Stand-out Features of Chord Electronics Mojo 2 You Should Know
Chord Electronics Mojo 2
The Chord Electronics Mojo 2 sounds excellent and provides demanding music listeners with an excellent converter and powerful headphone amplifier. In combination with a high-quality player and headphones, you create an audiophile signal chain that can easily be taken anywhere. The selling price of around 600 $ is completely reasonable.
Half the size of a packet of cigarettes, the chord electronics Mojo 2 houses a DA converter and headphone amplifier that should also meet high demands. The device replaces its successful and optically almost identical predecessor after at least seven years. The matt black box is made of robust CNC-milled aluminum and can be used both mobile and stationary. The four embedded, semi-transparent, hemispherical buttons that light up in different colors and can visualize operating states are eye-catchers. This is extremely decorative.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: goal
The quality of the headphone amplifiers and converters in consumer solutions, especially smartphones and laptops, serves more to provide complete equipment than to satisfy high sound demands. It is obvious that in such devices the converter section is subordinate to requirements such as space requirements and power consumption and should hardly be of any importance for cost reasons alone. In addition, some smartphones now completely do without analogue outputs and rely solely on Bluetooth radio links. An external wired solution with audiophile standards is just what you need. It takes care of the sound reproduction. To do this, it converts the digital data stream from the player back into the analogue level and amplifies the signal for use with headphones.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: What's in it?
The technical basis of the device, manufactured in England, is an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), which has been optimized precisely for the desired task of audiophile sound reproduction. Accordingly, the product does not use any converters from AKM, ESS or other manufacturers, but rather specially developed technology for which Chord Electronics company founder John Franks was able to engage the specialist Rob Watts, who follows his own audiophile path and has made a significant contribution to the manufacturer's good reputation .
Compared to the previous model, the computing power has increased and is approaching the more expensive Hugo 2. According to the manufacturer, the increased computing power is used for a further optimized and sonically more neutral conversion with more precise digital filter stages and improved noise shaping - i.e. also for the newly added "Crossfeed" and "Equalizer" functions.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: interfaces
Audio signals find their way into the Chord Electronics Mojo 2 via coaxial (3.5 mm jack socket) and optical S/PDIF interfaces, micro-USB and finally also via USB-C. Sampling frequencies from 44.1 to 768 kHz (up to 32 bits) and DSD are supported if the player holds, plays and transmits the appropriate source formats. On the output side, two jointly controllable 3.5 mm headphone outputs are offered. However, there are no cinch outputs for operation with an amplifier like the Hugo 2 or balanced interfaces for headphones. There is also no Lightning connector, but it can be adapted.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: battery pack
According to Chord Electronics, the Mojo 2 offers significantly more efficient battery management with reduced losses, faster charging times and less heat development. The capacity of the built-in battery has been slightly increased, but the playing time is still around eight hours, visualized by a multicolored LED. Not a marathon performance, but quite sufficient in practice, since the Mojo 2 will probably be used stationary (see sound). The automatic shutdown after ten minutes of silence is practical. Equally clever is the ability to detect a constant power connection and adjust charging management accordingly - this increases the life cycle. The only flaw: the dedicated micro-USB socket, which is now less common, can still be used for charging.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: Streaming with Poly
The Chord Electronics Mojo 2 can also be used as a HiRes-capable streamer via the Poly model (firmware 3.0 or higher), which we did not have for the test, however. This additional module acts as a DAP with a microSD card slot and supports wireless transmission methods via WiFi and AirPlay with DLNA compatibility as well as the somewhat outdated Bluetooth 4.1 protocol. Like its predecessor, Poly is connected to the Mojo 2 as a plug-in module via four sockets. That explains why these sockets had to remain exactly in place, as did the micro-USB charging socket.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: Practice
The four variably illuminated buttons of the Chord Electronics Mojo 2 are used for function control and status display, such as the sampling frequency. One button is for switching on and off, while the middle two larger "balls" can initially adjust the output level and trigger a mute function. The fourth button is used for menu control. Here you have access to further functions via color coding, which can be adjusted via the volume buttons: display brightness, the quite unobtrusive three-stage crossfeed function, which influences the perception of the stereo center, and a button lock so that Mojo 2 is not accidentally adjusted. In addition, there is the aforementioned tone control in the form of four fixed frequencies, which can each be lowered/raised by up to ±9 dB.
The operating concept itself is conclusive, but requires a phase of familiarization. But even then, the color language of the Mojo 2 is rarely self-explanatory. It looks good, but is more of a compromise to the reduced format and design. Nevertheless: I find this compromise quite feasible, because as a rule you will not constantly turn the extended parameters for crossfeed and the equalizer. A display would definitely have changed the visual concept.
The level reserves of the headphone amplifier are also well dimensioned for low-performance models. Presumably, Chord Electronics has therefore dispensed with a dedicated line level mode. This is not a real problem, because the maximum level of the headphone outputs is sufficient for this application, but unfortunately also harbors the risk of overdriving a conventional input.
On the area of application: A mobile converter and/or headphone amplifier always requires additional space in the trouser pocket and additional loading logistics. A current smartphone, on the other hand, usually delivers its sound conveniently wirelessly to in-ears via Bluetooth. In the case of the Mojo 2, you go digitally from the smartphone to the converter and from there to the headphones via cable. More cumbersome, but the signal reaches you in uncompressed audiophile quality, provided the appropriate sources are used. I myself see the advantage of such solutions, especially in quiet listening environments, such as hotel rooms.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: sound
The previous model already received good reviews in terms of sound quality. This also applies without restriction to the Chord Electronics Mojo 2. From a purely technical point of view, in addition to a flawless frequency response, it delivers a high-resolution, dynamic, noise-free sound image that is precisely reproduced in time, space and panorama resolution.
At the same time, the Mojo 2 provides an output power that also drives critical, quiet headphones with sufficient volume - and that applies even in a double pack. Our listening tests took place with the Sennheiser IE 600, the 64 Audio U6t (for testing) and the Sennheiser HD 800 S (for testing). The Chord Electronics Mojo 2 drove all of the test headphones confidently and, if necessary, with a really powerful level in the sense of a high-quality power amplifier.
Supplementary explanations are required for the sound assessment of the content. First of all, the level of modern converters today is quite high. As a result, the comparison to the built-in converters of a smartphone can be surprisingly small at first glance for inexperienced listeners. In addition, you primarily hear the sound source and the headphones themselves.
With a little patience, however, the differences become apparent. With the Chord Electronics Mojo 2, you have the mobile counterpart to a high-quality converter/amplifier combination in the living room, and thus get the last five to ten percent of the sound quality out of your signal chain.
The differences are subtle, but add up. The added value is all the more recognizable the better the overall chain from the sound source to the headphones is.
Ultimately, the Chord Electronics Mojo 2 delivers a more coherent, three-dimensional sound image with even finer details. The room and the stage are better set up and illuminated. At the same time, the details over the entire frequency response become more audible. This can be expressed in an increase in speech intelligibility, as sub-bass flashes at certain points or as a suddenly audible interplay of two instruments where previously only one sound source was perceived. I am also of the opinion that a more complete transmission of the stored sound information also leads to a more emotional, more relaxed overall experience. It should be clear that these improvements are particularly noticeable in quiet listening environments.
And so the increase in sound can be remarkable, depending on the environment, source device and headphones. With a good signal chain, you dive deeper into the sound and discover the subtleties that belong to the instruments, the mix, the space and the dynamics. That may sound like factual analysis, but this is exactly what this converter doesn't allow itself to be tempted to do. He manages to package the gain in information coherently, effortlessly and musically. But it can be uncompressed source material.
Chord Electronics Mojo 2: tone control
The four-volume equalizer is a masterpiece. If you don't condemn a tone control as undesirable in advance, you can use this function to compensate for general weaknesses of certain headphones or for taste adjustments.
The outer bands are very low or high at 20 Hz and 20 kHz and can be adjusted in 19 possible steps, which are visualized using color combinations. In doing so, you actually get a considerable depth boost and air out of it, without it sounding overdriven, queasy or poisonous. With high-quality headphones, the sound can be "heated up" in terms of taste or, conversely, headphones with less level stability can be protected from overloading in the bass range. For example, the bass in Whitney Houston's "Exhale" could be boosted very convincingly. The 120 Hz band provides overall bass emphasis, but care should be taken to avoid sounding unbalanced. The same applies to the 3 kHz band, which also significantly overshadows the sound. Here, too, one should not overdo it with the manipulation.
The Chord Electronics Mojo 2 follows in the footsteps of a successful and good-sounding converter. The update comes in decorative packaging that has hardly changed and functional growth as well as USB-C interfaces. In terms of sound, the performance is outstanding in relation to the price. It is the sum of the small improvements in a high-quality signal chain that ultimately makes the reproduced sound a more beautiful experience. This also includes the environment, which is why the full potential of the Chord Electronics Mojo 2 is only exploited in stationary operation and in combination with high-quality players and headphones.
At the same time, I don't want to lean so far out of the window that there aren't equivalent converters, DAPs and headphone amplifiers in a similar price range. Comparisons are hardly possible due to the lack of possibility to switch seamlessly between alternative solutions with the same level. In summary, however, it can be said with certainty that the Chord Electronics Mojo 2 fully lives up to the task it has set itself. The high-quality DAC and headphone amplifier offers the music lover an easily transportable solution with audiophile sound quality.
- + first class sound quality
- + dual headphone outputs
- + USB-C interface
- - no balanced headphone outputs
- - no fixed level output mode
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