Chord "Mojo"

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Judeus, Oct 12, 2015.

  1. Robert777

    Robert777 Acquaintance

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    The Galaxy S4 makes a really good portable DAP as well with plenty of power delivered over a USB OTG cable. The Galaxy Note 3 and 4 work well too. Stay away from the Samsung Galaxy mini's as they do not provide enough power to run USB DACs without a powered hub in the chain.

    It really is a crapshoot but there are a lot of USB DACs now which do not require many miliamps to power them and phones with the juice.

    Cheers.
     
  2. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    "Plenty of power" is irrelevant in this context. The Mojo is powered by an internal rechargeable battery, and does not draw operating supply from the USB data connection. It just uses the VBUS to sense that there is a connection over USB, so it can shut down other interfaces. The only important aspect is that the USB connection isn't full of EMI/RFI, as the Mojo lacks isolation or filtering on its USB connection, and thus can be adversely affected by noise.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2016
  3. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    For those of you using it as a standalone, I found it a massive downgrade from the modi multibit. Staging was compressed comparatively on my speakers, bass was inarticulate and weak compared to Moffat bass and the treble grain was grating.

    I found the USB input to be, frankly, embarrassing on the Mojo. It was wildly variable from machine to machine and optical was definitely the better option which was pretty sad for a portable.
     
  4. limesoft

    limesoft Friend

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    I tried the Jitterbug tonight on my Macbook pro with Mojo, and unexpectedly there was an improvement - it's calmed things down a little, the sound is a little more relaxed and darker (less digitus).. it still not as good as spdif via M2Tech Hiface 2, but i think I can actually use USB from my macbook without getting too stressed now. My laptop must have very crappy USB, I'm beginning to think anything I slap on the slot will improve matters.. Perhaps jbug doesn't make much of a difference on mac mini or better usb implementations, but it helps a little for me... I will give it more time see how we gets along...
     
  5. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    So we have Macbooks with famously shonky USB, and the Mojo which is famously vulnerable to shonky USB- oh happy day..

    What is the nature of the shonky USB for you? Reckon it's jitter or electrical noise down the VBUS.. or both?
     
  6. limesoft

    limesoft Friend

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    It might be both.. as I read, apparently the screens on laptops don't help with electrical noise. I am too lazy at the moment to try on my desktop pc. I need to stop my Mojo usb improvement mission, starting to collect too many dongles and cables :)
     
  7. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Having had an older Macbook and Macmini and noticeable improvement moving off the laptop, I might agree the usb on the macbook may be suspect, but I now use a laptop for my HP system, albeit, dedicated to music. One thing I did do is place a monitor on the nightstand and plug the laptop into it. The improvement without the crap screen power pollution on the laptop was noticeable.

    I am actually satisfied with usb on both my hp and speaker setups. Improvements come from the strangest places sometimes. When I killed the plex server program running in the background on my lappy an improvement was made. Without knowing what it was, one might suspect usb. Problem is it is computer pollution and usb and it's role in sending crap over to the dac.
     
  8. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    The Lightspeed revive cleans up the USB a lot.
     
  9. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    yah, I'm hoping to hear that lil Revive gem itself. hoping @Manny Torres lifts a demo unit to try out with all my LH Special Edition devices!
     
  10. limesoft

    limesoft Friend

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    Revive looks interesting, I like that it can run on it's own battery ,it might work out as a (chunky) portable setup with the Mojo. I was going to try out Wyred4Sound Recovery as I can buy that in England but it doesn't have it's own battery, can't find the Revive here..
     
  11. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    High possibility that your toslink cable might be the cause. Switching to Glass toslink worked for me and many others here
     
  12. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    If you think the problem with your USB from your Macbook (rather than TOSlink) is interference, you could try a Schiit Wyrd, too. One of the more useful things it does is replace the VBUS from the host with clean power from its own little linear wall wart.
     
  13. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    Mojo battery will require replacement every few years(*that is even if it's just plugged into the wall) while an external ac powered dac will last much longer.

    * There's no data on whether the mojo will stop functioning when the battery fails, but for the Hugo, if the battery electrically fails, then the entire Hugo unit will stop functioning even with dc power input and will require RMA/battery replacement.
     
  14. Poleepkwa

    Poleepkwa Friend

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    Perhaps. I doubt many here have dac for more than a few years,such is this hobby. Audiophiles have pretty short attention span.

    I read that the battery replacement is pretty simple and will be done by your dealer.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2016
  15. limesoft

    limesoft Friend

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    i'm trying a different (much shorter) toslink cable tonight :)
     
  16. JWahl

    JWahl Acquaintance

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    I did some more switching between the iUSB 3.0 and straight USB out of the MacBook pro.

    There is a noticeable difference though it doesn't immediately jump out at you in the first few seconds. Straight USB sounds a little more lifeless and artificial. Less texture and nuance. Digitial input quality definitely matters.

    Strangely, I also noticed a small difference using a shorter USB cable to the iUSB (1 foot vs. 3 feet). Even though the iUSB is suppose to reclock, the longer cable may pick up more RF that needs to be suppressed.

    It's really a shame a lot of users might not be getting the full potential, but I'd imagine even the Wyrd would give it a nice boost.

    But then again, they have to gimp it relative to their higher priced, lower value stuff. I'm admittedly really curious about the 2Qute now, but I couldn't bring myself to pay retail on it. Especially if it isn't a significant improvement over a clean-input Mojo.

    I still really like the Yggdrasil and Gungnir Multibit, like Zerodeefex said, they've got some of the best bass rendition. But there is also the "intangibles" of having this kind of performance in such a compact package. The Yggdrasil is the king in terms of pure sound, but is monstrously large on a desktop.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2016
  17. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I owned the peach, QB76 and the QuteHD and I've spent a lot of time with the Hugo and HugoTT. The mojo is the best of the lot that I found.

    That being said, both @CEE TEE and @Marvey found that the GO2A walked all over the Mojo. I will let others tell you if they agree or not since I'm on the board of LH Labs and am obviously biased. I will say the Modi multibit embarrasses the Mojo all around for DAC duty.
     
  18. limesoft

    limesoft Friend

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    You were correct, my toslink was buggered... using a much shorter and newer toslink, nothing fancy, and there's an improvement. The spdif out of macbook isn't too bad, certainly better than USB now
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    My initial experiences with the Mojo were more positive because I had found a synergistic combination with the Andromedas. Normally the Andros sound darkish / bassy with near output Z devices, of which Mojo is one. However, Mojo's inherent leaner tonal coloration and more laid-back treble made the Andro's work quite well. The FGPA prickly timbre thing seemed to be addressed by using my tower PC's superior USB.

    When switching to headphones, the HD650, using a balanced termination, the GOV2A was much much better than the Mojo: More warmth, body, resolution, and liveliness. While the Andro doesn't have quite the natural tonal synergies with the GOV2A as with the Mojo, this can be corrected by the use of 2 ohm resistors in series to reduce the dark tilt.
     
  20. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Important to note, @Marvey and I like andromeda with a little bit of zout, @shotgunshane prefers as close to 0 ohms of output impedance as he can get.
     

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