Chord "Mojo"

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

  1. iDesign

    iDesign Almost "Made"

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    I completely agree. Interestingly Rob Watts, who is an independent consultant and not an employee of Chord, said he had no involvement whatsoever in the development of Poly when I spoke to him. The project was as an attempt to capitalize on the Mojo’s success and Chord instead partnered with www.disignconsultants.com to develop the Poly and the GoFigure app. They grossly underestimated the complexity of the hardware and software development to be compatible with an infinite combination of iOS and Android versions and devices.

    I never purchased the Poly because the press release made it clear it would be a failure from the onset when they wrote, “...the App’s launch follows an intensive six-month development phase...” In reality the Poly and GoFigure app are in public beta testing more than 36 months after the launch in January 2017 and they rushed it to market to pay down the development costs. The damage to Chord’s reputation among some consumers and dealers is done and they are preparing to announce the 2Go for the Hugo2 in January 2020.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2019
  2. Lacas

    Lacas New

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    Thx for sharing this info ... I will order the x10t II - i was already leaning towards it because it can be used also with other dacs :)
     
  3. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    To answer your question from the last page, I go back and forth between the coax and optical. Interestingly, I think the optical is just slightly cleaner and more focused than coax, which is odd because usually toslink is garbage. The coax has a tiny bit more fullness and warmth, at the expense of a tiny bit of focus. They are both extremely close to each other, I typically use coax at the moment just because the cable I have helps the units stack better than my toslink cable. USB is decent but a little brighter and a little congested during busy tracks. These are all pretty subtle differences to my ears and it's not worth getting nervosa over which SPDIF you're using.
     
  4. Korotnam

    Korotnam Acquaintance

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  5. Superexchanger

    Superexchanger Friend

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    To add to this, just in case it wasn't covered in the past, you'll have a decent chance of this thing working if you open it up, just unplug the battery, and use a standard phone charger on the USB in if your battery is toast. I've used it for a year or so as a stereo DAC this way, and it works quite well. The replacement costs are trash.
     
  6. scotto

    scotto New

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    I''m using the mojo as my goto CanJam test source. Did that a couple of times with an iPhone source. Picked up a Hiby R6 Pro. Coax is best from the HIby > Mojo. Had an iffy coax out on the HIby and this required custom cables to ramp up to 192khz. Had an eBay guy build some pure silver coax cables, which helped the situation. ( Only played up to 96khz with stock or other mfg normal cables. ) I was wondering if the xDuoo would beat the Hiby? Hiby mojo via coax sounds pretty respectable via LS50's and an Onix tube integrated. Good to hear on the Eitr, I have been on the verge of picking one up... and wondering if other usb DDC would do much for the mojo? Thanks!
     
  7. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    I'm not sure but there is probably someone in the HF Mojo thread that has heard both. Many there agree that the xDuoo kills with the Mojo, and sounds better than Poly, so my guess would be the xDuoo is superior.

    With respect to the xDuoo output quality of coax vs toslink vs USB... I made some comments above but I've come to a conclusion. I'm thoroughly convinced that the best output on the xDuoo is........ the one you have the nicest cable for. Pick one, get a nice cable, and call it a day.

    I may be getting a job that would have me traveling like crazy soon (weird timing right?) so I may have to give up my Mojo for something more TOTL.
     
  8. Peti

    Peti Facebook Friend

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    I have just moved both my 2 channel stereo and headphone systems over to my European home and currently I am restricted to my little Mojo with the first Fiio X3 dap along with the Sennheiser HD-25 headphones and I just can't wait to find some time to listen to music. The mojo has been just lying around since I purchased it and hardly gave it a chance up until now but now I'm just sitting around and scratching my head. This mini rig is just perfect for my rock/metal collection to listen to.

    Before investing into some major headphone rigs I only listened to Metal music but, almost unnoticeably, I moved towards exquisitely recorded classical/jazz/female vocal recordings, simply b/c they sounded the best with the rig I possessed and listened to less and less heavy music. Now I'm back to square one, in many ways. Ceterum censeo, this little Mojo is impressive indeed, especially for 300$, used.

    It would be nice to see a poly-like device that can be attached to the Mojo that up-rez everything to DSD256 or double DXD, a'la M-Scaler.

    [​IMG]

    Just listening to Dio and I'm one happy camper.
     
  9. blackships

    blackships Friend

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    Yay! That's my local audio dealer. I think their bread and butter is home cinema now, but they have a bunch of treated rooms with different setups and will gladly let you come in and listen to your own music for hours when they aren't busy. Years ago I popped in and the guy that knew me said "you've got to hear this new system we put together." I have no idea what any of the equipment was, aside from the fact that the monoblock amplifiers put out 1000 watts each. I do know that system cost more than my house. They just let me plop down with a stack of my own CDs and didn't bother me for three hours. When I was shopping for speakers, they graciously hooked up at least a dozen pairs while I was there and swapped out sources whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, they are super big on snake oil AQ cables and Transparent speaker wires, but they're pretty low stress when you tell them you are on a tight budget.
     
  10. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Found an interesting BT add on for Chord Mojo from Xduoo. It’s actually for Xduoo portable DAC/amp but can be used with Mojo as well.
    Supports LDAC, AAC and has coax. Second plug can be easily removed with some DIY.
     
  11. jchang1988

    jchang1988 New

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    I actually picked up a used mojo recently with every intention of turning it into a desktop DAC using this method. Unfortunately, I seem to be having a lot of trouble finding a power supply that doesn't cause a whine or buzz in the unit while the battery is disconnected. I read on another site it prob has something to do with the charging component, where the newer ones have better power management or something like that.

    Just curious, what are you using to power your battery-less mojo?
     
  12. Hudo.H

    Hudo.H New

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    Interestingly, Rob Watts says that Mojo can be connected all the time to external power, it shouldn't damage the battery, and Chord support told me I should use it with battery, and then charge when its empty (I am using it as a desktop DAC connected to external headphone amp).
    In theory, batter power is cleaner and should be better than a cheap phone/computer charger because all the noise, even though I don't hear much difference. There's also iFi iPower 5V thing...

    But I am looking to get cheap-ish USB to SPDIF/COAX converter, not too expensive like that xDuoo since that moves everything to whole another price level, for that i would rather just go with Bitfrost MB or something like that.
    I found Topping D10 which can work as DDC, without DAC, USB in and spdif out, for ~100€. Has also a decent USB xmos chip.
    Is there something else in that price range?

    Btw, I auditioned few DACs for my headphone setup, few AKM and ESS models, I also own xDuoo TA10 and AQ Dragonfly Red, and liked Mojo the most (especially beats AQ DR) - smooth, organic, touch warm sound, quite nice with my LCD2 Fazor and Burson Soloist amp.
     
  13. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Better not to use it while charging. You can do so once in a while but if you use it in this mode regularly then it will for sure destroy the battery. Forget what Rob says, there are many reports of battery damage due to using mojo as desktop DAC connected with power all the time.
     
  14. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Are you talking about a usb to spdif for the Mojo? If so, I would not recommend. The USB is fine on the Mojo. Most problems folks have is that their transport sucks. Especially if using it with a laptop.

    As for sound quality, in all the systems I used the Mojo it always sounded best running off battery and not charging, And I agree on the AQ crap, the red and original black sucked. Oh and the Topping D10 is a raving piece of crap, I got suckered into buying one in the early days of Amir. Hope this helps. :)

    As @Ksaurav402 states above, trickle charging a lithium ion battery goes against all I have read about how to keep it healthy and get long life.
     
  15. Hudo.H

    Hudo.H New

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    @bixby Mojo is connected to laptop as primary source, and later will be desktop PC. I am like 90% sure that difference will be very minimal, so don't want to waste too much money. I also found this, same USB chip as Topping: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264228387786
     
  16. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    ok, good luck
     
  17. mocenigo

    mocenigo Acquaintance

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    I confirm that that little thing works. I use it to carry my laptops USB to the DAC (the USB in is already used by the Raspberry).
     
  18. Hudo.H

    Hudo.H New

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    Anybody tried to open the Mojo and disconnecting the battery if it's used only as a desktop DAC connected to the power constantly?
     
  19. jchang1988

    jchang1988 New

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    Yes, people have tried. Some say it works, some say it won't boot. In my personal experience, it "works" but however the power is working causes a terrible buzz. So I'm stuck running it off battery and charging when it goes low.
     
  20. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    They say that buzzing was sorted out eventually, but that's why I gave mine away, I could hear it across the damn room.
     

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