[Ike1985]

Guys, I am in awe of this little mojo. I can say for sure the music actually sounds different, in fct the difference is STUNNING. It's like when I went from Skull Caddy's to Adel A12's all over again-the second great jump. It's actually making me not like vinyl as much-as I listen to my hd flac vinyls all the popping associate with vinyl is way more apparent. Glad most of my collection is digital.

The sound is expanded in all directions, sounds trail off way more-mix and merge. Riffs from Windhand's - Two Urns sound towering and ominous. Holy crap.

 

[x RELIC x]

^^ Yup! ^^

 

[Ike1985]

I'll have a full review later tonight after my son goes to sleep, I'm a single dad(wife is gone to nursing school) so I wont have any quiet time tIl then. Thanks everybody for recommending this.

 

[peareye]

I'm confused. I've searched thread and read all 413 pages but I can't recall what cable I'll need between the Mojo and ibasso DX80?

I'm searching now for some closed cans after sorting the open cans. It seems based on all the posts Oppo PM-3 are liked. I tried some Shure headphones (1840 I think) and they had great bass but seemed flat sounding on the treble. Any other options?

Check out the Denon MM400 as well...I liked it better than the PM-3....more dynamic and more low end...

 

[Ike1985]

Ok guys, I'm playing a DSD 128 album via Jriver on my MacbookPro.  I'm getting a purple light on the mojo and here are my settings and what Jriver is saying: (I don't think it's working right)  (I tried to follow the instructions on moon audio but his version of J river is different or i'm not accessing the right section of the options):
 

 

 

 

 
I don't see anywhere to implement these moon audio instructions:
 
"

• Volume the “Digital Output (Chord Async USB 44.1kHz-….” is chosen
• Tools to check the box beside “DSD bitstream in DoP format”."

 
In my version of j river MC 20.

 

[Dopaminer]

I'm confused. I've searched thread and read all 413 pages but I can't recall what cable I'll need between the Mojo and ibasso DX80?

I'm searching now for some closed cans after sorting the open cans. It seems based on all the posts Oppo PM-3 are liked. I tried some Shure headphones (1840 I think) and they had great bass but seemed flat sounding on the treble. Any other options?

 
  I used to own the Denon MM400 previously mentioned, and the B&W P7, both of which are excellent.  But I recommend the Bang&Olufson H6, which despite looking like a fashion headphone has incredibly good sound, is light, folds flat and is relatively cheap.  The new beyer DT1770 equals it in sound, but is very large and more expensive.  I had high hopes for the PM-3, being a planar fan, but it was clearly, obviously inferior, to my ears.  (out of the AK120ii and Ratoc KE-3 dac/amp) 

 

[aamefford]

I'll have a full review later tonight after my son goes to sleep, I'm a single dad(wife is gone to nursing school) so I wont have any quiet time tIl then. Thanks everybody for recommending this.

Looking forward to your review. Oh, and nurses are awesome! I'm married to one.

 

[SearchOfSub]

Has anyone got a chance to compare the Mojo to the Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2?

 

[Ike1985]

Gear: Iphone 5 w/cck, MacbookPro, Mojo, 64 Audio ADEL A12
 
Let me begin by saying that I don't speak fancy audiophile lingo, I'm just a normal guy who's always been into music-more specifically metal(doom, sludge, stoner, black, death, atmospheric and all combinations of the aforementioned styles) as well as classical-but mostly metal.  I've had a few hours with the Mojo now, here are my results:
 
The first thing I noticed was the detail.  Listening to albums I'd listened to many times before was great.  I heard instruments I'd never heard before, especially when the metal was fast-without the Mojo I never noticed the things i missed but with the Mojo it all becomes known.  Gasps when the singer inhales or someone tapping their foot at a quiet-live performance of a solo artist, all those thing you say people always hear with nice gear-it comes through with Mojo.  I heard people in the audience many times in some of my files when i wasn't supposed to hear them-they weren't meant to be part of the mix.  This is especially noticeable with vinyl, which Mojo has caused me to dislike more.  I alreayd disliked vinyl and if asked to chose between my 16/44 cd rip of Xanthochroid's Blessed He With Boils or the 24/192 with all the pops and clicks-I'll pick the CD version with its pristine sound free of artifacts.  
 
When I say the music sounds different, it really does.  The track I'm listening to-the vocals are quite different.  Maybe I'm struggling for words here since I don't have the audiophile dictionary in my brain, sorry I can't describe it better.  There is a song by Woods of Ypres called Kiss My Ashes Goodbye, its about 10 mins long.  I've never heard David Gold's voice sound like this, it's like he's singing it into my ear and I can feel it.  In Lightning & Snow from the same album (called Grey Skies & Electric Light) I hear cymbals that I've never heard before during the chaotic moments of the song.  My ADEL's A12's are known for instrument separation so paired with the Mojo (with it's incredible separation) really keeps my brain engaged with the music because there is so much going on where all previously ran together.
 
To really test the instrument separation synergy with my A12's I chose Archspire's song Lucid Collective Somnambulation.  All I can say is wow.
 
And my mojo just died, looks like i'm out of battery.
 
What else should I say?  My A12's are known for the impressive sub-bass, among other things.  I feel like the Mojo slightly lowers this sub-bass in favor of a more neutral signature.  One band that I listen to everyday (one of the best bands I've ever heard) is Beastwars.  Both their albums Beastwars and Blood Becomes fire sound glorious on the A12's from my puny Iphone5.  Beastwars plays doom/stoner/sludge (mostly interchangeable) metal.  This style of metal has a moniker: "Tune low, play slow".  Basically you can expect extremely downtuned guitars with towering and crushing riffs that echo into nothingness.  Especially on Blood Becomes Fire, that whole album really makes the A12's shake with bass.  There is more bass impact with the iphone 5 IMO than with the mojo.  I use the word impact because the mojo still picks up the same low riffage but just with more detail and a hair less "blow your hair back" bass.  I think I'll get used to this as time goes on, brain burn-in and whatnot.  If it is a problem for you, you can always EQ a bit-on my iphone 5 the EQ in both tuneshell and onkyo work fine with the mojo.
 
Concerning soundstage, all I've ever heard is my A12's and my iphone 5/macbook pro so the soundstage actually sounds larger to me.  Some of the instruments, especially in Chesky's jazz bits sounded like they were outside my ciem's floating in space.  It was an odd sensation and I've never heard it before.
 
Conclusion:
 
The most noticeable sound improvement with the mojo is the timing.  All the instruments sound like the band is playing right in front of you.  The music is alive.  From the iphone 5 I have more bass impact but the music is still "just a recording".  Mojo does something to the music that makes it come alive, hard to explain.  It has a neutral sig IMO so if you're into thundering bass it'll deliver the bass just cleaner and with a hair less knockdown.  IMO any bass you sacrifice is worth what you get with everything else the mojo offers.  Treble was great as well.  Nothing bad to say, I'm glad I bought this and I'm done with audiophile gear forever.  I have a completely black background and notice no hiss.  RF inerference can be an issue with Iphone 5, use airplane mode.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFb607Y49X0
 
 

 

 

 

[elnero]

Beastwars is such a great band!

 

[NZtechfreak]

Beastwars is such a great band!

+1

Seen them lots live living in NZ, also met the guys a few times after I sorted a Sabbath ticket for their bassist.

 

[Ike1985]

  Beastwars is such a great band!

 
Yea near the top of my all-time list and they've only released two albums and I sample probably 20 albums a day 5 days a week, done so for years. 

 

[che15]

I'm confused. I've searched thread and read all 413 pages but I can't recall what cable I'll need between the Mojo and ibasso DX80?

I'm searching now for some closed cans after sorting the open cans. It seems based on all the posts Oppo PM-3 are liked. I tried some Shure headphones (1840 I think) and they had great bass but seemed flat sounding on the treble. Any other options?

I have the DX80 and mojo, the dx 80 has both optical and coaxial so u can use the cable that comes with the ibasso if u get an adaptor, or u can get a 3.5-3.5 coax made by noon audio or other custome cable making companies.
I love my DT 1350 with my mojo, have not tried my w3000 with them yet, but I will shortly.
I would recommend the fostex TH x00 that is in mass drop. If it is anywhere close to the TH900, it will definitely be a winner.
Oh I have use a mini to mini cable to connect the 80 to mojo with great results also.

 

[Takeanidea]

Char
ging state of the battery makes little difference to the output level and mojo actually has no problem in driving HD 800's by our precise and accurate measurements. There are no significant or measurable changes to the output with these headphones so possibly it's something else happening here. Interesting though!

the HD800s are a great pairing for the mojo. I sold 2 dac amps within a fortnight of buying the mojo it was a no brainer. And the mojo works as a line out for an integrated amp and a pre amp for a power amp if you ever wanted to see what it could do using just the dac part.
As a standalone dac it is also superb

 

[Torq]

Some Superficial Impressions: Schiit Bifrost vs. Mojo
 
I meant to post my thoughts about how these two compare a week or so ago but, as with many things, “life” got in the way of that.  So, hopefully this is better late than never.
 
Such a comparison is not straightforward; the Bifrost cannot drive headphones directly. Thus I listened to both through a Schiit Ragnarok, a Schiit Lyr (original) and to the Mojo directly.  Additionally, the Bifrost is not an option for on-the-go use.  These are just things to bear in mind.
 
My Bifrost is configured with the USB Gen 1 board and is the “4490” variant.  For your $399 today you’d get the USB Gen 2 board and the same AKM 4490 DS DAC/Analog board.  I don’t have access to a multibit Bifrost currently.
 
Headphones used were my LCD 2.2c, HE-500, HD 650 and SE846.
 
I listened via optical and USB, source was an nMP via Roon.
 
The short version is that, except when listening via the Lyr, I prefer the Mojo to the Bifrost.  Not that the Mojo > Lyr combination is in anyway bad, but it feels a little “fat” with my preferred headphones when compared to the Bifrost > Lyr set up.
 
Beyond That:
 
In all cases I preferred the optical inputs to the USB, regardless whether the source files were 16/44.1 red-book CD-rips or 24/192 tracks.  Bifrost shows a distinct improvement driven optically, where as the difference for Mojo USB vs. optical was much smaller.  Perhaps this would be different with the USB Gen 2 board on the Schiit component.
 
With my planar cans the Bifrost > Lyr combination is extremely addictive and a lot of fun (there’s some added warmth there that I don’t hear through the Ragnarok).  It’s a bouncy, juicy, opulent experience that has resulted in me neglecting what I’m working on more than once and resulted in my just getting lost in the music when I’m supposed to be working.
 
The Mojo > Lyr setup with the same cans is a tiny bit too warm with some tracks and “bouncy” can become a bit bottom heavy and more leisurely which seems to drop the pace of the music a little.  Music with any emotional gravity takes on a deeper sense of seriousness – which sometimes works really well and sometimes is a tad overdone.
 
In all other cases/combinations, the Mojo seems to resolve more than the “4490”.  Perhaps resolution isn’t the real issue and it’s more a question of balance … nothing seems to get recessed on the Mojo, where as, for example, I noticed brushes on cymbals being quieter through the Bifrost.  The mojo’s bottom end is more solid and little more tuneful.  Soundstage also gets Mojo the nod.
 
Those observations remained consistent with all of my cans, with or without the Ragnarok, and trying to break them down by headphone would say more about the headphones than the Mojo or Bifrost.
 
Both are highly musical.  Both are excellent value.  I find the differences to be, mostly, a matter of taste/preference, equipment pairing and even the particular song.  I wouldn’t run a Mojo into a Lyr by choice (I’d use the Mojo directly), but I can’t take a Bifrost/Lyr on the go either.
 
Final Thoughts:
 
If could only have one, I’d go with the Mojo – especially as I use it on the go.
 
And I’d happily drive my LCD 2.2c with it directly.
 
It wouldn't be quite as much “fun” as the Bifrost > Lyr > LCD 2.2c/HE-500, but it’s probably a bit more truthful and detailed overall.
 
And remember, there's no way to hear "just" the Bifrost.
 
And one more thing ...
 
I'd re-iterate a comment I made earlier in this thread: I consider the Mojo to be the best $600 I've spent on audio gear or, at least, on par with my original Linn Axis (back in 1987/88) which is what started me on this path in the first place.