I actually wouldn’t mind the whole design bubble thingy, they could play around with the colors tho. I also think the dual 3.5 is nice since you can listen with someone else at the same time. But they need to get rid of the Micro-USB ports and need to add Bluetooth to it. Imo the Mojo is already to expensive and the need to also get the Poly if you want bluetooth is just way to much.
The absence of a separate volume control for each 3.5mm output almost negates the benefits of having dual headphone jacks from a practical point of view. If you’re using a more efficient headphone/IEM in the 2nd jack, volume will be too high. Great only if you happen to be using identical gear in both jacks and even then, the Mojo cannot accommodate for individual volume listening preferences. This is significantly limits the benefit of having a second identical jack imo.
What makes most of Chord's DACs stupidly expensive is their preference for using cutsom-programmed FPGAs to do the conversion, instead of using an off-the-shelf part from ESS, AKM, Cirrus and the like. I don't think they can fit in a fully capable Bluetooth module (with fully licensed codecs from Qualcomm and Sony) in there without a significant price increase unless they wanna compromise with an off-the-shelf DAC chip.
I had a mojo 1 and used it with my OG Andromeda for a year or so. The only issue was the heat that little metal box produces and the battery. It sounded great. Plus, two headphone outs.
If you use it purely as a DAC you can output it simultaneously to two amps: for example 1 for speakers and other for headphones or you can hook it to two different headphone amps (that's how I use it). I find it near perfect: the micro USB port and the occasional white noise burst bug are it's only faults.
Screenshot unknown item. Go to Google. To the right of the search bar is the Google Lens icon. Click that and upload the photo. That's how I found the cable. It's really helpful to find stuff you see in RU-vid videos etc.
Why isn't there 4.4 in it? This will make many items not benefit from the energy. They decided to put two of 3.5 as if you would have four ears. Also, the design of the buttons is strange.
Balanced on headphones has zero sound improvements. There are several manufacturers that stand by this, incl. Chord, Benchmark, RME. But any technical engineer can confirm, balanced never made sense with headphones or IEMs. But now it seems many devices are designed for the purpose of using a 4.4mm, so many IEM default to 4.4. I would want 4.4 on my Mojo 2 only because my upgrade cables have 4.4. But there is an adapter for it, I think by DDhifi or something.
@@odkKoma Not true, balanced can offer more current at a given voltage which can really help planars, plus more gain vs. single ended. It also doubles impedance. More power and higher impedance is very bad for balanced armature IEMs, though!
@@odkKoma It does not change the sound as if it is magic, but there is a logical reason for the low energy or mw. There is nothing on the planet that gives the same energy as 4.4, so some elements that require nutrition may benefit, and you will benefit that you do not need to raise the volume greatly in order to get details, and the rest of the things are good. Also, if you have items with wires that have a special connection and you cannot switch from 4.4 or the wires that you like or are of better quality, if they are 4.4, you will not benefit. If you have 4.4 and 3.5, regardless of the sound, it will make your experience more diverse. Do not hesitate to choose 4.4 or 3.5.
@@lummond That’s 3dB headroom for a money-hungry circuit. You could just get a more powerful amp with far better results than forcing balanced connectors on consumers.
Four color balls no doubt have a steep learning curve, but, once you learn it, it is amazing. His critique demonstrates limited knowledge of how it is designed. There is a strong following for Mojo2 for a reason
If you’re looking to drive Empyrean II or DCA E3, save yourself mega bucks and get an iFi hip-dac 3. Got mine for $179 new and it drives both these headphones perfectly. Bonus: 4.4mm out.
Thanks for the very informative video. Random question but any idea, based on the headphones you tested this with, if it can drive the Arya Stealths? (v1). Thanks!
This is a really poor & uninformed review. Sorry, but to do a device that I can only describe as witchcraft - with the correct pairing - such an injustice, is pretty terrible. For sound alone - Chord are light tears ahead of any truly portable device with the M2 . That's my #1 priority. Build is #2 & the M2 delivers again. The gripes about the ball system are nonsense. It's absolutely practical & if you can remember a phone number, you can crack this within a few minutes. The Poly is absolutely not essential. I bought one second hand for 250 & it's not worth a penny more. I usually use mine wired. 3.5 jack ports were an absolutely conscious decision by Chord - they knew they'd lose a lot of sales by not including one, but they felt that a 4.4 would - for whatever reason - make for a compromise on sound quality. For me - this is further testament to Chord refusing to compromise on sound quality, even if it meant they'd lose a lot of sales. As for the dual ports... they're not useless. Of course you need to be careful with the IEMs or headphones you'd use - my wife & I often use this when lying on bed & it's a nice little bonus. The micro USB port for charging - I'd rather it was a USB-C. but whatever. The M2 destroys any truly portable device, including my old DAP, the A&KSP3000 & my new one - the current Sony TOTL flagship. The M2 is an absolute bargain.
@@fabianoberlim9636 Their customers are people who easily spend 5000$ for a hi-fi DAC and 180$ for 1mt of speaker cable...it is priced for these people, so if you look for the value in it, you won't get any.
A couple of years ago, I might have been enticed by this snake oil product. But, as of August 2024, it is simply outdated. Chord needs to reexamine what they are trying to accomplish with this product line.
everything has become symbols . i got a new cd player and the remote had only symbols no words indicating what each button did . ok that wouldn't be too ad IF some instruction came with it but Nooo , you're left to pushing every button on the remote and try to remember what it did or didn't do .very irritating !
But i do like it . I was only complaining that there was no instructions for the remote . Aside from that it's not possible to know what you like in speakers and amps without hearing them first and sometimes thats not possible as the item may only be available via the internet .
Expensive AF! Abysmal battery life with planars! (4h tops) Heats up like crazy! Using it in the summer is an absolute pain! Micro-USB! WHAT?! Complex and unintuitive controls. The sound, on the other hand, is excellent-clean, accurate, and detailed. However, I find the soundstage to be a bit narrow for my preference.
I have this amp for my Focal Clear MG, ZMF Verite Open, and HiFiMan Arya Stealth. I love this thing, sound quality is excellent - extremely detailed while remaining smooth on the high end. Strikes the perfect balance across all of those headphones which are fatiguing on "shrill" sounding amps (which I found the iFi Signature to be by comparison). EQ is very nice for adding a couple db of bass too - though I wish it was more customizable than 5 preset bands. Overall I love it and put it right up against my Denafrips Ares 12th DAC (which I find a little smoother but less engaging depending on the amp - all comes down to mood).
@@RadaosMy thoughts exactly. I have ended up selling a bunch of stuff that was good and all, but this combo of Arya Stealth + Mojo 2 is so good, well… Also, it’s fun to take it to the next level and connect it to something like a Topping A70Pro. Sublime. Chefs kiss, whatever you wanna call it😎
Failed to mention the crossfeed Failed to mention that the EQ presets are shelves instead of traditional peaks Failed to talk about the intelligent desktop mode Failed to mention that it gets very hot Failed to call out the ancient micro-usb connectors Incredible.
It does not get very hot 😂 I just finished using mine hooked up to a battery charging into purple for 2 hours straight listening/simultaneously charging with the miter leather case on it
For the 2 they added in a USB C port that, I could be wrong, does both data and charging The micro-USB ports were kept in the same location as the original Mojo, so that it could interface with the Poly
It definitely does not get very hot. LOL. At best it can get slightly warm if you use it while charging. It's not a class A amp... everything else, definitely agree though.
If you’re looking to a bitfrost 2 or Gueshelli , the mojo 2 is a steal because you get the same type of finesse in the sound (or even more) AND a portable/desktop hi quality dac-amp device for 90% headphones… no need to add a fancy power supply either… the eq is not just ok, it is state of the art. I got used to the color code in 2 days…I recently compared it to a very decent ESS Dac in a 2500$ preamp (Primare SC15) and the mojo 2 is a far superior dac! I don’t get the thing about the poly… I use a usb out of my iPhone and it make a class leading dap in my opinion. (Bring 1 device instead of 2)
The SINAD for the price of this product is abysmal. In 2024, companies like chord are going to have to reevaluate their business plan because companies like topping and smsl are just going to continue to kick their a** in price and performance.
Great review! One complaint about the Mojo 2 though. Why oh why have they not moved on from Micro USB. It's a terrible connector! They already switched one to USB C. At this price, companies should not be using outdated connectors.
I've owned the Mojo 2 for about a year now. For the first little while you'll have to refer to the manual for help with the controls but it very quickly becomes second nature. I both love and hate this thing and have intended to sell it off several times but it somehow embedded itself into my daily carry to work. Hard to beat the form-factor, build quality, and sound. Speaking of sound, it's great with one kinda large exception. I find that the top-end treble is waaay too smooth. If you have IEMs with extremely detailed top-end (IE600 for example), you'll find that the details are all but smoothed out of existence. You can add a tiny little bit of it back with a boost using the 20Khz EQ control, but the smoothing I think starts below that so you're still going to be missing some details. My favorite pairing is with the Arya Organic. I use a little bit of the built-in EQ: Green +2 and Cyan +4
The Mojo 2 is perfect for IEMs. I never knew an IEM could produce convincingly holographic sound until I paired a Dita Project M with the Mojo 2. The separation is nuts: I never enjoyed "sibilance" until I discovered this duo!
The only downside is there is a bit of waterfall hiss with very sensitive IEMs. Hopefully they can get around that with the Mojo 3 while still being at least as powerful. I had the idea to use the second 3.5mm for a ifi IEMatch+, but with the Fir RN6 for instance, it just makes them sound worse.
@@waynethang9034 I used a Thieaudio v16 on it with dead silent background and that's one of the most sensitive IEMs available. Maybe it's an issue with your unit? Chord DACs are supposed to be dead silent Edit: the hiss you're mentioning may be present in all DACs, but it doesn't get louder in volume.
Exactly! Looking at coloured lights is fine for things like streaming codex but when you have to interact with the same buttons to play with sound settings it is hard remember what does what unless one uses it all the time. I love the sound quality but there are too many ways to do the wrong thing for a simple guy like me.
Why does no reviewer understand the benefits of the two headphone jacks!? Chord themselves have said they can be used as dual lineouts, this is incredibly useful in a desktop setup which was my use case for a good while, I would have one lineout going to my headphone amp, and one going to my stereo integrated amp, very useful feature.
The menu button can help you tell what volume level you're at. If it is unlit, you are in the lower half of the volume range. It lights up in the second half of the range.
I love my Mojo2, bin the Poly though as its Bluetooth is SBC _only_ . I instead pair mine with a 1mii B06HD+, which supports LDAC and has Coax output straight to the Coax In on the Mojo2, just find a single pole 3.5mm to coax cable and you're good to go. The EQ is divine too paired with the Sony MDR-Z1R. I'm very used to the bubbles now so it doesn't bother me. Fun story, I got stopped at Toulouse airport recently for a bag check and one of the security guards came over to me and started to chat with me saying he had the Mojo original and really liked it and noted how the 2 had 4 balls instead of 3 on the original. It was a nice conversation from one audiophile to another. (A little titbit on the digital out of the 1mii B06HD+ is that it outputs the digital in the same bit depth as the incoming bluetooth, which the Mojo decodes fine but the xDSD Gryphon can't take LDAC @ 96k only 80 something and it plays it back really choppy as a result.)
I use it with a Jotunheim 2 as my main desktop DAC. Fantastic. I haven't felt the need to upgrade or even look towards anything else. I greatly dislike the micro-USB charging port, and at the time it released it really seemed like such an odd decision. I stick to my BTR7 for portable use, as it does get too warm to keep in your pocket while you're out and about.
The Mojo 2 is kind of a legend but the form factor and aesthetics…hard pass. I went for the iFi Gyphon, which looks similar to a DAP and has more intuitive functionality.
I find the colours very intuitive. Very much like a rainbow, from infrared through the visible spectrum to ultraviolet, it seamlessly becomes shorter and shorter wavelength and thus more energetic... just like the colours of the Mojo2 in the settings. To put it simply, blue is louder than red.
The first time I knew all of this was bogus was walking into an Audio46 in NYC and trying their headphones. They had me use a Chord Mojo and I plugged in all of their headphones. Klipsch, Arya's etc. Everything they had. Didn't hear much of a difference between anything and felt zero desire to spend 2 grand on something that sounded like every other headphone. Very happy with my Topping A90 and Monoprice M1060. But at least now I know I'm not missing out on anything. These reviewers are trying to make this distinction between 2 grains of salt and 4 grains of salt on a piece of meat. "Oh my GOD this is just unbelievable!!". No it's not. Mostly fake news.
I'm in the market for both a more permanent desktop DAC/DAC-amp and a portable DAC-amp that doesn't need a battery so I can be a little less hard on my iFi xCAN's battery which is doing a lot of work in portable and desktop applications. I honestly became more confused after watching this review until I later found Golden Sound's review. Compared to all the options for portable DAC-amps from the Chi-Fi world, the Mojo2 *seems* un-competitive and overly-niche for its price. The UI just seems too clunky compared to devices like the iFi xCAN and Gryphon, which have knobs instead of volume buttons and even a digital display for the Gryphon which undercuts the Mojo2 by $50. The iFi devices have Bluetooth, while the Mojo2 doesn't. Having built-in EQ adjustment is fine, but by no means competitive to newer devices that have full PEQ for far cheaper. And then the Micro-USB. Basically the only things I have with Micro-USB are lights for my bike. It's about as relevant as the 2.5 balanced output on my xCAN. I've been looking at the Fiio KA17 DAC-amp to take care of use cases where I want to use a wired digital input, since my iFi xCAN only has analog and Bluetooth, and it's remarkable that the KA17 *seems* on paper to surpass the >4x more expensive Mojo2 in terms of features and usability: it can pull power directly from a phone or computer rather than needing a battery, it has PEQ, is smaller, has a digital display, has balanced output (even though I don't care), and is less than a quarter of the price. What does the Mojo2 have going for it?? The Mojo2 seems like a difficult product to market, but Golden Sound's review convinced me that it is in fact not merely a bulkier, clunkier portable DAC-amp, and the Mojo2 + Poly is arguably a better home audio streaming solution than a DAP. The cross-feed feature and the overall DAC quality seems like the killer app for the Mojo2 as a standalone device. It would have been interesting to hear more about its potential in a stack with a separate amplifier. Hopefully Chord will come out with a much more user-friendly product in the near future that ditches Micro-USB, and it'd be great to have a more intuitive UI with a knob and a screen. If omitting Bluetooth really is able to meaningfully keep the price down to an attainable level, I guess that's fine, but man, it seems like giving market share away to the iFi Gryphon for free due to how much more competitive the Gryphon looks on paper.
I think also the purpose of having two headphone outputs in the Mojo is to be able to have one connected to an integrated amplifier or preamp and the second output availne for headphones if needed and without disconnecting the hifi setup.
The reason they kept the Mojo 2 micro usb port is that it mates to the Poly. Note that you do not have to use it. They include a second USB-C port as well. That second USB-C port or the Micro USB port can be used for charging. I use the master usb-c port with a moon silver dragon for the input signal and the micro usb plugged in as a desktop set up. I am very pleased with it. I also picked up the Poly but have not used it at the moment. This is something I plan to use when I am portable with my Shure KSE 1500 (recommended with the custom ear molds for the best sound). The Poly has the advantage of also having an sd card slot for a ton of recorded music or you can use it to listen to Qobuz off line streamed from your iPhone without cables which is handy if you do not want to carry around a brick. I am currently using the mojo 2 as a dac for my Aune s17 class A amp driving Hifiman HE1000se headphones. If you can listen to this combo you will not be disappointed. I could go in to describe the sound but it will just be so much, blah, blah, blah when you could just hear it yourself at your local hifi dealer. Recommendable.
Hi, please tell me how you connect your mojo 2 with the atom amp. What line out voltage (what volume button color?) do you use? What cable? Does the DSP EQ in mojo 2 work while using it with the atom amp? Do you suggest a warm amp or a neutral amp with mojo2 + hd 600?
I feel like the world has gone topsy turvy. Chord products just LOOK goofy as hell, to the point of actually being impractical to use, as mentioned in the review. Then you have utterly redundant dual 3.5mm outputs... wtf? Then you don't have enough raw power to make it a failsafe portable option for hungry headphones. THEN YOU HAVE THE $1200 PRICE. Somebody please explain to me how this is in any way better than the $100 Qudelix 5K.
If helpful... I got a Qudelix 5k and Mojo 2 and tested them side by side. The sound quality is much better out of the Mojo. That might not matter, however, if you are using headphones that aren't revealing enough to show the difference. Also I found the Mojo 2 to be plenty able to power Arya or HD800. I am not yet into something like Susvara where the Mojo doesn't have enough power.
If helpful... in my experience the white noise issue is down to the cable you use. I bought a Fiio LT-LT1 usb-c to lightning cable and have never had trouble with that.
Man, that was a good review. Short, sweet and informative. I also like the way you described it from a user perspective. Even though there has been a lot of praise about this DAC, I always found it be a strange product. You actually answered all of the questions I had about it. Now I can cross this off my list in the hunt for a DAC/AMP for a pair of Verum 2's.
One idea for the two 3.5mm output... one to a 3.5mm to RCA cable for your stereo. The other for your headphones, So you keep it inline but then use it for headphones when you want. I agree that 4.4mm would make sense, but for some reason... they haven't done any balanced outputs for any of their products.
This is not just an iem device it runs my hd600, my lcd2, my empy2, hd620s with no issue. Are they on high gain, yes. But they sound great. I won’t defend the ui for a new user but the manual is incredibly detailed on the colors, what they mean in a given menu or just volume etc. as for why not balanced, I genuinely think it’s not needed.
The XDuo Xd05 series can also do the mobile dac/amp thing with a similar backpack system... And I got mine for 200 bucks. Absolutely perfect for my use case.
The biggest problem with it is the micro USB charging port. Especially considering they added 1 type c port they could have either just made that as charging port or add another extra & still keep the poly compatibility. Seriously nothing i own has a micro b usb anymore. & nothing this expensive should have either.
My favorite things about the Mojo 2 are the natural-sounding crossfeed and EQ. One can really tame crazy-sounding headphones like the AKG K701 and beyerdynamic T90 without sounding tweaked. That alone took away the pain of spending so much on such a tiny thing, ha-ha. Also, the lights might seem gimmicky and unintuitive, but eventually they become a mental language after using the unit for a couple days. You'll just instantly know what they mean, which feels cool! 🤓 I have no complaints. I just plug it to my iPhone 14 Pro Max and get lost in the music without thinking about its quirks. Although I paid the full $775 two weeks before it went down to its current $650, it sounds so good, I didn't cry! 😝
the dual ports is so that people can listen together apparently. as for 4.4mm; 4.4mm outputs arent inherently more powerful. using the same topology they would end up being the same power. and seeing as rob watts has said that hes already optimised it to get as much output power as possible while maintaining the power requirement envelope and the fpga controlled gate array, the 4.4mm connecter would be entirely pointless. a more powerful mojo would be a bigger mojo. what rob watts does is not the most efficient for output power to size, or output power to price, but he is doing things radically differently from just about anyone else. if thats not for you, the topping g5, ifi gryphon, or questyle cma18 would be better options. they are all more powerful for similar or lower prices.
I've been told that with how this thing works, a 4.4mm balanced output would make it sound worse. It was a while ago so I don't remember specifics. Mojo 3 needs a small LCD display for functions/levels, all USB-C ports for USB connections (move away from garbage Micro-USB already, for cry out loud!) and an easy Line Out mode please @ChordElectronicsLtd I'd like to pair it with a really nice dedicated Class A portable headphone amp for my planars.
honestly this is why i kept away from the Mojo2 for so long even though I found the sound signate fairly good - those damn colored balls which drive me crazy.
I have just got myself a Hiby r4 ,it's end game for me it's fantastic ,better than my Astell&kern ak70 .Also, as a dac only from my pc it sounds wonderful.
As someone who owns both (14 inch pro) mojo 2 is clearly better , but gap depends on what headphones you're using. When using mojo as a Dac only in a hifi system, there is quite a difference as well. Mojo 2 is punchier with more dense midrange and better instrument separation.
Im skeptical. My mojo 1s battery fried within a year - the headphone jacks were also very fragile. Chord were also not very helpful in terms of hetting shot fixed first saying i had to wait and theud be in touch as theyre too busy to repairs inly for me to chase it down 6 months later and be told i had to go back to my retailer. Oh and i get it faliures happen but the mojo randomly brucked in a similar fashion in a similar time frame from another youtuber (dankpods) and they also reached out for help and got no response at all. So yeah im deffo not buying any of their products again - great design language but overpriced and seemingly prine to faliure with poor customer support. Also im gunna say it yeah their products are not worth it to begin with and no bespoke dac tech is going to make me think otherwise.
Totally fair. I opened this one to see if the battery was replaceable but I didn’t actually yank the connector in case it WASN’T actually swappable. Did you try to replace yourself at all? Would love to know for sure if it worked.
My first Mojo2 had a problem with booting incorrectly and had a red light showing all the time sometimes after boot with no sound output. I took it to them at Canjam London 2023 and they were super unhelpful about it all and said I had to go back to the dealer who sold it to me (through Amazon). I contacted them and got another unit sent out and sent this first one back and it's been working fine since. (Although I've noticed that hard knocks to it like dropping it just causes the output to stop, no idea why.)
Had most of the issues you had, plus I never figured how to turn off the lights. It was annoying to be with those bright lights in a dark place, and since it overheated I couldn't put it in my pocket.
If you want a comprehensive answer have a look at iiWi Reviews and Wave Theory's reviews of the Mojo 2, they both talk through detailed comparisons between it and comparable DAC amps, including the next steps up
guys i have moondrop dawn pro dac amp and i want to use it with my iphone if i connect it with usb c to lightning charging cable does it ruin the sound quality? and if this effect the sound quality what the best usb c to lightning cables for dac amp in amazon or aliexpress? Thank you
@@marcusloo767 Not quite sure. Maybe it has something to do with differing input impedences between my two amps. Or maybe due to how output stage of the Mojo is designed. At any rate, it makes the resulting sound much softer and less incisive, at least for me it did.
@@marcusloo767 I think it is meant to be used with two identical headphones or two identical loads in general. That way it is supposed to work. I have used it with two different IEMs (Blessing 3 and Kato) and it sounded ok. Two amps did not, although it probably is depended on which two specific amps You intent to us. I also tried an amp and an IEM and it sounded like it was broken so I aborted the idea asap.
@jirihorsky9600 that's interesting. I've done this with my TA-26S and Singxer SA-1 and haven't noticed a difference. Might depend on the volume / voltage you're at on the mojo 2
There is a handy chart with dB/Voltage for every color. It takes 2 hours tops to learn how to use it. I got mine on release for 500 because the guy who spent 700 couldn'tt be bothered to learn the lights.
As a Mojo2/Poly owner I recommend people to be careful with this purchase , there are better options on the market today. Mojo2 is almost useless without Poly. And Poly is outdated with it's microUSB connector, ancient BT4, absence of Wifi 5Ghz, and most importantly - you can't turn the Poly off, it always drains the battery.
I’ve been using the Mojo2 without Poly for over a year now, always connected via USB-C, and I have no issues with it. I didn’t buy it to use as a Bluetooth device, and I absolutely love it.
Mojo 2 is a Dac for me, not a streamer. As a Dac/amp it is not outdated at all. I use it with usb C, SPDIF and optical from a real streamer or iPhone and it is flawless…
@@guystpierrecomposer yeah, it’s great as a desktop DAC. But it’s still using microUSB for charging in 2024. With Poly it sounds significantly better than just USB. But Poly is 10 years old, it’s obsolete.
That much money for micro usb is crazy. I understand that it has a special dac built in that very different from the traditional delta sigma but man I use an iPhone and micro usb is a nightmare to connect. Plus micro usb is very fragile. I don’t understand why they would cut any corners when you’re paying so much.
I use it with the HD820 and it works really well. I don't listen at super loud levels. I have never turned it all the way up so to me there is plenty of power. The EQ is great for adding bass. There is loads of detail and soundstage without being harsh. I have found that the Mojo handles treble better than other things I have tried. I had a long listening session with the HDV820 A/B comparing to the Mojo 2. I couldn't find much at all between them. Add to this the features and portability of the Mojo. Shame to lose balanced, but I could never tell the difference.