[miketlse]

I have been searching for the post by @Rob Watts where he mentions that it is 'just about audible' with his ears.
That means that many people will not have noticed any difference - until they read posts stating that there is a difference.
Then expectation bias enters the equation, and some owners will try to convince themselves that there is a 'night and day' difference.


I have never noticed any difference before, but my Mojo is on charge, to repeat the test.

I did try testing last night.

Music used - 3 tracks from Kraftwerk album Minimum - Maximum
Headphones used - beyer T 51i
[updated]
Additional testing:
Music used - 3 tracks from Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard
Headphones used - Aeon Flow Closed

Conclusions : maybe it's expectation bias, but I did get the impression that the right hand socket sounded marginally smoother than the left hand socket. The 'effect' seemed greater when playing the jazz album.
But it is very marginal, and nowhere near a 'night and day' difference.
Would I be able to consistently detect it during a double blind test - I am not confident that I could.

 

[Susiban]

I got a few questions. If the Chord Mojo what would it be priced at?

Also without the battery and one of the headphone jacks how much less would it cost?

Also do you think it would be a good idea to have a cheaper Mojo version with. USB C in and 3.5mm out. With or without battery?

Thanks.

 

[Hooster]

I got a few questions. If the Chord Mojo what would it be priced at?

Also without the battery and one of the headphone jacks how much less would it cost?

Also do you think it would be a good idea to have a cheaper Mojo version with. USB C in and 3.5mm out. With or without battery?

Thanks.

No, I have a feeling that the Mojo in it's current form is totally outdated, things have moved forward by leaps and bounds since it was designed. I think a Mojo with a screen, android operating system, battery (of course), improved build quality, better dac, 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced headphone jacks, usb C in and no colored balls would be a good idea. I doubt that they could do all that and make it cheaper but if they can keep the price unchanged, great.

 

[jarnopp]

I got a few questions. If the Chord Mojo what would it be priced at?

Also without the battery and one of the headphone jacks how much less would it cost?

Also do you think it would be a good idea to have a cheaper Mojo version with. USB C in and 3.5mm out. With or without battery?

Thanks.

Since the battery is the power supply, if you remove that then you would need to design and add a power supply, which would likely add to the cost and not be offset by the minimal savings of removing one jack. In fact, to make it more useful, you would probably want a full size jack to replace one of the minis. Depending on the need for a volume control, you already have Qutest and Hugo2. A new Mojo should retain budget portability and he ability to mate with Poly, IMO.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

No, I have a feeling that the Mojo in it's current form is totally outdated, things have moved forward by leaps and bounds since it was designed. I think a Mojo with a screen, android operating system, battery (of course), improved build quality, better dac, 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced headphone jacks, usb C in and no colored balls would be a good idea. I doubt that they could do all that and make it cheaper but if they can keep the price unchanged, great.

Are you describing a DAP there - screen, android? I mean, that's a different product range.

With all due respect, it sounds like you dislike both the performance and the design of the Mojo, so why are you asking for an "upgrade" of it?

As for the 4.4mm balanced out. Has there been a devilishly hard to drive IEM released out there? Balanced designs by definition need twice the components, so at the same price range you get half the quality roughly speaking, or let's say 66% the quality. Why do we need that for a portable device?

I know you are a well-respected member of the community. I am asking this respectfully and out of curiosity.

Also, my one big disappointment with the Mojo is how susceptible it is to RFI.

 

[Kentajalli]

......? I mean, that's a different product range.

Exactly!
Like saying A Tesla needs some revamping, a 4 litre V-12, a 5 ton container at the back .....
That's a Truck! no longer a Tesla.

 

[Hooster]

With all due respect, it sounds like you dislike both the performance and the design of the Mojo, so why are you asking for an "upgrade" of it?

As for the 4.4mm balanced out. Has there been a devilishly hard to drive IEM released out there? Balanced designs by definition need twice the components, so at the same price range you get half the quality roughly speaking, or let's say 66% the quality. Why do we need that for a portable device?

I know you are a well-respected member of the community. I am asking this respectfully and out of curiosity.

Also, my one big disappointment with the Mojo is how susceptible it is to RFI.

I am not asking for anything, just making a suggestion. The reason for this is that I admire Rob Watts and I think he could design a DAC which is superior to the DAC in the current Mojo. I would like such a device to be made, and who knows, I might be interested in it.

You have a point about the 4.4mm. It is very nice to have though.

And, jarnopp. A new Mojo should not have any need for a tack on like the Poly. That functionality should be built into it.

 

[damdl]

I am not asking for anything, just making a suggestion. The reason for this is that I admire Rob Watts and I think he could design a DAC which is superior to the DAC in the current Mojo. I would like such a device to be made, and who knows, I might be interested in it.

You have a point about the 4.4mm. It is very nice to have though.

And, jarnopp. A new Mojo should not have any need for a tack on like the Poly. That functionality should be built into it.

I've been thinking the same lately though let's say we get a mojo+poly in one, wouldn't this skyrocket the price because of the isolation needed between the devices?

The idea of being able to choose whether you want the poly functionality in or not, not only is good because you can choose what you want in your system but also for the sound quality itself so, maybe the modularity of the device is best, then again if what you look for is an all in one that's where the DAP's come in and do an amazing job.

Who knows maybe what's next in the Chord lineup is a DAP, but I wouldn't mind if we see Mojo/Poly 2, to be able to choose what you want in your rig is really good!

 

[Kentajalli]

And, jarnopp. A new Mojo should not have any need for a tack on like the Poly. That functionality should be built into it.

Sorry for bursting in again.
Consider some politics at play here:
- Mojo is not cheap, adding facilities that some may never use, pushes the price even higher and puts Mojo in a different category. I do not need or use a Poly!
- Mojo already sounds too good, that it competes with Hugo2 , Chord doesn't want to compete with itself.
- It is already the favourite DAC on the net, selling like hot cakes, why spoil that momentum?
- Ofcourse Rob Watts can make a better Mojo, he already has, it is called Hugo2! go buy one.
- Chord already has DACs spread out in their correct slots, upgrading one disturbs the line up.
I know you swear by your Fiio, it is good device, but not enough people agree with you, as you probably have got a taste of it here in this forum.

 

[Hooster]

Sorry for bursting in again.
Consider some politics at play here:
- Mojo is not cheap, adding facilities that some may never use, pushes the price even higher and puts Mojo in a different category. I do not need or use a Poly!
- Mojo already sounds too good, that it competes with Hugo2 , Chord doesn't want to compete with itself.
- It is already the favourite DAC on the net, selling like hot cakes, why spoil that momentum?
- Ofcourse Rob Watts can make a better Mojo, he already has, it is called Hugo2! go buy one.
- Chord already has DACs spread out in their correct slots, upgrading one disturbs the line up.
I know you swear by your Fiio, it is good device, but not enough people agree with you, as you probably have got a taste of it here in this forum.

At the end of the day it is the market that decides, but I really struggle to believe that the Mojo is "selling like hot cakes".

I have no interest in the Hugo2, for various reasons.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

I am not asking for anything, just making a suggestion. The reason for this is that I admire Rob Watts and I think he could design a DAC which is superior to the DAC in the current Mojo. I would like such a device to be made, and who knows, I might be interested in it.

You have a point about the 4.4mm. It is very nice to have though.

And, jarnopp. A new Mojo should not have any need for a tack on like the Poly. That functionality should be built into it.

Understood. But I think Chord would be terrible at things like screens, etc. I mean look at the Poly, 2Go, etc. I understood they have to outsource for such things since it's not their area of expertise.

As for the balanced. A thought - I wonder if we, as a community, are not losing out as a result of this trend -- in this price range I mean. Basically the balanced option is being misunderstood as always better to the extent that manufacturers increasingly think of it as necessary to ensure the success of a product. But to do so, they use cheaper grade components since they have to build the path for each channel separately. So we are left with more power (and we already have plenty), but lower quality.

Do I have this wrong? I just cringe when I see a review and it ends with - "nice product, wish it had balanced out". Well, no... it wouldn't be the same product, would it now? It would either be 40% or so cheaper build and worse quality sound or 40% more expensive and same quality sound.

 

[bikutoru]

At the end of the day it is the market that decides, but I really struggle to believe that the Mojo is "selling like hot cakes".

It probably not "selling like hot cakes", but not for the reasons that it is no longer a great device!
If I had to take a guess, it is because the market is flooded with lots of players and other DACs that sound ok or even better than ok, have USB-C, screens, wi-fi......
None can do what Mojo does to my lizard brain, make me get in touch with music on some other level, make me emotionally involved, make me discover that I had never new was there. The real improvements are not easy to do every year, or even every 5 years, good things take time, but it is not what it seems when you look at a portable player market. FiiO has to compete with others companies like them and release one or even two players every year and convince lots of us that we should upgrade and hear improvements every few month.
We can list things, each one of us would like a "new Mojo" to do, but since it is the Chord who is bringing it to the market, and we can either appreciate and enjoy, or keep telling them what they should do at best or complain at worst.
I for one, still enjoy my Mojo, after 4-5 years with it. I have never had RF problems, my original battery is still ok. It can even drive my Abyss Diana with ease. It made me realize how music should be reproduced, how I can appreciate genres I had not cared for previously, etc., etc. It does lots of things right.
It doesn't do all of the things I want, but that is impossible and I know it.

 

[Signal2Noise]

I often wonder about the design decision of including 2 3.5mm SE outputs on the Mojo. Why not a just one 3.5mm? Or better yet the 3.5mm & a 2.5 balanced?

Nonetheless I always use the right side output since it’s furthest from the power button. Does it make a difference? None that I can perceive.

 

[Kentajalli]

I often wonder about the design decision of including 2 3.5mm SE outputs on the Mojo. Why not a just one 3.5mm? Or better yet the 3.5mm & a 2.5 balanced?

Nonetheless I always use the right side output since it’s furthest from the power button. Does it make a difference? None that I can perceive.

Me too, I think they had room for two , so they fitted two.
As for balanced out, Mojo is single ended by design, so it can not have balanced out, unless it cheats and create an artificial one.
Frankly I think one output, only a USB input (with some passive filtering) would suffice for a Mobile device.

 

[vlach]

I often wonder about the design decision of including 2 3.5mm SE outputs on the Mojo. Why not a just one 3.5mm? Or better yet the 3.5mm & a 2.5 balanced?

Nonetheless I always use the right side output since it’s furthest from the power button. Does it make a difference? None that I can perceive.

Having two 3.5mm outputs comes in handy when using the Mojo in a stationary desktop application; you can feed two different amps or feed one amp and still have an output available for headphones. I don't mind having that level of flexibility at all.