[betula]

   
Have you tried the hd650? how does it compare to it, which has better mids?
 
also, what cable do you use with it

Did you think a £230 dynamic hp has better mids than a £1100 planar?

I know, price is not always significant when you compare two audio product, but this is quite a difference. (Not to mention the difference between dynamic and planar drivers.)

 

[GreenBow]

yep.  
Suggested weeks ago, and I agree, but, strangely, I've yet to see anyone actually do it

 
Yeah I suggested back then, and found some suitable heatsinks on Maplin and linked them. I have a heatsink I salvaged from a motherboard. I wonder if no-one is really having much of a thermal shutting-off problem. Or folks think it impractical because it would be a hassle to remove the heatsink when using the Mojo portably. The thermal pad which would act as a thermal binding between heatsink and Mojo case would be fragile. (If there's another thermal bonding that sticks to the heatsink only, that would solve it.)
 
I think I am about to start using my Mojo. I think even if it does not suffer thermal shut-down, I will still fit it with a heatsink. It can only be a good thing to run it cooler (when charging too.) I know some audio components make a better sound when warm. However even with a heatsink, I think the Mojo will be warm enough.
 
What would really distress me is if my heatsink modding still did not prevent shut-down. There's the option of standing a fan near and blowing cool air through heatsink fins, for hot days! Something like a silent (Noctua) PC case fan running on low 5V.) As I plan to use the Mojo around the home the heatsink can live on it.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  1,Should I buy mojo even if mostly I want to use it just as an amp, or I should rather find a similarly priced 'only' amp (not a DAC/amp)?

2,Also, I mostly listen to different electronic music genres, where layering is very complex, with many details even in bass region. I am sure, mojo would give enough details and refinement, but sometimes I like to EQ a little more (5-10%) bass. If I used a DAPs digital out, I couldn't apply this slight EQing, when I find it necessary. Would I miss it with mojo at all? 

 
The magic is within the DAC not the amp
 
In fact, (my own opinion) is that if Chord would use a more complex amp stage, it would actually lower the noise floor, and create an even better sound subjectively, though it would be a little more colored. 

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Did you think a £230 dynamic hp has better mids than a £1100 planar?

I know, price is not always significant when you compare two audio product, but this is quite a difference. (Not to mention the difference between dynamic and planar drivers.)

 
Depends on tastes. 
 
I do not like Planars at all, they sound rather rolled off, and are way too heavy.
 
I would use HD800 better than LCD 3 any day. If you are a fan or warm, thick sound, you can try HD650, which is great for warm, yet detailed signatures, and is somewhere comparable with planar signatures. 
 
There is also beyer sound, ultrasone sound, audio tehnica sound, akg sound, and grado (maybe) sound to take into account in under 1000 punds area, and I preffered some of these sounds many times over planar typical sound. I do not believe that planar characteristic sound is better on it's own, because most planar headphones have badly rolled off top end, and over-emphasized mids and bass, so you get a very non-neutral sound. 

 

[NZtechfreak]

Not all planars are rolled-off, for example the HE6, some are particularly rolled off though, like the PM1 and LCD-2c.

 

[vapman]

I disagree completely regarding planars and HD650. The Senn HD580, 600, 650 all have a sound that has nothing similar to planar sound IMO...
 
However please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what @bestula was trying to imply was that two headphones of that big a price difference can't be compared.
 
Then again, I've compared the VE Monk directly to the HD600, so anything's possible...
 
 

   
The magic is within the DAC not the amp
 
In fact, (my own opinion) is that if Chord would use a more complex amp stage, it would actually lower the noise floor, and create an even better sound subjectively, though it would be a little more colored. 

This is what I would love to see in a Mojo 2
My main appeal is it as a DAC for either portable or home use... the fact it has an amp is a bonus IMO.
Might end up getting it and stacking it, who knows.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I disagree completely regarding planars and HD650. The Senn HD580, 600, 650 all have a sound that has nothing similar to planar sound IMO...
 
However please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what @bestula was trying to imply was that two headphones of that big a price difference can't be compared.
 
Then again, I've compared the VE Monk directly to the HD600, so anything's possible...
 
 
This is what I would love to see in a Mojo 2
My main appeal is it as a DAC for either portable or home use... the fact it has an amp is a bonus IMO.
Might end up getting it and stacking it, who knows.

Dude! You would end up with a 3 devices stack 

 (transport + mojo DAC + amp).
 
I considered HD650 to be more detailed in both bass and mids when compared to pm2 for example. Both are way too rolled off in treble, to even bother look for how treble compares, but I think I liked the treble better on hd650 than on PM2. This being said, I did not really like HD5XX series. 
 
About planars, I do not like planar sound in particular, because I heared both dynamic that was much better than planar and vice versa, so I do not trust the technology behind more than I trust my ears. What I did enjoy though was the fact that Ultrasone sig dj, which uses dynamic driver and a pretty bad technology (on paper their technology for creating soundstage should also induce some noise) sounds about the best closed back headphone I tested to date. (I did not hear TH900 yet). 
 
EDIT:: I guess that we all do hear differently things, or prefer different things, or mentally search for other things in music, so this might be why we stick with very different signatures

 

[vapman]

You are clearly focused on treble, which I don't care very much about yet am still picky about. I'm more of a basshead! Head-Fi is a place to disagree on preferences together

 

 

[x RELIC x]

The magic is within the DAC not the amp

In fact, (my own opinion) is that if Chord would use a more complex amp stage, it would actually lower the noise floor, and create an even better sound subjectively, though it would be a little more colored. 

George, there is no amp. All you are hearing is the DAC. Read up about it from Rob Watts... this is for Hugo, but the Mojo basically shares the same configuration except for a minor change in transistors for the size of the Mojo.

From the Hugo thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/702787/chord-hugo/1830#post_10459450

"......

3. The lack of DAC RF OP noise means that the analogue section can be made radically simpler as the analogue filter requirements are smaller. Now in analogue terms, making it simpler, with everything else being constant, gives more transparency. You really can hear every solder joint, every passive component, and every active stage. Now Hugo has a single active stage - a very high performance op-amp with a discrete op-stage as a hybrid with a single global feedback path. This arrangement means that you have a single active stage, two resistors and two capacitors in the direct signal path - and that is it. Note: there is no headphone drive. Normal high performance DAC's have 3 op-amp stages, followed by a separate headphone amp. So to conclude - Hugo's analogue path is not a simple couple of op-amps chucked together, it is fundamentally simpler than all other headphone amp solutions.

This brings me on to my biggest annoyance - the claim that Hugo's amp is merely good. Firstly, no body can possibly know how good the headphone amp in Hugo is, because there is not a separate headphone stage as such - its integrated into the DAC function directly. You can't remove the sound of the headphone amp from the sound of the DAC, it's one and the same.

...."

You can about the differences with the Hugo in the interview with Rob in my review.

 

[mscott58]

Yeah I suggested back then, and found some suitable heatsinks on Maplin and linked them. I have a heatsink I salvaged from a motherboard. I wonder if no-one is really having much of a thermal shutting-off problem. Or folks think it impractical because it would be a hassle to remove the heatsink when using the Mojo portably. The thermal pad which would act as a thermal binding between heatsink and Mojo case would be fragile. (If there's another thermal bonding that sticks to the heatsink only, that would solve it.)

I think I am about to start using my Mojo. I think even if it does not suffer thermal shut-down, I will still fit it with a heatsink. It can only be a good thing to run it cooler (when charging too.) I know some audio components make a better sound when warm. However even with a heatsink, I think the Mojo will be warm enough.

What would really distress me is if my heatsink modding still did not prevent shut-down. There's the option of standing a fan near and blowing cool air through heatsink fins, for hot days! Something like a silent (Noctua) PC case fan running on low 5V.) As I plan to use the Mojo around the home the heatsink can live on it.

GB - I think you're safe as I've only read of a very, very small number of people having any thermal issues.

And think of all the great music you've missed in keeping your Mojo in a box! How many weeks has it been now?

Go for it!!!

 

[CareyPrice31]

Is EMI interference from iPhone normal with the Mojo?
 
I bought a better cable on eBay that is supposed to shield but I still have interference.

 

[Torq]

  Is EMI interference from iPhone normal with the Mojo?
 
I bought a better cable on eBay that is supposed to shield but I still have interference.

It'll depend somewhat on what band(s) your phone is using at the time, but yes, it's normal.  There's only so much any device can do to reject EMI.  Certainly not a fault with the Mojo.
 
Shielded, and even ferrite-bead equipped, cables can only do so much.
 
Airplane mode is the only way to ensure no such interference with any external DAC/amp used in close proximity/connected to any cellular/WiFi device.

 

[Duncan]

I haven't been in this thread for a while, I must say that I feel some people are too paranoid about the heat generated by the mojo...

In my triple stack all three components warm up, all I can say is that it is good as a hand warmer in the colder months, but definitely nothing to worry about - as mentioned countless times there are thermal cut off points built into the mojo for if something did go wrong, use and enjoy...

Dread to think what people would do if were heavily into PCs... I overclock my 5930k to 4.7ghz (both the CPU and the uncore / L3 cache) and it sits quite happily if rendering at 80-85c (running an AIO cooler, would obviously be better under LN2) yet if I run at stock and have it sitting idly it is in the low 20s... The thermal cap for that CPU is 105c so still well within tolerance... Similar principle for the mojo, even though you might feel it is toasty, guarantee it is still well under thermal limit!

...my PC saves on heating costs

 

[rkt31]

mojo was designed as headphone amp cum dac. to be used as a dac it needed a clean output of more than 2v. so ability to drive high impedance headphones had to be the part and parcel of it specially considering that the output is same for line out and headphones that's why the output impedance was also kept so low so that it can drive amps as well as headphones. also single output approach ensured greater transparency. so I would always like to pair mojo with 600ohm versions of Beyer dt880 and t1.

 

[betula]

I haven't been in this thread for a while, I must say that I feel some people are too paranoid about the heat generated by the mojo...

In my triple stack all three components warm up, all I can say is that it is good as a hand warmer in the colder months, but definitely nothing to worry about - as mentioned countless times there are thermal cut off points built into the mojo for if something did go wrong, use and enjoy...

Dread to think what people would do if were heavily into PCs... I overclock my 5930k to 4.7ghz (both the CPU and the uncore / L3 cache) and it sits quite happily if rendering at 80-85c (running an AIO cooler, would obviously be better under LN2) yet if I run at stock and have it sitting idly it is in the low 20s... The thermal cap for that CPU is 105c so still well within tolerance... Similar principle for the mojo, even though you might feel it is toasty, guarantee it is still well under thermal limit!

...my PC saves on heating costs

That is correct. Some headphone amps operate on 50-60 Celsius degrees, which is pretty hot, but completely normal.