Chord Mojo(1) DAC-amp ☆★►FAQ in 3rd post!◄★☆

[sandalaudio]

Just thinking out loud here..... I wonder if the smoother tuning in the Mojo would account for all of these differences you mention as Chord has said the Mojo is just as capable as the Hugo. I'm not trying to take anything away from the Hugo at all, but if the frequency response is simply slightly brighter that would explain a lot of these differences. For my tastes I love the tuning of the Mojo and I don't find the fidelity in the music to be lacking really. Timing and imaging are spot on so that leaves the frequency response. It would help if I actually compared the Hugo side by side with the Mojo. Thanks for sharing.

 
Output voltage is basically identical between the Hugo and Mojo (in fact Mojo can output higher voltage than Hugo, though a bit redundant because your ear drums or your headphones would have blown up by that point).
 
It really bugs me that a lot of people think Hugo is needed for inefficient headphones, just because Mojo looks smaller in size.
 
The main difference in the sound is that the Mojo starts to lose power in high frequency when it's connected to low impedance (e.g. 8 ohms) headphones.
So in actual fact Hugo and Mojo have more of a difference for low impedance IEMs rather than high impedance headphones.
 

 

[x RELIC x]

Output voltage is basically identical between the Hugo and Mojo (in fact Mojo can output higher voltage than Hugo, though a bit redundant because your ear drums or your headphones would have blown up by that point).

It really bugs me that a lot of people think Hugo is needed for inefficient headphones, just because Mojo looks smaller in size.

The main difference in the sound is that the Mojo starts to lose power in high frequency when it's connected to low impedance (e.g. 8 ohms) headphones.
So in actual fact Hugo and Mojo have more of a difference for low impedance IEMs rather than high impedance headphones.

Spoiler

Yeah, I'm well aware of the power in the Mojo. Sure the impedance also affects the frequency response, but I was really just thinking about what Rob was saying when he said he tuned the Mojo to be smoother than the Hugo given its intended portable use. Just thinking out loud that this may just be the largest difference compared to the Hugo, not so much the capability of the DAC.

 

[sandalaudio]

That also contributes (obviously) to the sound. I was really just thinking about what Rob was saying when he said he tuned the Mojo to be smoother than the Hugo given its intended portable use. Just thinking out loud that this may just be the largest difference compared to the Hugo, not so much the capability of the DAC.

 
Sorry I didn't mean it to be specifically about your comment but just in general about Hugo vs Mojo, that many people think Mojo is a weak little brother. The sound is quite different and I prefer the Hugo over Mojo in most cases.

 

[x RELIC x]

Sorry I didn't mean it to be specifically about your comment but just in general about Hugo vs Mojo, that many people think Mojo is a weak little brother. The sound is quite different and I prefer the Hugo over Mojo in most cases.

I've gotta hear the Hugo.

 

[435279]

   
The main difference in the sound is that the Mojo starts to lose power in high frequency when it's connected to low impedance (e.g. 8 ohms) headphones.
So in actual fact Hugo and Mojo have more of a difference for low impedance IEMs rather than high impedance headphones.
 
 
 

 
That explains why the Mojo and DN-2000J is a good pairing. The high end of these IEM's is very much calmed down, the result sounds great to me.

 

[rkt31]

tried some quad dsd sample on mojo played through foobar. foobar streamed quad dsd dop successfully to mojo albeit with much higher buffer. Hugo may be more open but I prefer mojo for headphones. mojo is very very clean and rounded. I would prefer it over Hugo for long listening sessions. Fiona joy signature solos us something you would like to listen endlessly on mojo it is so good.

 

[GreenBow]

  ok guys now i wanna buy the MOJO for my T90 , so all i need for the great experience is a T90+ MOJO , connect t90 to mojo , connect mojo to my computer and that's it ? i don't need anything else right ? 

 
 

also my motherboards has this feature called USB DAC-UP : Clean, low-noise power for your Digital-to-Analog Audio converter

you can see it here : GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1151 - GA-Z170X-Gaming GT (rev. 1.0) ( in the middle of the page)

View on www.gigabyte.com	Preview by Yahoo​

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[/td] [td=colspan:2] GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1151 - GA-Z170X-Ga... Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Certified Motherboard Supports 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processor Dual Channel DDR4, 4 DIMMs Intel® USB 3.1 with USB Type-C™ - T...


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so i should connect the mojo to the DAC UP usb port right ? will it help ?

 

and last question , my mother has a feature called AMP UP which you can see in that page , how does that effect my mojo ? does that even effect it ?

 

also there is a GAIN BOOST switch on the motherboard which in their page they say : 

Exclusive onboard 'Gain Boost' selector switches :

+ Select either standard 2.5x or high-amplification 6x mode. 

+ 6x mode is ideal for high impedance speakers and headphones

 

 

should i turn the GAIN BOOST on or off ? 


 
 

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I think the USB DAC-UP will be of benefit to DACs like the Meridian Explorer or the Audioquest Dragonfly. They take their power from the USB connection. Some people say that noise on those power rails causes problems for audio. I know that Rob Watts says noisy power rails from any source to charge the Mojo can cause charging noise.
 
Whereas the Mojo doesn't use power from the USB in the same connection as the audio connection. However it would not hurt to connect the Mojo data USB connection to USB DAC-UP. Also if the current rating is of 1A on the USB DAC-UP you could use it to charge and power your Mojo. A clean power source will be perfect.
 
GAIN BOOST - as far as I can work out this is an amplifier that connects between on board DAC and analogue outputs on the motherboard. It is to increase gain of signal from the normal amplifier on the motheroard. Different op-amp have different sound qualities.
 
However the Mojo will bypass this system.

 

[rkt31]

Hugo is used in speaker set up and it brings out the last bit of detail to the front without being clinical ever. I use Hugo for music on speakers and for movies in 2 channel mode.

 

[OmidelF]

   
I think the USB DAC-UP will be of benefit to DACs like the Meridian Explorer or the Audioquest Dragonfly. They take their power from the USB connection. Some people say that noise on those power rails causes problems for audio. I know that Rob Watts says noisy power rails from any source to charge the Mojo can cause charging noise.
 
However the Mojo doesn't use power from the USB in the same connection as the audio connection. However it would not hurt to connect the Mojo data USB connection to USB DAC-UP. Also if the current rating is of 1A on the USB DAC-UP you could use it to charge and power your Mojo. A clean power source will be perfect.
 
GAIN BOOST - as far as I can work out this is an amplifier that connects between on board DAC and analogue outputs on the motherboard. It is to increase gain of signal from the normal amplifier on the motheroard. Different op-amp have different sound qualities.
 
However the Mojo will bypass this system.

 
so mojo uses 2 usb slots right ? and i should connect both of them to the noiseless usb slots ? ( since there is 2 of them )

 

[x RELIC x]

so mojo uses 2 usb slots right ? and i should connect both of them to the noiseless usb slots ? ( since there is 2 of them )

One is for power only and one is for audio only. Anything with the least amount of noise in either is preferable.

 

[rkt31]

Hugo is better for speaker set up because it does not get hot even when charging unlike mojo which due to small body heats up quickly. in fact it heats up more when running on battery alone.

 

[buruma]

My Mojo - N5

 

[sandalaudio]

I've gotta hear the Hugo.

 

   
That explains why the Mojo and DN-2000J is a good pairing. The high end of these IEM's is very much calmed down, the result sounds great to me.

 
I guess what I meant to say is that Hugo seems to be more multi-purpose and "reference" type of DAC, while the Mojo does divide opinions. I love my Mojo, but a lot of people who tried it said it sounds too different to the other headphone amps they are familiar with.
 
That high frequency thing is only relevant for super low impedance earphones like your DN-2000J. It's part of the reason why many headphone manufacturers bother to make high impedance headphones like 600 ohms, so that it is much less affected by the amplifier driving characteristics, provided that enough voltage is available, which both Mojo and Hugo have plenty of.
 
The most amazing experience was when I tried using the Mojo as a line level DAC against dCS Debussy for a Focal Utopia setup. Mojo sounded pretty good and very much organic. It certainly didn't hint the slightest about the vast price difference involved...

 

[OmidelF]

One is for power only and one is for audio only. Anything with the least amount of noise in either is preferable.

so if i'm using it in home all the time ( since i have a open headphone ) is it ok to let in connected all the time ? so that it wouldn't run out of battery 

 

[Vaipec]

  I have noticed if I dont use Mojo fully charged for couple of days than it drains the battery which I find weired anyone else had similat experience.

Yes, it happened to me, when I left mojo for 4 days untouched was on blue light then tried to listen again no charge left.