[prismstorm]

  I received my mojo today, here is my feedback:
 
I purchased a pair of Shure SE846 2 weeks ago. It was my first pair of high end iem (my other gear is Westone UM1, Q701 and SR325i).
 
Until now I was using the Shure on my Macbook pro retina 13 and on my Iphone 5s. After the first wow reaction I felt listening through them was actually very weird. After short listening sessions (30 min), I was really feeling sick and kinda nauseous and needed to pull them out from my ears. I don't know if it was due to the bass or something else but I was quite disappointed given the money I spent. I red the SE846 forums and didn't read any feedback expressing such feeling so I assume the problem was with me...
 
Anyhow, with the mojo, the listening is totally different. There is of course a little more details, more bass impact, better soundstage and clarity, but the biggest and most obvious difference to me is the "lightness" of the sound. The SE846 are now a pleasure to listen and are not tiring anymore at all.
 
I thought it may a psychologic feeling at first so I asked my fiancee to do a blind test between the mojo and macbook pro. I was quite anxious since in my experience blind tests often fail. However, I'm happy to say that for the five tests (one track is listened during 1 min on each device), she has been able to recognize the mojo over the mbp quite immediately. She found more clarity on the mojo but also felt physical discomfort with the macbook pro.
 
I'm more than happy with my purchase and also recommend to anybody who is listening the Shure on iphone or macbook pro to try them on something else. 

 
I also got the sick and nauseous feeling for nearly a month when I got my SE846, but after getting accustomed to them through brief, controlled listening sessions I feel fine now listening to it. You just need to listen to it more and get used to the sound ("brain burn in"). I was upgrading from a Westone 4R and the sound was much more lively, visceral and mid-forward, all these contributed to an overwhelming fullness of sound flowing into my ears and I guess I got dizzy and nauseous from that initially, until I stuck with it and after a month of use it got way better. I now have the same nauseous, overwhelmed feeling listening to my new Laylas because with the comply tips they sound too 3D, warm and full. 
 

 
this is one of my first posts here, but I'm a long time lurker etc, anyway I've literally tried so many headphone and DAC combos, you name it I've probably bought it and tried it. I was convinced after buying the SE846 I had found heaven, so much so that the output from a Macbook pro (which has a decent DAC built in) was as (nearly) good as the Dragonfly, Meridian, Oppo, B&O A200p, etc etc... the difference was minimal. I bought the Mojo last week and can safely say this one is a keeper, finally found a combo that makes a discernible difference to my listening thats worth the extra hassle
 
The only problem I would say, is with badly produced music, it can make instruments become part of the soundstage that distract me from how I remember it, there's a few tracks that now have what was once distant background guitar, made up front and loud.. this I can forgive for the pure pleasure of hearing some favs made even more rich and detailed that it adds to my original pleasure!
 
and all this happened just as I had resigned myself to save for the Chord Hugo to find the difference I was looking for... 
 
Thank you Chord!

 
I tried my SE846 out of a Mojo connected to an AK120ii and did not find it more pleasant than simply playing it out of the DAP alone. I talked with my shop and think that due to the 846 having such a low impedance and not needing much power to drive, the Mojo simply made it way too brutal and powerful. Everything felt like it has too much energy, sounds were harsh, grazing, and overly bright. Sibilance was very apparent and more noticeable than straight out of the 120ii. I was on the blue filter and have not tried black filters with the Mojo.   
 
My very brief impressions with the Layla out of Mojo was positive however, the bass tightened and moved faster, and improved the clarity and air. I think the Mojo has quite a clean, clear, hi-fi sound, and therefore pairs better with more warm, lush iems than bright ones. 

 

[audionewbi]

I find that Mojo sounds its best at higher volume, anything below red sounds a little lean.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[mscott58]

I find that Mojo sounds its best at higher volume, anything below red sounds a little lean.

Anyone else experience this?

Probably depends on what you're driving. With my K10's I almost never go below red-red. I've been told I like it loud though (at least I think that's what people are saying - can't usually hear them). Cheers 

 

[audionewbi]

Probably depends on what you're driving. With my K10's I almost never go below red-red. I've been told I like it loud though (at least I think that's what people are saying - can't usually hear them). Cheers 

I like to listen at low volumes too but I feel to get the best of mojo I have to increase the sound. That is common across all gears I have paired with mojo.

Nothing bad, it still great at low volume.

 

[mscott58]

I like to listen at low volumes too but I feel to get the best of mojo I have to increase the sound. That is common across all gears I have paired with mojo.

Nothing bad, it still great at low volume.

What?!? Can't hear you? 

 

[georgelai57]

I find that Mojo sounds its best at higher volume, anything below red sounds a little lean.
Red? I can never quite understand the colors of the two volume buttons

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Paul Meakin]

  Probably depends on what you're driving. With my K10's I almost never go below red-red.  

 
Same for me with TH-900s. They sound really nice at low sound levels, especially with some old school Jazz that works well late at night.

 

[rmillerx]

Ak 100 mk2 - check
Mojo - check (shipped, receiving this week)
Next question: sites to buy hires, well-mastered Jazz, classical, rock?

 

[rmillerx]

Ak 100 mk2 - check
Mojo - check (shipped, receiving this week)
Next question: sites to buy hires, well-mastered Jazz, classical, rock?

To feed my mojo....

 

[Paul Meakin]

Ak 100 mk2 - check
Mojo - check (shipped, receiving this week)
Next question: sites to buy hires, well-mastered Jazz, classical, rock?

 
Qobuz have some good stuff; presumably their Classical is good as well although I very rarely listen to it.
 
Naim Jazz is usually immaculately recorded, whether hi-res or not. 

 

[oliverpool]

Has anyone tried DSD output into the Chord Mojo on a iphone with IOS 9.1?  I cannot seem to get DSD to work using onkyo HF player.  I get loud distortion/hiss with very low level sound.  I unfortuntely only have phones with ios 9.1.  It seems like ios 9.1 has broken DSD PoM on the iphones?

 

[Clemmaster]

Has anyone tried DSD output into the Chord Mojo on a iphone with IOS 9.1?  I cannot seem to get DSD to work using onkyo HF player.  I get loud distortion/hiss with very low level sound.  I unfortuntely only have phones with ios 9.1.  It seems like ios 9.1 has broken DSD PoM on the iphones?

That's what DSD is...

 

[Torq]

   
<snip>
 
 
I tried my SE846 out of a Mojo connected to an AK120ii and did not find it more pleasant than simply playing it out of the DAP alone. I talked with my shop and think that due to the 846 having such a low impedance and not needing much power to drive, the Mojo simply made it way too brutal and powerful. Everything felt like it has too much energy, sounds were harsh, grazing, and overly bright. Sibilance was very apparent and more noticeable than straight out of the 120ii. I was on the blue filter and have not tried black filters with the Mojo.   

 
As an SE846 user and prospective Mojo owner, that's a bit worrying.
 
I personally don't care very much for the SE846 driven directly by any of the AK players.  They sound wonderful fed through my RSA Intruder, or using the optical out of my AK120 into my ALO Audio International+ OE, as well as through my other headphone amps, but straight out of the AK120 they just don't work for me at all.  This is one of the principal reasons I was interested in the Mojo.
 
I'll still acquire one and give it a proper listen, but it's going to need to work well with the SE846 and several other sets of cans in order to stick around - since the new ALO I just got is doing VERY nicely!

 

[spook76]

I also got the sick and nauseous feeling for nearly a month when I got my SE846, but after getting accustomed to them through brief, controlled listening sessions I feel fine now listening to it. You just need to listen to it more and get used to the sound ("brain burn in"). I was upgrading from a Westone 4R and the sound was much more lively, visceral and mid-forward, all these contributed to an overwhelming fullness of sound flowing into my ears and I guess I got dizzy and nauseous from that initially, until I stuck with it and after a month of use it got way better. I now have the same nauseous, overwhelmed feeling listening to my new Laylas because with the comply tips they sound too 3D, warm and full. 


I tried my SE846 out of a Mojo connected to an AK120ii and did not find it more pleasant than simply playing it out of the DAP alone. I talked with my shop and think that due to the 846 having such a low impedance and not needing much power to drive, the Mojo simply made it way too brutal and powerful. Everything felt like it has too much energy, sounds were harsh, grazing, and overly bright. Sibilance was very apparent and more noticeable than straight out of the 120ii. I was on the blue filter and have not tried black filters with the Mojo.   

My very brief impressions with the Layla out of Mojo was positive however, the bass tightened and moved faster, and improved the clarity and air. I think the Mojo has quite a clean, clear, hi-fi sound, and therefore pairs better with more warm, lush iems than bright ones. 

We all perceive sound differently. I have owned the SE846 since August of 2013 and even with the white filter and silver litz cables I would never call them bright. As for amping them I think the Shure's are eminently upgradable.

I have used the RSA Lighting, RSA Intruder and now the Mojo and each step of the way the sound has improved. Personally, I find the SE846 and Mojo combination fantastic. If anyone has owned or listened to the RSA Lightning and Intruder (utilizing the USB DAC) the Mojo gives the clarity of the Lightning with a greater soundstage than the Intruder with greater musicality all without fatigue. Those attributes are pure magic.

 

[headwhacker]

I find that Mojo sounds its best at higher volume, anything below red sounds a little lean.

Anyone else experience this?

 
Well, that is always true for all audio gear. The louder one always tend to sound the better. You can hear whisper quiet background sound better at louder volume which gives the impression that it sounded better. 
 
That's why most impressions/comparisons between gears are flawed because not a lot of people do volume-matched comparisons.