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

[GreenBow]

That's interesting, cos I wouldn't have described it as cold, thin or metallic! Cymbals were quite natural sounding to my ears and had a natural decay. Please note that I have hearing issues in both ears above 5.5khz (confirmed via audiologist). It mucks with my ability to detect directional sound accurately, or hear conversations in crowds or with loud background noises, thankfully it doesn't impact heavily on my ability to hear human speech in one on one scenarios where the person is facing me directly and not speaking really quiet or mumbling. So, if I had normal hearing, perhaps I might have found it to be a bit cold/thin/metallic, I'll never know!

Any suggestions on my questions regarding cables and how to connect it up to my preamp etc?

I didn't say Mojo sounded thin, cold, or metallic because of cymbal sounds. I said it was because of vastly more detail with Mojo, and I previously had a mid-bass warm DAC. It took time to place it all and hear new details as whole sounds. It's possible you attuned to Mojo quicker than I because you came from an A&K dap.

I think there is a QED Profile J2P (jack to Phono). It is well worth getting a quality one if you can find it. I used the QED Reference Audio J2P, and it was worth the cost twice over. However that cable is obsolete now, but you may find one on Ebay.

I don't use my QED Ref Audio J2P much any more, since I don't use Mojo connected to a amplifier. It's a rare and quality jack-to-phone cable though, so I am hanging on to mine.

 

[surfgeorge]

Overall to my ears, when you use Mojo to drive a typical amplifier, you are just adding a veil to the sound.

In my case I was floored by the SQ I suddenly got out of my Karan Acoustics amplifier https://www.hifialex.com/post/2019/08/13/karan-acoustics-ka-i-180-mk2-review. I never knew what performance my system was capable of until I connected the Mojo... That‘s a £400 DAC paired with a £5000 amp....

 

[miketlse]

I can't access the head-fi FAQs page by Currawong, it's not available. Is this temporary or has the page been removed?

Probably no longer needed, because the FAQ is located in post 3

 

[vlach]

Has anyone used the Line out (3V) setting for the Mojo to connect it to a speaker amplifier for their home/desktop system?

I am curious if there is any double amping issues that are present with using the amp in the Mojo then fed to another speaker amp. Does the superior DAC in the Mojo offset the deficiencies in your opinion?

Thanks!

A speaker amp will always be double amping by virtue of the fact that it requires an analog signal at its input, and all DACs have an analog output stage. The upshot in the case of the Mojo is that you can eliminate yet another amplification stage called a 'preamp' by connecting it directly to a speaker amp but be VERY careful with the volume level because the Mojo essentially behaves like the volume control of a preamp in this scenario and you do NOT want to present the full 2V* signal to the amp and blow your speakers and ears! Set the Mojo volume level to the very lowest before making the connection to the amp and slowly make your way up.

Back to your question; i haven't tried it with a speaker amp but i tried it with one of my headphone amps. It turns out the sound is cleaner and more precise directly out of the Mojo - due to the removal of the extra amplification stage in the signal path. Some may find this method too 'lean' sounding and prefer the extra soundstage width and other characteristics that amps provide as opposed to listening straight out of a DAC.

*According to the measurements in this review, it is best to keep the Mojo output at 2V for a cleaner signal - which i understand to be 4 clicks down from 3V.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-chord-mojo-dac-and-amp.5120/

 

[vlach]

In my case I was floored by the SQ I suddenly got out of my Karan Acoustics amplifier https://www.hifialex.com/post/2019/08/13/karan-acoustics-ka-i-180-mk2-review. I never knew what performance my system was capable of until I connected the Mojo... That‘s a £400 DAC paired with a £5000 amp....

Makes sense since you are eliminating a preamp stage in the signal path. It's as pure as it gets.

 

[vlach]

[QUOTE="miketlse, post: 15618147, member: 451489"
Overall to my ears, when you use Mojo to drive a typical amplifier, you are just adding a veil to the sound.
[/QUOTE]

I don't understand your statement; an amplifier has to be driven by something and that something is an analog signal coming from either a preamp or a DAC with variable output level.

Edit: Perhaps you meant to say the Mojo adds a veil to the sound when driving an amplifier 'in comparison' to other DACs? If so which one?

 

[cuiter23]

I've gotten another response here that I thought I would share. It was posted by ClieOS.

"The problem with double amping is going from using one analog gain stage (*generally involves opamp of some sort or similar design) after another analog gain stage, so noise from the first gain stage gets amplified by the 2nd gain stage and thus you are not getting the best SNR when compared to amping an line-out signal (* =pure analog signal coming out of DAC chip). Mojo however doesn't actually has any analog gain stage - it has more or less a digital gain stage (*all done inside the DAC chip) follows by transistors buffer stage, then directly to the headphone. Thus it really doesn't have any issue with double amping since technically there is no first analog gain stage that you can double-amp to begin with. In simple term: double amping is not an issue with Mojo, whether you connect it to an headphone or to another amp. However, as @cuiter23 said, you want to set it to 2V (or just slightly less than 2V) so you won't likely to clip the amp it connected to. Also, Mojo's 3V 'line-out mode' is more of a convenient setting than an actual line-out mode. Mojo's amp-less implementation means that you get almost just as good a signal at 2V as it is at 3V so setting it either way is just fine."

This seems to be a good thing. Any comments?

 

[vlach]

Wait, how did you get a 3.5mm to optical? One is analog and the other is digital.

I think he meant this, it is optical at both ends. I use one between my DAP & Mojo.

 

[vlach]

I've gotten another response here that I thought I would share. It was posted by ClieOS.

"The problem with double amping is going from using one analog gain stage (*generally involves opamp of some sort or similar design) after another analog gain stage, so noise from the first gain stage gets amplified by the 2nd gain stage and thus you are not getting the best SNR when compared to amping an line-out signal (* =pure analog signal coming out of DAC chip). Mojo however doesn't actually has any analog gain stage - it has more or less a digital gain stage (*all done inside the DAC chip) follows by transistors buffer stage, then directly to the headphone. Thus it really doesn't have any issue with double amping since technically there is no first analog gain stage that you can double-amp to begin with. In simple term: double amping is not an issue with Mojo, whether you connect it to an headphone or to another amp. However, as @cuiter23 said, you want to set it to 2V (or just slightly less than 2V) so you won't likely to clip the amp it connected to. Also, Mojo's 3V 'line-out mode' is more of a convenient setting than an actual line-out mode. Mojo's amp-less implementation means that you get almost just as good a signal at 2V as it is at 3V so setting it either way is just fine."

This seems to be a good thing. Any comments?

Hmmm...i'm pretty sure i read somewhere from Rob Watts himself that the Mojo does have (1) analog gain stage after the digital conversion.

 

[cuiter23]

I think he meant this, it is optical at both ends. I use one between my DAP & Mojo.

Oh ok - mini toslink. Gotcha.

 

[dpastern]

I didn't say Mojo sounded thin, cold, or metallic because of cymbal sounds. I said it was because of vastly more detail with Mojo, and I previously had a mid-bass warm DAC. It took time to place it all and hear new details as whole sounds. It's possible you attuned to Mojo quicker than I because you came from an A&K dap.

I think there is a QED Profile J2P (jack to Phono). It is well worth getting a quality one if you can find it. I used the QED Reference Audio J2P, and it was worth the cost twice over. However that cable is obsolete now, but you may find one on Ebay.

I don't use my QED Ref Audio J2P much any more, since I don't use Mojo connected to a amplifier. It's a rare and quality jack-to-phone cable though, so I am hanging on to mine.

I didn't mean to imply that. I was simply referring to my listening sessions and cymbals didn't sound cold/thin/metallic to me, but rather natural. Cymbals are usually a good way of testing HF performance imho. I wouldn't say the Mojo had vastly more detail than the DAC inside my AK - it was subtle, not in your face, but more detail was there with careful listening. My hearing is impaired, so I don't pay too much attention to any listening tests that I do - I'm missing too much of the top end HF to really be accurate in my assessment imho.

I shall investigate the cable recommendations, but they are more than likely more expensive than I am prepared to pay. I simply do not believe in the cable snake oil mirage.

edit: the profile J2P is reasonably priced. The reference seems to be discontinued, a quick google didn't find much on it.

I am very confused as to the options of using the Mojo as a DAC for my SACD player via COAX. I have no idea what the difference is between what looks like a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a 3.5mm coax jack, and whether mono or stereo is OK at the Mojo end. I have no real idea what SPDIF is, I guess I'll google it to try and understand it better. I didn't expect it to be so difficult to get the "right" cable to do the job.

I think he meant this, it is optical at both ends. I use one between my DAP & Mojo.

Yeah that's what it looks like.

Oh ok - mini toslink. Gotcha.

I don't know all the fancy names, sorry. It looks like a 3.5mm headphone cable at one end, so I call it 3.5mm. *shrugs*.

 

[cuiter23]

I didn't mean to imply that. I was simply referring to my listening sessions and cymbals didn't sound cold/thin/metallic to me, but rather natural. Cymbals are usually a good way of testing HF performance imho. I wouldn't say the Mojo had vastly more detail than the DAC inside my AK - it was subtle, not in your face, but more detail was there with careful listening. My hearing is impaired, so I don't pay too much attention to any listening tests that I do - I'm missing too much of the top end HF to really be accurate in my assessment imho.

I shall investigate the cable recommendations, but they are more than likely more expensive than I am prepared to pay. I simply do not believe in the cable snake oil mirage.



Yeah that's what it looks like.



I don't know all the fancy names, sorry. It looks like a 3.5mm headphone cable at one end, so I call it 3.5mm. *shrugs*.

The mojo was superior to my AK240. And I prefer the 240 over the SP1000. Don’t think you can find a DAP that rivals the mojo.

 

[vlach]

The mojo was superior to my AK240. And I prefer the 240 over the SP1000. Don’t think you can find a DAP that rivals the mojo.

Agreed. Compared to my AK120ll, the Mojo signature is thicker, a little warmer, richer and smoother. Every time i go back to the AK the sound (although very detailed) is leaner and the soundstage is slightly narrower.
I wouldn't describe these differences as dramatic but they are definitely noticeable.

 

[dpastern]

The mojo was superior to my AK240. And I prefer the 240 over the SP1000. Don’t think you can find a DAP that rivals the mojo.

I didn't know what the SP1000 is, so had to google it. Any reason for preferring the old AK240 over the new flagship SP1000? I never got a chance to listen to the AK240, so I'm not sure how it compares to my AK120 II, but I suspect they're probably quite close in sound. To be fair to DAPs, their DAC prices are probably magnitudes lower than the Mojo's cost, so it's a bit of an unfair comparison imho.

Agreed. Compared to my AK120ll, the Mojo signature is thicker, a little warmer, richer and smoother. Every time i go back to the AK the sound (although very detailed) is leaner and the soundstage is slightly narrower.
I wouldn't describe these differences as dramatic but they are definitely noticeable.

Yes, I would concur with what you're said about the Mojo sound (vs the AK120 II). That was my impressions too, but only after a short 45 minutes demo in store. The mojo is most certainly better.

 

[cuiter23]

I didn't know what the SP1000 is, so had to google it. Any reason for preferring the old AK240 over the new flagship SP1000? I never got a chance to listen to the AK240, so I'm not sure how it compares to my AK120 II, but I suspect they're probably quite close in sound. To be fair to DAPs, their DAC prices are probably magnitudes lower than the Mojo's cost, so it's a bit of an unfair comparison imho.



Yes, I would concur with what you're said about the Mojo sound (vs the AK120 II). That was my impressions too, but only after a short 45 minutes demo in store. The mojo is most certainly better.

I went to two different AK dealers in Australia when I studied there. Had some extensive listening sessions and concluded the the SP1000 is way too sterile sounding. For its time, the AK240 was known to be too clinical, but compared to the SP1000 the AK240 has a sweetness to it that is lacking in the SP1000. Of course, but players are very detailed perhaps the SP1000 edging it out by a close margin. Both dealers agreed with my findings and said that the AK240 is truly a gem even today. The price of the 240s on the used market makes it a steal.

Gone on a bit of a tangent there. Back to the Mojo discussion.