Chord Electronics ☆ Poly ☆ (wireless & microSD module for Mojo) ☆★►USEFUL INFO on 1st PAGE!!◄★☆

[miketlse]

Normally the Poly will discharge, but a few owners have detailed opening the Poly case and disconnecting the battery to speed the process up. Either way, best follow Matts guidance, and see what happens.

 

[DavidWeinberg]

All is well. After a 5+ hour recharge beginning this morning, I am back in business.

Thanks to all!

 

[mightyKyn]

Hi there... love my MOJOPOLY!

Question for Matt at Chord. I have a Sony Z1R with balanced 3.5mm cables for the PHA3... is there anyway in software to make the MOJO balanced using the 2 output jacks... this would be a phenomenal firmware upgrade!!!

I cant see why this wouldn't be possible?

i have done significant A/B testing with myself and a friend between the MOJO to Z1R AND Z1R USING BALANCED KIMBER CABLE to Sony PHA3... PHA3 Balanced no question sounds quite a bit better than the Mojo(2 friends non audiophile heard the difference immediately). I am sure if you enabled 3.5 balanced the MOJO would equal the PHA3.

 

[mightyKyn]

Hi there... love my MOJOPOLY!

Question for Matt at Chord. I have a Sony Z1R with balanced 3.5mm cables for the PHA3... is there anyway in software to make the MOJO balanced using the 2 output jacks... this would be a phenomenal firmware upgrade!!!

I cant see why this wouldn't be possible?

i have done significant A/B testing with myself and a friend between the MOJO to Z1R AND Z1R USING BALANCED KIMBER CABLE to Sony PHA3... PHA3 Balanced no question sounds quite a bit better than the Mojo(2 friends non audiophile heard the difference immediately). I am sure if you enabled 3.5 balanced the MOJO would equal the PHA3.

ALSO worth noting i did direct tests between MOJO and PHA3 with nonbalanced... difference between the 2 was minimal. Balanced kimber cable changed the game. Always thought balanced and cable type was BS... this is my 1st experience with it... it is not... and you dot need to be a phile to hear the diff.

 

[Matt Bartlett]

Hi there... love my MOJOPOLY!

Question for Matt at Chord. I have a Sony Z1R with balanced 3.5mm cables for the PHA3... is there anyway in software to make the MOJO balanced using the 2 output jacks... this would be a phenomenal firmware upgrade!!!

I cant see why this wouldn't be possible?

i have done significant A/B testing with myself and a friend between the MOJO to Z1R AND Z1R USING BALANCED KIMBER CABLE to Sony PHA3... PHA3 Balanced no question sounds quite a bit better than the Mojo(2 friends non audiophile heard the difference immediately). I am sure if you enabled 3.5 balanced the MOJO would equal the PHA3.

Hi @mightyKyn. Thanks for your comments. However you can't convert Mojo over to a balanced output using just software. It would need a considerable hardware change to add all the required components to build the balanced output stage.

Can I ask did you volume match when you were testing? Balanced outputs are normally double the volume level of a single ended output so the music will sound louder and often this is perceived as sounding better.

If you have a trawl through the Mojo thread you will see the reasons why Mojo doesn't need a balanced output as it can easily drive difficult headphones and with such a low noise floor a balanced output isn't required to reduce the noise and improve performance.

I hope that helps to explain our philosophy behind the design of Mojo but if you want to know more look out for the posts by Rob Watts where he explains the DAC technology in more detail.

 

[mightyKyn]

Hi @mightyKyn. Thanks for your comments. However you can't convert Mojo over to a balanced output using just software. It would need a considerable hardware change to add all the required components to build the balanced output stage.

Can I ask did you volume match when you were testing? Balanced outputs are normally double the volume level of a single ended output so the music will sound louder and often this is perceived as sounding better.

If you have a trawl through the Mojo thread you will see the reasons why Mojo doesn't need a balanced output as it can easily drive difficult headphones and with such a low noise floor a balanced output isn't required to reduce the noise and improve performance.

I hope that helps to explain our philosophy behind the design of Mojo but if you want to know more look out for the posts by Rob Watts where he explains the DAC technology in more detail.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I volume matched. No question... NONE. The ZR1 with balanced kimber cable to PHA3 sounds better than non balanced regular cable to Mojopoly. There is absolutely no cognitive bias here.

Its like veil being lifted. Now wether its the cable vs balance cant answer... would be interesting to try a non balanced kimber to mojo.

However i can do some more tests. I have Sony TA-ZH1ES

I tested my reg un balanced, the sony provided 4mm balanced and the dual 3.5mm balanced on the TA last night... dual 3.5 kimber sounded better than the 4mm balanced... a little brighter.

I can run a/b testing with unbalanced across mojopoly, PHA3 and TA and see what comes up.

My intuition is telling me there is defo a boost with balanced that cannot be compensated in SW/HW

 

[mightyKyn]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I volume matched. No question... NONE. The ZR1 with balanced kimber cable to PHA3 sounds better than non balanced regular cable to Mojopoly. There is absolutely no cognitive bias here.

Its like veil being lifted. Now wether its the cable vs balance cant answer... would be interesting to try a non balanced kimber to mojo.

However i can do some more tests. I have Sony TA-ZH1ES

I tested my reg un balanced, the sony provided 4mm balanced and the dual 3.5mm balanced on the TA last night... dual 3.5 kimber sounded better than the 4mm balanced... a little brighter.

I can run a/b testing with unbalanced across mojopoly, PHA3 and TA and see what comes up.

My intuition is telling me there is defo a boost with balanced that cannot be compensated in SW/HW

FYI here is a pic of the test gear.

The mojopoly leather case is SWEET!

Chord this is a unique device combo... i would evolve this headless platform quick before someone else does... make it fully integrated and smaller... more powerful... entire package comes in under $700 and you will explode in sales... this is coming from a silicon valley HW/SW entrepreneur... you have something here. If you don't evolve it someone else will yo guys are the first to stumble upon this form factor.

The biggest problem you guys face is you are not a consumer SW company so the interface with gofigure is a C- .... and the industrial design needs to evolve a bunch... however I love the glowing balls!

If this was $500 half the size fullintegrated (entirely possible) with a great control UX integrated across tidal, roon etc this would blow up the enthusiast market. I could probably get apple to carry in their stores etc. its a new category... also position as the only streamer/dac you need for your home. BOOM.

 

[supervisor]

i have posted about this before and not sure I got any response that:

1. other people are experiencing this issue; or
2. that Chord is aware of this issue

but whenever I am on airplane, the Poly cannot properly connect to my iPhone in hotspot mode. It's unusable. The Poly light goes solid as if it is connected to the hotspot network, GoFigure says it's connected to SSID of my hotspot network, but the iPhone does not say any devices are connected (no blue banner in the top left).

what is it about airplanes that causes this? and how can it be fixed?!

 

[sergeywin1]

i have posted about this before and not sure I got any response that:

1. other people are experiencing this issue; or
2. that Chord is aware of this issue

but whenever I am on airplane, the Poly cannot properly connect to my iPhone in hotspot mode. It's unusable. The Poly light goes solid as if it is connected to the hotspot network, GoFigure says it's connected to SSID of my hotspot network, but the iPhone does not say any devices are connected (no blue banner in the top left).

what is it about airplanes that causes this? and how can it be fixed?!

Hmm. Per my experience I use both modes independently. When in Airplane the Hot spot mode is turned off and when poly restarts I toggle Airplane on off on (known bug fix). When Hot spot is needed I turn off Airplane and then Turn on Hot Spot - wait for Poly to restart and my iphone connects to it no problem.

 

[PrittiPoly]

i have posted about this before and not sure I got any response that:

1. other people are experiencing this issue; or
2. that Chord is aware of this issue

but whenever I am on airplane, the Poly cannot properly connect to my iPhone in hotspot mode. It's unusable. The Poly light goes solid as if it is connected to the hotspot network, GoFigure says it's connected to SSID of my hotspot network, but the iPhone does not say any devices are connected (no blue banner in the top left).

what is it about airplanes that causes this? and how can it be fixed?!

I take it you are referring to personal hotspot mode, not Poly hotspot mode. I have never used Poly on an airplane or in personal hotspot mode, but your situation could arise if Poly connects to wireless network and cannot get an IP address. See screen shots below:

km

 

[Matt Bartlett]

i have posted about this before and not sure I got any response that:

1. other people are experiencing this issue; or
2. that Chord is aware of this issue

but whenever I am on airplane, the Poly cannot properly connect to my iPhone in hotspot mode. It's unusable. The Poly light goes solid as if it is connected to the hotspot network, GoFigure says it's connected to SSID of my hotspot network, but the iPhone does not say any devices are connected (no blue banner in the top left).

what is it about airplanes that causes this? and how can it be fixed?!

Hi, I believe that on some networks phone tethering (hotspot) will only work if there is an active cellular data network (3G/4G/LTE). On the plane you have no mobile/cellular signal so tethering stops working. In this case then go the other way round and use the hotspot inside Poly to connect to your phone instead. Whenever I fly I always set Poly to hotspot mode and then I can play all the content from my phone or listen to music stored on the SD card whilst traveling. I hope that helps.

 

[paul.tonnenberg]

I see you have amended your avatar to hide the warrantee-damaging evidence!

Dude, i don´t know what you talking about... i can´t see that mystical warrantee-damaging evidence... probably a typical case of pixelpeeperitis. I also adapted the photo only to make the swine easier to see ._.

Hi there... love my MOJOPOLY!

Question for Matt at Chord. I have a Sony Z1R with balanced 3.5mm cables for the PHA3... is there anyway in software to make the MOJO balanced using the 2 output jacks... this would be a phenomenal firmware upgrade!!!

I cant see why this wouldn't be possible?

i have done significant A/B testing with myself and a friend between the MOJO to Z1R AND Z1R USING BALANCED KIMBER CABLE to Sony PHA3... PHA3 Balanced no question sounds quite a bit better than the Mojo(2 friends non audiophile heard the difference immediately). I am sure if you enabled 3.5 balanced the MOJO would equal the PHA3.

That's so obvious; to play with ridiculous chatter, which is also based on pure platzebo effect which negatively affect that hardcore audiophile types here to buy mystical snake oil cables...

 

[ZappaMan]

Dude, i don´t know what you talking about... i can´t see that mystical warrantee-damaging evidence... probably a typical case of pixelpeeperitis. I also adapted the photo only to make the swine easier to see ._.



That's so obvious; to play with ridiculous chatter, which is also based on pure platzebo effect which negatively affect that hardcore audiophile types here to buy mystical snake oil cables...

Please come and join the other chord threads, your wasted here.

 

[PrittiPoly]

Dude, i don´t know what you talking about... i can´t see that mystical warrantee-damaging evidence... probably a typical case of pixelpeeperitis. I also adapted the photo only to make the swine easier to see ._.



That's so obvious; to play with ridiculous chatter, which is also based on pure platzebo effect which negatively affect that hardcore audiophile types here to buy mystical snake oil cables...

Pixelpeeperitis is a cruel disease. Don't mock the afflicted.

 

[hammerh34d]

Today I had to open Poly to reset it - yesterday I attached it to charger, and today I found it dead. I don't get it at all, but that's nothing new for me - being still an early alpha release Poly is performing quite nicely anyway (when it works of course).
It seems to me that hex screwdriver is a must for any Poly user, who wants to avoid 6 (or more) hours breaks in listening on the go. I wonder if they will let me take my toolbox into the plane.
Fun stuff
That being said, build quality is as nice on the inside as it is on the outside. All fits nicely. I'm worried that if I would need to disconnect it more frequently, the connector might not take it well, as it is quite fragile. On the other hand, it seems to be enough space inside in the upper part of the case (where the battery is fitted) to place a micro switch for the battery - might work wonders actually, both for dealing with obligatory battery drain and occasional need for veeery hard reset. I will try to discuss this with someone as soon as my warranty expires.
The worst thing for a beginner Poly disassembler is this bent plexiglass rod that transfers Mojo light, But hey, no one said Poly is for pansies...

Edit: Some disassembly tips.
When you remove the 4 bottom screws, the unit is more than ready to come apart. It does not want to, since plastic "window" is quite snugly fitted, so you need ro use some delicate but significant force. Plastic phone openers come handy.
While pulling the unit apart try to lift the upper cover but leave plastic "window" in place. This way you will avoid the mess with placing light rod back between the holes.
The battery is glued to the top cover, but it connects to the circuit board that's on the bottom. Don't pull them apart much.
The connector comes off easily. You can use your fingernail or plastic phone opener. After a few seconds push it back in place and that's it.
If you used too much force just like myself, the chances are you will suddenly find the light rod on the floor. Don't panic. Unscrew the circuit board, remove it, push the rod into the bottom hole of the plastic "window", and place it back where it belongs. You can also slide up the plastic mojo wall of Poly, to make positioning easier. Either way, you need to put it back together along with the circuit board. It's not difficult, all fits well.