Chord Mojo 2 review (2023) with tough build quality and best sound

The Chord Mojo 2, we listen to a headphone amplifier and DAC with a long history. It could be said that the original Chord Mojo was the product that made the “portable DAC” market serious for people who care about sound. Seven years after it came out, Chord is ready to replace it. The improvements to the Chord Mojo 2 aren’t that many, but they are important. Digital connections are now more flexible, and the user has more room to adjust the sound to their liking.

Chord Mojo 2: Description

Because the first Mojo was so well-liked and successful, many other companies made products that competed with it for the title of best headphone DAC. This means that Mojo 2 doesn’t have the market to itself by a long shot. AudioQuest, Cambridge Audio, and iFi, just to name a few, all saw the Mojo for what it was: a game-changer, and they came up with their own very strong alternatives.

So, the clear market leader finds that it has to do everything. The Mojo 2 is the best choice if you want an easy way to get the most out of the best wired headphones when listening from a laptop, tablet, or phone. Even though it looks like it was thrown in at the last minute, the USB-C port that lets you connect Mojo 2 to your music source is a very welcome addition. It’s a shame, though, that the battery still has to be charged with the old-fashioned micro-USB cable, since that means you have to carry another charger if all of your other tech uses USB-C.

Chord Mojo 2: Pros and Cons

hord Mojo 2: Specifications

Design

With an ATSAM3U1C micro controller and an ARTIX-7 FPGA, the Mojo 2 has a lot of computing power for such a small device. The microcontroller is probably the USB receiver, and the ARTIX-7 FPGA is in charge of oversampling, DSP, and controlling the pulse array converter, which can be seen to the right of the FPGA. This is what sends out the analogue signal; it does not come from the FPGA directly.

The output stage, which is between the two 3.5mm jacks, is then fed by this pulse array. People often think that Chord DACs don’t have an output stage, but that’s not true. Rob Watts, the engineer who worked on Chord’s DACs, tried to make them with as few parts as possible, but they do have an output stage. The four RGB-lit buttons on the front of the Mojo 2 are used to control it. This will look different for different people, but it fits in with the rest of Chord’s music.

The first few days were hard for me to remember how to set things up, so I had to keep the manual close by. But after a while, you do get used to it. It would have been nice to have controls that were a little easier to understand, especially since the Mojo 2 has so many options to set up. There is also a crossfeed feature that many people will surely like. This sends some of the signal from the right channel to the left, but with a small delay and at a lower volume. This is meant to be like listening to a pair of speakers, where each ear can hear both the left and right channels, but at slightly different volumes and times.

Chord Mojo 2: Features

Chord says that the Mojo 2 can keep going for more than eight hours, which is an improvement. I haven’t timed the battery, but it seems to work for a little less than that. I used it for a few days and got a few sessions. Each time, I was a little surprised when the Chord turned off quickly.

Chord also says that it has improved its Intelligent Desktop Mode technology by redesigning the power supply unit (PSU) and separating the battery so that it can be used without a battery without affecting the sound output. When plugged into a device and connected to a power source at the same time, the desktop mode can control charging to protect the battery.

The Mojo 2 can be connected to the existing Poly streamer/server, which boosts the specs for high-res wireless streaming and has up to 2TB of SSD (solid state storage) and playback when the microSD card slot is used. The Mojo 2 can play files up to 32-bit/768kHz, which is a huge number, as well as DSD256. The different sample rates are shown by the different colours of the spheres. MQA support stands out because it is not mentioned, which suggests that it is not built-in.

Chord Mojo 2: Sound quality

The portable DAC was much better than anything else that cost the same during its lifetime. In fact, it wasn’t that different from Chord’s original Hugo model, which cost three times as much. But in the name of innovation and because portable hi-fi players like iFi and AudioQuest are becoming more popular, Chord has chosen to improve its most affordable DAC anyway. And these heights are higher than we might have thought, if not dizzyingly so.

During our testing, we use the Mojo 2 with an Apple Macbook Pro laptop, a Samsung Galaxy S21 phone, and a Chord Poly streamer. Later, we also use it with our reference hi-fi system, and every pairing is good, and not just because we no longer need to add a USB-C to Micro USB adapter dongle to some of them.

We’re not exaggerating when we say that Chord has made the Mojo sound better in almost every way. For the sequel, the soundstage of The Mojo has been opened up, and the extra depth and dimension has been filled with more resolution that is not only clearer and more present, but also better placed.

Listening to Ludovico’s Rolling Like a Ball in high-resolution is enough to prove this. The leading edges of the piano notes are sharper without changing the flow of the piece, and harmonic nuances are easier to hear. The difference between the two DACs is like moving from the fourth row to the front of the room.

When you play a Tidal Master of Elbow’s What Am I Without You, the organ intro has more texture and energy, Guy Garvey’s crooning is clearer, and the bass notes are much deeper. Not only does the Mojo 2’s clear openness help the soundstage get better, but it also does a great job of capturing the mood of the choir in this track.

Because of these improvements, the Mojo 2 has a more neutral, crisper, and livelier personality than its predecessor, whose presentation feels more confined and a bit coloured in the end. Here, the music is as vivid as a stained glass window. It’s bright, complicated, and wants your attention. Not surprisingly, the updated Mojo/Poly pairing is even more fun now that the new Mojo has more features. This is possible when the Poly’s firmware is updated to 3.0.

Chord Mojo 2: Battery Life

Chord has changed the Mojo 2’s battery life and management system to make it work better than the first one. The Mojo 2 still needs to be charged through the micro-USB port on the back, and as far as I know, it doesn’t have a quick charging feature built into its battery management. But it is now FPGA-based, which means that the Mojo 2 has a programmable power source that makes it easier to control the level of efficiency, get rid of heat, and extend the battery life by almost 10%.

Even though both the original Mojo 2 and the new Mojo 2 are officially rated to last 8 hours, most people found that the original would last less than that, while I found that the new Mojo 2 would last a bit longer in the same conditions. Certainly much closer, and depending on what you do with it, sometimes even longer than the official 8-hour rating.

Price and availability

The Chord Mojo 2 came out in February 2022, and it was sold for £449 in the UK. At the time of writing, prices haven’t been set for other major markets, but we expect that will change soon. It’s true that it’s not a small amount of money. But it’s about the same as the competition, and despite being small enough to fit in your pocket, this is a high-end product for audiophiles you can buy this directly from amazon.

Final Words

A DAC that sounds great and makes listening to music more enjoyable. With how well the Chord Mojo 2 can play, this is fine dining for audiophiles. It’s not perfect. The menu system can be hard to understand, and it would have been nice to have USB-C charging and native MQA support.

It’s also not a DAC for beginners. But when you listen to the Mojo 2, you can hear all the subtleties in your music. It sounds great with any pair of headphones and is one of the best DACs of 2022 for the right people.

FAQs

Can you use chord mojo as a DAC?

The fact that the Mojo can turn into a standalone DAC is a really cool thing about it. When you turn on the Mojo, if you press both the volume up and volume down balls at the same time, it goes into fixed output mode. This fixes the 3.5mm outputs to about 3V, which is a little higher than Line Level.

Is Chord Mojo a DAC?

Mojo is the best DAC/Headphone Amp that you can take with you and use anywhere to get more out of your headphones. A winner of several awards and a nominee for product of the decade, Darko.

How many watts is Chord Mojo 2?

Both of Mojo2’s headphone jacks will deliver 600mW in 30 Ohms and 90mW in 300 Ohms, which suggests that its power output is similar to that of its predecessor. 30-Jan-2022

Does Chord Mojo 2 have Bluetooth?

Both have USB and digital coax, but only Mojo 2 has optical. Both have USB and digital coax, but Gryphon also has Bluetooth and analogue input via 3.5mm TRS or 4.4mm Pentacon. Gryphon also has a switch that lets you choose between charging and data ports or a single USB-C port that can do b