First Look: Chord Mojo portable DAC/headphone amp

In late 2012, Chord Electronics Managing Director John Franks and the company’s digital designer Rob Watts were having an argument. In front of them lay the advanced prototype of what would be the Hugo. “We need to make that,” said Franks, pointing to the high-resolution DAC and headphone amplifier that would go on to redraw the high-end portable audio world “a lot smaller and a lot cheaper!” The HBO edition of Watts’ response is not repeatable, but the made-for-daytime-TV edit was “It can’t be done!” And Rob Watts was right… in 2012.

Unlike companies that rely on off-the-shelf chips, Chord Electronics products are subject to Moore’s Law, and the Field-Programmable Gate Array chips the company uses to store its D/A decoding algorithms, get ever smaller, cheaper, more powerful, and less power hungry. Couple this to a similar drive for smaller, more powerful, and more robust rechargeable battery technology, and what was true in 2012 is old news today. Mojo is the result.

Chord designed Mojo to be a portable DAC with a significant amount of the audio performance and headphone driving ability of Hugo, but for a fraction of the price. Franks also called upon that most unfashionable (but incredibly useful) dimensional comparison – Mojo is designed to be about the size of a packet of cigarettes. It’s also reassuringly solid feeling; not heavy, but… solid. Making Mojo that small means stripping the DAC’s functions to a bare minimum, and on one side are two micro USB ports, one for charging and one to connect it to a portable audio or PC source. Next to these is a Toslink optical connector and a 3.5mm Coaxial digital input (you can connect all three simultaneously, and Mojo auto-switches). Along the other side of the Mojo is a pair of 3.5mm headphone jacks, and on its top is three little opaque spheres that control the power and volume of the DAC. These have a little rainbow array of colours, the power on button denoting input frequency, the two up/down volume buttons showing volume level.

There is a colour chart showing the various sample rates on the packaging to the Mojo (Chord has cleverly made the box double as the Quick Start guide for the DAC). Both volume and sample frequencies are arranged in rainbow order (44.1kHz being red and lowest volume setting, 768kHz being violet and high volume, and DSD replay denoted by white, and full volume on the up/down controls). Aside from logos, some bolts to hold the thing together and four little hard blobs for feet, that’s all the connectivity you get with Mojo. And it’s probably all you need for a DAC that makes the portable Hugo look ‘luggable’ in comparison.

Chord strongly recommends you spend 10 hours charging the battery first time out (there is a little indictor LED under the charging USB). This invites obvious “Got My Mojo Workin’” quips when powered up that are, sadly, irresistible.  Mojo will run for eight to 10 hours between charges and takes four hours to charge. In addition to the standard mini USB connectors, Franks showed a prototype cover that would make connection to iDevices simple using one of Apple’s connection kits. This should be ready in a couple of weeks; connection to Android phones and USB-equipped computers is easy (there is a Windows driver: it auto-mounts on Apple devices), but until that box ships, connection to iDevices is a bit of a cable kludge. Blame Apple!

I’m not intending to spend too long talking about the sound quality of the Mojo, in part because it cries out for being compared to the Hugo in absolute terms, and for that my colleague Chris Martens is the obvious candidate for the task. But while I’ve not logged as many Hugo hours as Chris, I have spent some time in the company of Hugo (as well as many other DACs) and it’s clear that Mojo is something really special. It’s dynamic, powerful, unbelievably detailed, capable of laying down a good beat, and gives the music a sense of structure and texture that Hugo was so good at doing. While you’ll probably be won over by those elements in about 10 seconds flat, it also has Hugo’s effortlessness, that allows you to listen to music comfortably for the longest time without that sense of digital fatigue you can get with some very detailed replay chains.

Downsides are few. If you don’t like the matt black finish and might prefer something that shows off the aluminium case in a more shiny way, you are out of luck. The physical size of the Mojo does make full sized connectors and sockets out of the question (it’s a portable DAC, though… would you ever use it with a ¼” headphone jack on the move?) and it gets toasty warm when you use it, and warmer still when you charge it. Not uncomfortably or worryingly so, but it’s no ice-cool device.

I’m saving the best until last, though. The price. Remember that this is a DAC capable of DSD 256 files and PCM files up to 24/768kHz, is capable of driving any headphone or CIEM with an impedance between 4Ω and 800Ω, and is built in the UK. It’s priced at £399 or $599! No wonder that name Mojo is short for ‘mobile joy’!

It’s very early days with Mojo. I’ve not yet even worn down its battery from its first charge, so it may change over time. It’s currently ever so slightly warm sounding, in a manner not dissimilar to Hugo. Time will tell whether that warmth remains, recedes, or increases. But even if it stays exactly how it currently plays, Mojo is a world-class performer, with a sound quality that until the middle of October this year, would have cost you thousands to achieve.