Chord Mojo 2 – Improved technology and new features

Chord Electronics Ltd. describes the latest generation of the portable D/A converter with integrated headphone amplifier, which is now available in the form of the new Chord Mojo 2, as a mobile high-end hi-fi solution.

The Chord Mojo 2 is the successor to its predecessor, the Chord Mojo, which the English hi-fi manufacturer Chord Electronics Ltd. was able to keep on the market with astonishing success for a long time. The Chord Mojo has been presented since 2015, whereby the English were among the first manufacturers to bring such a solution based on the combination of a dD/A converter and headphone amplifier in the form of a mobile solution to the market, and can thus clearly be considered a pioneer.

In the meantime, the user is presented with a wide range of products in this field, but the Chord Mojo has still been able to assert itself successfully. Chord Electronics Ltd. has probably done a lot of things right, but now the time has come to launch the successor in the form of the new Chord Mojo 2.

Chord Mojo 2 – The second generation

The new Chord Mojo 2 is, of course, a combination of a flexible D/A converter and a headphone amplifier in the tried and tested manner, whereby the English once again focus on the highest quality and therefore clearly speak of a high-end solution.

It was and is essential that Chord Electronics Ltd. does not rely on “standard components”, but actually uses its own expertise, first and foremost that of Rob Watts, in order to rely entirely on proprietary technologies.

Sophisticated DSP signal processing as the basis

The heart of the new Chord Mojo 2 is thus a so-called FPGA, a Field Programmable Gate Array, which is also used here in the latest generation. The basic intention of the developers was to achieve even finer resolution, more performance and higher efficiency with this new version, as the company states. The company refers to this as the most advanced UHD DSP.

An essential feature of the new Chord Mojo 2 is that it uses digital filtering of the signals with so-called WTA filters, where this abbreviation stands for Watts Transient Aligned Filter. This is said to achieve a particularly phase- and time-neutral mode of operation for an exceptionally precise reproduction.

Ultimately, no less than 40 DSP cores are used for the aforementioned WTA filters and are intended to ensure the nuanced, transparent representation of all details of the source material.

The innovations of the Chord Mojo 2 also include extensive possibilities to influence the signal processing. A four-band equaliser, for example, allows flexible sound control, providing access to four predefined frequency ranges. Also new is the Chord Mojo 2’s Crossfeed feature, which simulates listening through loudspeakers in three intensity levels and is thus intended to create a more spatial listening impression. With these functions, the Chord Mojo 2 can be comprehensively adapted to the personal preferences and requirements of the user.

By the way, the manufacturer explicitly points out that all of the signal processing options listed are carried out without any loss of quality; this is referred to as Fully transparent Ultra HD Signal Processing.

New USB-C port

As already mentioned, the new Chord Mojo 2 is supposed to stand out due to its flexibility. In addition to the microUSB port already offered by its predecessor, a USB-C port is now also available, and in addition to an optical S/PDIF interface, a coaxial S/PDIF interface is also available. A separate microUSB port is used for power supply or charging the integrated battery.

The Chord Mojo 2 is able to process signals in Linear PCM with up to 32 bits and 768 kHz via USB-C and microUSB. Via the coaxial S/PDIF interface, 32 bits and 768 kHz are also possible, whereas the optical S/PDIF interface supports signals up to 24 bits and 192 kHz.

Two headphone jacks

The new Chord Mojo 2 has two headphone jacks, both of which are 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack sockets. The manufacturer specifies a power output of 90 mW at 300 ohms at 5.2 V rms and 600 mW at 30 ohms at 4.2 V rms for these outputs, once again underlining the Chord Mojo 2’s ability to control basically any headphone without any problems and to deliver optimum results for a wide variety of models.

New menu

A very distinctive feature of the Chord Mojo was its special buttons, which are presented as backlit spheres. The manufacturer describes these as Polychromatic Light-up Buttons. The new Chord Mojo 2 has been given another such button, a menu button, which now – nomen est omen – offers a menu for further configuration of all functions.

This way, the already mentioned tone control and the crossfeed feature are available, but also the brightness of the key illumination can be adjusted and a key lock is available to prevent an accidental adjustment of the parameters.

More powerful battery and Intelligent Desktop Mode

The new Chord Mojo 2 comes with a new, more powerful battery, plus a so-called Intelligent Desktop Mode, which makes use of the DSP resources to guarantee better battery management for faster and at the same time optimal charging and thus less heating, but also optimal sound quality when operating at the wall socket.

Elegant, solid housing

Of course, nothing has changed in the design of the housing. The new Chord Mojo 2 presents itself with an extremely solid, very elegant looking housing, which is made of aluminium by CNC and anodised in black.

Compatible with Chord Poly

Chord Electronics Ltd. already offered a way for the Chord Mojo to turn the portable D/A converter and headphone amplifier into an extremely flexible streaming client in no time at all, namely via the optional Chord Poly.

Of course, this option is retained, so the new Chord Mojo 2 is also fully compatible with the Chord Poly, which is literally just docked to the side.

Prices and availability

The new Chord Mojo 2 is available immediately from specialist dealers. The manufacturer gives a recommended retail price of € 599,-. For the sake of completeness, we would like to mention that the Chord Poly is available at a price of € 649,-.

Getting to the point

Chord Electronics Ltd. introduces the Chord Mojo 2, an extensively expanded successor to the very successful mobile converter and headphone amplifier. The Chord Mojo 2 uses an improved FPGA and offers even finer resolution with its UHD DSP. Chord’s proprietary WTA filters are calculated on 40 DSP cores and are said to achieve audio reproduction with exceptional detail. In addition to a key lock, the new menu function offers the possibility to adjust the sound to personal requirements with a four-band tone control as well as a crossfeed function. Another key feature is the USB-C port for increased compatibility with a wide range of devices, and the battery capacity has also been increased. The Chord Mojo 2 is also fully compatible with the Chord Poly mobile wireless streamer. We are confident that with all of these new features, the Chord Mojo 2 will continue the success of its predecessor.