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

[miketlse]

Hi, since you own both the Mojo and Hugo 2 I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind elaborating on what kind of upgrade one would be experiencing. I have the mojo, and have been eyeing the Hugo 2 for some time but can’t determine if the cost justifies it. With your experience with both, I am hoping you can give some better insight?

I'm on the same boat. Have been curious about the Hugo 2 lately. I think the KSE1200 could resolve the extra detail. It's just $500 vs $2500 is asking a lot.

You both will know the musicality that the Mojo brings to music reproduction - so treat that as the baseline.
The Hugo 2 incorporates additional taps, which enable it to retrieve more fine detail from music, so you will start to hear little parts of tracks that you used to miss with the Mojo. The Hugo 2 also brings to the party, the ability to direct drive my desktop speakers, plus my floorstanding speakers - so the Hugo 2 represents more to me than just a dac/headphone amplifier. Of course this ability to direct drive speakers, will not be a factor for everyone.
When my Hugo 2 first arrived, I immediately consciously noticed the extra fine detail, and the Mojo started to sound congested in comparison.
After a few months of brain burn in (which does include the brain redirecting some conscious music processing, to subconscious processing), the Mojo started to sound enjoyable again. Possibly one contributor, is that one is no longer consciously listening to the dacs, but subconsciously listening to the music again.

Most of the time I use the Hugo 2, but if the battery is low, or I want to sit outside in the evening, I am quite happy to use the Mojo, without feeling that I am missing out.

Onto electrostatic headphones.
For christmas I spotted the Drop Koss ESP/95X on clearance sale from the Drop european warehouse for €290, and bought a pair as an experiment with electrostatic headphones.
I have tried them with both the Mojo and Hugo 2, and they work well with both - to me they offer the detail of Aeon Flow Closed, but with additional air/space around some instruments. They also offer a very fast response.
I expect that I could now be flamed by Stax owners, but that's life.
Anyway I use the Koss when the mood takes me, and usually with the Mojo, and they feel like a good combination.
Based on that experience, @joshnor713 you should demo the KSE1200 - I have not tried them, but I suspect that they could also work well with the Mojo, and provide the detail that you seek at a relatively low price.

These are just my opinions, but hopefully they may prove helpful to you.

 

[kkrazik2008]

You both will know the musicality that the Mojo brings to music reproduction - so treat that as the baseline.
The Hugo 2 incorporates additional taps, which enable it to retrieve more fine detail from music, so you will start to hear little parts of tracks that you used to miss with the Mojo. The Hugo 2 also brings to the party, the ability to direct drive my desktop speakers, plus my floorstanding speakers - so the Hugo 2 represents more to me than just a dac/headphone amplifier. Of course this ability to direct drive speakers, will not be a factor for everyone.
When my Hugo 2 first arrived, I immediately consciously noticed the extra fine detail, and the Mojo started to sound congested in comparison.
After a few months of brain burn in (which does include the brain redirecting some conscious music processing, to subconscious processing), the Mojo started to sound enjoyable again. Possibly one contributor, is that one is no longer consciously listening to the dacs, but subconsciously listening to the music again.

Most of the time I use the Hugo 2, but if the battery is low, or I want to sit outside in the evening, I am quite happy to use the Mojo, without feeling that I am missing out.

Onto electrostatic headphones.
For christmas I spotted the Drop Koss ESP/95X on clearance sale from the Drop european warehouse for €290, and bought a pair as an experiment with electrostatic headphones.
I have tried them with both the Mojo and Hugo 2, and they work well with both - to me they offer the detail of Aeon Flow Closed, but with additional air/space around some instruments. They also offer a very fast response.
I expect that I could now be flamed by Stax owners, but that's life.
Anyway I use the Koss when the mood takes me, and usually with the Mojo, and they feel a good combination.
Based on that experience, @joshnor713 you should demo the KSE1200 - I have not tried them, but I suspect that they could also work well with the Mojo, and provide the detail that you seek at a relatively low price.

These are just my opinions, but hopefully they may prove helpful to you.

Thank you very much for your insight on this, very well explained.

 

[joshnor713]

Based on that experience, @joshnor713 you should demo the KSE1200 - I have not tried them, but I suspect that they could also work well with the Mojo, and provide the detail that you seek at a relatively low price.

These are just my opinions, but hopefully they may prove helpful to you.

Thanks for the impressions! That's what I figured. FYI, I have the Mojo (+Poly). I'm wondering about upgrading to the Hugo 2

I bet I would hear a valuable difference going from Mojo to Hugo 2 with the KSE1200. Just struggling right now if it's worth 5x in price difference.

 

[RiseFall123]

I use optical, but you need a hat:https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-digi-pro/

why did you prefer this to normal usb that is already on-board?

 

[jarnopp]

why did you prefer this to normal usb that is already on-board?

Optical prevents transmission of any electrical noise from the Pi to the dac.

 

[jarnopp]

I have a question for you who use Chord Mojo.

I actually use the Mojo for everything:

- Raspberry 4 Pi / RoPieee via USB (for headphones and for the 2ch hi-fi setup)
- TV via optical cable out for films and videogames (for the 2ch hi-fi setup)

So I don't have any "desktop" DAC right now, Mojo is the DAC for all my audio needs.

I wonder: it worth a try to start to look at a real "desktop" dac for my 2 channels hi-fi setup usage?

In the range of 1000 dollars/euros do you think I can really make a step-up in the SQ or I should stick to the Mojo... according to you?

If you really like the sound of Mojo, I’d advise you to listen to H2 and Qutest before committing. Some people(like me) strongly prefer the tonality of Mojo over H2. Qutest uses the Mojo output and will have a more similar tonality.

 

[RiseFall123]

Optical prevents transmission of any electrical noise from the Pi to the dac.

You won't be limited to "192kHz/24bit"?

Could you describe me your complete setup, I mean also the case of the Pi that you used for the HifiBerry and the exact cable (I mean brand and model) that you are using from the Pi (do you have the Pi 4?) to the Mojo?

Do you use toslink or coaxial?

I already have the toslink busy from the tv (with excellent results) so I could use only coaxial if i upgrade to HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro).

I will keep the advantages you stated if I use coaxial (with this hat) over the USB?

If you really like the sound of Mojo, I’d advise you to listen to H2 and Qutest before committing. Some people(like me) strongly prefer the tonality of Mojo over H2. Qutest uses the Mojo output and will have a more similar tonality.

Actually I am very satisfied with the TV+Toslink+Mojo combo for films and videogames but I am not 100% safisfied from the Mojo+USB+Pi 4 for music (Roon).

Thank you, I think I'll stick to the Mojo or I will look at the Qutest, leaving the idea of other brands at the moment.

 

[jarnopp]

You won't be limited to "192kHz/24bit"?

Could you describe me your complete setup, I mean also the case of the Pi that you used for the HifiBerry and the exact cable (I mean brand and model) that you are using from the Pi (do you have the Pi 4?) to the Mojo?

Do you use toslink or coaxial?

I already have the toslink busy from the tv (with excellent results) so I could use only coaxial if i upgrade to HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro).

I will keep the advantages you stated if I use coaxial (with this hat) over the USB?



Actually I am very satisfied with the TV+Toslink+Mojo combo for films and videogames but I am not 100% safisfied from the Mojo+USB+Pi 4 for music (Roon).

Thank you, I think I'll stick to the Mojo or I will look at the Qutest, leaving the idea of other brands at the moment.

At home, I have a NUC running Roon ROCK, connected to my router via Ethernet. It’s in my “router closet” and everything from there is streamed over WiFi. I have a SSD connects for ripped CDs and a Tidal account.

With Mojo, I primarily use Poly with Roon at home or DLNA or MPD apps when out of the house.

With TT2 I use an optical input with a cable that provides 192k (some won’t do that), but that is the limit. I don’t recall the brand, but it’s a 1m plastic cable. I’m not a big believer in expensive cables, if lesser priced ones do the same job. This is fed by the Raspberry Pi 3b with the clear plastic lucite case and HiFiBerry Digital+ Pro hat running DietPi ( though HiFiBerry recently announced their own Linux distribution, so that could be worthwhile). Here is a link to that setup: https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/bundles/hifiberry-digi-bundle-4/

For me it works, as most of my ripped music is CD quality AIFF files and Tidal is CD or 96k at the most. Hope that helps!

 

[RiseFall123]

So I should get the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro and it's own case from the same manufacturer, thanks.

With the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro I cannot use the standard Toslink (my Mojo is busy with the TV) but I need to use the Coaxial with the Mojo.

Tell me if I'm wrong, I should use the connector that is near the Toslink, that should be like an RCA, right (there is a chip with a "Pulse" writing behind)?

So I need to find a cable (75 ohm) that is RCA on one side and minijack 3,5 stereo in the other side (to the Mojo), I am right?

It's really weird but I cannot find easily this cable digital RCA to minijack. Could somebody help me to find this kind of cable?

Also, I could consider that with this hat, the right cable (coax RCA to minijack), I could achieve to a sound quality that should be better than my actual Mojo to USB of the Pi, I am right?

I repeat, I won't use the standard Toslink but the coaxial.

 

[jarnopp]

So I should get the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro and it's own case from the same manufacturer, thanks.

With the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro I cannot use the standard Toslink (my Mojo is busy with the TV) but I need to use the Coaxial with the Mojo.

Tell me if I'm wrong, I should use the connector that is near the Toslink, that should be like an RCA, right (there is a chip with a "Pulse" writing behind)?

So I need to find a cable (75 ohm) that is RCA on one side and minijack 3,5 stereo in the other side (to the Mojo), I am right?

It's really weird but I cannot find easily this cable digital RCA to minijack. Could somebody help me to find this kind of cable?

Also, I could consider that with this hat, the right cable (coax RCA to minijack), I could achieve to a sound quality that should be better than my actual Mojo to USB of the Pi, I am right?

I repeat, I won't use the standard Toslink but the coaxial.

What you have said sounds right, but I haven’t used coaxial and can’t say whether USB or coaxial input would sound better from the Pi, but hopefully other users can help? There may also be optical splitters (or switches) available that would allow two inputs to join into one at the Mojo end.

 

[BlakeT]

Tell me if I'm wrong, I should use the connector that is near the Toslink, that should be like an RCA, right (there is a chip with a "Pulse" writing behind)?

So I need to find a cable (75 ohm) that is RCA on one side and minijack 3,5 stereo in the other side (to the Mojo), I am right?

EDIT: Sorry, looks like I misunderstood your question so you can disregard what I wrote below. It looks like this is the cable you need?

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-Premiu...ds=coaxial+spdif+to+3.5&qid=1582922134&sr=8-5

_________________

I am likely not following your questionApologies if I am not understanding your question, but I believe this is the cable you need:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D5H8JW0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just be sure you use red side as "right" and other side as "left" channel. They also make single sided if you don't need the RCA's split.

Also, for others that many want to use their fancy audiophile usb cable like me, this adapter works great:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M0H4J6C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[RiseFall123]

EDIT: Sorry, looks like I misunderstood your question so you can disregard what I wrote below. It looks like this is the cable you need?

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-Premiu...ds=coaxial+spdif+to+3.5&qid=1582922134&sr=8-5

Exactly thanks. It’s strange... it’s not an easy cable to find.

Btw, still thinking if buy the Digi+ Pro or just living with the normal Pi 4+Flirc using the standard USB for my Mojo.

 

[CNB3]

Slight tweak off of my questions (page 2660) re whether any benefit to using Mojo with powered (noise-cancelling) headphones (in my case, Sony WH-1000XM3).- answers to that were mixed, but upshot I kinda took away from it is that Mojo amp may provide some benefit, basically using as pre-amp, so more power, but that Mojo dac probably superseded by the headphone dac (at least, if using Sonys with power on) - which prob'ly means not worth using the Mojo (esp as in my case I've Moly + Poly, so $1000+ worth of gadgetry).

Which means sell or repurpose it ... first thought was maybe I use it with my computer desktop set up.

BUT I think maybe the same damn issue - my desktop speakers are active desktop speakers (KEF LSX); given they are active powered speakers, with built in power and dac - is there any damn point to running music from computer to Mojo (optical, I guess) and then from Mojo to the desktop speakers (analog, obvi, given that is only Mojo output)?

I'm guessing a lot of the Mojo benefit is lost if using with any non-passive headphones/speakers - is that right?

 

[435279]

Slight tweak off of my questions (page 2660) re whether any benefit to using Mojo with powered (noise-cancelling) headphones (in my case, Sony WH-1000XM3).- answers to that were mixed, but upshot I kinda took away from it is that Mojo amp may provide some benefit, basically using as pre-amp, so more power, but that Mojo dac probably superseded by the headphone dac (at least, if using Sonys with power on) - which prob'ly means not worth using the Mojo (esp as in my case I've Moly + Poly, so $1000+ worth of gadgetry).

Which means sell or repurpose it ... first thought was maybe I use it with my computer desktop set up.

BUT I think maybe the same damn issue - my desktop speakers are active desktop speakers (KEF LSX); given they are active powered speakers, with built in power and dac - is there any damn point to running music from computer to Mojo (optical, I guess) and then from Mojo to the desktop speakers (analog, obvi, given that is only Mojo output)?

I'm guessing a lot of the Mojo benefit is lost if using with any non-passive headphones/speakers - is that right?

I think for a good quality speaker like your KEF LSX's you would be better feeding them with a direct digital input or streaming directly to them so Mojo won't IMHO give much benefit there either.

If you have a 3.5mm to 3.5mm stereo cable why not try it though, your ears will answer the question for you.

 

[CNB3]

I think for a good quality speaker like your KEF LSX's you would be better feeding them with a direct digital input or streaming directly to them so Mojo won't IMHO give much benefit there either.

If you have a 3.5mm to 3.5mm stereo cable why not try it though, your ears will answer the question for you.

Thanks for your reply / advice. Yeah, I tried that (optical from PC to Mojo, 3.5mm to LSX) but strangely, couldn't get LSX to play Aux input ...

UPDATE: Jesus H I am a maroon. Apparently makes a different to run the aux out of the Mojo from one of the headphone outputs rather than the analog input. (Even worse, not the first time I've done this ... have plugged my headphones into the aux input and sat there frustrated for minutes and minutes trying to troubleshoot lack of music.)

I kinda think does sound slightly better ... but query if that's a placebo effect ...