Mobile Hifi Rediscovered

I'm only hesitating as I bought a Fuji X Pro 1 camera there recently for about a third of its original price. Ok, I had to wait a while but time does fly past.  How low can it go I ask myself?

My new Chord Mojo arrived day before yesterday!  Am using it at home with Sennheiser 650's in two places: at my desk connected via USB to an older MacBook Pro, and at my bedside connected via optical to a Sonos Connect. When travelIng, I'll use Bose QC25's with an iPhone/iPad and a camera connection kit.

My point of reference is a 4 year old Centrance DACPort. It was worked well for me, but on a recent trip, I started hearing some noise/static during the quieter portions of songs, and decided it was time to replace it.

My first impressions of the Mojo are positive. After charging for 10+ hours, it sounded good on first listen. It is not lacking in power, and can drive my 650's to very high volume levels. It sounds just a little lighter in the base then I am used to with the DACPort, but the mids and highs seem very clear and detailed. As far as imaging goes, there is exceIlent, pinpoint separation. Soundstage is IMO, more subjective. I can hear good, ear-to-ear width, but I've never really been able to perceive much depth using headphones, and that hasn't changed with the Mojo. It's early days though, and I am sure it will take my ears more time to adjust.

i expected the Mojo to be either neutral, or just a shade to the cool side. The 650's are warmer than many headphones. So far, I think the two are a good match.

The controls are less fiddley than I thought they would be. The volume buttons work well, and I can dial in the right level with ease.

To sum up, I am impressed by the sound quality and, so far, have not run into any issues.  At $599, I also think the Mojo is very good VFM, and I am guessing it would serve much better headphones then mine quite well!

ATB.

Hook

My NW-ZX2 will be here tomorrow.  £577! Amazon Prime.  Might buy one for the boss too.

Shows sometimes that it pays off to wait, I paid 1090 Euros when I bough the unit......

Good deal - Enjoy  

One other note about the Mojo Is that Chord is developing a series of plug-in modules that extend the digital connections side by a little more than inch, and add additional functionality (e.g., Apple CCK, Bluetooth, WiFi (UPNP) and/or a SD card reader). IMO, this seems a very clever way of delivering upgrades. Depending on price, I plan to buy the WiFi plug-in as soon as it becomes available.

ATB.

Hook

That's indeed smart. I have the same concept with my NAD receiver in which I can exchange the video and audio modules when needed to integrate new standards. I once already made this upgrade to have HD Master Tone.

Luckily there were some deals on micro SD cards as well.  Just as well, I tried three copies of the same Liszt work; Lossless FLAC compressed setting 8, Uncompressed FLAC and AIFF.  I was hoping, for disk space sake that the first would be fine. But it was quite poor compared to the second which is marginally bettered by the AIFF.  So AIFF it has to be.  Anyone else got preferences?

ALAC for me (No FLAC in this household). My whole library used to be AIFF but after trying both on the Sony, i found no difference and so converted all my AIFF's to ALAC. 

Does anyone know the size limit of card the Sony can read. With 512Gb cards available from Kingston i could nearly get my (ALAC) collection on one card !

James

james n posted:

Does anyone know the size limit of card the Sony can read. With 512Gb cards available from Kingston i could nearly get my (ALAC) collection on one card !

James

 

Hi James,

I don't know about the 512 option as it wasn't available when I recently upgraded my card. But a 200GB which is not appearing in the original specs does work..., so perhaps you google it and find on another thread somebody who already tried it..I haven't seen so far but wouldn't be amazed reports will follow soon...

Wow, 512gb...

I've been playing with an iBasso and have to say, while the UI is no match for my old iPod 5, the SQ is unequivocally superior (particularly if you upgrade from early FW).  Right now it's fronting a CB Nait 2 and a pair of n-Sats in my bedroom and sounds shockingly good considering its size and modest price.  With systems like this one can begin to understand why so many argue that the source-first theory is broken (Of course, it's not so black and white as that though, but it's a discussion for another thread perhaps...). Anyway, it's great, but I do have one slight gripe - the tiny Micro SD cards.  Ever so fiddly for those of us with fingers larger than a squirrel's. 

One other thing - I realise that the iBasso has a coaxial digital output capable of up to 24/192 as well as DSD DoP (I think, if I have the fw details right).  I haven't used this yet but I am enjoying a newly FW updated Naim DAC and XPS DR elsewhere in the house and it would be fun to try out the iBasso as a digital source into this one.  I just need to make up a suitable 3.5mm - BNC digital cable....

Richard - indeed you touch a sentiment. Nowadays with these good mobile solutions, enjoyment on the road, at work or any other places can be quite high. While I still prefer my main system on pure musical qualities. But it's a bit difficult to drag a 7 box hifi system to the office....

Well...  I tried out the iBasso in the main system with it connected to the Naim DAC via the supplied 3.5mm-RCA coaxial digital lead.  The lead itself is pretty basic and almost unusably short (no doubt really designed for connection to a piggybacked portable DAC) but it did give me a chance to test its potential as a digital transport.  It's good.  In fact, it's very good.  To ascertain just how good, I'll need to spend more time with it and also I'll need to make up a better and more convenient coaxial lead. I've got an old prototype DC1 cable that I had from the early days of testing on the AV2, which I could use with one end converted to a 3.5mm mono jack and the other end fitted with a 75ohm BNC connector.  It's pretty cool that the iBasso is fitted with a coaxial digital output rather than the more usual Toslink optical.

Bert, have you tried the Sony as a digital transport?

Richard Dane posted:

Well...  I tried out the iBasso in the main system with it connected to the Naim DAC via the supplied 3.5mm-RCA coaxial digital lead.  The lead itself is pretty basic and almost unusably short (no doubt really designed for connection to a piggybacked portable DAC) but it did give me a chance to test its potential as a digital transport.  It's good.  In fact, it's very good.  To ascertain just how good, I'll need to spend more time with it and also I'll need to make up a better and more convenient coaxial lead. I've got an old prototype DC1 cable that I had from the early days of testing on the AV2, which I could use with one end converted to a 3.5mm mono jack and the other end fitted with a 75ohm BNC connector.  It's pretty cool that the iBasso is fitted with a coaxial digital output rather than the more usual Toslink optical.

Bert, have you tried the Sony as a digital transport?

Hi Richard,

No I didn't test my Sony as transport - while I assume it will be pretty good. However I still think it will not beat my NDS with 555PS DR, so I avoid the test.

But in your scenario it's of course a great option to use the mobile device as well as transport.

Cheers,

Bert

Hi,

I have Ultrasone Signature Pro closed headphones for my home system (Supernait 2) and I am thinking about the Sony. But in some reviews I read that the Sony has difficulties in driving larger headphones. Any experiences here? The Ultrasones have 32 Ohms impedance and 98 dB.

Best wishes,

Volker

Hi All,

I've been following this thread with great interest.  With the increase in high quality DAPs the past few years, I have been thinking of getting an update to my iPod Classic 160Gb.

Initially I was thinking of the Pono player, Astell & Kern AK jr, or Sony NWZ-A17.  I haven't heard any of these. My "i'm ok spending this much" threshold seems to be under $1k USD. 

With the Pono, I like the digital is done by Ayre, since I like the sound of their DACs. The AK jr, I like the form factor and they seem to be the pioneers of this segment.  The AK 100 II seems to fall in my budget, but reviews between the Jr and AK 100 II have me wondering if the latter is a good value for the money.

I became interested in the Sony after reading about the Sony NW-ZX2, first other sources on the web, and then here.  The ZX2 sounds like a greats player and there is a lot to like about it.  But for me, the Sony has too many features I know I would not use.

I've become aware of Questyle's QP1 and QP1R players in the last month.  Has anyone listened to one of these?  I saw Questyle briefly mentioned in the Munich 2015 Show thread.  The reviews seem promising and I really like UI, since it is certainly inspired by the iPod Classic.

I may be able to hear the A&K and Questyle options locally.

I've read quite a bit on headfi about all the mentioned models, but I always like to hear the Forum's experience on such things. 

Thanks,

patk

I was fortunate to pick up a used AK-120 on Head-Fi then I had Red Wine Audio do a mod on it by upgrading the DAC's, removing the amp functionality so it strictly for DAC use only along with some other changes and it sounds really good to me.  I would take this RWA upgrade over anything new from AK because of the lower cost and better sound.  I have it paired with a little German amp called Vorzuge Pure II and some great AOL cable.  I can easily fit it in my coat pocket for my walks. I use with Noble Wizard 4's IEM's, Grado GS 1000e's and Hifiman HE1000's.  For desktop us I run my HE1000's with the Auralic Taurus MKII amp/AK120 RWA-S for the best sound of all.  My AK120-RWA-S holds over 300 GB's of music!  Good luck in your headfi journey! 

Interesting mobile journeys - keep them coming.

Just bought a Pioneer XDP-100R digital audio player, and currently listening to Pink Floyd Division Bell at 24/96.  

Sounds excellent, and have tried it with my Shure 535s, B&W P5 (mK 2), Sennheiser HD-580 and currently with Audiotechnica T51p.  Straight out of the box, and for only £499, it has a transparency and similar toe tapping enjoyable effect on my ears not dissimilar to my main rig!  Will also be trying it with a Chord Mojo in the next few weeks (before a trip to the US) to see what that adds, although the prospect of balancing multiple boxes on a cramped flight may not be the most fun!  With 2 spare micro SDXC cards (and two 200Gb cards on order), I'm looking forward to taking quite a bit of my HD music with me, and possibly some DSD files as well.  Looked at the Sony ZX2 as well, but at nearly twice the price (and ability to have 2 micro SD cards on the Pioneer), the Pioneer won out.  Am also listening to my Naim trial period Tidal streaming on the Pioneer, and with promise of MQA, it's all great!  Also runs the latest Android 5.1.1 (lollipop), it has a more current OS than the Sony.

Anyone who is still listening to MP3s on an iPod should get out and demo one of these new generation DAPs......you are in for a pleasant surprise!

ATB.  George.

patk posted:

I became interested in the Sony after reading about the Sony NW-ZX2, first other sources on the web, and then here.  The ZX2 sounds like a greats player and there is a lot to like about it.  But for me, the Sony has too many features I know I would not use.

 

For me, part of the appeal of the NW-ZX2 is the lack of features that I wouldn't use. It has no input or output sockets whatsoever apart from a headphone socket and the usual USB charger/connector lead. OK, it has WiFi, Bluetooth, and a bunch of apps I'm not remotely interested in, and disable wherever possible, but it's a very easy device to live with when travelling, and you can stick it in your pocket and forget about it.   

ChrisSU posted:

patk posted:

I became interested in the Sony after reading about the Sony NW-ZX2, first other sources on the web, and then here.  The ZX2 sounds like a greats player and there is a lot to like about it.  But for me, the Sony has too many features I know I would not use.

 

For me, part of the appeal of the NW-ZX2 is the lack of features that I wouldn't use. It has no input or output sockets whatsoever apart from a headphone socket and the usual USB charger/connector lead. OK, it has WiFi, Bluetooth, and a bunch of apps I'm not remotely interested in, and disable wherever possible, but it's a very easy device to live with when travelling, and you can stick it in your pocket and forget about it.   

Does the Sony stream HiRes via Bluetooth to say a car stereo? I use Liztic app on iPhone that takes all HiRes files and streams them up to 192/24 at stream rate of 48/24 (limited output but good enough for the car) to the car stereo and it sounds great, but limited of course to the iPhone memory, expansion memory like iLeef doesn't work inside apps unfortunately.

Would be a great little in car unit if it does?

Hi Dan, to be honest, I haven't tried playing over Bluetooth. My car has a USB input, so I just put a cheap  memory stick full of WAVs into it and that sounds pretty good. If I get the chance, I'll have a play with the Sony and report back.

Hi Chris,

Thank you, be interesting to see if it plays back ok, I will try the WAVs on USB also see if the stereo picks them up, never thought to plug directly in :-)

ChrisSU posted:

patk posted:

I became interested in the Sony after reading about the Sony NW-ZX2, first other sources on the web, and then here.  The ZX2 sounds like a greats player and there is a lot to like about it.  But for me, the Sony has too many features I know I would not use.

 

For me, part of the appeal of the NW-ZX2 is the lack of features that I wouldn't use. It has no input or output sockets whatsoever apart from a headphone socket and the usual USB charger/connector lead. OK, it has WiFi, Bluetooth, and a bunch of apps I'm not remotely interested in, and disable wherever possible, but it's a very easy device to live with when travelling, and you can stick it in your pocket and forget about it.   

Hi Chris,

Interesting comments.  I did not look at it from that view.  I'm of a like mind, I have no desire to such a player as a DAC for another source, etc. 

Best regards,

pat