[GRUMPYOLDGUY]

I remember doing an experiment where I tacked a battery pack onto a chromecast audio and used an optical interconnect to Mojo.

It cost me about $40 and I assembled it on my passenger seat at a red light on the commute home.

Poly is expensive because people will pay it. This nonsense about needing a 10 layer board with blind and buried vias just means whoever designed is an awful board designer (but yes, it does have more than a minor impact on the BOM).

 

[cj3209]

When I had the Mojo, I thought the Poly would be a great novel Chord streamer but saw a lot of posts with issues. Nonetheless, I got a used Poly and spent a month trying to get it to work and it did work and sounded good but it required so much time and effort on my part to get it up and running that I quickly dumped it and never looked back. It did damage my perception of Chord though, to release a product like that with so many potential issues.

I then got a Chord Hugo II and initially loved it until I compared it to other high-end DAPs and realized that the Chord 'sound' sounded artificial although incredibly detailed; needless to say, I didn't enjoy the music as much. So I dumped that as well and that's the beauty of being a consumer, I can move on. I think Chord should do the same with the Poly 'experiment...'

 

[Gibson59]

I then got a Chord Hugo II and initially loved it until I compared it to other high-end DAPs and realized that the Chord 'sound' sounded artificial although incredibly detailed; needless to say, I didn't enjoy the music as much.'

Just out of curiosity what did you think sounded artificial about the chord sound you were hearing? Mind elaborating? I own a chord Qutest and just today did an a/b comparison between some high res digital tracks vs their vinyl counterparts (album was “Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster”. My vinyl setup is pretty respectable as I use a VPI Classic Signature with a Ortofon 2m Black and an iFi iPhono 2. I listened both through my speakers (Martin Logan Motion 40) and headphones (HEKse). Long story short while I preferred the sound of the tracks on vinyl, I came away extremely impressed with how well the high res digital versions sounded using Qutest. Actually one of my big takeaways was that the digital tracks and the vinyl tracks had a very similar overall character... the soundstage, timbre, realistic sounding instruments and speed. The vinyl tracks were a bit better in each respect but the Qutest held up nicely. Point is, for me vinyl sounds incredibly real and organic, that’s why I love it... and the Qutest got me damn close to that. So IMO the Chord sound is anything but artificial.

Ps sorry to spoil the party if this is supposed to be a dedicated Chord hatred thread lol For the record I am a previous Mojo owner and initially thought I’d get a Poly until I read all the nonsense Poly owners were going through. I enjoy pretty much all the other Chord products and love the sound but man the Poly seems to have really been a disaster unfortunately.

 

[cj3209]

Just out of curiosity what did you think sounded artificial about the chord sound you were hearing? Mind elaborating? I own a chord Qutest and just today did an a/b comparison between some high res digital tracks vs their vinyl counterparts (album was “Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster”. My vinyl setup is pretty respectable as I use a VPI Classic Signature with a Ortofon 2m Black and an iFi iPhono 2. I listened both through my speakers (Martin Logan Motion 40) and headphones (HEKse). Long story short while I preferred the sound of the tracks on vinyl, I came away extremely impressed with how well the high res digital versions sounded using Qutest. Actually one of my big takeaways was that the digital tracks and the vinyl tracks had a very similar overall character... the soundstage, timbre, realistic sounding instruments and speed. The vinyl tracks were a bit better in each respect but the Qutest held up nicely. Point is, for me vinyl sounds incredibly real and organic, that’s why I love it... and the Qutest got me damn close to that. So IMO the Chord sound is anything but artificial.

Ps sorry to spoil the party if this is supposed to be a dedicated Chord hatred thread lol For the record I am a previous Mojo owner and initially thought I’d get a Poly until I read all the nonsense Poly owners were going through. I enjoy pretty much all the other Chord products and love the sound but man the Poly seems to have really been a disaster unfortunately.

You raise some excellent points.

When I first got the H2, I was amazed at all the details I was hearing that I didnt hear before. But after a while, it gets tiresome and something is missing. Music has an emotional content that is difficult to describe. Hearing every little detail is not what music is all about; IMHO, it's also about being able to convey the emotional aspect of music. I know it sounds a bit hokeyl but that is the best way I can describe it. The H2 doesn't give me that spine-tingling feeling that other DACs do such as my AK SP1000. And I think Chord is a fine company- I'm not a Chord hater by any means. I do think that all this stuff about processing power that Chord is promoting is a bit on the marketing side but I digress...