Verdict
A marvellously piquant hearing experience , the Chord Mojo 2 works its magic to elevate what you ’re listening to . It reach everything from a Spotify current to Hi - res file sound much better and functions as a great upgrade for any audio system .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
It was in 2015 when Chord first got its mojo , and seven years is a long time to waitress for a sequel to what is considered to be one of the finest DACs of the last several years .
No pressure then to advance theDACmarket further , particularly since the Chord Mojo launch there has been a sea of digital audio converters in its aftermath .
The Chord Mojo 2 launches with the tagline of redefine portable audio standard . How well has it fared with that high ambition ?
Design
I never critique the original Mojo but visually there ’s not a huge conflict between erstwhile and Modern . It has the same elusive industrial aircraft - grade aluminium housing as before that ’s cool to the cutaneous senses , the jet - sinister finish is both smart and retiring . The Mojo 2 looks nice , and it does n’t make a pother about it .
You ’ll point out the four control spheres as Chord calls them , up from the original ’s three . The new sphere introduce a navigable menu organisation where you’re able to tone down the Mojo 2 , turn on the button - lock feature when in passage and play with the four - setting crossfeed adjustment .
I find the fare system a bit convoluted in action though , I have to look at the manual to remember the sequencing and what each eyeball represents and that does make using the Mojo 2 more involved than it ought to be . I do like the bulk ascendency and the way the spheres interchange colour to denote the current bulk level , but this is certainly not a ‘ DAC for beginners ’ .
The original Mojo consort warm during usance , but improvements have been made to safeguard against that . It is n’t too fond during use , only buzz off particularly fond when the gimmick is charge . It would have been nice if Chord could have tweaked the bombardment metre to be more obvious . Having to lift the twist up to see which colour it is – the Mojo 2 ’s LED change colour as it drops in battery down to red – is not always convenient .
Connectivity is a couplet of 3.5 mm outputs – the Mojo 2 can drive two earphone at once though volume can not be set severally – with the digital stimulation now at five due to the increase ofUSB - Calongside two micro - USB port wine , coaxial and optical options . remark that charging is still only through the dedicated micro - USB port and that the Mojo 2 can buck faster with the right transmission line .
If you do stand for to take the Mojo 2 outside of the house and then there ’s a leather - styled subject to keep them good in .
Features
Chord says the Mojo 2 can last over eight hours , which is described as an advance . I have n’t timed the battery , but it feels slightly less than that in surgical process . I stick a few school term over several day function and each time I was a small surprised when the Chord suddenly switched off .
Elsewhere Chord say it ’s meliorate its Intelligent Desktop Mode applied science by redesigning the PSU and isolating the battery to indorse battery - free operation that does n’t compromise the sound output . If plug into a twist and connected to a power source at the same time , the screen background mode can regularize commit to preserve the stamp battery .
The Mojo 2 can be connect to the survive Poly streamer / server that bumps up the spec for high - Re wireless streaming and features up to 2 TB of SSD ( firm state store ) and playback when the microSD card one-armed bandit is used . The Mojo 2 can support files up to 32 - bit/768kHz ( which is massive ) as well as DSD256 , and various sample - rate are reflected by the spheres change color . MQA supportis conspicuously by its deficiency of mention , which implies that it is not natively supported .
Sound Quality
The Chord Mojo 2 is a sterling listen from the get - go . I ’ve used with it many headphones and the result has been very alike . The Mojo 2 does n’t appear to add its own colour or phone to signal or necessarily change the feature of the earphone much – it removes all the impurity in the sign , amplifying the sound to leave only transonic goodness .
That sound rather high-minded but mind to a couple of headphones through the Chord and you may mark off a great good sense of breadth to the soundstage , gravid stage of detail , definition and result , a superb common sense of dynamism and attack . The Mojo 2 fork up euphony with the utmost sentience of uncloudedness and deepness – listening to tracks with just a brace of earpiece and comparing them to how they sound filter out through the Mojo 2 and they sound flat and less energetic .
The Mojo 2 present more depth , more texture and dynamically its bold , a clear and obvious difference between still and trashy note that ’s much more piquant .
part are articulated with more fluency and nuance , the soundstage is bigger and tall , divulge more particular in a rails and with better separation between the various elements in a track . There ’s a rattling amount of Department of Energy to its delivery that ’s seldom shift at fatiguing level . Of of course , adjusting the volume can facilitate but I find I rarely have to do that unless I ’m switch between phone .
A listen to Rainy Night in Tallinn from Ludwig Goransson ’s Tenet ( Qobuz ) and it ’s a spanking listen , crisper in tone and big in sizing with the Mojo 2 . Bass carries more weight , solidness and deepness for a more pulsating listen . It sounds fantastic and once you ’ve listen to the Mojo 2 it ’s voiceless to settle for a performance that ’s anything less .
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Should you buy it?
The Chord Mojo 2 bring tremendous amount of faithfulness to listening academic session . If you require better , you ’d have to make up more .
I would n’t recommend this DAC as anyone ’s first step into the universe of hi - fi . It is a small too complex to get to grip with , especially with that menu system .
Final Thoughts
A terrific - sounding DAC that elevates the hearing experience . This is ok dining for audiophiles with the public presentation the Chord Mojo 2 can unleash .
It ’s not perfect , the menu system can be hard to wrap up your foreland around and USB - C charging might have been expected , as would native MQA livelihood . It ’s not a DAC for founding father either .
But listening to the Mojo 2 is to hear all the nuances in your euphony collection . It ’s a great - sound DAC with any pair of headphones and , for the good audience , one of the good DACs of 2022 .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every DAC we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We use industry - received tests to liken features in good order . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to critique a product .
encounter out more about how we test in ourethics insurance policy .
FAQs
The Mojo 2 does not list MQA funding as part of the file formats it supports .
