[UNOE]

Here's my take on the Poly. Before I begin, I would just like to make it clear that I have nothing but respect for Chord's products. I do not have experience with the higher end stuff, but the Hugo and the Mojo have impressed me so much, and I absolutely love them. A couple of trained engineers I know who happen to be audio enthusiasts also have nothing but praise for Rob Watts and the stuff he says regarding his technology. I do not claim however, to be fully versed in the techy side of things.

I was really, really looking forward to the Poly, and i to be honest the pricing was quite a shock to me, and I was rather disappointed, because I could not see myself forking that money out for a transport which only works for the mojo. I do not doubt what John has said about the mojo, that it is technologically advanced and difficult to engineer. However, I personally (and probably many others who are unhappy about the price), find it difficult to justify that the technology in the poly is worth more than the technology of the mojo. Sure, it's probably also true that the Mojo could have been priced much higher, but the fact is that it isn't. 

I think the main reason why people are unhappy with the price, is this. The mojo was deliberately priced as such, by Chord, to make it a product for the masses. Mind you it's cheap only to us crazy fanatics, but nonetheless, it was extremely fairly priced, and we have nothing to complain about. Problem here, is that people who buy the mojo buy it expecting to have a reasonably priced solution to fantastic portable sound. Now, buying the poly requires them to not just top up, but more than double what they would pay in total, and the whole package is not at a price that most mojo owners are willing and able to pay. It almost feels like it's going against the whole idea of having amazing sound made affordable and reachable.

That said, I am in no way criticising chord, or any of their products, simply the pricing of the Poly. That's all. I've not completely put off the poly at this point, and will still be extremely interested should it really sound far better than any DAP on the market as a transport, but I find the pricing rather too high at this point. In any case, I still do hope the poly is a success and would still love to try it.

I also believe with their FPGA technology they have not fully tapped into sells of the masses that's they could. They could offer a FGPA powered off a phone, with processing power that is fraction of the mojo speed yet still have enough processing power to run circles around Dacs like DFR or any other dac on market besides the mojo.

 

[canali]

guys....the mojo playing tidal mqa...
did a screenshot...
 
is this what you mean by playing mojo direct it will play tidal mqa lighting up as green?
 
(as you can see, if you open and scroll to bottom i have my ifi micro hooked up
...but in its place would be the mojo)
 
update added by one other poster:
 
Originally Posted by harpo1 
 
You have to hover over the mojo selection and you'll see a settings cog, select it
then select exclusive mode on the next screen. (SEE PIC 2)
 
 

 

[Mojo ideas]

you feel better now?

I could quote John Ruskin about making things cheaper but seems pointless ... however this is simple, yes we could have made it cheaper ....there are cheap Chinese chips that have some of the functionality that we could have used. But Poly wasn't about making something to a low price with cababilities similar to competitors. Poly's development was about making Poly to have truly state of the art streaming and play back capabilities in a tiny package. To do that and give it seamless high speed virtually instantaneous performance does cost a little more than some of you would have expected but we think you all will appreciate we did the right thing and made the right choices when you get to use it.

 

[andiB]

I could quote John Ruskin about making things cheaper but seems pointless ... however this is simple, yes we could have made it cheaper ....there are cheap Chinese chips that have some of the functionality that we could have used. But Poly wasn't about making something to a low price with cababilities similar to competitors. Poly's development was about making Poly to have truly state of the art streaming and play back capabilities in a tiny package. To do that and give it seamless high speed virtually instantaneous performance does cost a little more than some of you would have expected but we think you all will appreciate we did the right thing and made the right choices when you get to use it.

Oh man, I hope march will come soon and I can experience it myself. I'm sure mojo and poly will be an almost unbeatable combo.

 

[jwbrent]

I don't know if you are referring to my post when I suggested that the pricing of the Mojo was almost a fluke. If so you misinterpret what I meant.
Simply that I am amazed and grateful that Chord were able and prepared to release such a high end product at such a relatively affordable price point.
I certainly meant no disrespect to Chord or the Mojo. One of my very favorite audio purchases.
If I could afford the Poly. I would buy it. I can't afford it at the moment. That is my problem. Not Chord's !!!

No, i don't believe it was your post.

 

[howdy]

I could quote John Ruskin about making things cheaper but seems pointless ... however this is simple, yes we could have made it cheaper ....there are cheap Chinese chips that have some of the functionality that we could have used. But Poly wasn't about making something to a low price with cababilities similar to competitors. Poly's development was about making Poly to have truly state of the art streaming and play back capabilities in a tiny package. To do that and give it seamless high speed virtually instantaneous performance does cost a little more than some of you would have expected but we think you all will appreciate we did the right thing and made the right choices when you get to use it.

I had high hopes for the Poly and it seems like a great product but with that price Ill pass and will be getting the Fiio X5iii which can do the same and its 230 dollars cheaper. I still have great love for the Mojo and wont get rid of it. Just please do not follow Astell and Kerns ridiculous prices.

 

[Angular Mo]

I power an Auris bluMe Bluetooth receiver with a battery pack and pass digital Toslink to the Mojo and play Tidal offline content from my iPhone.

I am expecting for USD 600, for a Poly, much better performance than what I enjoy today using what I already own.

 

[jwbrent]

  What i dont get is why though.  Chord are a British company the products are made in Britain so Chord will deal in £s how does Britain leaving the EU (which hasnt happened yet) mean the £ price in their own country goes up yet the $ price remains the same (if we compare to mojo pricing)

Prior to Brexit, the pound was worth around $1.60; after Brexit the pound has settled to around $1.22 as of a couple days ago. That is a 23.75% decrease in the value of the pound compared to the dollar. 499 pounds equates to $608.78, hence, the $599 retail in the US.
 
I'm not familiar with the political reasons why the citizenry chose to leave the EU, but one of the consequences of that decision is there money is worth less than it used to be. Chord has to pay its suppliers and its employees with a currency that has less value, so I'm sure Chord is dealing with price increases from its suppliers and greater employee expenses. That is why they had to raise the price of the Poly to 499 pounds. If Chord released the Poly last year before the Brexit vote, they would have kept the price the same as the Mojo, 399 pounds.
 
I hope this helps ...

 

[jamestux]

Prior to Brexit, the pound was worth around $1.60; after Brexit the pound has settled to around $1.22 as of a couple days ago. That is a 23.75% decrease in the value of the pound compared to the dollar. 499 pounds equates to $608.78, hence, the $599 retail in the US.

I'm not familiar with the political reasons why the citizenry chose to leave the EU, but one of the consequences of that decision is there money is worth less than it used to be. Chord has to pay its suppliers and its employees with a currency that has less value, so I'm sure Chord is dealing with price increases from its suppliers and greater employee expenses. That is why they had to raise the price of the Poly to 499 pounds. If Chord released the Poly last year before the Brexit vote, they would have kept the price the same as the Mojo, 399 pounds.

I hope this helps ...

The pound hasn't been 1.6 since 2014 so I'm not sure about that!

Plus our salaries haven't gone up as the pound has devalued versus other currencies so our in country Costa don't really change. Material costs are affected by exchange rates though!

However our £499 includes VAT (value added tax) at 20% so the US price is about 20% higher than the UK a the moment.

 

[cheznous]

Alas following the dumb decision to take the Brexit path (xenophobia seeming to be main reason) most things in the UK are going to be more expensive.
Even UK manufacturers tend to import components at higher cost.
Inflation then gives way to wage increases assuming full employment and so it goes.
Personal debt in the U.K. Is at a record high so basically best make most of things whilst we can.

Of course as dollars and Euro buy more pounds our overseas friends should see some benefits.
Thank God for music.

 

[psikey]

Alas following the dumb decision to take the Brexit path (xenophobia seeming to be main reason) most things in the UK are going to be more expensive.
 

 
Not dumb, just some of us value retaining some sense of British culture/identity even if in the short term it costs us more money, and like to think we can have some control over our population increase.
 
If the US did something like the EU does with South America as a "United America's" then its human nature that poorer people with hard lives would flock to North America on assumption of "Living The Dream" which would then saturate the US culture/support services. I'm all for a "One World All Equal" ambition but it takes time to create.
 
Also, facts are useful. Personal Debt is only at a record high on todays figures because the TUC has chosen to add Student loans into the mix while the official figures never have. It actually less if you take out student loans (not strictly considered as debt, rather a future tax liability on the student). Anyway, lets stick to music not drift into politics.

 

[t1tan1um]

I could quote John Ruskin about making things cheaper but seems pointless ... however this is simple, yes we could have made it cheaper ....there are cheap Chinese chips that have some of the functionality that we could have used. But Poly wasn't about making something to a low price with cababilities similar to competitors. Poly's development was about making Poly to have truly state of the art streaming and play back capabilities in a tiny package. To do that and give it seamless high speed virtually instantaneous performance does cost a little more than some of you would have expected but we think you all will appreciate we did the right thing and made the right choices when you get to use it.

"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."

 

[Mojo ideas]

"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."

Precisely!

 

[harpo1]

I think most that questioned the price did so comparing it to the price of the mojo for which it is an add on.  Surely you can understand their frustration when they see they have to pay more for an add on then the main component.  I have no beef in this fight since I won't be purchasing one but come on people look at it from both sides.

 

[psikey]

  I think most that questioned the price did so comparing it to the price of the mojo for which it is an add on.  Surely you can understand their frustration when they see they have to pay more for an add on then the main component.  I have no beef in this fight since I won't be purchasing one but come on people look at it from both sides.

 
But you don't have to buy it. So no problem really. We will never know mark-up on these over manufacturing costs. If Chord sell 1000 of these at £499 but would sell 10,000 of them at £399 only Chord can know if they made the right pricing choice.
 
This is a niche product, not a mass volume mega million selling iPhone type device who still get away with charging £500+  If I don't find the Poly features compelling enough to spend £499 then my Mojo/Z5compact combo will still do feeding me awesome sounding music.