CHORD Mojo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

[Bogester]

As a desktop solution, how does the Mojo 2 compare with the JDS Labs Atom stack? I've got a pair of HD650s and I never really got on with the sound of them with the original Mojo (in my experience, a bit overripe and "stodgy" sounding and lacking "bite", even if detail levels are pretty good). However, I read that the Mojo 2 is a little more neutral sounding and with a better sense of space than the original, so might be a better match for the HD650.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

As a desktop solution, how does the Mojo 2 compare with the JDS Labs Atom stack? I've got a pair of HD650s and I never really got on with the sound of them with the original Mojo (in my experience, a bit overripe and "stodgy" sounding and lacking "bite", even if detail levels are pretty good). However, I read that the Mojo 2 is a little more neutral sounding and with a better sense of space than the original, so might be a better match for the HD650.

I think the issue is the HD650 more than anything else, they are too dull!
And , Yes, Mojo1 was a bit warm sounding, which did HD650s no favours.
Mojo2 is not as warm sounding as Mojo1, having said that, I think nothing short of using an equaliser can help the HD650s.
Fortunately, Mojo2 has a four band tone control!

 

[Veri]

However, I read that the Mojo 2 is a little more neutral sounding and with a better sense of space than the original, so might be a better match for the HD650.

A DAC/amp is not going to change the HD650 sound, you will need EQ for that.. the mojo2 offers EQ though. But doing it on software is obviously cheaper (free ).

 

[Bogester]

I think the issue is the HD650 more than anything else, they are too dull!
And , Yes, Mojo1 was a bit warm sounding, which did HD650s no favours.
Mojo2 is not as warm sounding as Mojo1, having said that, I think nothing short of using an equaliser can help the HD650s.
Fortunately, Mojo2 has a four band tone control!

My main system is powered by a Cambridge Audio CXA81 integrated amp, which has a surprisingly decent built-in headphone amp for the money, and the sound I get from the HD650s plugged into that is much better than with the Mojo and not at all dull to my ears. So there's definitely a "synergy" aspect to this, as there always is with hi-fi components. I agree that the basic sound of the HD650s doesn't change enormously from amp to amp (the ones I've tried, anyway), but "warm" Mojo + "warm" HD650s is just a little too warm for my tastes. For my office I'm looking for a desktop or portable solution that works well with the HD650s. I've read good things about the the pairing of the HD650s with the JDS Labs Atom stack and was about to pull trigger, but the ASR review of the Mojo 2 has got me wondering if that would be a better all-round option (portability, EQ-ability, sound quality). The Atom stack is a lot cheaper, though. Decisions, decisions!

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

My main system is powered by a Cambridge Audio CXA81 integrated amp, which has a surprisingly decent built-in headphone amp for the money, and the sound I get from the HD650s plugged into that is much better than with the Mojo and not at all dull to my ears. So there's definitely a "synergy" aspect to this, as there always is with hi-fi components. I agree that the basic sound of the HD650s doesn't change enormously from amp to amp (the ones I've tried, anyway), but "warm" Mojo + "warm" HD650s is just a little too warm for my tastes. For my office I'm looking for a desktop or portable solution that works well with the HD650s. I've read good things about the the pairing of the HD650s with the JDS Labs Atom stack and was about to pull trigger, but the ASR review of the Mojo 2 has got me wondering if that would be a better all-round option (portability, EQ-ability, sound quality). The Atom stack is a lot cheaper, though. Decisions, decisions!

Can you define what "warm", in audio context means, please?

 

[Bogester]

Can you define what "warm", in audio context means, please?

I can certainly define what I mean by "warm", but it probably means different things to different people. For me, "warm" means a mids-centric presentation, with perhaps rolled-off highs. Not "lean" sounding and certainly not aggressive in the treble. I'm sure there are headphones that I would describe as "warm" sounding that don't necessarily fit that exact sound profile, but I think that's overall gist of it.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I can certainly define what I mean by "warm", but it probably means different things to different people. For me, "warm" means a mids-centric presentation, with perhaps rolled-off highs. Not "lean" sounding and certainly not aggressive in the treble. I'm sure there are headphones that I would describe as "warm" sounding that don't necessarily fit that exact sound profile, but I think that's overall gist of it.

Okay, tonight I have heard songs, "perfectly" sung, and "acceptably", performed on my telly via YouTube.
Can this subjective post help you to understand that audible "warm" remains a mystery?

 

[Jimster480]

I can certainly define what I mean by "warm", but it probably means different things to different people. For me, "warm" means a mids-centric presentation, with perhaps rolled-off highs. Not "lean" sounding and certainly not aggressive in the treble. I'm sure there are headphones that I would describe as "warm" sounding that don't necessarily fit that exact sound profile, but I think that's overall gist of it.

I typically find that hardware which is regarded as "warm" lacks resolution. So only the low end comes through as it is easier to process since distortion scales with frequency and output. Another thing can be output impedance if it changes the impedance response of your device. HOwever I thiink that the mojo has lower output impedance so I am not sure. Might just lack the resolution or the response with the heavier load.

 

[odarg64]

So there's definitely a "synergy" aspect to this, as there always is with hi-fi components.

Uh huh...

 

[Jimster480]

Uh huh...

Well I can partially agree here. The sense is that too low of output VS different input impedance can sometimes reproduce a undesired sound.
This is mostly because random audio companies don't follow any standards and have too much or too little power output. Some of them with circuits that run somewhat dirty at default volumes and have to be turned down to a "standard level". Amir has done this tons of times with different products which output more than 4v balanced or 2v unbalanced.

 

[bitonio]

I wanted to share my little experimentation, I don't want to fingerpoint either Schiit or Chord here, just inform potential buyers.

I use the Mojo2 at my workplace, as DAC+Amp.
Great little box, it pairs very well with my Focal Elegia who often has a bad "tin can" sounding with other amp/dac.

Headphones pairing matters.
I tried the same Mojo2 with the Focal Clear I used to pair with a Schiit Jot (V1) and somehow I prefer the JotV1 with Multibit.

I wanted to see what the Mojo2 as DAC would do with the Jot as amp. It basically works but not what I would call great and it could be faulty unit or else but there is distinguishable noise coming out of the combo when pushing to 10'o clock - which is pretty loud on the Jot with the Clear!

I followed the instructions to align the Mojo volume-voltage the best possible and regardless ~2V or ~3V, I got the same noise when pushing the Jot volume.
I rule out any issue with the jack to RCA cable, using an overkill AudioQuest Golden Gate of 0.6ft length and got same result with 2 other cables.

That noise doesn't exist with the builtin Multibit DAC.

I reached out to Schiit to get an explanation, and here are their answer:

This is to be expected. The 3.5mm output on the Mojo is a headphone jack so essentially you're double amping. It's not a line out essentially.

I didn't buy the Mojo for this purpose but I read a couple of review where they mentioned it was connected to some expensive ($2000+) amp and the reviewer where impressed buy the Chord sound and never mentioned anything like this.

Lots of variable at play, my next test will be a different amp to see if that behave differently, it may or not.

I don't have a plan to use it other than standalone but felt the experience could interested some of you.

I am really enjoying the Chord sound with the closed-back, as well as with my IEMs, so no regret whatsoever, and I can tell there is a clear difference for me how it render a track compare to other DAC I own (Grace m900, Schiit Multibit, Topping DX3+). I now totally understand why some will get addicted and why some may just return it

 

[raif71]

I wanted to share my little experimentation, I don't want to fingerpoint either Schiit or Chord here, just inform potential buyers.

I use the Mojo2 at my workplace, as DAC+Amp.
Great little box, it pairs very well with my Focal Elegia who often has a bad "tin can" sounding with other amp/dac.

Headphones pairing matters.
I tried the same Mojo2 with the Focal Clear I used to pair with a Schiit Jot (V1) and somehow I prefer the JotV1 with Multibit.

I wanted to see what the Mojo2 as DAC would do with the Jot as amp. It basically works but not what I would call great and it could be faulty unit or else but there is distinguishable noise coming out of the combo when pushing to 10'o clock - which is pretty loud on the Jot with the Clear!

I followed the instructions to align the Mojo volume-voltage the best possible and regardless ~2V or ~3V, I got the same noise when pushing the Jot volume.
I rule out any issue with the jack to RCA cable, using an overkill AudioQuest Golden Gate of 0.6ft length and got same result with 2 other cables.

That noise doesn't exist with the builtin Multibit DAC.

I reached out to Schiit to get an explanation, and here are their answer:

I didn't buy the Mojo for this purpose but I read a couple of review where they mentioned it was connected to some expensive ($2000+) amp and the reviewer where impressed buy the Chord sound and never mentioned anything like this.

Lots of variable at play, my next test will be a different amp to see if that behave differently, it may or not.

I don't have a plan to use it other than standalone but felt the experience could interested some of you.

I am really enjoying the Chord sound with the closed-back, as well as with my IEMs, so no regret whatsoever, and I can tell there is a clear difference for me how it render a track compare to other DAC I own (Grace m900, Schiit Multibit, Topping DX3+). I now totally understand why some will get addicted and why some may just return it

I have tried pairing mojo 1 to Topping L30 amp and that went quite well ie better than Topping E30 (in terms of volume headroom). I used the max output from the mojo 1 ie 3V.

 

[Jimster480]

I wanted to share my little experimentation, I don't want to fingerpoint either Schiit or Chord here, just inform potential buyers.

I use the Mojo2 at my workplace, as DAC+Amp.
Great little box, it pairs very well with my Focal Elegia who often has a bad "tin can" sounding with other amp/dac.

Headphones pairing matters.
I tried the same Mojo2 with the Focal Clear I used to pair with a Schiit Jot (V1) and somehow I prefer the JotV1 with Multibit.

I wanted to see what the Mojo2 as DAC would do with the Jot as amp. It basically works but not what I would call great and it could be faulty unit or else but there is distinguishable noise coming out of the combo when pushing to 10'o clock - which is pretty loud on the Jot with the Clear!

I followed the instructions to align the Mojo volume-voltage the best possible and regardless ~2V or ~3V, I got the same noise when pushing the Jot volume.
I rule out any issue with the jack to RCA cable, using an overkill AudioQuest Golden Gate of 0.6ft length and got same result with 2 other cables.

That noise doesn't exist with the builtin Multibit DAC.

I reached out to Schiit to get an explanation, and here are their answer:

I didn't buy the Mojo for this purpose but I read a couple of review where they mentioned it was connected to some expensive ($2000+) amp and the reviewer where impressed buy the Chord sound and never mentioned anything like this.

Lots of variable at play, my next test will be a different amp to see if that behave differently, it may or not.

I don't have a plan to use it other than standalone but felt the experience could interested some of you.

I am really enjoying the Chord sound with the closed-back, as well as with my IEMs, so no regret whatsoever, and I can tell there is a clear difference for me how it render a track compare to other DAC I own (Grace m900, Schiit Multibit, Topping DX3+). I now totally understand why some will get addicted and why some may just return it

Schiit is making things up like usual. If the voltage is 2 volts then it doesn't matter. There should not be any problem with the input into another device with a standard adapter cable.
The headphone output of the Mojo 2 is clean enough that there would not be a problem.

 

[Veri]

I reached out to Schiit to get an explanation, and here are their answer:

I didn't buy the Mojo for this purpose but I read a couple of review where they mentioned it was connected to some expensive ($2000+) amp and the reviewer where impressed buy the Chord sound and never mentioned anything like this.

Lots of variable at play, my next test will be a different amp to see if that behave differently, it may or not.

That is a really silly answer from Schiit, "double amping" lol the mojo can be used as a line-out sure. What seems to be the problem is that the unbalanced connection between the Mojo and your upstream device is picking up grounding noise which is then further amplified.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I wanted to share my little experimentation, I don't want to fingerpoint either Schiit or Chord here, just inform potential buyers.

I use the Mojo2 at my workplace, as DAC+Amp.
Great little box, it pairs very well with my Focal Elegia who often has a bad "tin can" sounding with other amp/dac.

Headphones pairing matters.
I tried the same Mojo2 with the Focal Clear I used to pair with a Schiit Jot (V1) and somehow I prefer the JotV1 with Multibit.

I wanted to see what the Mojo2 as DAC would do with the Jot as amp. It basically works but not what I would call great and it could be faulty unit or else but there is distinguishable noise coming out of the combo when pushing to 10'o clock - which is pretty loud on the Jot with the Clear!

I followed the instructions to align the Mojo volume-voltage the best possible and regardless ~2V or ~3V, I got the same noise when pushing the Jot volume.
I rule out any issue with the jack to RCA cable, using an overkill AudioQuest Golden Gate of 0.6ft length and got same result with 2 other cables.

That noise doesn't exist with the builtin Multibit DAC.

I reached out to Schiit to get an explanation, and here are their answer:

I didn't buy the Mojo for this purpose but I read a couple of review where they mentioned it was connected to some expensive ($2000+) amp and the reviewer where impressed buy the Chord sound and never mentioned anything like this.

Lots of variable at play, my next test will be a different amp to see if that behave differently, it may or not.

I don't have a plan to use it other than standalone but felt the experience could interested some of you.

I am really enjoying the Chord sound with the closed-back, as well as with my IEMs, so no regret whatsoever, and I can tell there is a clear difference for me how it render a track compare to other DAC I own (Grace m900, Schiit Multibit, Topping DX3+). I now totally understand why some will get addicted and why some may just return it

Couple of suggestions and questions;
- have you tried another DAC into the amp, to see if the noise persists? what about no input? is there still noise?
* If there is, it is the amp! if there isn't, then it is Mojo2.
- with nothing connected to input, and analogue chosen as input, does the noise change with volume control?
* if not, meaning there is no noise and it is regardless of the knob position, then I suggest turning the volume up all the way, and use Mojo's volume control.
That is interesting, because from measurements and other people's experiences, Mojo2 is noise free, even Mojo classic was noise free.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

................ What seems to be the problem is that the unbalanced connection between the Mojo and your upstream device is picking up grounding noise which is then further amplified.

With Mojo not being grounded, ground loop can not happen, you need two grounded devices for ground loop noise.
What could be happening is that, possibly, the balanced input's cold pins are floating and picking up noise. Mojo is single ended, but amp has both single and balanced inputs.
In such cases, it is customary to short the cold pins, to eliminate any noise that might get picked up.
Worth trying to short the cold, to see if noise goes away.

 

[bitonio]

Hi Ken,

• I have tested with my old Sony WM1A I no longer have. It didn't have a proper line out, and it was also really mehh from what I recalled. Not tested with with a proper line out DAC. The m900 is hooked up in my hifi system and I may give it a shot.
• When nothing on the RCA input it is totally silent even at max volume

I confirm the mojo is dead silent when used on my sensitive IEMs!

I like to experiment so I'll continue, I placed an order on a Topping L30 II I'll toy around and report.

 

[bitonio]

Schiit is making things up like usual. If the voltage is 2 volts then it doesn't matter. There should not be any problem with the input into another device with a standard adapter cable.
The headphone output of the Mojo 2 is clean enough that there would not be a problem.

Thanks for saying that, I value different opinion and this encourage me to test further.

 

[Jimster480]

Thanks for saying that, I value different opinion and this encourage me to test further.

You're welcome! Definitely should test further, I see that you mentioned you ordered an L30 II so I suppose you shall test further now!

 

[amirm]

I wanted to see what the Mojo2 as DAC would do with the Jot as amp. It basically works but not what I would call great and it could be faulty unit or else but there is distinguishable noise coming out of the combo when pushing to 10'o clock - which is pretty loud on the Jot with the Clear!

There is a manufacturing/design issue with Jot that induces hum. See my fix here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...otunheim-headphone-amplifier.3733/#post-89406