[Solarium]

 
I'm confused, based on listening to spotify premium and games, you sure you don't mean 192 kbs or kilobits per second which is way below even cd sound quality at 44khz.  MP3 and lossless file sample rates are not the same.  And why would you ever spring for a Mojo to listen to mp3, just curious?

You do bring up a point. I tried Tidal maybe 1.5-2 years ago and it was disappointing at that time, not the audio quality but the user interface, song selection, community. I read that they have massively improved by now, maybe I'll give them another shot. Even 320 bitrate mp3's on Spotify, as much as it is super convenient to use and there's a lot of user created content/playlists, is probably not cutting it now that I have better audio equipment. There should be a pretty big difference switching to lossless now.

 

[roladyzator]

I would much rather focus on the mastering quality than file compression.
 
MP3 320k, or better - V0 VBR (since it relies more on the psychoacoustic modelling) are transparent for most people.
This means most people cannot detect differences between them and the uncompressed sources.
 
This is because MP3 and the newer AAC use psychoacoustic model to detect situation during which masking would occur.
To put it shortly - a louder sound with wide spectrum would mask softer sounds in the same band.
A loud sound following a quiet one will make the first one inadubile.
 
More info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_masking
 
Psychoacoustic models divide the sound into multiple bands, trying to mimic the critical bands in our auditory system.
Then they detect the masking and remove information which we would not hear anyway.
The removing is done via decreasing their resolution (by quantizing the MDCT coefficients), e.g. the number of bits to describe the sound level of a given frequency in a given critical band.
 
Decreasing resolution is more or less decreasing the SNR at that specific frequency, in that specific time slot in the recording by 6dB for a lost bit.
 
Then the MDCT coefficients are coded statistically and using RLE, similar to what you have in an ordinary file compression.
File compression does not work well with .wav files, but the numerical data of quantised MDCT coefficients can be aligned in such a way so that the efficient coding is possible.
 
So while 256kbps or 320kbps seem like a lot of information missing from 1.4mbps on CD, it does not mean that you only keep ~20% of the original information.
 
The AAC and recently developed OPUS codecs have even better psychoacoustic modelling, achieving transparency at lower bitrates than MP3s.
 
I can't remember where to find it, but there was a whitepaper where both causual listeners and audiophiles were to discern between lossless and high quality MP3s on a high-end system.
 
Only one person could reliably discern MP3 from lossless, and he was tested to have severe hearing deficiencies. It turned out his brain's psychoacoustics were not working according to the model because of that.

 

[snejk]

  I can't remember where to find it, but there was a whitepaper where both causual listeners and audiophiles were to discern between lossless and high quality MP3s on a high-end system.
 
Only one person could reliably discern MP3 from lossless, and he was tested to have severe hearing deficiencies. It turned out his brain's psychoacoustics were not working according to the model because of that.

 
This is how it'll be:
 
- "There's no need going above high quality mp3 as you can't hear a difference"
- "Well yeah I can hear a difference, you must have bad hearing"
- "No YOU have bad hearing" <points to whitepaper>
- "No YOU have bad hearing"
- "No YOU have bad hearing"
continues infinitely
 
On topic: I received my Mojo a couple of days ago and couldn't be happier. Synergy with SE846 is perfect for my ears!
 

 

[Toolman]

 

  This is how it'll be:
 
- "There's no need going above high quality mp3 as you can't hear a difference"
- "Well yeah I can hear a difference, you must have bad hearing"
- "No YOU have bad hearing" <points to whitepaper>
- "No YOU have bad hearing"
- "No YOU have bad hearing"
continues infinitely
 
On topic: I received my Mojo a couple of days ago and couldn't be happier. Synergy with SE846 is perfect for my ears!
 

 
LoL...the end of Hi-Res music as we knew it. Goodbye my AK240 & AK380, hello my iPod Touch

By the same logic, any normal human being should be able to survive in under $1,000 per month...and if you are a rich millionaire, you must be a criminal doing all sorts of illegal stuff?

 

[rkt31]

even without jitterbugs I don't hear any noise with mojo. using jitterbug definitely improved the sq. with jitterbug imho sound through USB is better than coaxial of fiio x3 . the difference though minor but it is there. sound via USB is more fluid and open. as per chord, via USB the clock of mojo times the signal instead of source, may be that is the reason sound via USB is more fluid. for me using more jitterbugs further improved the sound as also it was in the case of using small ferrite cores on USB cable.

 

[GoodEnoughGear]

IMO the transducers will play a big part.
 
To cut a long story short, I was going back and forth between UAPP+MP3 (LAME Extreme) and JRiver+FLAC both via Mojo to Andromeda. Prior to Andromeda I could not tell a difference at all. With Andromeda the difference was surprisingly evident. I actually noticed it by mistake as I wasn't listening for that at all and had forgotten I had MP3 on the phone. Surprised the hell out of me.
 
Andromeda is particularly good at treble...maybe this is where the key differentiation space is.

 

[Soundizer]

I received the eBay ordered (Micro USB to Lightning Cable) for 49.99 USD.

Only took about 10days from purchasing to arrive here in the UK to my address from China (no tracking number).

Link:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/252476440532?_mwBanner=1





It seems quite well built and i like the white/silver cosmetic appearance. Good strurdy connection to both Mojo and iPhone. A nice angled connection to minimise sticking out.

Sounds good to me, but I have no other comparison to draw upon regarding cable between iPhone and Mojo.

Here are photos:

 

[Soundizer]

I received some feedback from Chord Support and they have praise for the Jiiterbug in conjunction with the Mojo. Email from Chord UK.

I purchased as below both the Audioquest Jitterbug and Audioquest Forrest USB/Micro USB cable - both designed to reduce Jitter.

£39 for Jitterbug and £30 for the Forest Cable.

 

[Mojo ideas]

I received some feedback from Chord Support and they have praise for the Jiiterbug in conjunction with the Mojo. Email from Chord UK.

I purchased as below both the Audioquest Jitterbug and Audioquest Forrest USB/Micro USB cable - both designed to reduce Jitter.

£39 for Jitterbug and £30 for the Forest Cable.

I think I would just like to say that all chord Dacs are inherently imuned to any form of Jitter in any case due to the topology of Rob's design so it's likely that it's having some other effect other than jitter reduction.

 

[Pink Freud]

Hello everybody!! I hear clicks and pops with the mojo connected to my laptop (surface pro 4). Do you think that it is a mojo related problem (I read it could be due to a problem in the power supply) or is it due to the computer?
Thanks,
Andrea

 

[music4mhell]

  Hello everybody!! I hear clicks and pops with the mojo connected to my laptop (surface pro 4). Do you think that it is a mojo related problem (I read it could be due to a problem in the power supply) or is it due to the computer?
Thanks,
Andrea

That clicks and Pops you hear only once while connecting to PC or it is through out ?

 

[Pink Freud]

  That clicks and Pops you hear only once while connecting to PC or it is through out ?

Hi, not when I connect the pc-I hear them (randomly) all the time.
Andrea

 

[music4mhell]

 

  That clicks and Pops you hear only once while connecting to PC or it is through out ?

Hi, not when I connect the pc-I hear them all the time.
Andrea

Ohk, please share which USB cable do you use and length ?

 

[Pink Freud]

  Ohk, please share which USB cable do you use and length ?

I use this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013G4EDKY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
But if I remember well It happened also with the chord supplied cable.
Andrea

 

[Soundizer]

I received some feedback from Chord Support and they have praise for the Jiiterbug in conjunction with the Mojo. Email from Chord UK.

I purchased as below both the Audioquest Jitterbug and Audioquest Forrest USB/Micro USB cable - both designed to reduce Jitter.

£39 for Jitterbug and £30 for the Forest Cable.

I think I would just like to say that all chord Dacs are inherently imuned to any form of Jitter in any case due to the topology of Rob's design so it's likely that it's having some other effect other than jitter reduction.

Quote from Chord email to me:
"We do put a lot of attention into removing Jitter, as we reclock everything that comes into our DACs. But Rob Watts, the guy who designs this technology does believe that the Jitter Bug does make it sound better!"