The Chord Mojo has been around for some time now and I have been an advocate of it since its inception at the Shard, London in September 2015. For many it quickly cemented itself as one of the biggest technological developments in DAC implementation and design, with its portability and incredible performance with its FPGA technology. I personally saw the Chord Mojo as a game changing product for the portable audio industry and I began promoting it endlessly to my clients.
Now, four years on it has never been a better time to invest in the Chord Mojo and experience it for yourself. Sadly though I still feel that for the layman they are unsure of it’s use case and how it would benefit them. The Mojo is a complex product and it’s features can be a little hard to grasp at times making it overlooked.
There has never been such a great time to experience the stunning abilities of Mojo since it is now an incredible £299 down from £399 and in my opinion it is worth every single penny.
I decided to write a brief list of 5 awesome ways you can use and experience the amazing benefits of the Chord Mojo.
- Upgrade Your Computer Audio
This is the way that I often use my Mojo and its stellar performance. I am unaware of a decent integrated soundcard that is able to offer the same sound quality when using your headphones as the Mojo. When you are using the standard 3.5mm audio output on your laptop or PC it is generally a terrible experience. I have heard CPU noise through it, horrible distortion and other unnecessary artifacts that completely ruin any music. By using a standard USB micro cable you can use a laptop or PC’s USB socket to simply add a Mojo to your setup or alternatively by using the optical output. By then plugging in your earphones or headphones to the Mojo’s 3.5mm socket you are in for a musical delight. Be it listening to podcasts, internet radio, streaming services or even gaming the Mojo can offer better audio. Power is also another issue for for the integrated 3.5mm output on your computer…….basically it doesn’t have any, so everything can sound lackluster and have limited dynamic range. The battery powered Mojo has oodles of power capable of awakening some pretty demanding headphones or earphones. The battery power and size of the Mojo makes it an ideal travel companion for a laptop or even a tablet.
- Upgrade Your Phone Audio
Much like when upgrading the sound on your computer, the stunning Mojo can be used to improve the sonics of your earphones and headphones from your smartphone. Often smartphones have either a USB Micro connector on the bottom which can connect to a Mojo using a special On-The-Go cable or adapter. Other than a USB Micro output, phones can also have the USB C connection and so a normal USB C to Micro cable can be used to go straight into a Mojo’s USB input. When you have neither of these then you will probably require an additional lightning Camera Connection Kit and a USB A to Micro cable. Using your phone as a source plugged into the Mojo offers superb convenience and again can vastly improve the sound of your favourite music whilst on-the-go. Paired with high quality earphones such as the oBravo Cupid and you potentially have a portable HiFi that would compare to a home HiFi system. - Update Your CD Player
A really cool feature of the Mojo is it’s ability to transform into a standalone DAC. By pressing both the volume up and down balls when turning the Mojo on it turns the Mojo into fixed output mode. This fixes the 3.5mm outputs to around 3V which is a little higher than Line Level. What this means is that it can then be integrated into a HiFi system and used to improve your older sources. With major advancements in DAC technology being used in the Mojo I would personally say that it offers better performance than most DACs built into the majority older CD players. Maybe you have a Hifi dating back to the eighties that you want to breathe some life into. If perhaps you own an old Philips, Marantz, Sony, Pioneer or similar CD player then they will very often have a digital output on the back that enables you to bypass their built in DAC and use an external device. This is how you can update your CD Player by introducing the Mojo. The easiest way is if the CD Player has a TOSLINK optical output. Simply plug the optical cable into the hole on the CD player and the other end into the Mojo and you have bypassed the built in DAC. This way you can benefit from the prowess of the Chord Mojo through your home HiFi Setup. If your CD Player only has a Coaxial S/PDIF output then you will require a specialist connection that uses an RCA connector at one end of the cable and a 3.5mm on the other end. Once the 3.5mm cable has been inserted into the socket marked COAX on the Mojo you can start enjoying the benefits of Mojo. If you are wishing to implement Mojo into your HiFi system you will 9 times out of ten also require a decent length of cable with 3.5mm to 2 x RCA connections to connect your Mojo to your existing amplifier. - Listen With Friends
As a bit of fun Mojo arrives from the factory with not 1 headphone output but conveniently 2. For this it means that Mojo is perfect for letting your friends also experience the beauty of the Mojo whilst you are also listening to your favourite music through it. A cool feature, but one where social sharing of music is becoming ever more common. - Convert into a Standalone Portable Audio Player
The pièce de résistance for me is the insane ability to convert the already astonishing Mojo into a standalone digital, portable audio player. I am pretty sure that Chord Electronics always had it in their mind to add this functionality since Mojo’s inception. In 2017 I was invited to the launch of the Chord Poly at the Goring Hotel in London’s prestigious Belgravia district. Poly was to be the most advanced technology to have launched from the Maidstone based Chord Electronics. It was a substantial addon that attaches to Mojo and adds several functionalities to transform it into an all singing all dancing portable player.
Poly provides Mojo with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity alongside a microSD card slot to store your music. Using the new connectivity options makes it possible to communicate remotely with Mojo in order to control it. By using a smartphone or laptop you can select the music being played through Mojo, putting your Mojo into your pocket and having a hands-off experience. Take it home and you can use it in your home HiFi as a streamer controlled from your phone with incredible ease. Poly makes Mojo a jack of all trades and harmoniously completes the Mojo.
