So on the quiet, Mojo 2 has been optimised for use as a mainstream DAC that you can slot into the hi-fi. “There was swathes of fine detail, far beyond that from other portables or most mains powered DACs” Another microUSB is for charging and at front there’s an optical digital S/PDIF input.īutton colours are light spectrum linked: red for low (level or sample rate), ascending through orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, then to white as a maximum. Beside it are two USB inputs – microUSB and USB C sockets. A new intelligent charging system prevents battery over-charging in this situation.Īt left is a small 3.5mm stereo jack socket able to accept a digital S/PDIF input in electrical form, or twin inputs from the M Scaler digital filter for CD. Manufacturers, however, often prefer electrical connection since it allows higher bandwidth / higher sample rate and lower jitter.To make electrical connection work properly in conjunction with a mains power supply Mojo 2 has an isolated supply and, indeed, when running from a mobile phone charger it worked as well as running from battery, measurement showed. It’s the reason I measure dynamic range using optical connection: it offers ground isolation and an assured best result. Point being, a mains power supply can introduce ground noise that degrades performance, something I have seen many times on DACs during measurement. I found it interesting that the company allude to the adoption of an isolated power supply, since this affects its use as a mains powered DAC, run from a 5V USB mobile phone charger – use as a “mainstream DAC” as I said earlier, for use in a hi-fi system.Whilst Chord Electronics don’t play up this role, obviously they’ve catered for it. You can support the site directly via Paypal donations ☕. Reviewary earns Amazon affiliate commissions from qualifying purchases. Mojo 2 clocked up 125dB dynamic range on our Rohde&Schwarz analyser with volume set to avoid output overload – still better than most mains powered DACs, if no change from Mojo I. There’s talk about super low noise and improved noise shaping to better reveal fine details. Settings are retained at switch off and can be quickly removed by pressing up and down buttons together. It was very accurate, giving exactly 1dB steps, and was additive so lower bass lift could be combined with upper bass lift for example, but this was a fiddly button pressing process. Instead there are four adjustable frequency bands: lower bass, upper bass, low treble, upper treble, each band adjustable by +/-9dB.This is made possible by a new and – they say – unique ‘UHD DSP (ultra high definition digital signal processor) with a 104bit core running at 768kHz (max). The video I watched over Christmas won’t get an Oscar methinks and I’ll re-run Kim next Christmas, but it made salient points the User Manual could not, talking up additions and improvements that distinguish the new version.The most significant is addition of tone controls! If not of the bass/treble variety from long ago. Mojo 2 continues the tradition of offering stellar performance at lower cost.The question arising: why not use it instead of a mainstream convertor? Something I will answer later. Before I get to the updates, I’ll sketch in the background picture, simply and quickly.The reason Chord Electronics outperform most else is that they design and build their own DACs, designer Rob Watts being No 1 in the field.Whilst DAC chips from ESS of California and – more recently – AKM of Japan, approach Chord Electronics performance figures, they are found in convertors costing thousands.
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