Premium Build and Sound! - Chord Mojo 2 Review

[gavin]

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.

[ilsalmeron]

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.

[kunalshrivastava]

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!

[ilyanikulin]

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).

[guystpierrecomposer]

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)

[MML]

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.

[roynusser]

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.

[Tealc]

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.

[GadZookz]

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.

[ksreamaersk]

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.

[Rezzznr]

Mojo2 is fantastic. I love the possibility of quick twerking the sound without touching smartphone or PC. DSP from Chord is just unmatched.

[damiengrief]

I've always wanted one of these. Could just never justify the price - especially since I already have a couple DAPs that work pretty well already.

[HiFiInsider]

i find that it sounds better with headphones than being used as a DAC to amp.

[ShaneCutting]

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.

[jafizzle]

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

[gunzjones]

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.

[ajky]

I just got mine too. Also brought to add to my Hifi setup and it’s connected to a WiiM WiFi streamer. I can’t wait to start using it.

[guybrushtwood]

Very accurate and very colourful are basically polar opposites, no?

[lowrider]

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.

[seanb]

Better late than never. Now Denafrips Ares 2 review 😉