[surfgeorge]

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!

Yes, I have done it and the result was so good that I replaced the DAC ( I had paid $3000 for it in year 2000) in my home stereo shortly afterwards with a CHORD 2Qute (Hugo 1 DAC w/o HP Amp). Rob explained it, even a “real“ line out output of a DAC needs some circuit after the DAC section and the Mojo Amp is so minimalistic and clean that it is as good as line out. You can also use any volume setting, the 3V is just a preset, most Stereo amplifiers are actually designed for a 2V input, that is 5 clicks down from the preset 3V if I remember correctly.

 

[cuiter23]

Yes, I have done it and the result was so good that I replaced the DAC ( I had paid $3000 for it in year 2000) in my home stereo shortly afterwards with a CHORD 2Qute (Hugo 1 DAC w/o HP Amp). Rob explained it, even a “real“ line out output of a DAC needs some circuit after the DAC section and the Mojo Amp is so minimalistic and clean that it is as good as line out. You can also use any volume setting, the 3V is just a preset, most Stereo amplifiers are actually designed for a 2V input, that is 5 clicks down from the preset 3V if I remember correctly.

Thank you for the detailed answer. I couldn’t have asked for a clearer, more thought-out response. Thank you.

 

[dpastern]

Have just bought a Chord mojo - looking at getting a case, how does this compare to the official Chord case?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MITER-L...rafted-Cover-Patented-Stand-Case/174275271084

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

Any gotchas for usage? It seems pretty simple to use.

Also, from what I understand, only the coax input supports DSD playback, optical defaults to 24/192 for DSD files, am I correctly understanding this? If this is the case, what cable (3.5mm to coax input) would you guys recommend, that has good build quality, good sound quality, and doesn't break the bank?

 

[cuiter23]

Have just bought a Chord mojo - looking at getting a case, how does this compare to the official Chord case?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MITER-L...rafted-Cover-Patented-Stand-Case/174275271084

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

Any gotchas for usage? It seems pretty simple to use.

Also, from what I understand, only the coax input supports DSD playback, optical defaults to 24/192 for DSD files, am I correctly understanding this? If this is the case, what cable (3.5mm to coax input) would you guys recommend, that has good build quality, good sound quality, and doesn't break the bank?

At that price I'd rather just buy the official Chord case.

DSD is supported with USB cable too.

 

[dpastern]

DSD is supported with USB cable too.

That's good to know, thank you! It 's a pity optical doesn't support native DSD output though. Is there a technical reason for this? I bought a 3.5mm to optical cable yesterday (Chord c-lite), not realising it doesn't support DSD playback. Have to now find a suitable coax cable that isn't super pricey (I don't believe in cables to be honest, they're just snake oil as far as I'm concerned).

 

[cuiter23]

That's good to know, thank you! It 's a pity optical doesn't support native DSD output though. Is there a technical reason for this? I bought a 3.5mm to optical cable yesterday (Chord c-lite), not realising it doesn't support DSD playback. Have to now find a suitable coax cable that isn't super pricey (I don't believe in cables to be honest, they're just snake oil as far as I'm concerned).

Toslink was created specifically for PCM. Although you may find a cable that could support high resolution than 24/96 or higher (with the massively improved bitrate of toslink cables these days), they still will not do DSD as it is a completely different stream from PCM.

 

[cuiter23]

That's good to know, thank you! It 's a pity optical doesn't support native DSD output though. Is there a technical reason for this? I bought a 3.5mm to optical cable yesterday (Chord c-lite), not realising it doesn't support DSD playback. Have to now find a suitable coax cable that isn't super pricey (I don't believe in cables to be honest, they're just snake oil as far as I'm concerned).

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

 

[dpastern]

Toslink was created specifically for PCM. Although you may find a cable that could support high resolution than 24/96 or higher (with the massively improved bitrate of toslink cables these days), they still will not do DSD as it is a completely different stream from PCM.

ahh. I'm only familiar with optical and 16/44.1 from my old DPA DAC. Have never used optical for anything else in the past.

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

Chord c-lite 3.5mm to optical cable. I'm off to Ghent's to find a 3.5mm to coaxial cable to order lol. Unless someone can recommend something in a similar price range that's well built and good sound quality.

Very happy with the sound of the Chord Mojo when testing with my AK120 II yesterday - listened to a variety of music and it's what I'd classify as smooth but not boring smooth, very good sound stage, more organic that brutal digital (a bit like single bit vs multibit back in the day many years ago) and a lot of fine detail retrieval (I heard things on a bunch of songs that I've NEVER heard before). Dynamics were average though I felt - not bad, but not special. I was only testing using a cheaper Sennheiser headphone, so I expect I'll probably get more bang from my HD600, LCD2s and HD540 reference gold phones.

 

[dpastern]

Will this Ghent cable do the job of connecting the Chord Mojo to my SACD player's coax output?

http://ghentaudio.com/part/e06.html

looking at the Chord Mojo manual it says:

1 x 3.5mm COAX SPDIF capable of playing 44.1KHz to 384Khz PCM (768KHz special operation) and DSD64, DSD128 in DoP format.

The Ghent page says the 3.5mm cable is mono, does it have to be stereo, or is mono OK? And, it doesn't mention SPDIF.

I found this cable on Amazon Australia:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Micca-Pre...ocphy=9068943&hvtargid=pla-348800566973&psc=1

which looks stereo and mentions SPDIF. I'm an analogue turntable guy, I know not a lot about digital cables lol.

edit: another question - to connect the Chord DAC between my SACD player and preamp (so I can use the Chord DAC as the DAC for the SACD player), I think I need:

3.5mm coax SPDIF from SACD to Mojo, and the 3.5mm stereo to 2 x RCA (male) from Chord's headphone jack to the preamp inputs. Correct? Or, have I misunderstood something?

 

[surfgeorge]

Have just bought a Chord mojo - looking at getting a case, how does this compare to the official Chord case?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MITER-L...rafted-Cover-Patented-Stand-Case/174275271084

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

Any gotchas for usage? It seems pretty simple to use.

Also, from what I understand, only the coax input supports DSD playback, optical defaults to 24/192 for DSD files, am I correctly understanding this? If this is the case, what cable (3.5mm to coax input) would you guys recommend, that has good build quality, good sound quality, and doesn't break the bank?

I bought the Miter Mojo case in a combo package with iPhone 7 case and magnetic fixture, and I aid like $20 at e-earphones in Japan (discounted) Case quality is fine, but I am not sure if it is real leather. It is not worth $100 though IMO.
To be honest, I am not a big fan of either of the leather cases, they don’t look that great IMO and they lead to the Mojo getting hotter than necessary.
That’s why I designed a 3D printed case, but currently only for stacking the Mojo with the Hiby R3 DAP. Might look into a version for the Mojo standalone....

 

[dpastern]

It is not worth $100 though IMO

I don't think any of the cases are worth that sort of money to be honest. But...when they all charge this much, there's not much you can do.

 

[GreenBow]

Have just bought a Chord mojo - looking at getting a case, how does this compare to the official Chord case?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MITER-L...rafted-Cover-Patented-Stand-Case/174275271084

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

Any gotchas for usage? It seems pretty simple to use.

Also, from what I understand, only the coax input supports DSD playback, optical defaults to 24/192 for DSD files, am I correctly understanding this? If this is the case, what cable (3.5mm to coax input) would you guys recommend, that has good build quality, good sound quality, and doesn't break the bank?

I have the Chord case and I love it. £65 seemed a lot, but once it was on my Mojo, all was at peace. No more risk of bumps or chips to the paintwork. Mojo still in mint condition.

ahh. I'm only familiar with optical and 16/44.1 from my old DPA DAC. Have never used optical for anything else in the past.



Chord c-lite 3.5mm to optical cable. I'm off to Ghent's to find a 3.5mm to coaxial cable to order lol. Unless someone can recommend something in a similar price range that's well built and good sound quality.

Very happy with the sound of the Chord Mojo when testing with my AK120 II yesterday - listened to a variety of music and it's what I'd classify as smooth but not boring smooth, very good sound stage, more organic that brutal digital (a bit like single bit vs multibit back in the day many years ago) and a lot of fine detail retrieval (I heard things on a bunch of songs that I've NEVER heard before). Dynamics were average though I felt - not bad, but not special. I was only testing using a cheaper Sennheiser headphone, so I expect I'll probably get more bang from my HD600, LCD2s and HD540 reference gold phones.

One of the first things I noticed with Mojo was that instruments at the sides of the soundstage, were just as prevalent. Whereas with lesser DACs, the sounds would be there, but I noticed them much less. Then like you said about smoothness with Mojo, that was possibly the second plus point I noticed. The sound was smooth because the instruments were recreated better. It was quite a learning curve of brain-burn-in as Rob Watts (the Mojo's designer) calls it.

After about ten days I was set on the Mojo forever. Whereas initially I was somewhat sceptical because it sounded a bit cold, thin, and metallic, at very first. However as time went on, I realised that the Mojo has a lovely natural warmth to it, and was not cold at all. It was just right. It was other DACs I had listened to that were adding extra warmth, via mid-bass boosting. The thinness I initially perceived was just more detail on sounds, and after time I heard them as whole sounds. Instead of sounds I already knew with more details tacked on.

 

[dpastern]

Whereas initially I was somewhat sceptical because it sounded a bit cold, thin, and metallic, at very first.

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?

 

[surfgeorge]

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?

Regarding cables the Shanling L2 silver plated USB-C to micro works well, and also FIIO has such a cable, cheaper and more easily available, works equally well.

Regarding SQ of the Mojo, I also never found it cold, otherwise @GreenBow describes it perfectly.
soundstage in my Stereo system was shockingly good, especially depth. Like the wall of my living room just vanished. There’s Now a 2Qute In my system

 

[miketlse]

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!

The short answer is yes.
There is no problem with output voltage because you can set that yourself to suit the amp.
However I found that the second amp did seem to throw away all the precision which Mojo provides.

I concluded that I would have to start thinking about adding a TToby or Etude, but then I bought Hugo2, and discovered that it could direct drive my speakers.
Since then I have not thought about adding an amp.

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