[HeyWaj10]

Just checking in on the status of the loaner program - any updates/impressions?

 

[elira]

I shipped it to the next person last Friday, I should have my impressions soon.

 

[wormsdriver]

Chord Mojo 2 in the house. It arrived exceptionally packed and looks in great shape, I'm taking a few minutes to test it out and it sounds immediately better (more involving) than it's predecessor which unfortunately is not here as I sold it the same day I received it since I wasn't impressed.
I'll post again when my time is up and write my impressions.

 

[wormsdriver]

Chord Mojo 2 has left the building and is on it's way to the next participant. I'll report back most likely by Monday with my thoughts about it.

Thanks @Todd !

 

[433521]

Mojo2 is in the hizzay! Impressions so far: good! Impressed, w ...

okay I'm a page in and impressions are good. But you'll have to wait.

The biggest takeaway from my review: how powerful this little beast is. If you're nervous about the 3.5 mm single ended limitation; don't be. It drives the Dan Clark Audio's Stealth as well as any of the single ended headphone outputs in the house.

Chord Mojo2 gets the DCA Stealth as loud as the iBasso dx300, both through the 3.5 mm SE output (pretty sure the 4.4 would blast it though I should keep my idiot mouth shut until I check it out first ... Mojo2 3.5 mm output confirmed louder than iBasso 4.4 mm on DCA Stealth?@!#%) this iBasso dap was recommended by DCA for those headphones).

 

[wormsdriver]

Hi folks, sorry I haven't written down my final thoughts on the Mojo 2.
As it happens I've mostly stepped out of the hobby and my interests have shifted away from listening to headphones these days.

The short of it is that it is indeed very good. How good? Well, I ended up buying one. I feel it is MOST definitely worthy of taking over portable and desktop duties.
I tried it with a pair of Grado Gh1, Hifiman HE-500 and Sennheiser Hd800. All driven satisfactorily in my opinion.
Eq'ing and crossfeed comes infinitely handy for me and I use both a lot.
The learning curve on how to use them was brief and not very hard to grasp.

Not all has been rosy though, some of the issues I've had with it is that it will briefly disconnect and then reconnect back from my Windows laptop. Considering that I've use this same setup, i.e. same usb cable, same usb port, same laptop with countless other dacs and never had these issues I'd say the Mojo² is the culprit.

As of now I've sold off most of my gear but I'm keeping the Mojo² and a pair of headphones for a rainy day.

I hope to update this thread again sometime in the future with more detailed impressions than what I've manage to so far. I want to thank Todd for doing these great loaner tours and giving me the opportunity to try the Mojo² out, it was definitely the right piece of gear for me in my current situation.

 

[433521]

Hi folks, sorry I haven't written down my final thoughts on the Mojo 2.
As it happens I've mostly stepped out of the hobby and my interests have shifted away from listening to headphones these days.

The short of it is that it is indeed very good. How good? Well, I ended up buying one. I feel it is MOST definitely worthy of taking over portable and desktop duties.
I tried it with a pair of Grado Gh1, Hifiman HE-500 and Sennheiser Hd800. All driven satisfactorily in my opinion.
Eq'ing and crossfeed comes infinitely handy for me and I use both a lot.
The learning curve on how to use them was brief and not very hard to grasp.

I agree on the ended up buying one, but until the market is back I'm out of the audio market. Still, this is tempting. Plugged into my Samsung android phone, using a usb C to usb micro B from Amazon at under $5 (before TGBI .. The Great Biden Inflation or w/e the right is calling it these days), I hear a warmer sound through ZMF's latest (and greatest?) which, is impressive, as Zach doesn't have the greatest reputation for, uh, DETAILs. I described the Auteur (which I absolutely love and adore) as "occasionally cardboardy" ... Zach fixes the "occasionally cardboardy"at first impression, but could it be, I don't know, STYROFOAMY???

Gotta say though, Mojo2 sounds absolutely fantastic heavenly with ZMF Atrium. Until ampsandsound releases a full on tube solution for the portable realm, Chord may have the best high end simple solution for those seeking a warmer, less technical presentation of their music while distortion free, noise free, and power a'plenty.

 

[HeyWaj10]

I had a great time with the Mojo 2 during my segment of the tour - it really is an impressive little device! As required, below are my thoughts and impressions from my week with it.

Introduction

Personally, I’ve been curious about Chord’s products for a long time but have not yet had the opportunity to legitimately audition them. The original Mojo was a product that interested me for years, wondering how it compared to traditional desktop offerings. Once the announcement of the Mojo2 came out, I was overly excited to see what (if any) improvements Chord had in store for the new generation Mojo. My expectation bias went off the charts after reading the initial reviews, impressions, and comparisons across the web. The hype behind Chord products is very high, and I’ll admit that I got completely caught up in it. All that said, getting to spend some quality time with this Mojo2 served both as a fulfillment of a long sought out desire, as well as a chance to see just how performant the internal ES9028 DAC is within my Schiit Lyr 3 as compared to this caliber of DAC.

Setup / Case Use

Having previously owned multiple headphone amp/DAC combos in the past, but since sold off, my current setup is one based in simplicity, performance, and aesthetics. In our dedicated home office, I have both a work area and a dedicated listing chair/space. The Lyr 3 has served a wonderful duty as an all-in-one component for use with an iPhone 11 (and when feeling up to it, connecting the iMac) at the listening space. While the Audeze LCD-X / Schiit Lyr 3 combo has been very, very good, I’m still seeking to upgrade this setup to optimize the LCD-X’s performance within a relative budget. The next likely upgrade will be a DAC, wherein the Mojo2 has been a top contender for my auditioning attention to serve as my dedicated desktop DAC.

For critical auditioning and ease of comparisons, I kept the Lyr 3 and Mojo2 at the workspace desktop connected to my 2011 iMac running Roon, which plays a combo of local FLAC files and TIDAL streaming. I only played with crossfeed and/or EQ settings a little – all critical listening was done with the Mojo2 in its default settings. The combinations for my personal comparison during this week were as follows:

1. iMac 2011 > Roon > Schiit Lyr 3 (ES9028 DAC) > Audeze LCD-X (2020)
2. iMac 2011 > Roon > Chord Mojo2* > Schiit Lyr 3 > Audeze LCD-X (2020)
3. iMac 2011 > Roon > Chord Mojo2* > Audeze LCD-X (2020)

*Note: after reading the manual and trying to learn the color indicators for voltage output (I found a “guide” on Head-Fi somewhere to figure it out), I landed on “VIOLET” as the setting which, according to the chart, had an output voltage range of 2.38V – 3V. I realize this does not match the ~2V spec’d output of the internal ES9028 DAC card. However, the extra bit of voltage juice from the Mojo2 really gave more life to the chain. However, going into the > 3V output ranges led to some undesired results, potentially even adding distortion? Not sure if that’s an accurate observation, but everything sounded “just right” with the VIOLET setting.

Observations

Before going into the breakdown by section, I can confidently say that the difference between the Lyr 3’s built in DAC and the Mojo2 was immediately apparent and considerable, in every possible way. While I’ve enjoyed the simplicity and overall performance of the built-in DAC, they really aren’t very comparable, as the total performance of this setup took a very large leap forward in outright enjoyment and engagement factors. That said, here’s what I experienced in the various audiophile ranges of focus:

Bass

I have to lump together several key areas in the bass department, as the most noticeable and considerable improvements came in this region. From the moment I switched the input selector on the Lyr 3 to utilize the Mojo2 as the DAC, the sheer palpability, impact, tactility, and cleanliness of the bass went up by a revelatory degree. There is a laser focus and level of detail to the bass compared to the ES9028 DAC card – everything just came into sharp, clear view, while also kicking up the fun, enjoyment, and engagement factor up to 11.

The only thing I felt was slightly lacking in the bass was timbral accuracy. While the bass notes are much more clearly defined and following bass guitar / bass drums throughout complex tracks was a breeze to do (requiring very little effort to “lock in” to follow), I still felt as though I was missing the tonal and timbral detail of those bass lines. Super detailed, yes, but still not quite as true to the instrument as I was expecting. Not really a knock, just an observation.

Pace, rhythm, and timing was next level – my head was constantly bobbing or toes tapping. The Lyr 3’s ES9028 DAC, by comparison, sounds muted and soft. Metaphorically speaking, the Lyr 3 DAC card’s bass was like hitting pillows and much more 1-dimensional. There is nowhere near the degree of grip and rip as with the Mojo2. Likewise, dynamics, attack, and transients just sounded blunted. Listening to more complex and dynamic bass tracks like Tool’s “Pneuma”, Opeth’s “Ghost of Perdition” or Plini’s “Pan” yielded a completely different listening experience via the Mojo2. Double bass impact and tactility was vivid on each track, and when there were bass gravity bombs dropped, I could feel every ounce of that drop. Wow – just so much fun…instantaneous smiles. Prog rock and metal are my favorite genres, and the Mojo2 does a phenomenal job delivering the goods from that music. With the LCD-X, it’s the best I’ve ever heard my favorite tracks, short of higher-end speaker systems.

Overall, the bass is just superb with this DAC. I’m going to miss the performance delta the Mojo2 had in this department!

Midrange

Once again, I have to lump together several areas in and with the midrange. The entire midband came to life when switching over to the Mojo2. Vocals were again made vivid due to the laser focus, not only in the immediate presentation of the vocals, but also the center image and relative layering. Instruments danced in their own locked-in location. Mentally picking out a particular instrument, performer, or ambient cue was a cake walk. I simply lose all of this midband clarity and focus when using the Lyr 3’s built-in DAC. Comparatively, while the center image and soundstage are generally similar between the two, the Mojo2 injects an immediate and palpable degree of 3-dimensionality to the mix. There’s so much more to chew on throughout the soundstage. When listening to Hamilton’s “Burn”, you can easily discern the blackness of the stage and the depth of the space surrounding Eliza’s vocals. This gives an impressive increase to the believability of the emotion in her words – truly raising the performance to a “you are there” experience rather than simply listening to a copy of it. Remarkable.

Likewise, spatial cues and layering of vocals vs. instruments on stage was readily apparent when listening to Eva Cassidy’s live performance of “Fields of Gold”. Once again, I was able to easily get lost in the mix following the layers of the band’s performers, Eva’s vocals, and the ambient space of the venue. Really a different experience vs. the Lyr 3’s built-in DAC, which presents a more dulled and flatter experience. Another clear example of how detailed and engaging the Mojo2’s midrange is came with Club for Five’s rendition of “Brothers in Arms”, where I could actually discern the individual vocalists in the A capella mix. Normally with the ES9028 DAC card, those vocalists blend together more, and the lead male vocal doesn’t have the same immediacy or realism that the Mojo2 affords.

Similar to the bass, I do feel I’m missing a bit in the timbral accuracy of guitars and vocals. Not that I can’t hear those cues, it’s just not as naturally presented as I’ve hard in the past with other higher-end rigs. I’m definitely picking nits on this aspect, though, and in no way did I ever feel like the Mojo2 was underperforming, just something I noted with certain very well-known tracks. Overall, the neutral and balanced character of the Mojo2 was a great pairing with the Lyr 3’s tube complement. The tube offered the extra opening and touch of richness to the midband. Running the LCD-X directly out of the Mojo2 gave slightly more sharpness and vividness to the midrange, but also made things more immediate and intimate. The LCD-X already does this enough, so adding the tube into the mix helps with adding some breath to the space.

Treble

Where the Mojo2’s bass and midrange performance add multi-dimensional wow factors, the treble (to me) wasn’t quite as impressive. There’s undoubtedly a considerable uptick in clarity, detail, airiness, and focus to the treble from the Mojo2. However, I wouldn’t say it was to the same degree as in the bass and midrange. Cymbals, ambient cues, and guitar strings rang with a wonderful shimmer and clarity. The level of detail absolutely showed through on all previously referenced tracks. By comparison, the Lyr 3’s DAC card washes out the treble much more considerably and often smears both macro and microdetails. With the Mojo2, everything more clearly dances around in its proper position in space, and treble lines are much easier to follow as tracks progress. Fortunately, the Mojo2 delivers the treble in a smooth manner, never coming across in the traditional delta-sigma metallic or glary sense. Listening fatigue only ever came into play with lesser quality tracks – there’s only so much a DAC can do with a crappy recording.

All that said, while I greatly prefer and admire the treble performance of the Mojo2, the presentation still lacked naturality and timbral accuracy that I was admittedly hoping for. Reading and hearing about the Mojo2 in reviews, words like “natural” and “organic” come around very frequently. Maybe I’m just very sensitive to treble frequencies and instruments playing in those ranges, or maybe I’m just picky. But there still exists a slight digital sound to the Mojo’s treble. It just didn’t captivate me quite the way I was expecting. Again, in no way is the treble under-performant (it’s WAY better than what I have in the ES9028 DAC card), I guess my bias was expecting to hear a more natural and timbrally accurate presentation.

Imaging / Soundstage

I’ll keep this pretty simple – the improvements I experienced with the Mojo2 in imaging and soundstage were most considerably in the area of clarity, detail, and definition. The ES9028 card does a very good job in imaging and soundstaging already. Width, depth, and height of the stage only marginally improved with the Mojo2. Where things really changed was in the laser focus and layering within that stage. Microdetails just pop out of the stage and dance around effortlessly. It’s so much easier to follow individual elements of a track with the Mojo2. The blackground definitely improved as well with the Mojo2, which added to the 3-dimensionality of the images and panning across the stage. Following Danny Carey (Tool) or Martin Axenrot/Martin Lopez’s (Opeth) drums was a treat. The layering of the drum kits against lead vocals and guitars was as much fun as I’ve had in a long time listening to music – it just changes the experience across the board.

Driving the LCD-X’s directly from the Mojo2’s headphone outputs offered a very intimate and up-front experience. Depending on the track, it really could have been too much at times. I could see more laid-back headphones pairing really well straight from the Mojo2. I found myself needing to tone down the volume a couple notches when listening straight from the Mojo2 – it really is an intense little device! This is where the Lyr 3 taking on amp duties improved my overall enjoyment – the stage would relax just enough to push the vocals back out to the end of my nose rather than being smack dab between my eyes. This was particularly welcome with metal. I love me some metal injection, but when I want to listen for more than 10 minutes, I need some breathing room. The synergy of the Mojo2 and Lyr 3 offered a tremendous experience with the LCD-X. Ugh, I’m going to miss this thing.

Conclusion

I’m truly glad I got to spend this much dedicated time with the Mojo2, and I’m going to miss having this caliber of DAC performance. There’s just no question that you’re getting a large step up in capability and audiophile goodness with this DAC as compared to a built-in DAC like the Lyr 3’s ES9028 card. I was skeptical going into this audition period. I truly did not expect it to be that much of a difference. That being said, $850 USD before taxes is a tough pill to swallow. Having features I simply would not need (given Roon’s feature-filled suite) and paying for technology that I wouldn’t really use or prefer (headphone amp/volume control), I can’t clearly say whether the value proposition is there for me – despite how much I loved this device. I’m even more intrigued to audition a Schiit Bifrost 2, given the comparability of DAC performance and dedicated desktop design, it might be just what I’m looking for – and for less money. All that said, I’m a believer in Chord’s FPGA technology, design, and tuning. What a fun device – I will miss it! Thank you so much, Todd!

Bonus Round

I was able to try out the Mojo2 as a standalone device briefly before sending it off, while on vacation. Here, I ran as follows: iPhone 11 > Chord Mojo 2 > Grado SR-80e. This allowed me to play with the Mojo's EQ settings, and at lower to moderate volume levels, achieved a wonderful sound while sitting out and looking at the ocean. I was able to gain even greater appreciation for the Mojo2 during this time, and am very glad I gave it a shot in this sort of setting!

 

[elira]

First of all sorry for the delay on my impressions, thanks Todd for the tour.

Chord DACs are probably the best performant DACs out there as far as I can tell, as most of you know Chord DACs don't use regular DAC chips to implement the conversion, they use an FPGA to implement a digital filter and modulation followed by a discrete analog stage to do the final conversion.

The main difference between Mojo and Mojo 2 is that Mojo uses a capacitor coupled output and Mojo 2 is directly coupled, this improves the performance and makes the output of Mojo 2 more predictable as far as driving headphones is concerned. I recall not enjoying Mojo as much, I greatly prefer how Mojo 2 behaves when driving headphones. I think this is the main piece that makes Mojo 2 a better device, the way it's implemented is similar to the way Hugo 2 works.

Where Mojo 2 surpassed my expectations was in the "lossless" EQ/DSP that it includes. The original Mojo didn't have crossfeed and as far as I know there's no other Chord DAC that includes EQ. The crossfeed is useful when using headphones to make the sound more speaker-like, this is important in mixes made for speakers as it makes the sound more comfortable and natural when using headphones and helps to reduce fatigue.

The EQ is a very interesting piece, the implementation is superb, you can tweak the sound to your liking, and there's no noticeable degradation on the quality of the sound, and this is very impressive for a device this small. Usually the inclusion of EQ degrades the sound and sometimes introduces distortion or weird artifacts to the sound, Mojo 2 doesn't have any of those issues, which is great and very impressive.

Sound quality wise I don't think there's another device on that form factor that achieves the levels of quality Mojo 2 achieves. If you need a portable DAC/amp and the form factor is appealing to you this is the device to get.

Regarding the way you control the crossfeed and EQ I was a little worried it would involve some complex deciphering to know what the hell was going on, given that we only have 4 buttons. But I was very surprised at how intuitive the controls are, to me it felt very natural the way of adjusting EQ and crossfeed. Zero complaints in that regard.

As far as power, most headphones will be fine, I mainly used my DCA Stealths on a quiet office space and power was plenty, even when cranking the low end EQ to max it had enough power to push the headphones without distortion. You would need to listen very loudly for it to be a problem, and I didn't test on a noisy environment but in a quiet environment power is plenty.

In conclusion, as DACs goes it's one of the best DACs you can buy, and among the best portable DAC/amp currently in the market. EQ and crossfeed are beautifully implemented. The output is powerful enough for most headphones. Controls are intuitive. If you like the form factor then go for it, it's a splendid device.

 

[CT007]

I'm confused about the list order... The last person has gone 4th instead of last, according to the list order. Is the remainder of the list still ordered correctly?

WNBC 1
elira 2
wormsdriver 3
HeyWaj10 5
Leondikim
kadinh 6
dskelto
CT007
PACSman
Mercuttio
inmytaxi 4

 

[kadinh]

FYI, I got an email a week or two ago asking if i was ready to receive the M2…still have not heard anything else.

EDIT: email was sent to me May 12th

 

[Todd]

Hi kadinh,

I am looking into why you have not received the Mojo2. It appears to not have shipped from the previous loaner participant and I have asked him what is up.

Todd

 

[kadinh]

Thank you

 

[kadinh]

Mojo 2 is in my possession

 

[kadinh]

I emailed @Todd asking for the shipping info for the next participant.