre on instruments is also quite good and vocals sound very seductive and intriguing.  All together I’d describe the sound of the Mojo as natural and airy.
 
Comparison:
Please note that the comments in the comparison section are not in absolute terms but in comparison between subject A and B. This means (as an example) that if subject A is found to be brighter than subject B it does not necessarily mean that subject A is bright sounding in absolute terms. I hope this makes sense.
 
In these comparisons I’ve been listening through my AKG Q701’s.
 
Both units was connected to a simple switch box through their respectively headphone outputs. This way it’s very easy to switch between the sources in minimal time. I also use a simple Android app to volume match the amplifiers so although maybe not perfectly scientifically the result should still be pretty correct.
 
I’ve been comparing the USB input on both units. Both has been hooked up to two different phones both running UAPP which bypasses the Android sound management.
 
IMG_3871.jpg
 
Burson Audio Conductor V2+ (1,499) vs Chord Mojo:
The V2+ is the heart of my main system and I really love both its features and sound.
 
Compared to the Mojo the V2+ has slightly less airiness in its presentation while soundstage width is quite similar. The V2+ has better bass presentation with both better impact and higher quality (better layering) this is actually quite easy to hear with the Q’s.  The greater bass quality, I don’t feel that the V2+ adds bass in any way but I do feel that the mid- and upper-bass on the Mojo is a bit subdued, makes the V2+ more dynamic sounding and with better definition while the Mojo is more airy in its presentation. Both are top notch when it comes to detail retrieval. In short I’d say that the V2+ is more dynamic and engaging while the Mojo is more laid back and relaxed.
 
The V2+ of course has some other advantages such as significantly higher power output (4W @32Ohms compared to 720mW@8Ohm on the Mojo), two analogue RCA inputs and both pre-amp and DAC direct RCA outputs. In addition it also has a great quality remote control. The mojo on the other hand has internal battery, is portable and generally MUCH smaller making its usage field larger.
 
Although both these are excellent offerings the overall built and larger amount of connections definitely makes the V2+ the more suitable in a home system. Sound wise it may be more up to personal preference but I’d put the V2+ slightly ahead here as well. The V2+ is a 7 kg brick costing 2.5 times that of the Mojo though.
 
Audinst HUD-DX1 ($399) vs Chord Mojo:
Compared to the Mojo the Audinst has a fuller but also less refined sound. The Mojo feels more effortless and has a wider soundstage with more air in the presentation, the Audinst definitely the warmer sounding of the two. The Audinst unit also has the most bass presence of the two but the bass on the Mojo seems better controlled and bath reaches equally low on both of them. The Mojo has better detail retrieval and is also the more natural sounding of the two while the Audinst offer more energy and attack while still maintaining warm and smooth. The treble on the Mojo is more airy, detailed and natural to my ears.
 
Feature wise the Mojo offers both coaxial and optical inputs in addition to the micro USB input. The Auidinst has an old school USB type B sound input in addition to an optical input. The Audinst also has both optical and RCA line outputs while the Mojo has only the dual headphone out as its only outputs. The Audinst does actually also offer dual headphone outputs but instead of two 3.5mm ones it has one 3.5 and one 6.3mm, this is actually very convenient and you won’t have to fiddle around with adapters. The Mojo also has an internal battery making it more versatile when used with phones and tablets on the go but less so when paired to a computer due to the fact that it runs quite hot in such applications. The footprint of the Mojo is much smaller. Build quality feels very solid on both units with a small advantage to the Mojo.
 
Burson Audio Conductor Air ($499) vs Chord Mojo:
I’ve also compared the Mojo the Burson Audio Conductor Air in my review of that unit posted just a little while ago so instead of doing the same again making it boring for those who might have read both reviews I’ll leave the link for it right here, just scroll down to the comparison section:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/burson-audio-conductor-air/reviews/16536
 
IMG_3866.jpg
Size comparison Mojo and Air
 
 
 
For even further comparisons feel free to visit this thread for breakdown between more $250+ amp/DAC units (this is a work in progress and several other units will follow in the near future).
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/816410/peter123s-250-amp-dac-combo-comparison-thread
 
Matching:
The output impedance of the headphone out on the Mojo is rated to 0.075Ohm. This means that it could pretty much be paired with any IEM’s or headphones out there without concern.
 
In this section I’ve tested how some of my favorite headphones but also one earbud and one pair of IEM’s pairs up with the Mojo.  
 
AKG Q701 ($300):
The Q’s pairs up very nicely with the Mojo. The neutral relaxed sound actually suits the Q’s surprisingly good. The Mojo has no problem at all to power the Q’s to louder listening levels. I was kind of expecting the signature of the Mojo to make the Q’s a bit unengaging but that’s certainly not the case. The treble quality of the Mojo really shines in this pairing and female vocals sound as good as I’ve ever heard them as a matter of fact the Mojo really gives the V2+ a run for its money with them.
 
Philips Fidelio X2 ($300):
The X2’s is also a great match with the Mojo. The full sound of the X2’s pairs very well with the clean, clear and airy presentation of the Mojo. Although the Fidelio’s pretty easy to drive they really scale with a good source and amp and the Mojo gives it enough low end hump without adding any extra unwanted mid-bass.  This combination is really fun to listen to and has a great drive to the music that really makes me forget all about analyzing the sound and rather just enjoy the music.
 
VE Zen 2.0 ($138):
The Zen 2.0 is a 300Ohm earbud that I like a lot and tend to use instead of closed headphones.
 
The soft and smooth signature from the Zen 2.0 works pretty well with the relaxed presentation of the Mojo. The Zen 2.0 sounds very wide and airy when driven from the Mojo but I’ve heard them perform better from sources with a more dynamic presentation. I can help feeling that they lack some dynamics and drive when driven from the Mojo. Not a bad pairing but I’ve heard better ones.
 
Aurisonics ASG-1PLUS ($500):
The ASG-1PLUS is an 11Ohm hybrid IEM (1 DD + 1 BA).
The 1PLUS, being one of my all-time favorite IEM’s, was the first thing I hooked up to the Mojo for an initial listening when it first arrived.  To be honest I was pretty underwhelmed from the experience and although it didn’t sound bad I felt as if I was expecting more after all I’ve read about the Mojo. The presentation of the 1PLUS is actually very similar to that of the Mojo: relaxed, smooth, airy and with a bit subdued upper bass presence. Together this became a bit too much for my preference resulting in a sound that was a bit unengaging and lacking in drive and dynamics.  Like I said: not bad, but certainly not the best pairing either. 
 
Super Audio 6 ($250):
The Super Audio 6 (SA6) is a six BA driver Chinese DIY offering. It has a warm, smooth, intimate and mid-centric overall presentation.
 
The combination of these two makes a stunning listening experience, probably one of the best I’ve ever had with a pair of IEM’s. The full and lush presentation from the SA6 seems to be a perfect match for the amazing sense of space and air that the Mojo offers. The smooth and warm nature of the SA6 is not super revealing and can get a bit overly creamy with a warm source but with the Mojo it’s has more detailed and airy than I’ve ever heard it before.
 
To sum up the matching section the signature of the Mojo does make some of my headphones and IEM’s sound better than I’ve ever heard them before, with some (a clear minority) I do find it to lack a bit of dynamics and drive though. The very low amount of hiss as well as enough power for all my full sized headphones does still make it very versatile in practical use.
 
Summary:
The Chord Mojo is indeed an excellent product. It packs a lot of features such as internal battery, small size, several connection options and combines it with excellent sound quality. It has a relaxed and laid back presentation that works very well with most headphones and IEM’s but not all. Despite being able to do the work in a home system replacing units much larger and potentially more expensive than itself I can’t help feeling that it is an easier recommendation for portable usage. The reason for this is that it does get very hot when being permanently connected to a laptop or computer (which I would believe would be the most common use of it in a home system) combined with the fact that constant charging might not be the best thing for the battery. I’ve also read several complaints about unwanted shut down while connected to a laptop for longer times and although this has never happened to me in the time I’ve had it I’d still be careful with using it in such a configuration.  Ironically enough the same battery is also one of the major reasons why it’s probably one of, if not the best product I’ve tried so far for portable use.
 
Actually the Mojo is the best amp/DAC combo that I’ve come across so far for portable usage.
 
Audio Quality: 5
Design: 4
Quality: 4.5
Value: 5
Features: 5
 
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Dionysus
Dionysus
Excellent review great work. Btw that package is definitely different than the plain white box I received, when I got mine months ago here in the states.
PleasantSounds
PleasantSounds
Peter, you may have not experienced this but many users report unacceptable level of interferences when used with a mobile phone. For a device like mojo that is designed as portable, I consider this a pretty serious issue.
Just thought I'll mention this as the potential buyers should be aware of such things, and the mojo thread is moving too fast for any human that has a life to follow it.
Traveller
Traveller
Nice work, sir! T4S!

EagleWings

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Sound Quality, Technical Capabilities, Resolving yet Smooth, Build and Design
Cons: Better Battery Life Would Have Been Nice, Orbs Can Get Dirty
PRODUCT INFO:
Following their success with the Hugo DAC, Chord Electronics released a much more portable solution, targeted at mobile users, called the Mojo. MoJo stands for Mobile Joy. It retails for $599.
 ​

 
INTRODUCTION:
Just within a few months, after I bought a set of Sennheiser IE80 and a Fiio X3ii, I wanted to upgrade to a High-End setup. I demoed and bought the 64-Audio A-10. When I demoed the A-10, I felt the A-10 was not performing to the best of its capabilities. Twister6 who owns a 64 Audio U-12 (Universal form of the A-12 which is just a darker version of A-10), brought to my attention, that the X3ii was an average source for these IEMs and, I would benefit from a better source. I did not want to spend more than $800. I started looking around and, there were close to 10 options, but I kept coming back to, these 3 options: Chord Mojo, Onkyo DP-X1 and Fiio X7. 
 
MY LISTENING SETUP AND USE-CASE:
99% of my listening is done indoors, at my desk at the office or home. To shuttle my gear between the office and home, I prefer a very portable setup. I only own and use IEMs for portability and ease of use factors. Similarly, I prefer a portable source gear. Fiio X3ii for music I own and iPhone 6 for streaming works good enough
 
WHY I CHOSE CHORD MOJO OVER OTHER DAPs:
Although a dedicated DAP would have proved to be more practical based on my above requirement, I did not want to deal with issues regarding UI, when I already owned 2 devices (iPhone 6 and Fiio X3ii) with excellent UI. If I was buying the Mojo, the trade off would be to carry an additional device and the corresponding cables. I weighed the options and decided to get the Mojo.
 ​
**Since the Mojo has been around for quite some time and, there is a lot of information out there, I am just going to dive straight into the Sound aspect next**
 ​
 

 ​
SOUND:
IEMs: 64-Audio A-10  |  MUSIC GENRE: Multiple and Varying  |  FILE FORMAT: 16/44 FLACs and 320 kbps MP3 (16/44)  |  FILE SOURCE: Macbook, Windows 7 PC
 
In short, I would describe Mojo's sound as highly resolving yet smooth, with great clarity, musicality, natural tonality and a 3-D presentation. The sound quality of Mojo as a whole, is truly impeccable.
 
This review is based on Mojo being paired with my 64-Audio A-10 Custom IEM. Mojo and A-10 go hand in hand in exposing each other's strengths. Mojo arrived a few days after my A-10 was delivered. During those couple of days, I was using my A-10 with Fiio X3ii and iPhone 6. I was a little underwhelmed with the performance and, was a little anxious on, what kind/level of improvements, Mojo would bring to the A-10. To my delight, the improvement was significant.
 
The first thing I noticed was the un-real (or should I say very realistic) imaging, instrument separation and layering. This is one of the strengths of the A-10. And Mojo makes sure it provides every ounce of juice, A-10 requires to display those strengths. This combo sounds so good, in this aspect that sometimes, I just lose concentration on the musical aspect of the track and, start observing the instruments. I am able to point in the direction, where an instrument is played. I was not able to do the same on the Fiio X3ii. The sound-stage width seems to be the same between Mojo, X3ii and iPhone 6. I was not too impressed with A10's soundstage depth initially. But the depth in the music presentation that Mojo renders, offers a sense of increase in sound-stage depth. The transparency and timbre were improved as well. It is amazing how Mojo can be very resolving and, yet manages to sound very smooth. The dynamics is also very good and a step-up over the Fiio X3ii and iPhone 6. 
 
To my ears, the tuning seems to be neutral, as it does not enhance any particular frequency. People in the ADEL IEMs thread were talking about hearing textured bass. When I demoed the A10, I certainly did not hear this texture, nor did I hear it, when my A10 first arrived. Then comes Mojo and I can hear this texture. It adds a lot of natural tonality to the mids, that the instruments and vocals sound very natural. It maintains a good treble quantity on the A10 and,, does not have the tendency to make the sound bright to give an impression of more sparkle. It basically shows what is in the track and presents it in a natural way. 
 
 
IMG_0446.jpg
 

 
POWER & HISS:
Given that I only own IEMs and do not own any hard-to-drive headphones, I do not need too much power and am not able to test it either. As far as hiss goes, I can hear a very slight background hiss on my A-10. But it is not bad given the fact that the A-10's impedance is 18 Ohm and has a sensitivity of 117 dB. Now the problem arises when I start thinking about IEMs that have a lower impedance rating and higher sensitivity.
 
BIT-PERFECT SIGNAL:
Ok, this is a very critical aspect. For Mojo to perform its very best, it needs to be fed a bit-perfect signal. These days, manufacturers of consumer electronics, seem to be keen on up-sampling the digital signal. Up-sampling refers to taking the original signal and increasing the bit depth and frequency. Bit-perfect refers to feeding the original signal as it were without modifying it.
 
So if you are planning on using your Mojo, with your PC or Mac or Smartphone or iOS devices, please make sure you check the Mojo thread on Head-Fi, to research how you can get bit-perfect signal out of your device. This is where DAPs have a certain advantage (except the DAPs running full version Android and do Digital Out through USB). DAPs like Fiio X3ii/X5ii, iBasso DX80, AK models can act as a reliable transport to carry your music with you in a potable package, at the same time, not having to worry about up-sampling as these devices do bit-perfect.
 
COMPARISONS:
FiiO X3ii & iPHONE 6: Fiio X3ii and iPhone are pretty much on the same plateau, when it comes to Sound Quality. Mojo when fed bit-perfect and used with a High-End IEM, displays clear improvement in all areas. Especially the technical capabilities and presentation. The imaging, instruments, tonality, transparency and timbre are on a level above. The soundstage width seems to be the same on all 3 devices, while there is an improvement in the depth on Mojo. The whole presentation itself seems more 3-Dimensional on the Mojo, while it sounds a bit flat on the iPhone and X3ii. Mojo presents sound in a natural analogous way, while X3ii and iPhone sound more digital.
 
IMG_0435.jpg
 

 
CONCLUSION:
Mojo is truly an amazing device that can bring the best out of your IEMs and headphones (as long as they are not too difficult to drive). You can get better results out of it if you could invest in better set of IEMs/Headphones. But the most critical factor is the bit-perfect signal for the Mojo to perform to the best of its capabilities. It is small, portable, easy to use and does exactly what it is meant to do.
 
The device is Built Like a Tank, Crafted Like a Jewel & Performs Like a MarvelI set out on getting an End-Game-For-Now setup. And that is exactly, what I have got with the Chord Mojo and the 64-Audio A-10 combo.
 
 
 ​
 ​

 ​
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
@twister6 who encouraged me to purchase a good source for my IEM and few other members who pointed me in the direction of Mojo and answered my questions that helped me in the purchase.
 
- Members on Mojo thread, especially @Mython and @x RELIC x , whose helpful posts helped me a great deal in getting the maximum performance out of my Mojo.

---THE END---
EagleWings
EagleWings
The dark side of the moon is also a treat with the Mojo+A10 combo. 
 
I see. Need to read more about this ROOMFEEL technology..
linux4ever
linux4ever
Does anybody have experience with Mojo + U12 combo? How does it pair up? Good? Great? Okay? Bad? Terrible?
EagleWings
EagleWings
You can PM @Ike1985 and @Sound Eq . They've had experience with the combo. ike1985 have mentioned that he loves the combo(A12+Mojo) with the B1 Modules.

ShreyasMax

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: Brilliant Natural Sound, Detail Retrieval.
Cons: No Volume Knob (:P), Lack of accessories & interconnects
Intro >
 

For all head-fi users and visitors, it'd be a surprise for me if they haven't come across the Mojo ever, in the last six months or so. The amount of threads and discussion on this one device has been huge.
For the uninitiated though, the Mojo is a portable DAC/amp by Chord Electronics that takes digital audio input from your smartphone, computer or DAP (Digital Audio Player) and outputs a superior quality audio signal to two 3.5mm headphone jacks. The digital inputs are USB and Coaxial, and there's a line level output option set by jointly holding down both volume buttons when powering on the device. The technical specifications are available on many a website, including Chord's own, and I shall avoid describing them again here.  

 

But do read through all the research and development involved in the custom DAC implementation based on FPGA programming done by its creators, as it’s a very interesting and informative discussion in itself. 
 
Yours truly was provided with the Mojo by my good friend @raghavsomani of Headphone Zone (India) for a couple of weeks; I duly picked it up from their office in Mumbai, and spent the two weeks of my holiday at my hometown in Kerala in blissful happiness.

 
So big thanks to them for giving me the opportunity to listen to this wonderful piece of gear in exchange for my honest opinion and thoughts.
 

 

Build/ Size >

 

This is a diminutive little device, all 'aircraft grade' aluminum, and is truly bulletproof, in my humble opinion. Not that I've tested it, but I certainly feel so, and invite you to take out that shotgun, and fire one into the Mojo. Okay, please don't. It still might survive unscathed though.
 
WP_20160402_15_27_41_Pro_LI.jpgWP_20160405_16_01_17_Pro.jpg
 
 
Above: The Mojo hooked to my FiiO X3 1st gen using the L16 interconnect via coaxial. Listening done mainly with Fidelio X2.
  

 

Moving on, it fits very comfortably when held in one hand, and is a welcome departure from the usual rectangular brick shape for dacs that has become now commonplace, barring the Sony PHA series, and maybe a couple others. The 'Made in England' label is an added reassurance of the build quality. 

 

The most striking feature, apart from the glowing orbs of course, is that it has all subtly rounded corners, and the matte finish adds to a surface that is very touch friendly in my opinion. I wish Chord included some sort of a case in the box, but there are a few available for purchase separately. 

 

As far as looks go, it's a no-holds-barred approach that Chord have adapted, sticking to their tradition, and I personally find it attractive. YMMV though. 

 

 
Sound >

 

Now for the all important aspect, that outweighs all other features as far as I'm concerned. Put simply, it sounds, wait for it, just brilliant.  

 

What makes it brilliant for me are a combination of many different aspects of the sound that when compared to other devices in its class, it just edges ahead in my opinion.  

 

The Mojo has a slightly warm sound signature, meaning that the mid range frequencies and sounds get that slight preference, if one may call it that, ahead of the lower and treble frequencies. But this isn't to say the bass or treble regions are recessed by any means. On the contrary, the bass and treble sounds have class leading extension and definition, to my ears. And for me the winning feature in favor of the Mojo is, in one word, natural.  

 

My continual quest for the best sound possible at the best price has begun to define itself more clearly after using the Mojo. I've realised that rather than looking for the most detailed, most resolving, and most 'fun' sounding devices or combinations, my ideal target sound is making me look for the most 'natural' and 'realistic' sounding device or setup. This is my goal. But this statement has an inherent and fundamental problem; what exactly is the natural sound of an instrument? How 'real' can one get in terms of an instrument or voice? The word 'timbre' is used to describe the tone of an instrument as heard, compared to when its played live in front (or side, depending on recording of course) of the listener. 

 

Earlier when I had the FiiO X7 for review I had thought that its timbre was the most realistic I had heard up till then. Added to this its slightly enhanced treble made acoustic guitars among others sound as natural as I'd heard. But there was that slight enhancement in the treble that still retained the X7's 'digital' roots, if one may call it that. 

 

Recently I purchased the iBasso D14 'Bushmaster' dac-amp, and have been running it through coaxial out of my FiiO X3 1st gen. I'm thoroughly satisfied with its sound; detailed, uncolored, fairly neutral IMO. But having the Mojo made me realize that the D14, in spite of being very detailed, clear, and uncolored, was still not as natural sounding. Though there was no flaw or lack of detail in the D14 that I could pick, it just wasn't that 'involving' as the Mojo. The D14 though, at its current price of 199$ US, is a brilliant performer by itself, and its no surprise that its preferred by many over the sound of the DX90 DAP. 
 
WP_20160226_19_46_14_Pro.jpgWP_20160305_16_20_41_Pro.jpg
 
 
The iBasso D14 'Bushmaster' is no slouch

 

 
The Mojo, on the other hand, retails for a higher price of 600$ US, and is almost on par pricewise with the FiiO X7.  Comparing these two, I believe the Mojo has better matchability with a higher number of headphones and IEMs with varying sound signatures, whereas the X7 would suit listeners who prefer their sound to be slightly enhanced in the treble, or those looking to balance out overly warm headphones.  

 

But to my preferences,  the Mojo is the winner, because every little detail seems effortlessly retrieved,  instruments and vocals sound more 'real', and it has gotten me that bit closer to, what is to my ears, that ideal sound reproduction.  

 

 
Value/ Conclusion >

 

At its price, I feel that currently it is the best value for a portable source device in terms of sound quality alone. And to get an even better sense of realism than that offered by the Mojo, I would think one's wallet would have to start getting unreal, real soon. 
 
WP_20160405_21_20_05_Pro.jpgWP_20160407_09_40_06_Pro.jpg
 
Thanks for reading, folks.
 
Cheers & happy listening.

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ShreyasMax
ShreyasMax
@TomNC - Thanks for your comment; you're welcome.
xEcuToR
xEcuToR
Good stuff. How long does Mojo run with one full charge? 
ShreyasMax
ShreyasMax
@xecutor - Thanks for the compliment; appreciate it.
 I didn't do a proper battery run down test as I was continually travelling throughout the time I had the unit with me, but I can tell that it does last the stipulated 8 hours or so on continuous usage. I used to charge it out of USB on my laptop for about a couple hours every other day or two, and it never went down to zero battery; it got till red on the charging LED only once. 
Hope this helps, cheers

vaibhavp

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: Class leading dynamic clarity, clean transient response, excellent overall sound quality with easy to drive hps
Cons: sound stage on smaller side, not best for demanding hps
Disclaimer : I received Chord Mojo for review purpose from www.headphonezone.in . I would like to thank Raghav Somani and rest of headphonezone.in team for this opportunity. I used it for a week and its already been handed over to next person in que for review purpose. I am not affiliated to either Chord Electronics or headphonezone.in and will try to present my thoughts on mojo in unbiased way as possible.
 
I have broken this review in sub headings of what I wanted to discuss about mojo. I will mostly be discussing about sound quality after introduction and build. Feel free to jump to headings as you please.
 
Introduction
 
Chord mojo is portable battery powered dac/amp that you can use to power your hps. It has excellent connectivity options, all in digital domain 3.5 mm coaxial, optical and usb. Another port is provided for charging mojo. If you happen to own laptop, mobile or a dap with digital out, chances are you can, with right cable and software use it to feed mojo. Accessories that come with mojo are a bit sparse and all you get is usb cable which you most likely already have in desired length. I used fiio x5 classic out of coaxial port to feed mojo and it was mostly flawless experience. It was not a plug and play affair with my android phone like some other portable dacs. I mostly need a software but since I dont plan to use my phone as source, I dont plan to buy software any time soon.
 
I used Sennheiser HD700, AKG K550, Sony XBA A1 for review purpose. It is a mix of hps with different sensitivities and give good idea of mojo's driving prowess. I compared it X5-E12, X5-Ican, X5-Project solstice during review period to see how it stacks up with other portable and desktop systems. I also used it as dac in my system.
 
DSC_0009.jpg
 
Build
 
Mojo is build out of single block of Aluminum and has a rubbery coating on its entire surface. Its stylish looking hardware with plastic orbs for controlling all its functions. It has 3 orbs for power and volume up and down and is very easy to use. Input selection is automatic with usb taking priority. Its rather on smaller side as you can see in pic, even smaller than fiio x5. Overall it looks tiny and cute but has a robust build. Its orbs rotate in their sockets and I like playing around with it when listening to music.
 
Frequency Response
 
Subjectively to my ears, mojo sounds neutral with warm tilt. Warmth is easily noticeable with my hps. Mids and treble have very smooth transition and I cant pin point where one starts and other ends. Bass impact is good with right hps. Both mid bass and little bit of sub bass is present and it does not tilt too heavily in one direction. Overall sound is smooth from top to bottom with treble showing some wetness and easy to listen to even on sennheiser hd700. Overall frequency response sounds very linear with no peaks or dips noticeable.
 
Dynamics 
 
Dynamics on mojo are top notch. Some of the best I heard. Using hd700 which is also having very good dynamics, I dont think it masks any dynamic shift that mojo is able to unearth. Mojo sticks to the tune of instrument being played with great dynamic clarity and lets you hear all push pull effects between instruments happening onstage. With hd700 having a good depth, it gives you a clear view of entire stage in one glance, such interactions between instruments are very easy to hear. In this sense its a great match.
 
Transient response
 
Mojo has very effortless transient response and sounds very clean. hd700 also has it as a strong point and detail pop out of blackness in stage very smoothly and effortless manner. Instruments fade out again cleanly without disturbing black background at all leaving no trace of noise. This makes the detail pop and more obviously noticeable.
 
Timber
 
Timber on mojo is rich and separates colours of instruments very well. Tone of different instrument is varied and vibrant. I think it has one of best timber I have heard in solid state dacs/amps. My tube amp, project solstice is only piece of equipment that betters it in terms of variation of tone and richness if sound. When I first heard it, X5 sounded poitively dull and lifeless in comparison cause of more traditional solid state sound. After I got used used to mojo's timber it was more even comparison on subjective level. It is very similar to my tube amp in that aspect.
 
Detail 
 
Detail retrieval on mojo is very good with excellent dynamics, both macro and micro, small details in timber and sound of instruments. I think compared to X5, mojo takes listener one step closer to mic feed. However there are no new instruments I could detect. Same no of music strands were present on both. With mojo you get a added sense of clarity and detail on instruments themselves. Tonally both X5 and mojo are neutral with warm tilt. When I compare x5 to its sabre based elder brother fiio x7, I could hear new instruments. Example On a hindi movie song, d se dance from Humpty Sharma ki... its a very busy song with a smattering of tiny little detail, I could hear murmuring in background on both x5 and mojo. On x7 I could clearly hear what they were saying. Overall I think some tiny details get lost on mojo due to warmth compared to focus on clarity on x7. While x7 looses on dynamics and clean transient response.
 
Soundstage
 
Soundstage on mojo is on intimate side. I think my portable rig fiio x5-E12 offers similar size with slightly more width while mojo offers more depth. I was initially disappointed with E12 soundstage but I think its par for the course and this much should be expected from portable gear with full size hps like hd700. All desktop amps I tried had bigger soundstages.
 
Driving power
 
Mojo offers good driving power for variety of cans. I tried following hps to see what it can do
 
Sony XBA A1: Its an entry level hybrid iem in $100 range. Mojo drove it very well with no background noise and excellent detail as iem was able to bring out. I must admit I am not much sensitive to background noise and use and love a tube amp with full sized cans. Overall with average iems and sensitivity of listener mojo should pair well with iems.
 
AKG K550: This is a very easy to drive hp with 32 ohm impedance and 114 db sensitivity. Mojo drove it very well with even frequency response and good detail retrieval. On subjective level, I like pairing warm and very relaxed sounding amps with k550. Otherwise it sounds overly busy and confused. Mojo has warmth but is not particularly relaxed sounding. Thus I prefer Fiio X5-E12 combo for k550 which imo is relaxed and sublime pairing.
 
Sennheiser HD700: This I think is tipping point for mojo where it starts loosing control over drivers a bit. For testing I was listening to Eric Clapton Complete and Fleetwood Mac Best of, my 2 favourite compilations. Eric Clapton sounded sublime with mojo hd700 with detailed guitar solos and overall great music. Upon starting Fleetwood Mac, as you may know, their music has prominent basslines. Both Fleetwood and Mac are bass players with bass guitar and drum. On songs like "Go your own way", bass was a little behind midrange. Not as prominent or grippy. I thought this was character of mojo and switched to Akg k550. Here I found a perfectly balanced sound with prominent bassline and with more detail to boot. I found this to be odd as on all system I tried, hd700 offers more detail. So I concluded mojo has some difficulty in driving hd700 with changing frequency response and slight lack of detail. I think this is odd cause on volume I go till orange colour on orbs for hd700 which is in lower one third of volume range. Also I thought dynamics were excellent.
 
Comparisons
 
In my opinion mojo is a little exotic sounding gear with unique qualities like very clean transient response and excellent dynamic clarity. I compared it with my portable rig X5-E12 as well as ifi ican and project solstice all fed by fiio x5. In all comparisons I found mojo to have same set of strengths and weaknesses. Mojo offers a better holistic presentation with excellent push and pull between instruments and sticks to tune of instrument played best. Best use hps that offer comfortable view over soundstage at a glance instead of very wide stages that let you focus on individual instruments. It also was dynamically very transparent.
In comparison, E12, Ican and solstice take you little in the stage with focus on individual instruments being played. Consequently they offer much relaxed presentation where each note is more spaced and played little more dynamically. All three offer slight better grip over harder to drive cans like hd700 while mojo offers slightly more detail.
 
Conclusion
 
As a portable dac amp at $600, I think mojo is great. It has unique qualities you wont find easily in regular dacs and you can also add an amp to tailor it further to suit your needs or taste. It comes with complete set of connections and can be used in any system. Overall I am very pleased with mojo and urge you to give it a try.
TomNC
TomNC
A nice review. Your assessment is in good agreement with mine. Mojo is a great little device.

silvrr

100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Small, portable, great sound
Cons: May run out of juice on power hungry headphones
 
Introduction:
I made some changes just before I was sent the Mojo for review that really made this review into a David vs. Goliath and old vs. new matchup.  The mojo is the latest technology, fits in the palm of your hand and runs off a battery.  My Zdac and Lyr 2 setup is big, hot, sucks power from the wall and relies on older technology.  The Zdac was released in early 2013 and the Lyr relies on tubes which have been around since the beginning of the 1900s.
 
I really enjoyed my short time with the Mojo and want to say thanks to Todd for putting this review tour together.    
 
Disclaimer:
I was sent a Mojo in exchange for my review by Todd The Vinyl Junkie (TTVJ).  I have no connection to TTVJ or Chord other than receiving the Mojo for review.  It went on to the next reviewer after my week with it. 
 
About ME / My Listening Style:
I am not a critical listener; I don’t find enjoyment in listening to music and trying to listen for every last detail.  When I listen to music I generally am sitting in a comfy chair, or in bed, and relaxing and enjoying the music.  I appreciate detail and accurate reproduction but tend to lean towards a warmer more laid back sound.  In the past I have had a pair of DT880s which while very technically competent were just to bright and aggressive, I much prefer something like my ZMFs or the HD650. 
 
 
 
 
Hardware & Specifications:
 
Packaging/accessories**:
Packaging is pretty simple, the Mojo comes in a two part box with a bit of foam to cushion in transport.  No frills.  The side of the inner box displays a road map of sorts to the color indications for the bit rate display.  The only accessory is a USB cable to hook the Mojo up to a source and/or power for charging. 
 
You do not get a power adapter, and you will need one.  Chord recommends 1A output form a 5v source to charge the Mojo.  Many USB ports will not provide the needed power to charge the Mojo (it will charge, but take forever).   I used a iPad charger that I had as a spare.   The iPad charger puts out 2.1 amps at 5v and charged the Mojo overnight.  I put the Mojo on the charger each night and in the morning it was charged and ready to go (as indicated by the charging light not being illuminated)
 
**This was a review sample, it had been passed to 5-6 other reviewers before I got it, so your results may vary.
 ​
Technical Specifications:
 
These are pulled from Chord’s site at: http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/
 
General:
Works with Android, iPhone, Windows and Mac
Charges in just 4 hours to provide up to 10 hours use.
Compatible with headphones from 4Ω to 800Ω
The case is machined from a single solid block of aluminum.
DAC:
Three digital inputs - USB, Coaxial, and Optical
Plays all files from 32kHz to 768kHz and even DSD 256
AMP:
Output Power @ 1kHz (600 ohms 35mW) (8 ohms 720mW)
Output Impedance: 0.075 ohms
Dynamic Range: 125dB
THD @ 3v - 0.00017%: 
 
A few specifications I didn't find on Chords site:
 
Size:
For Americans: 3.23” W, 2.44”D, 0.85”H
For the Rest of the World: 82.8 W, 62D, 21.5H
 
The tiny feet on the bottom add a bit to the eight but its not much. There is also a picture below comparing it to my iPhone 6s.
 
Weight:
6.1 Ounces
 
Objective Measurements:
For a good summary of the objective measurements of the Mojo see the link below:
http://ohm-image.net/data/audio/rmaa-chord-mojo-24-bit
 
 
 
Using the Mojo:
I would recommend reading the manual while your mojo is charging for the first time.  There is some good info and its brief but provides some important details on use.  A lot of people are suggesting a 10 hour minimum first charge, not sure where it came from but seems to be going around, the manual is silent on it. 
 
 http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/manual/Mojo-User-Manual.pdf
 
Build
The Mojo’s chasis is two pieces of aluminum held together by 8 screws on the bottom.   It is a really solid piece and should last a long time. After going through the hands of a number of other reviewers and being shipped all over the country it looked like new to me, no scratches and finger prints wipe off with a t-shirt. The little orbs/balls are actually free floating in the holes and can spin around.  Not sure if anything can get behind them and cause an issue but as long as you keep your hands relatively clean I cannot see it being an issue.  All the jacks feel solid and don’t provide any wiggle or feel loose. 
 
Features
Most of the Mojo’s external features are pretty self-explanatory.  There are two headphone outs which is unique but everything else is pretty normal, except for those glowing orbs. 
clip_image002.jpg

 
 
Those little orbs tell you a few details during playback, and perform there functions as noted in the picture above. 
The power orb displays the sampling frequency being fed to the DAC by your player of choice using the colors below:
clip_image003.png

The volume buttons also display a range of colors depending on the volume settings in use.  There appears to be three stages of the volume indication.  From zero the Mojo runs through the color field above quickly and then starts back over at red and moves to light purple.   There is a final stage where only the + volume button will change colors.  I found with my headphones I was always in the second section of volume indication and typically was in the dark blue range with my ZMF’s.  With the M6 Pros I was in the second volume section but stayed below the yellow/green range.  When just wanting some background music I was in the first section in the light purple.
 
 
 
Use
I scrolled through the user’s manual before the Mojo was sent to me and got a basic understanding.  Hold the power button for two seconds to turn on and wait for the faint click and its ready to go.  The power ball cycles through the colors as it starts up. 
 
To use the Mojo as a DAC only and provide a 3V line out output you just click both volume buttons right after the Mojo powers on. 
 
I found coarse volume adjustments to take too long either by clicking the ball or holding it down.   However, I found fine adjustments to work nicely by giving the ball a few clicks.  I tend to flip the volume down if I need to talk to someone rather than pause a track so a quick dial is my preference, or a mute button.
 
Via USB on the Raspberry Pi it was plug and play.  RuneAudio recognized the Mojo and displayed Mojo in the list of output devices.  On all of my Windows PCs the drivers installed without issues (Windows 7 and Windows 10). 
 
Optical was plug and play also, once I remembered to enable my optical out.  24/96 content played with no issues and was reported correctly by the power balls color.  24/192 gave a subtle click/pop in my left ear each time I started the song.  I don’t have another optical source to test so this may be the fault of my motherboard.      
 
How does it sound?
I used the following gear, other than the Mojo, during this review:
 
 
 
[DAC] Parasound Zdac: http://www.parasound.com/vintage/zdac.php
 
[AMP] Schiit Lyr: http://schiit.com/products/lyr-2 (General Electric 6BZ7 tubes)
 
[Headphones] ZMF Master Model V1 (Fostex T50RP base): http://www.zmfheadphones.com/
 
[IEMs] Mee Electronics M6 Pro: http://www.meeaudio.com/M6PRO-CL
 
[Source 1] Raspberry Pi running RuneAudio: http://www.head-fi.org/t/795895/a-70-bit-perfect-audio-player
 
[Source 2] Desktop PC via optical running Foobar/Wasapi.
 
 [Source 4 – Work Laptop] Lenovo X240 (Windows 7 Playing Pandora/Tidal)
 
Music is ripped from a CD in either ALAC or FLAC at 16/44.1 unless otherwise noted.  Player and setup is noted above in each source listing.  
 
 ​
I received the Mojo on Saturday and did some general listening over the weekend.  I spent a lot of time on the Mojo and found it worked nicely as a portable solution.  With one power cord (Pi power source) I can move my entire listening rig up to the bedroom or into a quiet room in the house.  The battery lasted through each session (up to 4 hours).  Initial impressions going back and forth with the Zdac/Lyr stack is the Mojo is a bit more controlled and the stack doesn’t have the same snap/control to the sound.  The tubes in the Lyr were brand new and only had ~10 or so hours run time.  They were left on over the weekend and by Monday things seemed a bit more evenly matched. 
 
Steeley Dan – Aja: I went back and forth a number of times on this one trying to hear differences.  I ‘think’ I could hear a very slight difference in the drum stick click Steve Gadd makes around the 5:00 mark.  After a number of times back and forth the Mojo has a more realistic click to me, that is splitting hairs though.  Overall the two systems are pretty evenly matched using this sample.  I had to look over and see which device I was plugged into twice during this stint so that tells you how close the two setups are.
 
Steely Dan – Deacon Blues: Concentrating on the saxophone after around the 4:00 mark my preference is the Zdac/Lyr stack, I think the stack is just a bit smoother and more pleasant to listen to.
 
Beastie Boys – Slow Ride: Listened to the first ~25 seconds of this song over and over again on both setups.  I call this one a draw.  The Mojo is really impressing me here as I turn both setups a bit so see how bass is handled.  There is a heavy bass line after the initial percussion intro.  The Mojo holds its own even as I push the volume.
 
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing: This is a quieter track overall when it comes to recording level and I like to listen to it pretty loud.   The Mojo struggled on this one; it was pushed into the light purple/white volume levels and couldn’t produce the bass the Lyr was at this volume level.  The Lyr is just really hitting its stride and sounds fantastic, switching to the Mojo and the bass suffers and overall things are sounding a bit harsh.  The Lyr is capable of putting over 5 times the wattage into the ZMFs as the Mojo, I was surprised it took this long for me to run into a test where the Mojo ran out of power compared to the Lyr, really says something about the Mojo.  
 
Eagles - Hotel California (Hotel California): The Mojo is lacking in bass during the intro.  The Lyr is big and full on the bass line but the Mojo is losing the bass behind the rest of the song as the volume goes up.
 
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain (Rumors): This is another song with a lower recording level.  The Mojo is getting pushed into the third volume stage if I want to turn this one up.   The Mojo and the ZMFs do not pair well as you push the Mojo, it becomes a bit shrill and the bass and mids really suffer. Turning it down the Mojo pulls ahead, I'm liking the Mids from the bass guitar better. Although very close I would say the Mojo is keeping everything separated a bit more.
 
Eagles - Hotel California (HD Tracks 24/96):  I call this one a draw.  I really pulled this track up to listen to what I assume is a brush on the snare drum at a few points in the song.  It's in the lower back of the left ear on both setups. Both setups were equal to my ears in placing it and separating it from the rest of the track.  That placement that is almost behind your ear is something I first noticed with the Zdac, when I had my Modi, it was there but didn't have the same placement and desperation.
 
Daft Punk - Get Lucky (256 AAC) I focused in on the claps in this song.  The have a good presentation in both width and sound on both setups, I'm calling this on a draw.
 
After running into the power issue on the Mojo I remembered that you can set it to a DAC only mode and get a 3V line out.  I set this up to take the amp out of the equation and ran both the Zdac and Mojo through the Lyr.  
 
I spent a lot of time switching between the two while listening to Hotel California (Hell Freezes Over) and a few tracks from Rumors by Fleetwood Mac.  I would think the Mojo was pulling more detail and the Zdac had a bit of a veil but then I would switch back and hear the same from the Zdac.  I tried both longer listening sessions and rapid switches and came to the conclusion that any differences are so small that I would never be able to blindly say this is the Mojo and this is the Zdac.  That result really goes for the whole review I did, except when the Mojo runs out of power and the differences become very evident.
 ​
 
 ​
Conclusion:
 
I really enjoyed the Mojo, for its size and the fact that is runs off battery it really punches above its weight.  Being able to move my entire listening rig up to the bedroom by unplugging one cord and carrying it all in one had was pretty nice.  However, I think for power hungry cans or inefficient cans I would be sure to get a demo and compare it to a desktop setup.  During my listening tests, when combined with a track with a lower recording level the Mojo would struggle.
 
When I didn’t run into power issues the Mojo was wonderful sonically.  There is a lot of detail and a smoothness that I really enjoyed. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a portable setup.  I held its own against a power hungry desktop setup and only rarely ran out of power and started to struggle.  
 
 
 
Other Reviews:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/chord-mojo
 
 
Other Reviews from me:
http://www.head-fi.org/users/365069/reviews
 
Long Term Update (12/14/2016):
 
I sold my Mojo last night and figured I would post up in my review on why I sold it.  
 
The first really isn't the Mojos fault but something to think about when buying one.  I constantly ran out of battery and/or found it dead.  I would have it on and forget to turn it off and come back to find it dead.  Again, not the Mojos fault at all, however, from a dead state you have to wait for a small charge before the Mojo will fire up and let you listen.  I had it fire up a few times and then die until it had a better charge.  This is with a 2.1 amp Apple iPad charger too, so no lack of current.  This and over extended absences the Mojo will self drain and you end up with short listen times or it can be completely dead.  
 
Second was the static.  I beleive this is linked to the lack of galvanic isolation on the board (which was done to save battery life).  So when next to my iPhone 6s or next to a Raspberry Pi with Wifi, (both of which I use as a source) you could get static from the EMI.  Using longer cables and getting the Mojo away from the device can help.  I would also get the same result on Optical when charging, which I assume is for the same reason.   
 
I still think the Mojo is a great product, however, I didn't end up using it in a mobile application as much as I thought I would and that combined with the annoyances above let me to move on.  I think Im going to stick with a all in one product for the ease of moving around my house, however, it will be powered by mains and not a battery. 
Rob49
Rob49
A good honest review, that highlight's the flaws....when reading the Mojo thread, you would think it's "the second coming" !
silvrr
silvrr
Thanks for the feedback.  The Mojo is pretty good when you consider its size and that it runs off a battery.  During my initial listening I got the impression that the Mojo was pulling a lot of detail and had a great presentation of the music, and began to think there was something well above and beyond what my lyr/zdac was providing.  However, when switching back an forth for longer listening sessions and later quick A/B tests the two setups were revealed to be very closely matched.  I do think there are differences between the two, however, in a blind test I do not think that I could say which is which.  I wonder if "the second coming" people are comparing the Mojo to a known standard and believe that the differences are so night and day that they could pick the Mojo in a A/B comparison easily.   
crazydeep
crazydeep
Great review!!

Peter Hyatt

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Beautiful Sound, Small Size, Fascinating and Useful Design
Cons: None
Reviewers often give backgrounds so that the reader is privileged to have a reference point for the reviewer's opinion. Many are experienced audiophiles familiar with the language of such, which is often not only unique to its own, it is often indiscernible to the non-audiophile.

I am a non audiophile and understand only a portion of the language but do know what I like and what I have hoped for.

Going from average consumer headphones to Beyerdynamic T1 was a "wow!" moment where the product's impact upon me was overwhelmingly positive. The T1's exceeded my expectations on what quality could come from headphones, and the 2nd generation's removable cable was a great upgrade. Having raised a large family, I know what can happen to headphone cables wherever children are and this 'security blanket' means that even grandchildren's small feet could cause a tug in the wrong direction, but the headphones will survive.



Thus began my search for the appropriate amp and dac.

I was stunned the first time I heard the Mojo.

Stunned.

The jump in quality from my set up was like nothing I expected or could have predicted.

Wow.

The Mojo gave me detail that I have not heard before.

It was that Mojo brought back my entire music catalog from retirement.

For me, I no longer own the desktop amp, the desktop DAC, nor the portable amp.

Something as tiny as the Mojo has replaced all my equipment.

I take it everywhere I go, just as I do my iPhone, just in case I get a spare few minutes and slip on the in-ear headphones. It is this good.

It is now lossless music streaming through the Mojo to beautiful and well built headphones, through a lap top or iPhone.

Chord Electronics has done what it set out to do, and then some. They may have made it possible for the average iPhone or Android phone owner to hear what only high end, expensive audiophile fans have experienced, at an incredible bargain.

The lights? Perfect. I already know what color my wife's level should be, and can even make adjustments in the evening darkness, and it is ergonomically perfect for my hand. I look forward to the modules, especially blue tooth, and to the release of a leather case, though it is made strong enough to withstand anything I may inadvertently throw at it.

Pros? It gave me the "wow!" effect that I did not think my extreme expectations would have realized. 30 years of Chord research reduced to affordability. Definition. Soundstage. Definition. Beauty.

Cons?

I am simply too thankful to consider any.
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RedJohn456
RedJohn456
That was a fantastic review and an even more enjoyable read! Thank you for sharing the personal stories, was one of the best and heartfelt reviews of the Mojo I have read :)
ShreyasMax
ShreyasMax
Great write up, very well written, cheers!
x RELIC x
x RELIC x
Peter, one of the most relatable and enjoyable reviews I've read on Head Fi. Great job!

I feel this is front page material as it certainly applies to everyone.

RedJohn456

Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Robust build quality coupled with a portable friendly design, Price, Drives everything from sensitive iems to power hungry planars, Black background
Cons: Light on accessories, volume buttons prone to scratches and trapping dirt
Chord Mojo - A cure for those suffering from Upgraditis
“Desktop Capable and Wholly Portable, A swiss army knife in all but name!”
 
 
 
Disclaimer:
As part of the Canadian tour I had the Mojo for a little over a week and I received no financial compensation, save for the shipping costs of sending the mojo to the next reviewer.
 
 
 
Introduction:
This is my review of the Chord Mojo, a new portable DAC/Amp from the venerable Chord Electronics.
 
First I want to take this opportunity to thank my friend Craig for organizing the Canadian tour as well as recommending me for the tour. I also wanted to give a big shout out to Chord Electronics for setting up this tour and giving me the opportunity to evaluate their newest foray into the portable dac/amp market, the Chord Mojo!
 
You don’t have to be in this hobby long before running into Chord as a brand, as they are held in high regard and universally lauded by a large legion of fans spanning the globe.
They are a company based in England, whose claim to fame has been making high performance desktop and portable DAC/Amp solutions with a premium price to match the performance.
 
That has been the case until now. Enter the Mojo, a portable entry from Chord Electronics that promises to provide the same high performance their other products, such as the Hugo, are known for but at a much more accessible price point. To say that people were excited to get their collective grubby mitts on the Mojo would be a major understatement. Don’t believe me? Just take a gander at how quickly the official Mojo thread has grown. By the time you finish reading this review, the thread would have gorwn by a number of pages and many posts. No Joke. The Mojo appears to have struck a Chord (hah see what I did there?) with many a fan and not without good reason.
 
 
 
About me:
I want to provide a little background information in the hopes that it can help put my views in perspective and provide some context for the content of this review.
 
Music has always been a huge part of my life, whether it was performing music on stage with my band or more recently, involving myself in this masochistic wonderful hobby of ours.  I have always enjoyed listening to music but I haven’t always paid attention to the quality of headphones because I was perfectly content with included cellphone earphones or cheap earbuds from department stores.  Ignorance is bliss right? This however all changed when I came across head-fi one day, and that’s when things started to go downhill (for my wallet that is :p). It is all too easy to underestimate how large an impact a good pair of headphones can have in the enjoyment of your favorite songs.
 
After getting my first pair of good headphones, I had felt as if an entirely new world has opened up to me musically and I found myself rediscovering music that I have listened to for many years.
 
When it comes to musical taste, I can’t say that I have any specific genre that is my absolute favorite, as I like a little bit of everything. But if I had to be specify, I would say that I love mainstream and Pop music and I consider myself to be an average joe in that regard. That is the approach I will be taking in reviewing gear, for people like me who aren’t all that technical and are not audiophiles in the classical sense.
 
I mostly stream music from the Internet using services such as Spotify and Youtube and like millions of other people, my laptop and cellphone serves as my main media players.
 
So with that out of the way, lets get on with the review!
 
 
 
Build quality, Design and Accessories
After receiving the package from the previous reviewer, I gleefully tore into the out cardboard box. Opening up the box, I was actually taken back somewhat. The actual Mojo packaging was smaller than I was expected, not that it’s a bad thing of course.
 
The packaging was an understated and elegant white box with minimal adornments. Of note, one panel displayed technical specifications while another a palate of colors listing what sampling rate and frequency each color pertains to [On a side note, I wonder if color blind people would have any trouble using the mojo in light of the visual nature of volume control]. The made in England sticker was a nice touch as well.
 
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Opening up the box, the Mojo was presented in all its glory, encased in foam and a plastic bag. Inside the box a male micro to male micro USB cable was included for use with compatible portable devices. To be honest I was a bit disappointed given the lack of accessories as I feel that including a few cables and adapters might have been a nice gesture. Again, no manual was included the box but it can be downloaded from their website at: http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/manual/Mojo-User-Manual.pdf
 
 
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I was actually taken back by how compact the Mojo was after taking it out of its packaging. I had an inkling from online pictures that the unit will be on the smaller size, but not to this degree. I was able to wrap my hands around the unit easily and it had a reassuring heft to it, something that I greatly welcome. The unit felt very solid and durable to the touch, adding to its portable friendliness. It honestly felt like a tank, as it was so sturdy and durable that if I accidentally dropped the Mojo to the floor I would be more worried if I damaged the floor because that’s how tough it’s build quality is. The volume buttons rotated easily and is not easily pressed by accident, which is important given how much power the Mojo packs (which is quite a bit I might add).
 
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The unit houses two 3.5 mm headphone out ports (which is perfect for Netflix dates with your special someone :p), which can be used simultaneously.
 
The Mojo also is equipped with three digital inputs:
  • 1 X TOSLink Optical
  • 1 X 3.5mm COAX SPDIF
  • 1 x Micro USB [I do however have concerns about the long-term durability of the USB ports as they appeared to be a little loose and not 100% flush with outer casing. I'm not sure if this was limited to the tour unit but I thought I should point it out.]
 
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All of this and more make for a VERY versatile piece of gear.
 
 
 
How it works:
The Mojo is a rather strange looking device, like nothing I have come across. Its design is endearing and has rather grown on me during my time with the Mojo.
 
I thought the volume buttons would be static but to my surprise they rotated freely. This of course presents the problem of dirt and dust accumulating, and I did notice a few scratches on the volume spheres on my unit. The unit can be turned on by holding down the right most button until the light starts flashing. Fun fact – by holding down both volume buttons together when switching on the unit, you set the output level to 3V (Line level).
 
The brightness of the volume buttons can be toggled between bright and dim modes by briefly pressing both volume buttons at the same time. As well, Mojo has a memory function that will store the volume level and brightness settings even if the unit is shut down. The only exception to this is Line level, which is not remembered.
 
 
 
How I used it:
 
Sources Used
  1. 13 inch Macbook Pro retina via Micro USB
  2. Sony Playstation 3 via optical
 
As I touched upon earlier, the Mojo is quite versatile in its capabilities. It is designed to work with everything from cellphones to laptops to gaming consoles and even DAPs (where the dap acts as a digital transport). The Mojo truly is an all in one portable solution, a Jack-of-all-trades and a master of all (if not most).
 
The Mojo fast became an indispensable part of my listening and gaming set up. It was as simple as plug and play with my Macbook Pro, working without a hitch. I used it for everything from listening to music, skype calls and even watching video lectures while studying, showing no weakness in any application.
 
It also transformed my gaming experience while using it in combination with my Playstation 3 via Optical out. Using it in conjunction with the AKG K612 Pro, I really felt as if I was immersed in my games, giving me a cinematic experience unlike anything I have experienced before. Thanks to its fantastic imaging capabilities and soundstage (will touch upon this later), playing shooters such as Call of Duty was all too enjoyable.
 
The Mojo will work with iOS devices via the CCK cable and compatible android devices which support USB audio out. Unfortunately my BlackBerry Z30 didn’t play nice with it (what a big surprise lol) but the mobile capability is there should one choose to use it (which is its primary focus after all). I should note that later on in the review I do discuss a new product from FiiO that all but eliminates the need for those pesky CCK cables, allowing a one-cable solution for iOS devices.
 
The Mojo is like a bull in a china-shop; except it is so delicate and balanced it doesn’t knock anything over. Everything from my most sensitive in ears monitos (which at the time was the Venture Electronics Duke with a resistance of 16 ohms) to my hardest to drive cans (which at the time was the AKG K612 Pro) absolutely sang when plugged into the Mojo. The unit has a large reservoir of power, and this is especially impressive considering the relatively small dimensions of the unit and I felt that it packed more power than my FiiO X7/K5 combination.
 
How it sounds
The Mojo sounds fantastic. Stop reading this review and go out and buy it! Thanks for reading the review….
 
What was that? More details you say? Fine then, let me get a glass of 50-year-old scotch mountain dew and monocles so as to better pontificate the finer subtleties of why the Mojo is an absolute game changer :wink:
 
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All kidding aside, the Mojo has a lot going for it, and it just sounds “right” to my ears, for lack of a better term (I promise its not a cop out!). This probably has a lot to do with what sets the Mojo apart from the rest of its competition. Rather than using an off the shelf DAC solution, Rob Watts (the designer at Chord Electronics) opted to use a customized in house FPGA solution, utilizing 30 years of research, which appears to have solved a lot of timing issues that plague other DACs. To be honest I am not really a technical guy and I won’t profess to understand the technology behind what makes the Mojo so special, but I will say official thread is a treasure trove of information. The best part is that Rob Watts frequents the thread and is very approachable and willing to answer questions people might have.
 
To my ears the Mojo is extremely pleasing and enjoyable to listen to with a warm analogue like sound.
 
I will touch upon soundstage first: Songs being played through the Mojo had a lot of depth to it, positively cavernous even. The soundstage had great depth and width, more so than the height. Mojo appears to have gone for a more accurate and natural soundstage reproduction rather than an artificially boosted one.
 
And part of that is due to how it handles treble. A lot of products use enhanced treble to give a sense of increased detail. No so with the Mojo, which is why I felt it was dark sounding on my initial listen. At that time I was coming from the brighter sounding FiiO X7, so the Mojo was a noticeable departure from that. That is not to say that the Mojo is deficient in the upper registers. It has excellent treble extension and detail, without being forward and strident. In fact the Mojo is astonishingly detailed, which is surprising in light of its warmer analogue like sound. The details are all present, but they are not pushed in your face, making for a fatigue free listening experience. 
 
Mojo has excellent instrument separation and layering with accurate sonic cues. Listening to live classical pieces, it was all too easy to follow individual instruments through entire songs and to imagine where they were located relative to the other instruments. It also helps that it has a pitch black background with an inaudible noise floor, giving a sense of air around winged and string instruments. Listening to EDM tracks, background elements seem to come alive thanks to Mojo’s impressive imaging, truly making you feel as if you are listening to them live at a concert.
 
In fact the Mojo was so effortless and natural, I kept forgetting to analyze the music and kept right on listening to songs. I didn’t stop to marvel at its technical capabilities as I might have with other gears because it’s not a technical performer for the sake of it, but for the end musical enjoyment, which is one of its strongest points I feel.
 
The midrange is where the magic lies for me, with a perfect amount of natural warmth, giving recordings a more analogue and live feeling. It is engaging, detailed and full sounding, giving a nice weight to male vocals, which is perfect for rock and metal music. Distorted guitar sounded sublime with good growl and texture and drum beats sounded natural. It does everything so well that it’s hard to pick a few to highlight.
 
The bass was tight, fast and punchy with terrific control, with no mid bass bloom or midrange leakage to speak of. The bass only came out to play when called upon, and quickly got out of the way. Sub bass was in perfect balance with the mid bass, and exhibited good rumble when present in the song. Bass texture was easily discernable, and immensely enjoyable in tracks like “Before I sleep” by Joy Williams, using stringed instruments.
 
And that’s how I would describe the Mojo’s sonic signature – balanced. Sonic presentation was even from top to bottom, bringing a level of power, finesse and refinement that is very rarely seen at this price point and certainly not in such a portable device.
 
I will however mention that Mojo sounded best with my neutral and brighter sounding gear compared to my darker sounding headphones. For example, the synergy between the VE Zen 2.0 and Mojo wasn’t as great as say the Zen 1.0 or VE Duke. The AKG K612 Pro sounded just heavenly out of the Mojo as opposed to the Sony MA900, which sounded average at best. The Mojo took off some of the edge and bite that the K612 Pro had in the treble region, while at the same time giving more depth and a more holographic presentation, especially for classical music. I am not suggesting this is something universal as YMMV depending on personal tastes and such, but all the same, it is something to keep in the back of your mind.
 
I would however skip the Mojo if you happen to be a certifiable treble head. That is not to say that the Mojo has poor treble extension, but rather a more natural presentation that may seem darker than gears that use enhanced treble to give a sense of increased detail retrieval.
 
Battery Life:
I managed to squeeze out anywhere between 6-7 hours of battery life on average and so it usually saw me through a whole day. For example I might use it all day with my Macbook while working or studying, and then have to charge it again at the end of the day while using it for gaming with my Playstation. The battery life is actually remarkable considering how much power and performance there is on tap, Chord certainly could have done a lot worse in this department.
 
While it is possible to use the Mojo whilst it is charging, do note that it will take longer to charge, which normally should take anywhere from 4 to 5 hours. Don’t be alarmed if your unit becomes hot while charging, this is perfectly normal, especially if you are listening to music at the same time.
 
The online manual does also mention to avoid leaving the Mojo on continuously, which is important if you plan to use it as a desktop solution. Just turn it off once in awhile lol.
 
Looking to the future:
Chord plans to release modular expansion solutions for the Mojo with additional features such as an SD card reader and a more streamlined iOS product compatibility by incorporating the apple CCK cable.
 
 
Bottom line
If you are looking for a class leading dac/amp combo that you can use with your phone, tablets, computers and gaming consoles, look no further than the Mojo. Although it is billed as a portable product, it is more than capable of pulling double duty as part of a desktop setup or indeed, a desktop replacement in and of itself. Chord has proven that you really can take desktop quality music with you on the go, without having to make compromises. The Mojo is something you can enjoy while commuting to and from work, at work, and again at home while listening to music, watching movies or even gaming!
 
All this is at a price that is far more accessible than its performance or feature set would suggest. At a price of $599 USD, it is much cheaper than its sibling, the Hugo, which is priced at >$2000 USD. Kudos to Chord for bucking the recent industry trend of pushing the price envelope.
 
Also, FiiO has recently released the L19 cable that will allow iOS devices to interface with any external dac/amp without having to use pesky and unsightly Apple CCK cables. Take that apple! You can get this cable at: http://penonaudio.com/L19-Lightning-to-Micro-USB   So take any old iPhone or iPod touch (lightning port version) and slap on the L19 cable to use it with the Mojo and voila, you have a very capable portable solution that is also easy on the wallet!
 
With its immense sonic performance and versatility, the Chord Mojo is a comprehensive all in one package that has the potential to replace both your home and portable setups, while at the same transforming your console gaming experience. The Mojo is desktop-capable and wholly portable; A Swiss army knife in all but name.
 
 
Thank you for sticking with me thus far and not falling asleep! I tried my best to pen my thoughts on what I thought about the Mojo but I do still have a lot to learn so I welcome any and all feedback 
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Happy listening!
ShreyasMax
ShreyasMax
Very well written review, clear and to the point.
 
An interesting thing for me that you mention is that the Mojo is a departure from the FiiO X7. As I'm looking to get the Mojo as an upgrade from my iBasso D14 (after a review unit comes my way of course, which should be in about 2 weeks' time), I was wondering if you could elaborate the differences you felt compared to the X7. I personally found the X7 to be a great pairing for my Fidelio X2, especially in terms of realistic timbre, and detail retrieval. Do you think the X7 has enhanced treble to sound more detailed, and how do you think the Mojo would pair with my Fidelio X2?
 
Thanks in advance, cheers.
RedJohn456
RedJohn456
@ShreyasMax Thanks for the kind words!
 
I wouldn't say the X7 has enhanced treble, definitely not one of those gears using extra treble to give an illusion of increased detail retrieval.
 
The X7 to my ears has an airier and lighter sound when compared to the Mojo, and a larger more holographic soundstage. The Mojo has a more intimate sound with a more realistic soundstage but with greater perception of depth, as if you are peering into the music track. 
 
I am not surprised that the X7 synergizes well with the Fidelio X2, as the airier sound of the X7 would balance out the warmer sound of the Fidelio X2. Given that the Mojo has a relatively warmer sound, I am not sure how the X2 would pair with the Mojo. Since I haven't heard the combination myself I don't want to say anything, but for me personally the Mojo paired better with neutral and brighter gears. 
 
Also to note, the way mojo throws so much data your way the brain will take time to learn how to adapt to it, and given that I had only about a week with the tour unit it is very well possible that a week might not be enough time for the brain to adapt to the Mojo.  
 
So it is very much possible that warmer gear may in fact synergize well with the mojo in the end, but during my time with the unit that was not the case. I hope that helped some :)
ShreyasMax
ShreyasMax
Alright, thanks again for your inputs. I'll wait for my review unit, spend some time with it, and then decide on my purchase.
 
Cheers, & happy listening!
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