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CHORD Mojo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this product:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 11 3.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 34 9.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 145 41.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 156 45.1%

  • Total voters
    346

AudioSceptic

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the CHORD Mojo 2 portable, battery operated stereo DAC and headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $799.
View attachment 207887
The Mojo 2 is solidly built. While I am definitely not a fan of multi-color interface, the buttons feel better in this model and some of the lights kind of make sense (e.g. showing volume level).

Input interfaces are crammed into one side but it is workable and I appreciate having dual USB input jack options (USB-C and Micro-USB):
View attachment 207888

On the other side there are two headphone jacks:

View attachment 207889

I am unclear why in this day and age of personalized music consumption, one would want to share the device with another person listening to the same content.

I charged the unit and tested it with USB input and the left headphone jack out.

Chord Mojo 2 DAC Measurements
Let's treat the unit as a DAC by adjusting the output to 2 volts and run our tests:
View attachment 207892

This would be an excellent performance for a desktop DAC and superb for a portable one:

View attachment 207893

You get slightly better performance if you allow the output voltage to go up higher:
View attachment 207894

Dynamic range is again, competitive for desktop DAC and excellent for a portable one:

View attachment 207895

Claim to fame of Chord DACs is their high-tap reconstruction filters. I was pleased to see it deliver the best performance I have seen in just about any DAC:
View attachment 207896

You get the full audio band to nearly 22 kHz and then excellent attenuation. This is what I hope every DAC chip/company implements instead of the lazy ones we see where cut off is at 24 kHz.

Linearity is excellent:
View attachment 207897

Multitone shows impressively low distortion levels:

View attachment 207898

IMD distortion test shows very well behaved response, again rivaling good desktop products:
View attachment 207899

Jitter was a bit disappointing given how good the device is otherwise:
View attachment 207900

But not remotely an audible issue.

Sweeping frequencies we see a slight rise in distortion with frequency:
View attachment 207901

We can confirm that by running a spectrum analysis:

View attachment 207902

Chord Mojo 2 Headphone Amplifier
We can let the device loose by maxing its volume and see how well it produces power, starting with 300 ohm load:
View attachment 207903

My threshold for desktop products is 100 milliwatts and this is close. Noise and distortion are impressively low. Switching to 32 ohm load we get similar results:

View attachment 207904

Checking for noise at tough 50 mv shows middling performance:
View attachment 207905

View attachment 207906

So careful with ultra sensitive IEMs.

Chord Mojo 2 Listening Tests
As usual, I started with my Sennheiser HD-650 headphone to test high impedance response. Sound was wonderful and there was enough volume/dynamics to bring out the bass out of this headphone. Switching to Drop Ether CX, there was even more volume available before slight distortion set in at max volume. I then plugged in the torcher test: Dan Clark Stealth which is my everyday headphone. Volume dropped quite a bit. Increasing it using the controls on Mojo 2 created static proportional to how much I cranked it up. Unless you are happy with pretty soft volume, it is not usable with Stealth (not that it would be in portable class).

Conclusions
Company is know for overdesigning its reconstruction filters. I see no benefit in that but the implement of Mojo 2 has definitely benefited from excellent engineering and closed loop (with measurement) design. Even as a desktop DAC it would be an excellent product. As a portable battery operated one, I think but I suspect it is the best I have tested.

It is my pleasure to recommend the CHORD Mojo 2. Yes, the price is up there but at least you get great objective performance to go with it.

---------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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£449 in the UK seems a lot more reasonable than $800. Great performance but I'm not so sure about the usability. For one thing, the shape ("form factor") is nothing like any smartphone so how do you combine them into a neat "bundle" in your pocket? Separate them in the same pocket and they are likely to jiggle against one another, probably causing damage; put them in different pockets and you have the awkwardness of the cable connecting them.

I'm amused by the fact that so many subjective reviewers claim to prefer slow/poor reconstruction filters yet also like Chord DACs, which have the steepest filters of the lot. BTW, does the Mojo's filter reach full attenuation by 22.05 kHz? It looks marginal in your graph, and why stay flat to almost 22 kHz when 20 kHz is all we need?

Also, "torture test", not "torcher test". ;-)
 

staticV3

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BTW, does the Mojo's filter reach full attenuation by 22.05 kHz?
The Mojo 2 reaches 39.774dB attenuation by 22.0664KHz, so no.
Chord Mojo2 Measurements Filter Portable DAC Headphone Amplifier__01.png
 

raif71

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£449 in the UK seems a lot more reasonable than $800. Great performance but I'm not so sure about the usability. For one thing, the shape ("form factor") is nothing like any smartphone so how do you combine them into a neat "bundle" in your pocket? Separate them in the same pocket and they are likely to jiggle against one another, probably causing damage; put them in different pockets and you have the awkwardness of the cable connecting them.

I'm amused by the fact that so many subjective reviewers claim to prefer slow/poor reconstruction filters yet also like Chord DACs, which have the steepest filters of the lot. BTW, does the Mojo's filter reach full attenuation by 22.05 kHz? It looks marginal in your graph, and why stay flat to almost 22 kHz when 20 kHz is all we need?

Also, "torture test", not "torcher test". ;-)
I pair my mojo with a fiio x3II using coax spdif cable
1653131698701.png


Fits into my tshirt front pocket.
 

Matias

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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.
 

Jimbob54

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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.
My view too. I get it as a small moveable desktop/office solution, or a long haul flight option paired with a phone but that's a rare use case and not for £800 (edit, it's £450 in the UK) .
 
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AudioSceptic

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Nice review @amirm , I wasn’t expecting a Mojo 2 to be reviewed for a few more months!

Attach a Poly to this and you have a very small all in one package. I still find it amazing when I’m travelling that this combo is holding 1tb of my music collection, no cables involved and gives me some EQ options and crossfeed (for me personally, essential for headphone listening). Fold down a pair of Dan Clark’s and you’ve got a terrific system that can be taken anywhere.

I know historically the Poly was plagued with software issues but I’ve only had one in the last year when most things appear to be resolved. I’ve had zero issues, works perfectly for me.
The Poly is very neat but also very pricey, and do you still need a smartphone to actually use it?
 

AudioSceptic

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Ignoring Robs copious BS mixed in with genuine researched science when addressing info-hungry lay audio people at his presentations, he does do some great designs (I suspect his business and marketing head rules though). I'd only want a small desktop dac to hide away and you can (still) get some good ones at a fraction of the price (although Topping is getting more expensive now for various reasons an dmaybe others will follow).

Am I the only one who detests with a passion those ghastly Micro USB sockets? I'd suggest they can fail if only slightly 'strained' by snagged cables...
Micro USB connectors are terrible, and not that much smaller than the mini one anyway. At long last, USB-C is becoming the standard, and is reversible, just like Apple's Lightning.
 

nyxnyxnyx

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Ignoring Robs copious BS mixed in with genuine researched science when addressing info-hungry lay audio people at his presentations, he does do some great designs (I suspect his business and marketing head rules though). I'd only want a small desktop dac to hide away and you can (still) get some good ones at a fraction of the price (although Topping is getting more expensive now for various reasons an dmaybe others will follow).

Am I the only one who detests with a passion those ghastly Micro USB sockets? I'd suggest they can fail if only slightly 'strained' by snagged cables...
I think it's a combination of covid policies in China, the fact that everything is going up in price nowadays, and more than that from a company's point of view I seriously doubt that Topping would want to stay "budget friendly" forever. They need their "footprints" in Hi-End pricing for multiple reasons, and I can understand that.
 

Nango

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Dual headphone jacks certainly intended for proper A/B testing of different phones and quick swapping from one to the other without unplugging etc...... right??? Great Mojo always ahead of the curve with those unique features.
 
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nyxnyxnyx

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Comparing this to a device class like dongle is not a fair comparison IMO. dongle can be affected negatively by several issues while a separate DAC/AMP might plug-and-play just fine without any problems. And since it's Chord if you follow the brand you know it's never going to be considerably cheap, so their products will always automatically lose in a pure P/P comparison.

What I like to highlight here is this time Chord (or Rob) released a great product that is class-leading and seemingly satisfying for both audiophiles and objective audio people. I think if this product does not come with nasty bugs or malfunctions it will be another mainstay in the portable DAC/AMP market.
 

staticV3

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Dual headphone jacks certainly intended for proper A/B testing of different phones and quick swapping from one to the other without unplugging etc...... right???
there's no independent volume control for each output, so unless both headphones have the same impedance and sensitivity, A/Bing will be very annoying as you'll have to adjust the volume each time you switch.
 

AudioSceptic

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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.
I know some dongles are very good, but which ones are actually better?
 
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AudioSceptic

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Dual headphone jacks certainly intended for proper A/B testing of different phones and quick swapping from one to the other without unplugging etc...... right???
You still have to "unplug" from your ears, so no great advantage there, surely?
 

maverickronin

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Everyone is also overlooking the fact that this has crossfeed. That already makes it sound better than 99% of DACs/amps on the market.

Are there even any dongles with crossfeed? The closest I can think of is using the Qudelix 5K with a wire.
 
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