[miketlse]

Thank you, why would you not recommand that way of using the Mojo? Robert Watts says its fine beeing used that way?

Yes that was the advice from 2016, when Chord were also stating that the battery was specced for a 10 year life.
Unfortunately the battery manufacturer seems to have been slightly optimistic, because after a year or so, owners who left their Mojos permanently on charge, started to experience problems and needing replacement batteries.

Rob learnt from this, and redesigned the charging circuit for the Hugo2, so that if the Hugo2 is left permanently on charge, it enters desktop mode and reduces the battery voltage by 0.2V (I think) in order to avoid damage. This has resulted in virtually no posts about failed Hugo2 batteries, so has been a good design decision by Rob.

Overall the mojo was designed to be left permanently on charge, but in practice it does carry a higher risk of battery failure.
The advice from many mojo owners is do not leave them permanently on charge.

 

[Thyrfing]

Thanks for info!

 

[vlach]

The microUSB input only accepts 5Vdc.

Charge or operate, it makes no difference to the power input can take. It is still a 5Vdc input. Don’t use more than 5Vdc.

With internal battery disconnected, you would still operate Mojo by feeding 5Vdc to the microUSB power input

But this not a supported operating method of Mojo although some have got it working.

I would advise against it. Best SQ is by using internal battery with wall charger disconnected (less mains RF).

Thank you for this valuable information, it is good to know that the Mojo will work/operate with 5Vdc via micro USB although it is less than ideal (with thougher loads) compared to the 7.4V internal battery.

In the end it might be easier and simpler to just replace the battery when it dies.
In my case, i never charge and listen at the same time and when i charge it i put it on its side to dissipate as much of the heat as possible. I performed the initial 10h charge when i purchased the unit brand new and i also don't use it every day, therefore it could very well be that the battery will last a few years.

This will also be more convenient from a portability point of view compared to stacking a battery bank to the Mojo + DAP.

At any rate, thanks again for sharing your knowledge and answering all our questions!

 

[flyte3333]

In my case, i never charge and listen at the same time and when i charge it i put it on its side to dissipate as much of the heat as possible. I performed the initial 10h charge when i purchased the unit brand new and i also don't use it every day, therefore it could very well be that the battery will last a few years

Oh yes a few years at least, with that ideal battery management you’re doing.

At any rate, thanks again for sharing your knowledge and answering all our questions!

No problem. Mostly just sharing Rob’s knowledge but with a sprinkle of my own experiences.

Happy to help.

 

[GreenBow]

The Jitterbug can help but only so much.

If you really want to hear what a USB source with zero (or very very low) RF would sound like, listen to TOSlink on any of Rob's DACs. Make sure you run Mojo off battery and disconnect it's charger.

The only USB source I've ever had that bettered TOSLink (subjectively) is a battery powered (completely physically de-coupled from mains power) microRendu with it's ethernet input optically isolated. Pain in the a$$ to have to disconnect and recharge batteries all the time though but it was a cool experiment.

Even though it was a bit better than TOSlink (slightly more fluid to my ears) it was marginal.

Now I just use this 24/192 USB to TOSlink converter:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/usbstreamer-box

To put all the above, in a different way. The lower in noise/RF you get with a USB source, the more it approaches the sound of TOSLink with Rob's DACs (to my ears anyway).

I found the Jitterbug on the Mojo did an incredible job. In short listening tests I could not hear a difference between optical and USB with Jitterbug.

However I got the Jitterbug just before I got the Hugo 2, meaning I stopped running Mojo on my PC. I never got around to doing any long term listening comparisons between optical and USB with Jitterbug for Mojo.


The USB to optical converter is an interesting idea. I find running optical from my PC is less easy to manage than running USB out. (Long story.) USB though, with the Chord drivers, checks data and resends if there is an error. I can't see how that would possible through a USB to optical converter.

 

[flyte3333]

I find running optical from my PC is less easy to manage than running USB out. (Long story.)

Sometimes practicality overrules everything else. I definitely relate.

USB though, with the Chord drivers, checks data and resends if there is an error. I can't see how that would possible through a USB to optical converter.

Just so everyone else understands, this is only using the Chord Windows driver... for practical reasons I mostly use macOS these days.

It’s a nice Windows feature but there’s a good test I can do with my optical setup to see everything is playing bit perfectly, without errors.

Just play DSD64 (DoP) test files and if it works without dropouts, there is nothing to worry about (from Mojo to Dave).

Plays fine for me, so nothing to worry about.

 

[flyte3333]

Rob uses same test, see here:

 

[linearly]

Hello everyone, I'm a proud owner of another Mojo and I ought to post my impressions after a 6 months no Chord DAC journey.

It all started a few years back when I got my first HiFi headphones, the HD650's with an Oppo HA2SE that I still own to this day. It was a huge improvement over the PC/Sony phones I had back then. I've seen audio can be better, and I should look futher. So I started to read forums, like this one. Here someone posted a few song samples recorded from a few dac/amp's, and Mojo was among them. Really when I pressed play on the Mojo sample my jaw dropped how much better it was. Much more natural sounding without harshness. I bought my first Mojo and it was exactly how I heard it in the samples. I was very happy a few months.

Then the 'itch' starts to happen, how can I improve the sound. I listend to Hugo 2 and I was sold again. 'Upgraded' the phones too, to a HD800S. Then I started to think about DAVE and surely after a lot of financial struggles I got that too. And It was ALL worth it for me at that time. I was very happy with audio. But unfortunately life happens, having some health issues I had to sell all of my HiFi gear except my hd650's and the Oppo.

After a while I encouraged myself to start rebuilding my HiFi piece by piece. Sadly I started reading other more 'technical' forums as well. There the popular belief is that if something measures well it must sound good, and you can't hear a difference between DAC's double blind tested etc. I can't still to this day understand if hearing is like seeing and some people hear the differences and others don't. Or maybe they are trying to sell some 'good measuring' DAC's and promote this belief. For me the difference is obvious between ESS, AKM, R2R and Chord DAC's.

So I started to buy other DAC's, and it was a lot of them. And no matter how good they measured they sounded bad to me. I returned a few, I sold a lot at half price. Not a single one was at the Mojo's level, not evem thinking about DAVE here.

So now I decided to rebuy a Mojo, forgot how small the box is, plugged it in and was floored on how good it sounds. After a lot of 'bargain' good measuring DAC search and spending a fortune on different brands and models, I must say that the real bargain here is the Mojo as it sounds so much better then any DS, R2R's I tested and wasted money on.

I ran away from Chord and batteries (Mojo and Hugo2), wasted about the same amount of money as a TT2 (it adds up with different amps etc), never was happy. But now I'm happy with the Mojo for the first time in months. I really wish Chord would make a Qutest with headphone out because if that was the case I would have never went on that goose chase.

Now I could've been happy with my TT2 and having M-Scaler dreams, instead I'm having TT2 dreams but the Mojo is here to keep me company. And this little thing is glorious.

 

[vlach]

Hello everyone, I'm a proud owner of another Mojo and I ought to post my impressions after a 6 months no Chord DAC journey.

It all started a few years back when I got my first HiFi headphones, the HD650's with an Oppo HA2SE that I still own to this day. It was a huge improvement over the PC/Sony phones I had back then. I've seen audio can be better, and I should look futher. So I started to read forums, like this one. Here someone posted a few song samples recorded from a few dac/amp's, and Mojo was among them. Really when I pressed play on the Mojo sample my jaw dropped how much better it was. Much more natural sounding without harshness. I bought my first Mojo and it was exactly how I heard it in the samples. I was very happy a few months.

Then the 'itch' starts to happen, how can I improve the sound. I listend to Hugo 2 and I was sold again. 'Upgraded' the phones too, to a HD800S. Then I started to think about DAVE and surely after a lot of financial struggles I got that too. And It was ALL worth it for me at that time. I was very happy with audio. But unfortunately life happens, having some health issues I had to sell all of my HiFi gear except my hd650's and the Oppo.

After a while I encouraged myself to start rebuilding my HiFi piece by piece. Sadly I started reading other more 'technical' forums as well. There the popular belief is that if something measures well it must sound good, and you can't hear a difference between DAC's double blind tested etc. I can't still to this day understand if hearing is like seeing and some people hear the differences and others don't. Or maybe they are trying to sell some 'good measuring' DAC's and promote this belief. For me the difference is obvious between ESS, AKM, R2R and Chord DAC's.

So I started to buy other DAC's, and it was a lot of them. And no matter how good they measured they sounded bad to me. I returned a few, I sold a lot at half price. Not a single one was at the Mojo's level, not evem thinking about DAVE here.

I can go on and on about the differences, but its easier to imagine this. You are trying to listen to a live show, AKM is like having thick jars on your ears. ESS is like having a thin crystal wine glass, R2R is a kitchen sponge. How is Chord in all of this? Well its like you have nothing on your ears and you are there. You stop to analize the music, how is the treble, how is the low end, but the midrange? You just love music as its supposed to be.

So now I decided to rebuy a Mojo, forgot how small the box is, plugged it in and was floored on how good it sounds. After a lot of 'bargain' good measuring DAC search and spending a fortune on different brands and models, I must say that the real bargain here is the Mojo as it sounds so much better then any DS, R2R's I tested and wasted money on.

I ran away from Chord and batteries (Mojo and Hugo2), wasted about the same amount of money as a TT2 (it adds up with different amps etc), never was happy. But now I'm happy with the Mojo for the first time in months. I really wish Chord would make a Qutest with headphone out because if that was the case I would have never went on that goose chase.

Now I could've been happy with my TT2 and having M-Scaler dreams, instead I'm having TT2 dreams but the Mojo is here to keep me company. And this little thing is glorious.

It sure is glorious! Out of curiosity, which R2R DACs did you test & compare to the Mojo?

 

[rtm33]

Since my Mojo battery died i replaced internal battery with... one green same supercapacitor as in Hugo TT2. (as this woids warranty and total operation please do it on your own risk). Now Mojo has same power design as Hugo TT2. This is the cleanest and responsive possible power supply. As for capacity it last 7-9 seconds without power supply.
Now My mojo needs around 20seconds to charge so i can switch on and leaving plugged it operates at all output levels pretty well.
I have paired my mojo with Anker 10000mah. Now anker charges supercap and together they last 18h with one full charge.


Difference? TOTAL SILENCE in background no hiss from charging as it was before. Low level listening makes me smile again on CD tracks. Bass depth slightly better, details come slightly forward and even more softer trebles. This is only my own impression.

I hope that Mojo 2 in the future will have a swtich tu operate on battery for portable use, but for desktop a switch to use energy from supercapacitor (they are relatively small and can fit easily) for best desktop performance. Step forward on design against others - succesful story. As Mojo. Let Mojo 2 it happen and it will be known across the world.

Thanks Chord
@Rob Watts, And if it will be considered seriously - beer on yours, cheers

Can you please provide a capacitor name?

 

[linearly]

It sure is glorious! Out of curiosity, which R2R DACs did you test & compare to the Mojo?

It was a Pro-Ject Box S FL, half the price of the Mojo, and while for me it was better then Delta Sigma ones it isn't at the Mojo's level, it feels a bit congested. I'm aware there are a lot better R2R's out there but the price goes up and the goose chase begins again. But I really like the Project DAC, will keep it around.

 

[CJG888]

That’s a single TDA1543, isn’t it?

 

[surfgeorge]

Can you please provide a capacitor name?

Looks like EATON PHV Series PowerStor Supercapacitors

 

[rtm33]

Looks like EATON PHV Series PowerStor Supercapacitors

Thanks a lot, that will help

 

[jarnopp]

Thanks a lot, that will help

This was from @Vyyy in a PM:

Manufacter and model is this : https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/electronic-components/phv-supercapacitor.html

Part number from data sheet PHV-5R4V505-R, https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/e...percapacitors-cylindrical-pack-data-sheet.pdf

I haven’t tried it.