CHORD Mojo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

[raif71]

Now I'm puzzled. You have a DAP but still need a separate DAC/amp? I thought that the whole point of a portable DAP is that it does "the lot".

In this case, I use the DAP only as transport...the sound from mojo better than the DAP and in terms of drivability , better.

 

[AudioSceptic]

In this case, I use the DAP only as transport...the sound from mojo better than the DAP and in terms of drivability , better.

Most of us carry a smartphone with us. I can see a use for something like a Mojo with that, especially if the phone (or adapter) doesn't provide enough power, but what does a DAP do that a phone doesn't if you don't use its DAC+amp?

 

[JJB70]

Singapore price seems to be S$900, that's well north of £500, which is pricey, probably be better to order from UK minus VAT if dealers are allowed to sell to overseas customers. Not that it's a product I want.

 

[JJB70]

On dongles, I just use a bog standard OnePlus dongle. I've no idea how it measures or power output but it drives my IEMs more than loud enough with room to spare and sounds fine. And costs peanuts.

I really wish I had a pound or a dollar for every person who has bought something like a Mojo based on all the usual magazine reviewer hype (veils, night and day blah blah blah) and told me it sounded just the same as their phone jack or dongle. Where a proper audio product does come in useful is if you have hard to drive headphones and need power, but for IEMs and most modern headphones which are pretty efficient you really don't need that much power.

 

[Jmudrick]

One way they address that in the Mojo 2 is with "desktop mode", where it will run directly off of the dedicated USB power input and bypass the battery so that you can leave it connected and running for as long as you like without it constantly having to charge the battery. That also means that if the battery did fail you could at least still use it with an external USB power bank of your choice.

Battery life is rated at 8 hrs for the Mojo 2. Middling for a DAP if long term portability is important. And of course pales in comparison to the 70hrs calculated for the LG V60.

 

[PeteL]

On the go there are dongles with better measurements, smaller, lighter and cheaper. Unless one needs the battery, which a power bank could supply and still save some money, I see no reason to choose a Mojo 2.

Being the devil's advocate here, I don't walk around with power hungry headphone. But Power bank will give you battery life, but won't allow for more power for your dongle. This has more power than any dongles I think.
Edit: + obviously, a power bank will use your USB port. How will you connect your dongle.

 

[mightycicadalord]

Back in highschool, about 15 years ago, my friends iriver h140 was king, because it had two headphone outs. It was really handy for long bus trips, just listening music together. It also had optical line in/out, usb host, and some other stuff. With rockbox custom OS you could so much with it, we actually used it as an active crossover + limiter for a DIY PA system. I still have mine and use it all the time but it has since had a battery and SSD upgrade. That thing was so ahead of it's time.

Miss you Ian, wherever you are.

 

[Jimbob54]

This has more power than any dongles I think.
Edit: + obviously, a power bank will use your USB port. How will you connect your dongle.

It does have more power than any dongles. You can get splitters from ugreen and similar that split the phones USB c socket into 2, one for power in, one for signal to dongle. Don't work with every model and make of android though.

 

[MacCali]

Honestly love the review, however I don’t think it’s going to beat my FiiO Q5S AMD even if the performance suffers, it has more power and is was nearly 500 dollars cheaper.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

it comes with at least one nasty bug though: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...review-portable-dac-hp-amp.34160/post-1193171

quite a shame, years ago I bought mojo 1 and it had several bugs too. nothing groundbreaking but it's annoying. at least the store was responsible enough to extend my warranty

 

[PeteL]

Honestly love the review, however I don’t think it’s going to beat my FiiO Q5S AMD even if the performance suffers, it has more power and is was nearly 500 dollars cheaper.

Your QS5 is also much better looking, more feature packed and more easily pocketable.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

I'm just talking from my experience, I think separate DAC/AMPs are less dependent of the source than dongles.
I had a handful of dongles that were outputting different volumes on some of my phones. My V20 was working splendidly with them but my older Sony and Xiaomi had anemic performance. They also draw battery very quickly with some phones, and sometimes just don't connect or drop connection out of a sudden?
On the other hands all the portable amps I tried did not experience this issue. I don't know exactly why though.

 

[PeteL]

I'm just talking from my experience, I think separate DAC/AMPs are less dependent of the source than dongles.
I had a handful of dongles that were outputting different volumes on some of my phones. My V20 was working splendidly with them but my older Sony and Xiaomi had anemic performance. They also draw battery very quickly with some phones, and sometimes just don't connect or drop connection out of a sudden?
On the other hands all the portable amps I tried did not experience this issue. I don't know exactly why though.

By definition, Dongles don't have a power supply, it uses whatever USB power supply that is on your phone and you are right they are not all equal.

 

[MacCali]

Your QS5 is also much better looking, more feature packed and more easily pocketable.

Not much about looks but in a vs I can agree.

Got real lucky on that one, found it brand new far after it was discontinued from an authorized retailer and I see people selling used ones for 200 dollars more than msrp. Most also not even the type C version which I believe is the only version THX certified.

@nyxnyxnyx didnt the original mojo suffer from overheating problems as well?

Saw some online retailer at Axpona with an OB one for 300. Got me paranoid cause of the heating issue and the fact people were selling it for so much more. Wouldn’t get any type of warranty purchasing that way as well

 

[AudioSceptic]

On dongles, I just use a bog standard OnePlus dongle. I've no idea how it measures or power output but it drives my IEMs more than loud enough with room to spare and sounds fine. And costs peanuts.

I really wish I had a pound or a dollar for every person who has bought something like a Mojo based on all the usual magazine reviewer hype (veils, night and day blah blah blah) and told me it sounded just the same as their phone jack or dongle. Where a proper audio product does come in useful is if you have hard to drive headphones and need power, but for IEMs and most modern headphones which are pretty efficient you really don't need that much power.

Indeed, and given mobile use with all the ambient noise, plus noise from your own movement, plus you are probably paying at least some attention to your environment, how good does performance need to be anyway? (I could add the risk of damage to, or loss of, expensive gear, but that is a very personal judgement.)

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

By definition, Dongles don't have a power supply, it uses whatever USB power supply that is on your phone and you are right they are not all equal.

I thought so but was not sure. I think because of that even if a dongle performs and sounds best it still doesn't make separate portable dac/amps obsolete. Plus some people don't want to drain battery on their phones for many reasons so I guess that's why they might buy a DAP or separate amp. Not really necessary but could be helpful.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

Not much about looks but in a vs I can agree.

Got real lucky on that one, found it brand new far after it was discontinued from an authorized retailer and I see people selling used ones for 200 dollars more than msrp. Most also not even the type C version which I believe is the only version THX certified.

@nyxnyxnyx didnt the original mojo suffer from overheating problems as well?

Saw some online retailer at Axpona with an OB one for 300. Got me paranoid cause of the heating issue and the fact people were selling it for so much more. Wouldn’t get any type of warranty purchasing that way as well

I bought one in 2019. After a few weeks it suddenly died. The store replaced a new one for me. Fast forward a few months the battery lifetime dropped significantly. The store (or Chord service?) told me that playtime issue is not included in warranty and the price to change battery is steep so I replaced the battery from a 3rd party. It worked fine since then.
Yes it was warm but not to the point where I would say it's a clear problem, at least for my unit (both before&after battery change). Everything else was alright though, no problem.

 

[MacCali]

I'm just talking from my experience, I think separate DAC/AMPs are less dependent of the source than dongles.
I had a handful of dongles that were outputting different volumes on some of my phones. My V20 was working splendidly with them but my older Sony and Xiaomi had anemic performance. They also draw battery very quickly with some phones, and sometimes just don't connect or drop connection out of a sudden?
On the other hands all the portable amps I tried did not experience this issue. I don't know exactly why though.

My first dac was ifi nano BL, it was on loan from my friend who got me into audio. That thing would drain my phone battery super bad even when it was fully charged. Like 75 mins of music and it was a wrap

Not experiencing any of this with my fiio besides the typical drain of music playing.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Being the devil's advocate here, I don't walk around with power hungry headphone. But Power bank will give you battery life, but won't allow for more power for your dongle. This has more power than any dongles I think.
Edit: + obviously, a power bank will use your USB port. How will you connect your dongle.

Is there such a thing as a USB or Lightning splitter? Even if so, this can't help the output of the dongle, can it?

 

[MacCali]

I bought one in 2019. After a few weeks it suddenly died. The store replaced a new one for me. Fast forward a few months the battery lifetime dropped significantly. The store (or Chord service?) told me that playtime issue is not included in warranty and the price to change battery is steep so I replaced the battery from a 3rd party. It worked fine since then.
Yes it was warm but not to the point where I would say it's a clear problem, at least for my unit (both before&after battery change). Everything else was alright though, no problem.

Definitely happy I did not purchase that lol