Chord Mojo in a main system

Best could be to pick up a used one - there are currently a few on that well known auction site, and have a play for as long as you like. If you don't like it your loss should be minimal if you sell on. Also with the announcement of the Hugo 2 there should be quite a few 2nd hand Hugos around, at possibly cheaper than current used Hugo prices, post the 2's release which is not specific other than 'early 2017'. 

I don't live in mainland UK, but a supplier of Chord DACs in England that trades online was happy to let me have Hugo TT and Dave for home evaluation, and all it cost me was the postage to return them (though I had to pay the cost of both fully upfront, which was refunded upon return). Whether they would do the same to Switzerland and for a lesser product I have no idea, though I don't see why not other than that they might want you to pay the higher outward postage cost. If you were to do that, it would be worth considering getting, say, Hugo at the same time to do a comparison, unless the cost makes it completely out of the question.

I have Mojo connected to my lowly nait 5si and I don't have an issues with connectivity. This set-up is fairly practical. The only problem I have is when I want to have a headphones session and to do so I have to dissconnect and take my Mojo out. 

To my ears it is rather clean, dynamic and engaging. Not cold. Maybe slightly warmish. 

Plus: it's not that easy to find a decent mini jack - 2rca cable.

I am in luck, a dealer about 2 hours away has a Mojo in stock and a 10 day money back guarantee.  He also stocks an Audioquest Golden Gate 3.5 to RCA connector.  I will, therefore, have 10 days to form an opinion.  Sure, it might cost me the cable but it is worth that risk to have some fun.  

I had Golden Gate for a week than took Sydney home. More details and just better. You can always sell Golden Gate if needed. 

NJB posted:

Hi All,  lots of mixed reports on this. Positive reports that you get much of the Hugo performance at a sensible price. The downside is a minor pfaff on connections. There are subjective reports on it sounding cold and analytical, but others call it detailed, warm and musical. I am trying to get a demo, but it is proving tough (in Switzerland). I am wondering how it might compare to my Beresford Caiman II, but doubt anybody else can provide feedback on that. 

 

I used to have Mojo in my main system for around 8 months and it performed brilliantly. To me it offers the best VFM in terms of musicality, it sounds so smooth with beautiful mid range and reveals the inner details of your recordings. I had a custom 3.5mm to DIN and I used it with Nait XS-2 and SN2. You won't go wrong with it and now with the new Poly accessory announced by Chord, you can have all your front end in the palm of your hand.

I sold it and now I am thinking of buying it again, this is how good it is!

Mojo is superb in a main system, I've compared it to my Hugo TT. Don't see the point of Poly though, and it costs more than Mojo! You can just use Chromecast or Airport express and save a fortune.

I was curious how good Mojo is so as an experiment I tried Mojo connected to an Airport Express via sys concept optical cable. I connected to my SCM40A active speakers/power amp using my usual Chord Shawline cables but with Audioquest FLX-Mini/RCA Adaptor attached so I got the RCA outputs on the Mojo. I played back 44.1/16 apple lossless from my iPhone iTunes library so in theory should be bit perfect playback.

All I can say is that I was astonished at the sound quality. Easily comparable to Hugo TT, some might even prefer it.

I would say this is the best value system on the market today. Top drawer DAC and streamer for around £500. Just add decent power amp and speakers, or better still active speakers such as SCM19A or SCM40A.

Hi, so I have the Mojo and have it connected up.  Battery was totally discharged and it did not want to play at all for an hour.  I have found an adapter in a local shop to split the 3.5mm output jack into two RCA female connectors so that I can use my current interconnect.  I am having to feed it via a Toslink input because nobody near to me stocks an adapter to take the coax RCA down to a 3.5mm plug (guessing that I need a mono 3.5mm plug configuration).  

And, it is pretty spectacular.  What are the differences to my existing DAC?  Bass texture and very transparent; separation  and dynamics are remarkable.  I am running through my playlist of system demo tracks, some of these hold some great memories for me, and the vocals are really hitting the spot.  Of course, first impressions are not everything and I do need to spend more time with it.  However, it is Day One of a 10 day demo, and you cannot have it back today!

I am worried that using adapters for the output is not a perfect option, but if I get a cable then I have changed another element in the system and so I might get confused about where the changes have come from.  There is time for that later and the adapter is solid metal and a minor issue.

Yes Mojo is superb isn't it.

The Audioquest adaptor I mentioned is worth trying, it's a cut above the usual and great vfm at £15.

Thanks Halloweenman, no dealers here but will see if I can order internationally.  That is the easy part, I seem to prefer coax over optical for the digital input and need to get my coax converted to fit a 3.5mm plug.  I have only found cheap/nasty adapters for that.  Any ideas?

Sorry, I don't know. Give optical time, you might grow to like it. I find it very smooth and natural sounding. Poor quality source devices using coax can introduce noise and ruin sound quality - more variable - whereas with optical you know you are going to be okay (if bit perfect).

You may have more chance looking at  electronics suppliers rather than hifi suppliers. I just checked my preferred UK supplier, CPC (CPC.farnell.com) and they do a selection of 3.5 to rca/phono cables and sell online. Others in UK include Farnell and RS components, which also trade online and have bases in some other countries. Whether the cable will make much difference may depend on the remainder of the equipment, and what sources of interference there may be locally - and as with the majority of cable choices it is largely subjective, and most expensive isn't necessarily best. Some are so cheap that you could buy a few and simply select the best sounding if there is a difference!

As for feed to Mojo, what is best will depend on your source: for example, my Mac Mini running Audirvana sounds best bypassing the MM's internal soundcard completely, to use a dedicated USB bus output (i.e. no optical option, as the MM's optical output uses the soundcard). I don't know about Mojo, but I suspect it is similar to Hugo in being very susceptible to RF noise because the reason for isolation being omitted from Hugo was because of the power demand on a smartphone's output. Computer outputs are notoriously 'noisy' (even with linear power supplies), so it is necessary to have some sort of isolator between MM and a susceptible DAC: when I had Hugo I used a Gustard U12 which also converted from USB to a choice of outputs, including both electrical SPDIF and optical. Non-computer sources may alrady filter all RF noise, when what is needed is simply a good quality coax (SPDIF) cable - or optical which avoids any RF issues. 

But the cable from Mojo should be shielded some of the cables you find may not be, so check specs (may be called coax). They might not say even if they are, in which case it may be pot luck - but look at prictures and avoid any that have a twin (figure-of-eight type) cable entering the rca plugs because the chances are they are not shielded.

Coax should, by definition, be screened, but I know what you are saying.  Both my SPDIF and TosLink input cables are from a reasonable local brand (Inakustik) and I trust that they do the job.  My analogue interconnection is an Atlas Equator III which replaced the previous Chord Cobra II.  I am working on getting the Audioquest 3.5mm to twin RCA adapter.  Not obviously available here but I have found the distribution agents and so an email is waiting for their attention.  The coax converter looks tricky, so I might look at RS etc, as they have a depot here.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Halloween Man posted:

Sorry, I don't know. Give optical time, you might grow to like it. I find it very smooth and natural sounding. Poor quality source devices using coax can introduce noise and ruin sound quality - more variable - whereas with optical you know you are going to be okay (if bit perfect).

I tried the comparison between coax and optical on my last DAC. I found that coax seemed to have more bite and attack, which was more engaging.  I will look forward to doing a comparison with the new setup.

NJB posted:

Thanks Halloweenman, no dealers here but will see if I can order internationally.  That is the easy part, I seem to prefer coax over optical for the digital input and need to get my coax converted to fit a 3.5mm plug.  I have only found cheap/nasty adapters for that.  Any ideas?

If you can't find what you want, try FlashbackSales. If what you want isn't listed they can more than likely make one for you.

Day 2 with the Mojo and still very impressed.  I have been swapping back and forward with the Caiman II. They are very different and, not being a poet, I am not sure if I can really explain why.  In a way, it is the silence of the Mojo presentation.  I feel that it has a real lightness, everything has its own identity and there is a massive feeling of dynamic range.  I am listening to favourite tracks, not exactly hearing new aspects but I am actually hearing what they really are.  For example, please don't judge me on my musical tastes, I am listening to Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, background sounds are bells and I can distinguish words in backing tracks that I thought were vocal accompaniments.  As to the vocals, utterly sublime, stunning.  Give it something punchy and  it is full of attack too, Wish You Were Here by the mighty Pink Floyd has such vibrancy in the guitar lines, attack, tone, resonance; sorry I am starting to gush.  It really is a clever box of tricks and I am so glad that I made the decision to try it.

A Mojo is at the heart of my main system. Fed by a SB Touch and connected to a SN2 with HCDR.....absolutely superb. I imagine I would have to send a lot of money to enjoy a comparable sound quality.

phil. S posted:

A Mojo is at the heart of my main system. Fed by a SB Touch and connected to a SN2 with HCDR.....absolutely superb. I imagine I would have to send a lot of money to enjoy a comparable sound quality.

Phil.

How is the SBT connected to the Mojo. I use a SBT with no additional DAC, but to be honest I can't listen to it for more than 20 minutes. Does the MOJO make a significant difference over the SBT internal DAC.

I use the enhanced digital output to enable the use of the Touch's usb output to my Mojo. This eliminates the Touch's internal dac and allows playback up to 192K. Check but I think its a usb a to micro  usb cable you need.

 To my ears the Mojo is a substantial upgrade to the Touch's internal dac.

Thanks for the info Phil.

Just noticed you have an LP12, so you obviously have high standards. On that basis the Mojo must be good.

Reading reviews, the Mojo’s tonal character appeals to me more than the Hugo. I’m a bit concerned about buying a battery powered device, I’d prefer a mains powered device, but the 3v output of the 2qute puts me off a little.

Is there a preference between the mojo’s variable voltage out versus the 3v line out.

fatcat posted:

Thanks for the info Phil.

Just noticed you have an LP12, so you obviously have high standards. On that basis the Mojo must be good.

Reading reviews, the Mojo’s tonal character appeals to me more than the Hugo. I’m a bit concerned about buying a battery powered device, I’d prefer a mains powered device, but the 3v output of the 2qute puts me off a little.

Is there a preference between the mojo’s variable voltage out versus the 3v line out.

Does the mojo have a variable output ? I thought I read its Line out was fixed at 3v ?