[Another Audiophile]

Don't knock Audio Science Review, they serve a needed purpose.
As the name claims, they are a Science based organization.
To ASR, measurements are everything, they knock things that do not measure well enough, and state it should sound accordingly.
But they have said on so many occasions that the reverse is not necessarily true, meaning devices that measure well MUST sound good also!
The Beef;
On reviewing Mojo, they said that with all the talk regarding Mojo's claimed (by Mr. Watts) technical superiority, he (Amir) could not measure super-duper results!
Even though he did praise Mojo for having virtually no Jitter and low level stability was almost perfect, STILL it did not bode well with Mojo lovers (US)!
On reviewing the Qutest (I believe) he praised it so much, but still, the die was cast.
ASR provides valuable information on what not to buy! and what to consider - as someone else has already said:
Listening still is the number 1 priority.

I personally left the ASR forum because the environment was toxic and rude. They do measurements not science. Science requires observation, hypothesis, test, experiments, proof of hypothesis and all in a circle. Calling ASR "science" is like calling an amateur professional. If you are really into science then https://theconversation.com/uk is a good place to start and I have been a member. The only trick, in order to join, is that the administrators need to qualify your academic credentials.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Don't knock Audio Science Review, they serve a needed purpose.
As the name claims, they are a Science based organization.
To ASR, measurements are everything, they knock things that do not measure well enough, and state it should sound accordingly.
But they have said on so many occasions that the reverse is not necessarily true, meaning devices that measure well MUST sound good also!
The Beef;
On reviewing Mojo, they said that with all the talk regarding Mojo's claimed (by Mr. Watts) technical superiority, he (Amir) could not measure super-duper results!
Even though he did praise Mojo for having virtually no Jitter and low level stability was almost perfect, STILL it did not bode well with Mojo lovers (US)!
On reviewing the Qutest (I believe) he praised it so much, but still, the die was cast.
ASR provides valuable information on what not to buy! and what to consider - as someone else has already said:
Listening still is the number 1 priority.

They are very subjective towards certain products, especially topping. I've tested some of their hyped, very well measured products and in my case dac sounded so exciting that I would rather watch flies flying around.

Many bold statements float in ASR as EQ is like holy grail and can fix everything, tube based source sounds bad and not worth considering...

Measurements have their place in audio, but it's far from telling the whole picture which ASR tries to push. That forum is based on the smart marketing to push mediocre products at best to sell them to the countless sheeps who blindly fallows graphs. There are use-full info there, but read reviews there with a huge grain of salt.

 

[dakanao]

Don't knock Audio Science Review, they serve a needed purpose.
As the name claims, they are a Science based organization.
To ASR, measurements are everything, they knock things that do not measure well enough, and state it should sound accordingly.
But they have said on so many occasions that the reverse is not necessarily true, meaning devices that measure well MUST sound good also!
The Beef;
On reviewing Mojo, they said that with all the talk regarding Mojo's claimed (by Mr. Watts) technical superiority, he (Amir) could not measure super-duper results!
Even though he did praise Mojo for having virtually no Jitter and low level stability was almost perfect, STILL it did not bode well with Mojo lovers (US)!
On reviewing the Qutest (I believe) he praised it so much, but still, the die was cast.
ASR provides valuable information on what not to buy! and what to consider - as someone else has already said:
Listening still is the number 1 priority.

Well I don't think the measuring protocol is anywhere near right if he measured the HD600 and 650 to sound the same, and if he thinks most dac/amps sound the same. To me it seems more like an ego driven bias measurement site, instead of an actual objective one.

I've also read that testing headphones at 100dB SPL is his comfortable listening volume. He most likely has serious hearing loss as well, which would explain why he thinks almost everything sounds the same.

Such a person should not conclude audio tests.

 

[Billyak]

why don't you sell it then?

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

Yes, the Poly and those new Hugo 2 extras are priced ridiculously. I think it does Chord a disservice by pricing them at those absolutely ridiculous levels because people can then actually think that their actual products - Mojo, H2, TT2, Dave are also ridiculously overpriced, which I don't think is at all the case.

I actually asked Rob Watts about it and he said this:

"Poly wasn't my project and so I asked Matt Bartlett from Chord and I got this reply:


"I would reply that very much like the DAC products Poly was designed from the ground up.
In order to build a complex streaming platform that was able to be incredibly low powered
so it could run on batteries whilst still having enough processing power to run services such as
Roon is very complicated. Other manufacturers tend to use similar OEM platforms that have
compromises in terms of performance and power management.
With Poly we wanted to provide a pure battery powered product to give the lowest noise possible
when feeding a digital signal into Mojo.
As yet I don't think there is another manufacturer that has been able to develop a completely
portable headless streaming platform that can run from batteries for many hours and provide
very high resolution playback. Hence the reason why the technology is more expensive than
perhaps other products you might see on the market.""

See post 1924 here - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/page-129#post-15837999

 

[jarnopp]

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

The Chromecast can achieve “almost” all of the functionality, but it’s not portable, is it? Couldn’t use it on a train or plane. If you don’t need what extra Poly provides, no need to worry about it.

 

[Hooster]

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

You are 100% correct. If Chord is unable to do something as simple as integrating the functionality of the Poly in the new Mojo, perhaps they should turn their minds to doing something they seem to be very good at, like making equipment stands...

I honestly think Chord needs a complete rethink/refresh. Business model, styling, ergonomics, functionality and last but not least competitive pricing are things they need to work on if they wish to expand their business.

 

[Billyak]

The Chromecast can achieve “almost” all of the functionality, but it’s not portable, is it? Couldn’t use it on a train or plane. If you don’t need what extra Poly provides, no need to worry about it.

You actually could. You would just need a battery to power it and use the same hotspot mode that the poly uses.

I really love my mojo and I will be keeping for a long while until the battery dies or if the mojo 2 comes out and is substantially better I just wish the poly delivered as well as it is advertised to.

 

[jarnopp]

You actually could. You would just need a battery to power it and use the same hotspot mode that the poly uses.

I really love my mojo and I will be keeping for a long while until the battery dies or if the mojo 2 comes out and is substantially better I just wish the poly delivered as well as it is advertised to.

On a train, maybe, but not on a plane if the phone doesn’t have internet access. That’s when you would need to use the Poly’s own hot spot mode.

 

[Kentajalli]

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

Where can I get one of these dongles?
On ebay they go for about £100.
I need a chromecast audio only, up to £50 if you can point me in the right direction.
serious question.
Thanx

 

[Billyak]

Sorry just checked eBay and you are correct the prices have sky rocketed since being discontinued.

 

[miketlse]

Where can I get one of these dongles?
On ebay they go for about £100.
I need a chromecast audio only, up to £50 if you can point me in the right direction.
serious question.
Thanx

Probably not the answer that you wanted, but quite a few Chord owners have been posting for two years, that it is a good idea to buy a chromecast audio before they become unavailable.
Like many other owners, I bought a couple of them, but now they do seem very hard to find at a cheap price.
Maybe some of the third-party dongles do the same job, but you will need to do some research first.

 

[Billyak]

I think I've seen darko mention an android box of some sort that has similar functionality.

 

[Another Audiophile]

You are missing my point. My point is people defend the poly even though a £15 dongle can achieve almost the same functionality and beat it in certain aspects. I understand and accept paying a premium for a bespoke connection to the mojo but an additional £585 premium?

Why not? People pay for a Ferrari that technically does the same thing with a Toyota. Still they buy the Ferrari.

 

[Kentajalli]

Why not? People pay for a Ferrari that technically does the same thing with a Toyota. Still they buy the Ferrari.

I would say, three quarter are just posers , meaning to show off " look at my new toy, you can not afford!"
the other one quarter, actually understand that Porsche does certain things a Toyota doesn't , and they want those things.
they just can not have those things for less money.
Toyota sells far far more cars than Porsche! because it has higher value for money.
but this is not a good example. if Porsche was a bit cheaper, I still wouldn't touch it!
but if Poly was cheaper .....