Chord Mojo

[Snowmonkey]

You are right. I compared Tidal via PC (with Fidelizer) with the Chromecast and the sound was night and day. The PC delivered a full-bodied sound with no harshness at all, so I could reconnect the Mojo directly to the power amp and everything sounds great now. I agree that the Mojo is not harsh at all, my conclusions were superficial.

Now I am surprised about the harshening impact on sound of Chromecast even just as a streamer, i was a bit sceptical when i read a John Darko's review mentioning similar outcomes, but i can confirm them.

I am a bit disappointed since the Tidal+Chromecast solution is very comfortable in theory.

Now i have to think about some other solution to stream Tidal. Maybe a dedicated mini pc, i can see Minix gear or similar for 150 euros with Windows 10; or a Sonos connect, but it doesn't worth the 400 euros asked for it. Any other advice?

I am not using a Chord DAC but I can confirm Darko's observation that the output from the Chromecast is greatly enhanced by the addition of the ifi SPDIF iPurifier. With that combo, Tidal sounds heavenly on my system.

[Rexp]

You are right. I compared Tidal via PC (with Fidelizer) with the Chromecast and the sound was night and day. The PC delivered a full-bodied sound with no harshness at all, so I could reconnect the Mojo directly to the power amp and everything sounds great now. I agree that the Mojo is not harsh at all, my conclusions were superficial.

Now I am surprised about the harshening impact on sound of Chromecast even just as a streamer, i was a bit sceptical when i read a John Darko's review mentioning similar outcomes, but i can confirm them.

I am a bit disappointed since the Tidal+Chromecast solution is very comfortable in theory.

Now i have to think about some other solution to stream Tidal. Maybe a dedicated mini pc, i can see Minix gear or similar for 150 euros with Windows 10; or a Sonos connect, but it doesn't worth the 400 euros asked for it. Any other advice?

The other thing to try with the Chromecast is using a rechargable power bank to power it.

[muski]

Anyone else wishing that the Mojo had full MQA support? I've had a taste of TIDAL MQA through my Mytek Brooklyn and I'm hooked.

[ecwl]

Anyone else wishing that the Mojo had full MQA support? I've had a taste of TIDAL MQA through my Mytek Brooklyn and I'm hooked.

 

Not me because once I got my Tidal Windows app to decode the MQA files to 24/88 or 24/96 and play them back in Mojo, I thought the files sound fantastic.

 

I'm personally skeptical that a shorter tap length digital upsampling filter specified by MQA for Mytek Brooklyn is superior to the longer tap length Chord Mojo WTA digital upsampling filter. That's why I doubt Chord would ever add hardware MQA Renderer capability to their DACs. Maybe they would add hardware MQA Core capability so that you don't need Tidal app to decode the MQA file to 24/88 or 24/96 but I really don't see the point.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[barrows]

Anyone else wishing that the Mojo had full MQA support? I've had a taste of TIDAL MQA through my Mytek Brooklyn and I'm hooked.

 

No.

[kennyb123]

I'm personally skeptical that a shorter tap length digital upsampling filter specified by MQA for Mytek Brooklyn is superior to the longer tap length Chord Mojo WTA digital upsampling filter.

 

+1

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[barrows]

+1

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

 

+2. My understanding is that the hardware application of MQA is simple enough that its code can be added to the XMOS USB receiver. This would indicate that indeed the filters are quite simple compared to what Chord does. Personally, if I am buying a DAC like a Chord, Ayre, dCS, or other where the digital filters are quite sophisticated, I am not going to want to add some much less sophisticated filters of MQA...

[ecwl]

My understanding is that the hardware application of MQA is simple enough that its code can be added to the XMOS USB receiver.

 

Hmmm. In MQA's defense, my understanding is that MQA is implemented on XMOS xCore-200, not the regular XMOS xCore Audio Hi-Res 2 which truly has very little computational capabilities. Also, I wonder for companies like MSB which already uses filters with a few thousand taps, I doubt their MQA decoding is done on the XMOS xCore-200 as I suspect MQA worked with MSB and built longer tap length MQA filters specifically for the DSP chip that MSB already uses for their DACs.

 

I think that's why in theory, Ayre and maybe even dCS could approach MQA and get MQA specific filters built for their longer tap length DSP/FPGA chips. Whether this is worth the effort for Meridien/Ayer/dCS is another matter.

 

I believe Meridien already uses pretty decent DSP chips to run their apodising filters. But they still incorporate MQA filters into their own products.

 

Ultimately, I like my Chord DACs. I like them playing the software-decoded MQA 24/88 or 24/96 files. If others prefer their MQA supported DACs, great for them too!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[Alex Dimache]

Hi everyone,

 

I have been researching and adding to my Mojo-focused setup for the last year and finally can give some advice on this. My current setup is:

 

Adam Artist 5 active speakers (powered by NBS Omega Extreme IV power chords) <- Ortofon 7NX-705 RCA cables <- IFI ITube2 Buffer/Preamp <- Audioquest Victoria 3.5mm to 2RCA cable <- Chord Mojo DAC (3V line mode) <- Curious USB A to USB micro cable <- LAPTOP -> Curious Regen Link cable -> IFI IUSB3.0 nano -> Furutech GT2 cable -> random USB hub (to be replaced soon by an industrial powered hub) -> Audioquest 3.0-Micro Cinnamon cables -> WD external HDDs

 

Each of these - especially those on the output side of the laptop - have improved the sound quality of the Mojo considerably. The Audioquest Victoria is a revelation in terms of soundstage, transparency and proper stereo sound. I also tried all sorts of adapters, but this cable works wonders! So do the Curious cables. The latest addition is the IFI ITube2 which adds a bit of tube magic into the system while also properly distributing the stereo sound from the Mojo to the speakers. I have the Mojo powered at all times through one dedicated charging port from the IFI IUSB3.0 nano. Another option is to purchase the IFI IPower 5V charging cable which has a DC to micro USB adapter. This way, you can plug the Mojo to a wall plug and have a clean and stable power source. Yes, all of these are not cheap, but we all know this hobby never is.

 

I hope this will help some of you avoid the headaches setting up a Mojo-focused system has caused me.

 

Alex

[oatp1b1]

 

I'm using the Mojo together with an iPhone SE using a Apple CCK. Works fine SQ wise, but I'm experiencing intermittent interference which is something that I have experienced while connected to my MBP late 2013 as well. Is there an easy solution for this? Getting e.g. an iFi iSilencer? I've tried using airplane mode and while I think it helped a bit it did not completely solve the issue.

[ecwl]

For the MBP, I think ifi silencer would work great as I use the Audioquest Jitterbug with my Lenovo to improve sound quality. However, I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing. I do get intermittent interference with my iPhone when I'm in a low cellular signal zone and I have my iPhone on top of or very near the Mojo. I think what happens there is that the phone ramps up to get the cellular signal and generates a lot of EMI and RFI that wirelessly interferes with the Mojo. I'm not sure whether any USB device would fix that other than to keep the phone sufficiently far away. I rarely get the same problem in Airplane Mode unless it's super close to the Mojo and even then in rare moments. I just don't get that when my iPad is connected to the Mojo. In fact, I can get it when the Mojo is not connected to the phone but the phone is too close to the iPad. I'm guessing to completely get rid of it, you'll need a faraday cage for the Mojo?

[kaufenpreis]

It's just that really good AC based supplies don't come cheap.

[oatp1b1]

20 hours ago, ecwl said:

For the MBP, I think ifi silencer would work great as I use the Audioquest Jitterbug with my Lenovo to improve sound quality. However, I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing. I do get intermittent interference with my iPhone when I'm in a low cellular signal zone and I have my iPhone on top of or very near the Mojo. I think what happens there is that the phone ramps up to get the cellular signal and generates a lot of EMI and RFI that wirelessly interferes with the Mojo. I'm not sure whether any USB device would fix that other than to keep the phone sufficiently far away. I rarely get the same problem in Airplane Mode unless it's super close to the Mojo and even then in rare moments. I just don't get that when my iPad is connected to the Mojo. In fact, I can get it when the Mojo is not connected to the phone but the phone is too close to the iPad. I'm guessing to completely get rid of it, you'll need a faraday cage for the Mojo?

Thanks for the answer, appreciate it! Yeah, I had a brain freeze and didn't think of my other phone that is always lying nearby without flight mode on. Moved it across the desk and the problem almost disappeared so I guess that will do it. Always nice to have problems solved without having to buy something new. :-)

[mazuly]

I just got a Chord Mojo (got my mojo) and it killed my oppo HA-1 headphone amp.

 

I was feeding it to my Rotel pre/pro with 1/8 to rca cable using the line level setting.  The damn thing ran out of battery after 3 songs and now I am seating here waiting for it to charge (come on Chord charge the damn thing before shipping).

 

I have a question

 

It seems seems that both outputs work in line level mode.  Has anyone tried making 1/8 TTRS to XLR cables using both outputs?  I was thinking to use the tip for one cable and body for the other and feed oppo XLR input.  

 

Would that work?