CHORD Mojo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

[formantzero]

From an audibility perspective it wont matter


It can- 7v max on XLR and RCA ins for the 2 lower gain settings. I suspect at either 2v or 3v in you will be attenuating on the amp down from max in mid gain.

Ok, so the claim that the 789 can handle up to 7V max on both low and mid gain settings (on both XLR and RCA) seems verifiably false on my end. Either that or the Mojo 2 isn't able to dish it out at those high voltages.

I pressed volume up until I got both balls sort of light lavender. Then I got the right ball to be white, then the left. Still sounded ok, but I was surprised that I was able to keep pressing volume up, and it started to distort, audible clipping on kick drums. Sounded awful. It extended well into horrifying clipping range and it kept getting worse and worse until it eventually reached its limit. I assumed the Mojo 2, once both balls were white, would just run out of volume adjustment room, but it seems like it's happy to push itself past its limits (or the limits of my 789 at least).

Still trying to find the highest usable setting -- I know Amir tested with 4.3V output and said SINAD was the best there. But I'm confused because from a chart I saw on another forum, both balls being white meant 4.3V was reached, and that was the Mojo2's max.

 

[formantzero]

My bad, seems like the Mojo 2 documentation says "clipping is possible when on the white setting". So I'm trying to stay on the upper end of the ultraviolet color, 4.23 being the Vrms max of that range, I take it.

So far the 789 seems fine with 4.23Vrms or below as the input on the RCA in (Gain setting I).

 

[Robbo99999]

Holy sh*t, two coloured balls to control volume, that's not complicated! (Design philosophy......)

 

[vlad.stoian98]

I have a question, how do you connect the Mojo 2 to the Macbook air (providing that the macbook air has 2 usb c inputs ) thanks!

 

[BDWoody]

Holy sh*t, two coloured balls to control volume, that's not complicated! (Design philosophy......)

And if you end up playing with them for too long, I hear they turn blue.

 

[Bob from Florida]

And if you end up playing with them for too long, I hear they turn blue.

I heard the headphone plug gets ejected during that scenario.

 

[vlad.stoian98]

I have a question, how do you connect the Mojo 2 to the Macbook air (providing that the macbook air has 2 usb c inputs ) thanks!

please?

 

[staticV3]

I have a question, how do you connect the Mojo 2 to the Macbook air (providing that the macbook air has 2 usb c inputs ) thanks!

via a Type-C to Type-C cable.

 

[Robbo99999]

And if you end up playing with them for too long, I hear they turn blue.

Ha, I thought it was the opposite! But in terms of the DAC volume control it's more useful to know how many -dBFS you're at, rather than relying on a strange two-coloured ball system, lol!

 

[vlad.stoian98]

via a Type-C to Type-C cable.

and is that included with the mojo 2?

 

[Somafunk]

and is that included with the mojo 2?

No, if I connect my iPad Pro with USB C to the mojo I use this ugreen usb c to usb c with right angled plugs as it is convenient with the low profile connections

 

[Somafunk]

A heads up for those folk looking for a lightning to usb c cable to dispense with the bulky apple camera connection kit.

Received this Fiio LT-LT1 cable tday so I can use my phone when poly runs out of juice, works fine on my iPhone XS/iOS 16 to mojo 2. Certainly less bulky than the bulky apple CCK dongle.

Fiio LT-LT1 lightning to usb c cable here, I imagine you can find it on Amazon/other retailers

 

[formantzero]

I’ve been told that the Apple CCK is the only method that works consistently and without issues in Chord’s own lab testing.

On a related note, I’ve been using a thunderbolt 3 cable, to connect to my Mac, and since doing that I wasn’t getting any noise bursts. Until yesterday (once) and today, again. Really at a loss. I wish there was way to get optical out of a Mac easily, with an adapter.

 

[Somafunk]

I’ve been told that the Apple CCK is the only method that works consistently and without issues in Chord’s own lab testing.

That was perhaps correct at the time chord did the testing, was that on the original mojo or mojo 2?. This is a new lightning to usb c cable fully Apple MFI certified to enable pass through audio data from the lightning connection, designed by Fiio to work with their portable dacs so it is well engineered. Been using it all day, no issues.

As I see it chord are being very cheap not supplying an mfi certified cable with the mojo, with the profit and exposure that the mojo has brought to chord electronics this is a money pinching oversight.

 

[formantzero]

Mojo 2. And I agree on your last point. It’s shameful.

My Cayin CS-L2C which is supposed to do the same thing would result in random white noisebursts so it may be luck of the draw. I know it works for some people. I may have a bad Mojo 2 unit though where the problem is more prevalent. Annoying because I thought I solved it with the thunderbolt cable to connect to my Mac, but I had the noise bursts again yesterday and the day before. Both during a music production class, and it was embarrassing.

 

[formantzero]

By the way one thing they mentioned to me that sounds completely insane: that the M1 macs are prone to this and one thing that solves it is going through two adapter legs. Like a usb-c to usb-a, and then maybe a usb-a to usb-c cable. Honestly sounds insane to me. They don’t know why it works. But claim it does.

I feel like they should get to the bottom of this and fix the issue permanently to help out their large customer base who own iOS and Mac products but the fact that they’re just treating me like this means they obviously don’t care a lick about their customers after they’ve made a sale. Rob Watts probably has nothing to do with this but Chord support seem very ho hum and matter of fact about this.

 

[Googaliser]

The Mojo2 came free (as a promotion) with my DCA Stealth. I didn't even bother to open the box for a couple of months - but glad I eventually did. Wow - this little unit punches well above its weight. I was using a couple of spare DA outs from an AVID MTRX DAC (studio equipment) and have now switched to the MoJo going into an HPA4. Am very happy - and my reference point are the venerable Sennheiser HE1's.... [Spoiler - the Stealths are not a million miles away....]
I didn't encounter the 'static' Amir referred to, when powering the Stealths directly. They scale just fine to my ears, and if I didn't have an HPA4 in the rack, I would actually have no qualms about running the Stealths from the MoJo and will bring the pair on my next vacation! [I won't be buying a new expensive DAP with a rubbishy user interface].
I didn't really take Chord seriously in the past - regarding them more as eye-candy to those who the design language speaks to - but the Mojo piqued my interest. Looking at Amir's recent reviews though - the Mojo is probably the pick of the bunch - rapidly decreasing with price point (sorry Dave). I suspect this is due in part to long product cycles in a fast evolving space. Will watch with interest to see if the higher-end units start to measure better when inevitably refreshed.

What a great era we are in to be enjoying audio....

 

[MacCali]

The Mojo2 came free (as a promotion) with my DCA Stealth. I didn't even bother to open the box for a couple of months - but glad I eventually did. Wow - this little unit punches well above its weight. I was using a couple of spare DA outs from an AVID MTRX DAC (studio equipment) and have now switched to the MoJo going into an HPA4. Am very happy - and my reference point are the venerable Sennheiser HE1's.... [Spoiler - the Stealths are not a million miles away....]
I didn't encounter the 'static' Amir referred to, when powering the Stealths directly. They scale just fine to my ears, and if I didn't have an HPA4 in the rack, I would actually have no qualms about running the Stealths from the MoJo and will bring the pair on my next vacation! [I won't be buying a new expensive DAP with a rubbishy user interface].
I didn't really take Chord seriously in the past - regarding them more as eye-candy to those who the design language speaks to - but the Mojo piqued my interest. Looking at Amir's recent reviews though - the Mojo is probably the pick of the bunch - rapidly decreasing with price point (sorry Dave). I suspect this is due in part to long product cycles in a fast evolving space. Will watch with interest to see if the higher-end units start to measure better when inevitably refreshed.

What a great era we are in to be enjoying audio....

Personally that mojo 2 goes really well with the 109 pro’s. You may think it’s wild but they are soulmates and would be phenomenal on the go. I know it’s open back

We got nothing against Chord besides the high prices. I’ve currently heard a lot of chords products at trade shows and audio shops and honestly it’s a mixed feelings, before I only preferred the TT2 and Qutest over Dave and Mojo subjectively.

I completely disliked the M scaler incorporated into the chain.

Now it’s the Mojo 2 and TT2 that are preferred. Also oddly I would say with poor memory as I did not A/B is that chord products are better with headphones vs stereo. I’ve always heard there capabilities via headphones maybe whatever that taps bs is all about.

But I will say with high certainty that I would be hard pressed in a blind test to notice a significant difference between all the dacs I mentioned and my D70s and more so with my pre 90 and I wouldn’t say it’s unfair vs the TT2 since that unit should come with built in pre

 

[Music1969]

EDIT: personally I have a high degree of suspicion re validity of what you say considering you apparently own the HE1 which is unlikely in itself because of it's stupid cost, and secondly for the reason that if you indeed have decided to spend that amount of money on audio headphones then it's unlikely you're objectively minded

I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

I'm a happy Sundara man (I'm cheap!) but there are exist wealthy people on this forum that enjoy good objective measuring gear.

Very jealous of your HE1 there @Googaliser !

Hope I can save up for a DCA Expanse one day

 

[PeteL]

I personally think it's a bit poor that DCA are aligning themselves with Chord, if what you say is true.

Why would that be poor. This Mojo get's the highest recommendation there is on this site and nothing else portable have that kind of power to feed the Stealth.