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

[sabloke]

I'm about to get my Samsung Chromebook Plus delivered and was wondering if it will work with my Mojo? If it does, are Chromebooks affected by the same upsampling limitations like their Android cousins? The best thing about this particular Chromebook is that it is supposed to work with Android apps out of the box. Let's see how well Onkyo, UAPP and other players work with this thing...

 

[Skyyyeman]

  How would the Mojo pair with Audeze isine 20 iems, Earsonics SEM9 iems, Audeze EL8 Closed headphones, and Mr.  Speakers Aeon headphones?  how would it pair with my current Shure SE846 and my V-Moda M100 hardwired?  I am slowly going to upgrade my gear, but first I would like a little insight on those pairings to see if the Mojo would be good for me or not?  I will be using it out of my laptop and desktop computers and possibly a future dap or two.  I Have a Fiio X5 1st gen currently as my only dap.  I plan on getting an Opus 1 and maybe an Onkyo DPX1A or Fiio X5 3 as well eventually.  My music is all various mp3.  I try to keep it at a minimum of 128 bit rate, but a few songs are indeed below that.  I am trying to stick with 320 bit rate as much as possible now.  I have probably close to or over 250 gigs of music.  I like to have all of it with me and a lot of my old cds were stolen a long time ago so I don't have a way to rerip them at a higher quality unless I rebuy all of those albums which is too expensive for me to do right now.  I would rather spend a little on gear instead of rehashing my past to buy all of those albums again.  I also would like a fairly portable device that doesn't take up a lot of desk space or space in my luggage when I travel.  I got a new computer and it takes up at least half of my desk roughly.  I can't really afford a Hugo or anything.  Something with a small foot print would be much better for me.
 
Thank you
 
Riley

There's no reason why the Mojo shouldn't pair well with any of the headphones you mention - and I've tried the Mojo with several of them. In fact, of the 2,053 pages in this thread so far, in which probably thousands of members have paired the Mojo with probably every headphone under the sun, I can't think of a single post where a member said it didn't pair well. Great dac, excellent analog output section ("amp") - why shouldn't it pair well?
 
Specifically, of the ones you mention, I've used the Mojo with the Audeze EL8 Closed (and Open, and also Audeze LCD-X and LCD-XC, both of which I've owned), MrSpeakers Aeon - at the recent CanJam NYC, and also with other MrSpeakers phones, incl. Alpha Dog, Ether C and Ether Flow, all of which I've owned, Shure SE846 - which I own and use the Mojo with all the time, and tried the V-Modas too, and many others at CanJam NYC. The Mojo works great with all of them. 
 
So, I don't think you have to worry about whether the Mojo pairs well with various phones. In fact, I think buying a Mojo is one of the most risk free headphone-related decisions you could make.
 
And, as an added benefit, the Mojo works extremely well with the older and lower rez recordings you mention.There are many postings here where the members have said how the Mojo has added new life to such recordings. It certainly has for me.
 
Good luck!

 

[jarnopp]

I wish I could.  I live in Northern California way North of the bay in the valley.  I have nowhere to actually try this quality of gear near me.  There is one Best buy in my area and that is the about it audio store wise unless you count Target and Wal Mart.  The closest Apple store is about 2 hours or so away.  I am a farmer and don't really have a lot of extra time and money to travel long distances to shop for audio gear.  It is much easier for me to ask on here and than see different opinions and figure out what is best for me.  However I am going to San Francisco for a concert next month.  Is the Mojo available anywhere in the city itself?  I will be in Reno the next day if there is a place there i could test one please share.

Cheers

Riley

Audio Vison SF has the Mojo where you can demo in S F. It sounds really good with mp3s (256 and 320kbps).

 

[Riley Beale]

 
There's no reason why the Mojo shouldn't pair well with any of the headphones you mention - and I've tried the Mojo with several of them. In fact, of the 2,053 pages in this thread so far, in which probably thousands of members have paired the Mojo with probably every headphone under the sun, I can't think of a single post where a member said it didn't pair well. Great dac, excellent analog output section ("amp") - why shouldn't it pair well?
 
Specifically, of the ones you mention, I've used the Mojo with the Audeze EL8 Closed (and Open, and also Audeze LCD-X and LCD-XC, both of which I've owned), MrSpeakers Aeon - at the recent CanJam NYC, and also with other MrSpeakers phones, incl. Alpha Dog, Ether C and Ether Flow, all of which I've owned, Shure SE846 - which I own and use the Mojo with all the time, and tried the V-Modas too, and many others at CanJam NYC. The Mojo works great with all of them. 
 
So, I don't think you have to worry about whether the Mojo pairs well with various phones. In fact, I think buying a Mojo is one of the most risk free headphone-related decisions you could make.
 
And, as an added benefit, the Mojo works extremely well with the older and lower rez recordings you mention.There are many postings here where the members have said how the Mojo has added new life to such recordings. It certainly has for me.
 
Good luck!

 

Audio Vison SF has the Mojo where you can demo in S F. It sounds really good with mp3s (256 and 320kbps).

Thank you kindly.  I will take a look there if I get time.  It seems like there is no hype to the Mojo.  t was huge when it came out and is still as huge or bigger now.  It pretty much stands the test of time.  As does most Chord products. to sum it up you cannot go wrong with the Mojo it sounds like.
 
Thank you
 
Riley

 

[DoctaCosmos]

Spent some time with the mojo today. By itself and connected to my iPhone it was ok. Clean for sure and great black background but it didn't drive my eikons very well. The soundstage was much smaller than usual and bass wasn't as prominent by a large margin. This is all In comparison to my darkvoice and my peachtree DACIT. I connected iPhone, mojo to darkvoice and had similar soundstage issues So I decided to try and connect directly to my laptop and after downloading the driver I was up and running, I didn't see any point in not connecting my darkvoice since it's my desktop amp and if I've got my laptop out then might as well use it. Connecting to the laptop brought the soundstage I'm use to back but a tad smaller. The added cleanliness and black background was there and I think it digs deeper than my dac it. After listening to my normal list of review music I had some concerns. the very familiar list of vocal and instrumental music I was listening to just wasn't as euphoric as I was use to. The highs of the winy violin were too bright and forward and lacked the sweetness and sometimes caressing nature I love to engulf myself in. Similar things were happening with the vocals. I decided to do some back and forth between dacs and after a while I was able to better understand what was going on. While my DACIT probably isn't as technically good in the distortion and noise floor area, It seemed to be more forward but softer in the attack and maybe a little slower on the decay. This makes it seem more like the type of music I'm listening to is singing to me which I adore. Also the soundstage and body all together was bigger and better than the mojo. I like to look at both sides of the story however and definitely give the mojo the win when it comes to visualizing and sense of more real vocals. I mainly bought the mojo so I could be more portable with my eikons and maybe take them upstairs to bed with me if I wanted to but it didn't quite drive them good enough by itself and rather irritated me a bit. granted there were a couple of times I preferred the mojo presentation with my desktop rig but there were too many times I wasn't enjoying the songs I listen to most. i believe the mojo by itself would work AMAZIMG with easier to drive cans that were made to be more portable. I decided to try on my wife's p7 and it really brought them to life. My two amps give them way more everything than they need and causes them to go places they weren't meant to go and they get very fatiguing when I do so. With the mojo, they meld very well. I've tried it with the mrspeakers aeon and while it drove them well I think the Aeon can scale up more than what the mojo can give. However the AEON with the Hugo2 was probably my most favorite thing to listen to at canjam this year. Soooooop good. I'd like to hear some good iems, lower impedance beyers, some grados and b&w p9 with the mojo. But for now, I think the mojo is going back so I can save for a hugo2.

 

[miketlse]

Spent some time with the mojo today. By itself and connected to my iPhone it was ok. Clean for sure and great black background but it didn't drive my eikons very well. The soundstage was much smaller than usual and bass wasn't as prominent by a large margin. This is all In comparison to my darkvoice and my peachtree DACIT. I connected iPhone, mojo to darkvoice and had similar soundstage issues So I decided to try and connect directly to my laptop and after downloading the driver I was up and running, I didn't see any point in not connecting my darkvoice since it's my desktop amp and if I've got my laptop out then might as well use it. Connecting to the laptop brought the soundstage I'm use to back but a tad smaller. The added cleanliness and black background was there and I think it digs deeper than my dac it. After listening to my normal list of review music I had some concerns. the very familiar list of vocal and instrumental music I was listening to just wasn't as euphoric as I was use to. The highs of the winy violin were too bright and forward and lacked the sweetness and sometimes caressing nature I love to engulf myself in. Similar things were happening with the vocals. I decided to do some back and forth between dacs and after a while I was able to better understand what was going on. While my DACIT probably isn't as technically good in the distortion and noise floor area, It seemed to be more forward but softer in the attack and maybe a little slower on the decay. This makes it seem more like the type of music I'm listening to is singing to me which I adore. Also the soundstage and body all together was bigger and better than the mojo. I like to look at both sides of the story however and definitely give the mojo the win when it comes to visualizing and sense of more real vocals. I mainly bought the mojo so I could be more portable with my eikons and maybe take them upstairs to bed with me if I wanted to but it didn't quite drive them good enough by itself and rather irritated me a bit. granted there were a couple of times I preferred the mojo presentation with my desktop rig but there were too many times I wasn't enjoying the songs I listen to most. i believe the mojo by itself would work AMAZIMG with easier to drive cans that were made to be more portable. I decided to try on my wife's p7 and it really brought them to life. My two amps give them way more everything than they need and causes them to go places they weren't meant to go and they get very fatiguing when I do so. With the mojo, they meld very well. I've tried it with the mrspeakers aeon and while it drove them well I think the Aeon can scale up more than what the mojo can give. However the AEON with the Hugo2 was probably my most favorite thing to listen to at canjam this year. Soooooop good. I'd like to hear some good iems, lower impedance beyers, some grados and b&w p9 with the mojo. But for now, I think the mojo is going back so I can save for a hugo2.

The reduced width to the soundstage does get mentioned by users. Rob Watts explains it using a visual analogy - previously your dac/amps were providing you with an image that was slightly out of focus. If you look at objects, but let them become out of focus they become blurred and appear to become wider. Once you regain focus, the width is reduced, but you can perceive the distance/depth better. In audio terms, the Mojo brings the soundstage into focus, and reduces its width, but increases the depth to the soundstage, enabling you to better locate the musicians on the stage.

 

[GreenBow]

@DoctaCosmos, sorry I can't read you whole wall of text. Use paragraphs to help people access what you say.
 
Have you tried using bit-perfect. That deepens soundstage on speakers with Mojo. It also clarifies soundstage in headphones. (All in my opinion.) Bit-perfect also improves the tone somewhat.
 
No idea what other DACs you used. Nor would I know what their signature is. However when I went from Meridian Explorer to Mojo, the soundstage improved quite a lot. Sounds at the edges of the soundstage were as equally prominent and clear as those anywhere else in the soundstage. (In fact it made the ME soundstage feel a bit ridiculous. However it took time for me to really get to grips with it all; all the new info.)

 

[DoctaCosmos]

I'll try to ponder on the soundstage thing and revise what I quickly wrote last night before I went to bed. I think I can relate and should be able to better interpret what I was hearing. I'll probably just make a video review on YouTube so there's no issues with reading my wall of text. Writing on a tablet doesn't work to good in the first place and when I try to break into paragraphs the formatting usually changes once I submit and skews the overall look into a mess. Thanks for the input guys

 

[Music Alchemist]

  thanks so much
 
is there anything else I need to setup in Jriver with mojo to get the best out of it?
 
Do u think using Jriver room correction is a good thing?
 
and what about volume leveling and adaptive volume?
 
Also should i check in the dsp that it should process independtly of internal volume
 
also is it ok to keep the mojo on all the time, as I will be charging it using with 1 amp power plug
 
i usually do not turn off my amp or my desktop and they are always runing

 
I'm quoting this here so others can help you out.

 
(To anyone who wants to assist him, he's using the Mojo with loudspeakers.)
 
I just keep things simple and use bit-perfect output (ASIO in my case) in foobar2000 without any DSP aside from inserting a bit of silence before manually selected tracks to compensate for the delay of the Mojo's processing. (Which otherwise cuts off the beginning of tracks.) Oh, and sometimes I do use VST parametric equalizers.
 
I can't comment on JRiver's room correction, as I only use the Mojo with headphones and I've only used JRiver a few times in the past.
 
Doesn't Adaptive Volume try to maximize the volume of your DAC or something like that? I think you should just keep the volume of your computer and player at maximum, then set the Mojo to line level volume and control the volume with your preamp or whatever it is you normally use for that.
 
Since you mentioned a specific charging solution, I'll leave it to someone else to tell you how that will work.

 

[junix]

Any happy owner of the following:
https://www.moon-audio.com/miter-chord-mojo-buttplate-leather-case-iphone-7.html ?

 
Seems like a really convenient option for stacking..

 

[WayTooCrazy]

Replacement Mojo here. Charged for recommended time period. Whine is still there (much harder to hear it though). Sad for such an expensive product to have these issues. Still debating on keeping it.

 

[musickid]

apart from the positive benefits of the intona when using it with a mojo/hugo does it in any way change the sound signature or add anything artificial to the final sound. hugo/mojo are very finely tuned and so i once read the intona can add a veil to the sound even though the isolation benefits are great. cheers mk
 
another thing that just came to mind, if your using an intona would the fact that the mojo or hugo is plugged in and charging effectively cancel the beneficial effects of the intona. this because the plugged in charger comes after the intona? same goes for using optical in this way?

 

[maxh22]

  apart from the positive benefits of the intona when using it with a mojo/hugo does it in any way change the sound signature or add anything artificial to the final sound. hugo/mojo are very finely tuned and so i once read the intona can add a veil to the sound even though the isolation benefits are great. cheers mk
 
another thing that just came to mind, if your using an intona would the fact that the mojo or hugo is plugged in and charging effectively cancel the beneficial effects of the intona. this because the plugged in charger comes after the intona? same goes for using optical in this way?

 
1. Whether or not Intona adds anything to the sound is debatable, I don't think so. It makes everything less hazy and more focused. Everything is easier to hear and requires less concentration than when played back from a noisy source. If your source sounds a bit harsh the Intona will help smooth it out as well.
 
2.  As stated in the 3rd post, Mojo and Hugo run off the internal battery at all times and having the charger plugged in does not affect the sound in anyway. 

 

[musickid]

many thanks max. between intona and high quality optical cable which would you go for with an imac 512gb ssd 27 inch? cheers mk

 

[ReneTS]

Hi

Can I use the Chord Mojo just as a DAC, and connect it to an Arcam rhead amp? And how would I do this if possible?