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

[Peaceofmind]

Wow, twice the numbers of taps!!! If run at full speed, in a tabletop version of the mojo you'll have a top seller.

 

[Torq]

Rob has specifically said he has tuned the Mojo with a smoother sound than the Hugo given it's intended portable purpose. Here is his reply to my query when I asked him some questions for my review of the Mojo:
However, I also feel that he may have implemented some better (updated) noise floor modulation in the Mojo as well which would also make it seem smoother than the Hugo. For what it's worth, I find the tonality of the Mojo to be not too far off from the DAVE, but DAVE has much better bass impact, more detail and resolution, and more extension on both ends of the spectrum, yet still smooth. What are your thoughts @Torq regarding the tonality similarities between the two, since I know you've heard both?

 
Put it like this ... there are two products in Chord's current line-up that I have a definite affinity towards ...
 
Mojo ... which I've taken in preference to Hugo, 2Qute and, even, Hugo TT (which I find has a mostly similar overall signature to Mojo, but outperforms it in various areas).  It's the only price-competitive DAC I know of that's in the same ballpark, performance and musicality wise, as Schiit's multi-bit Bifrost.
 
And ... DAVE.
 
DAVE has a very coherent presentation.  So far the most coherent I've heard, and the competition has been quite stiff to this point.  I certainly see tonal similarities between it and Mojo.  And that's hard to explain given the apparent slight-roll off on Mojo's top-end.  I don't sense that with DAVE ... but it does lay things out in a similarly smooth, but still detailed and nuanced manner. And DAVEs bottom end is as good as I've heard anywhere.  Detail/resolution are also top-notch.  
 
There was a system I heard, fed with a Michell Gyrodec, a few years ago.  I think it was Halcro 63 mono-blocks into whatever Wilson's biggest, baddest, speakers were at the time.  Most dynamic and immersive presentation I've experienced.  I would LOVE to hear DAVE driving that system, or it's modern day equivalent!
 
I wouldn't mind a Hugo TT, but the ergonomics don't fit my "current DAC search use case" and I'm not happy with the price/performance ratio compared to Mojo (Hugo TT is slightly "better", but not in ways I'd personally pay that much more for).
 
Anyway,  yes, tonally ... DAVE is more similar to Mojo than different, but manages to elevate already exemplary performance to levels I had not yet heard from any digital system.
 

 

[x RELIC x]

I own both DAVE and Mojo, just wanted to know your thoughts/perspective regarding tonality similarities as I don't believe I've read anything from you comparing the two. I agree with what you've said. Reading your posts I'm finding them insightful, well articulated and balanced.

 

[Torq]

I own both DAVE and Mojo, just wanted to know your thoughts/perspective regarding tonality similarities as I don't believe I've read anything from you comparing the two. I agree with what you've said. Reading your posts I'm finding them insightful, well articulated and balanced.

Thanks for the kind words!
 
Have to say that your posts are something I always find to be of a high quality and suitably contributive in the best spirit of this site.
 
That's a nice pairing!  Congrats!!
 
Looks like we're running the same Mojo/AK120/SysConcepts setup as well ...
 
DAVE + Mojo might wind up being my primary portable/primary setups as well  (not that my current Yggdrasil is going anywhere).  I do have to get past DAVE's aesthetics (obviously a very personal thing), but sonically, so far, it's the clear leader among everything I've heard.  Despite not being very price sensitive, I am finding issues with DAVE from a "value" perspective, but we'll have to see how that pans out ... it might turn out to be a relative bargain!

 

[SearchOfSub]

Thanks for the kind words!

Have to say that your posts are something I always find to be of a high quality and suitably contributive in the best spirit of this site.

That's a nice pairing!  Congrats!!

Looks like we're running the same Mojo/AK120/SysConcepts setup as well ...

DAVE + Mojo might wind up being my primary portable/primary setups as well  (not that my current Yggdrasil is going anywhere).  I do have to get past DAVE's aesthetics (obviously a very personal thing), but sonically, so far, it's the clear leader among everything I've heard.  Despite not being very price sensitive, I am finding issues with DAVE from a "value" perspective, but we'll have to see how that pans out ... it might turn out to be a relative bargain!

+1. I think Relics input on this thread have helped people out tremondously including myself. Rep'd and Happy listening!

 

[x RELIC x]

+1. I think Relics input on this thread have helped people out tremondously including myself. Rep'd and Happy listening!

Much thanks!

 

[episiarch]

As a sidebar to this really interesting discussion of Mojo/Hugo/DAVE tonality, has anyone reading this cooked up an EQ recipe that would make Mojo sound a little more Hugo-like?  I actually appreciated that extra little bit of "hardness."

 

[x RELIC x]

As a sidebar to this really interesting discussion of Mojo/Hugo/DAVE tonality, has anyone reading this cooked up an EQ recipe that would make Mojo sound a little more Hugo-like?  I actually appreciated that extra little bit of "hardness."

That's an excellent question and one I'd like to see the answer to as well. I haven't heard the Hugo and would like to know, generally, what the tonal differences are like. Of course I suspect it will only be a ballpark estimation, but who knows, perhaps not. Perhaps JaZZ, who is quite proficient with EQ, can chime in as he owns all three.

 

[mccririck]

Can anyone tell me how long Mojo battery lasts when feeding an amp at 1.9V?

 

[mccririck]

A Mojo TT would be great, with proper RCA output sockets. Surely it could be made cheaper than the Mojo as it wouldnt need the battery?

 

[music4mhell]

A Mojo TT would be great, with proper RCA output sockets. Surely it could be made cheaper than the Mojo as it wouldnt need the battery?

Then how come Hugo TT is not cheaper than Hugo ? If we go by same logic

 

[Zojokkeli]

A Mojo TT would be great, with proper RCA output sockets. Surely it could be made cheaper than the Mojo as it wouldnt need the battery?

I'd be happy with one, as long as it's between Mojo and Hugo price points.

 

[miketlse]

A Mojo TT would be great, with proper RCA output sockets. Surely it could be made cheaper than the Mojo as it wouldnt need the battery?

Do you mean a Mojo TT, in a Hugo TT sized enclosure?

 

[mccririck]

Yes. I mean, the Mojo is great but is not that practical to use in your main hifi system at home. The battery life and small connector sockets make it a bit fiddly.

 

[JaZZ]

  As a sidebar to this really interesting discussion of Mojo/Hugo/DAVE tonality, has anyone reading this cooked up an EQ recipe that would make Mojo sound a little more Hugo-like?  I actually appreciated that extra little bit of "hardness."

 

 

As a sidebar to this really interesting discussion of Mojo/Hugo/DAVE tonality, has anyone reading this cooked up an EQ recipe that would make Mojo sound a little more Hugo-like?  I actually appreciated that extra little bit of "hardness."

That's an excellent question and one I'd like to see the answer to as well. I haven't heard the Hugo and would like to know, generally, what the tonal differences are like. Of course I suspect it will only be a ballpark estimation, but who knows, perhaps not. Perhaps @JaZZ, who is quite proficient with EQ, can chime in as he owns all three.

 
Yes, I've experimented quite a bit with this. The closest I got the Mojo to sound like the Hugo was this setting on my FiiO X5 II:
 
1 kHz: +0.2  /  2 kHz: +0.2  /  4 kHz: +0.4  /  8 kHz: +0.4  /  16 kHz: + 0.4 dB        (I can imagine that something like +0.3 dB at 8 kHz and/or +0.5 dB at 16 kHz would be optimal, but the X5 II only allows 0.2 dB steps.)
 
But if your basis is a flat equalizer setting, I would rather take the negative route:
 
31 Hz: –0.4  /  62 Hz: –0.4  /  125 Hz: –0.4  /  250 Hz: –0.4  /  500 Hz: –0.4  /  1 kHz: –0.2  /  2 kHz: –0.2 dB
 
I've just tried it again. With this setting for the Mojo both sound almost indistinguishable to my ears. Not exactly, but it's very close. – BTW, I used a custom preset designed specifically for my (modified) HD 800 and shifted the single bands accordingly.
 
Yeah, why just compensate for the Mojo's deviation from a supposedly ideal tonal balance? While you're at it, you could just as well equalize your headphones' much larger deviation from a straight line. I guarantee you that it will pay off. Admittedly it's not easy. It's good to have a frequency-response graph at hand, ideally several ones from different sources, and even then unfortunately the high-frequency responses (above 4 kHz at the latest) can't be translated one-to-one, since the measuring array itself will disturb the measurement.