[analogmusic]

I don't like to talk about companies, but you can safely assume that (outside of the FGPA Chord DAC) it is one of the well regarded DAC in the world
 
Rob Watts is really correct about not using off the shelf DAC chips. I am even more convinced now after doing this test.
 
Now some could say there isn't a night and day difference, but to me there is. My friend who owns that DAC says there isn't that much difference to him, but to me that DAC sounds mechanical and digital while sounding superficially brighter, and the Hugo sounds musical and analog like to me.
 
I can easily see a situation where some people could mistake the superficial brightness in the other DAC to sound better, but they would be wrong.
 
My name here is analog music, and I love Vinyl, and the Hugo has allowed me to wishing that I could listen to all my music on Vinyl as nowadays it is just too expensive, and not readily available.
 
Beside Hugo + Tidal = musical heaven.

 

[stevemiddie]

 
I don't like to talk about companies, but you can safely assume that (outside of the FGPA Chord DAC) it is one of the well regarded DAC in the world
 
Rob Watts is really correct about not using off the shelf DAC chips.
 
Now some could say there isn't a night and day difference, but to me there is. My friend who owns that DAC says there isn't that much difference to him, but to me that DAC sounds mechanical and digital while sounding superficially brighter, and the Hugo sounds musical and analog like to me.

 
I believe that Naim use the PCM 1704 in some of their superb CD players. 

 

[analogmusic]

I own a Naim DAC V1, and that is quite a nice DAC that does not use the PCM 1704.
 
I do like that DAC, and as it has multiple COAX and Optical inputs, I find is very useful for my A/V rig
 
And it is a musical DAC !

 

[analogmusic]

I may have to take back some of my words, the other DAC probably needed some time to warm up, and now sounds quite good to me.
 
Funny how a little warm up changes the sound completely.

 

[Ra97oR]

Happy to report back using a "slightly" more expensive Audioquest Forest 0.75m optical cable works with 192kHz very well. Zero stutter or glitches.
 
I much prefer this setup compared to using USB on my PC setup. While any sound improvement can be disgraded as placebo but the ability to bypass the 0.5sec mute and the buggy ASIO driver is a huge real advantage.
With optical, I no longer have to miss mail alerts or the need to trick the system by leaving a music player on pause. No sound is missed, even in music playback with ASIO. 0.5sec mute is only present when switching sample rate, unlike over USB where it mutes whenever you skip a song even with the same sample rate.

 

[Marat Sar]

Using the c5 with the mojo, how much detail/clarity lose to gain extra soundstage? And how is the overall sound with the two together?

 
I would say there is no detail/clarity loss. The c5 soundstage layers instruments further away from each other and with more headpspace between them the effect actually adds to observability. The detail is at the absolute maximum my years can discern. With the Laylas the sound together is extremely 3d and extremely detailed. I have trouble even imagining a better sound, but ergonomics-wise - it's untransportable. Especially with the c5-s quirky (bad) volume pot.

 

[dryvadeum]

Anyone here using the mojo with HD650s? I got to briefly hear the combo the other day and it sounded really laid back and smooth - the kind of sound I'm looking for. Just want to make sure the mojo can sufficiently drive them before I buy them so would like to hear some experiences.

 

[inthere]

Using my Mojo with the C5 and iPad and there definitely seems to be a clarity loss with my Ether C's........things seem much clearer just coming directly from the Mojo.
 
I love my C5 but Mojo is the cleaner sound.

 

[435279]

Anyone here using the mojo with HD650s? I got to briefly hear the combo the other day and it sounded really laid back and smooth - the kind of sound I'm looking for. Just want to make sure the mojo can sufficiently drive them before I buy them so would like to hear some experiences.

 
Yes that combo sounds exactly as you describe an excellent pairing for me anyway.
 
My other high-end headphones, the OPPO PM-3 don't sound great with the Mojo to me. I prefer the sound of the PM-3's driven straight from my X5ii.

 

[Starcruncher]

Anyone here using the mojo with HD650s? I got to briefly hear the combo the other day and it sounded really laid back and smooth - the kind of sound I'm looking for. Just want to make sure the mojo can sufficiently drive them before I buy them so would like to hear some experiences.

 
 

   
Yes that combo sounds exactly as you describe an excellent pairing for me anyway.
 
My other high-end headphones, the OPPO PM-3 don't sound great with the Mojo to me. I prefer the sound of the PM-3's driven straight from my X5ii.

Interesting. My mileage definitely varies. I have the HD600's and do not find the Mojo to be a good match. The power is definitely there, but for some reason, the headphones sound thin and underwhelming. The PM-3's, on the other hand, sound fantastic to me. Very full and detailed. My main setup for the PM-3's for this is all FLAC files, iPhone>Onkyo>Mojo. For the 600's it's coming from my Macbook Pro>Audirvana>Mojo.
 
To each their own, of course. But on a transatlantic flight, seemingly full of wailing children, the Mojo and PM-3 pairing has earned some serious savior points.

 

[KT66]

I find the HD600 to have great synergy with the Mojo.
HD600 only sounds thin if the amp is underpowered, something that the Mojo is not, or the music is poorly mastered in the first place.

 

[inthere]

My Ether C's sound sensational with Mojo, I bought it 5 minutes after hearing the pairing at Headroom London. The Mojo also sounds awesome with my EL-8C, my Audioquest Nighthawk, my Oppo PM-1, my HE-500, and my TH600. In fact, I have yet to find any headphone that sounds bad with the Mojo.
 
 Give me time though, I have 40+ headphones. Cover me, I'm going in..........

 

[waynes world]

My Ether C's sound sensational with Mojo, I bought it 5 minutes after hearing the pairing at Headroom London. The Mojo also sounds awesome with my EL-8C, my Audioquest Nighthawk, my Oppo PM-1, my HE-500, and my TH600. In fact, I have yet to find any headphone that sounds bad with the Mojo.

 Give me time though, I have 40+ headphones. Cover me, I'm going in..........

Something tells me you're gonna make it back out alive (and with a big smile on your face)!

 

[electrical64]

As a desktop amp/dac used mini tosh link from iMac
Tha result was a vast improvement as you would expect. As the headphone out on my 2012 iMac is pathetic. Line out to my system was a great improvement in detail , but a bit thin/ lacking in bass.
But I purchased the mojo to use with my phone .
Paid for onlkyo hd and loaded various samples,
but I can't hear any improvement above 44hz which I believe is standard cd.? I think the sound engineer makes a far greater difference to the end product than rubbish dressed up in high res crap.
3 of us have carried out blind tests with the mojo and phone set as near as possible to the same volume and the results were inconclusive.
Yes I can turn up the volume on the mojo and it drives my hd650s to quite astonishing levels without a trace of distortion. Reminds me of my old Naim - Linn setup
Yes I agree about possible can upgrade in the future but I'm more than happy with 650s for now
I think if Apple upped the Amp output then sales of external amp/ dacs would crash.

 

[GreenBow]

  Happy to report back using a "slightly" more expensive Audioquest Forest 0.75m optical cable works with 192kHz very well. Zero stutter or glitches.
 
I much prefer this setup compared to using USB on my PC setup. While any sound improvement can be disgraded as placebo but the ability to bypass the 0.5sec mute and the buggy ASIO driver is a huge real advantage.
With optical, I no longer have to miss mail alerts or the need to trick the system by leaving a music player on pause. No sound is missed, even in music playback with ASIO. 0.5sec mute is only present when switching sample rate, unlike over USB where it mutes whenever you skip a song even with the same sample rate.

 
Do you mean use optical connection to PC? That cures all.
 
If so I am confused by the clocking. 'I think', according to Chord the Mojo does iso-asynchronous clocking on USB. I am not sure what happens accross the optical connection. I am sure I read that somehow the other Mojo digital inputs are somehow asynchronous.
 
Just worried because the general idea on DACs in general says use asynchronous. Generally to avoid other optical connections because they are not clocked by the DAC.