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Zeroblade

Chord Mojo - Initial Impressions

Dec 13th, 2015
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  1. Spent the last few hours comparing the Theorem 720, as well as listening on its own, so here are my unsolicited thoughts.
  2. All remarks refer to the DAC section only as I had it running at 3V line out mode to a Lake People G109-A to an HD800.
  3.  
  4. Overall tonality
  5. Very slightly warm (particularly in the sub bass and mids), without any audible roll-off in the high frequencies. A good balance between a "reference" sound and some musicality.
  6.  
  7. Bass
  8. Goes down fairly deep, great bass extension.
  9. Sometimes a bit too much, especially when the mastering isn't great and the song gets very busy and complex.
  10.  
  11. Mids
  12. Rich and full. Vocals are forward "sounding" without being "spatially" forward.
  13. Just, good, really. Not much else to say.
  14.  
  15. Highs
  16. Very clear, good sparkle, without being painfully sharp.
  17. Sibilance in bad recordings is still very evident, no real roll-off to speak of.
  18. Lower end of the highs are overshadowed sometimes by the fullness of the mids.
  19.  
  20. Detail
  21. Fantastic detail retrieval. The cliché of hearing things I've never heard applies once again, though to a much lesser degree when compared to upgrading to the Theorem 720.
  22. Some details that were less audible in the Theorem 720 are brought into the light. Not sure which is supposed to be more "true" to the recording, but to use an analogy, the spotlight is shared much more evenly between the main and background cast. This may be good (hard to miss anything), or bad (too much going on).
  23.  
  24. Soundstage
  25. Personally, the highlight of any Chord DAC out there. The depth of most DACs I've heard cannot compare. Most have a tendency to stretch out the soundstage so that the extreme left and right are very distant-sounding, but the center still sounds fairly close.
  26. The Mojo is more speaker-like; left and right aren't panned to extremes. Center depth is amazing, with instruments and vocals well-layered. Left and right don't have that much depth.
  27. Vertical soundstage is above average for this price point.
  28. Imaging on the 2D plane is very, very good. Other DACs in comparison give you a specific "vector" of where the sound comes from, while the Mojo gives you the exact "point" where the sound comes from.
  29.  
  30. -----
  31.  
  32. Equipment used:
  33. Chord Mojo
  34. Cypher Labs Theorem 720
  35. Lake People G109-A
  36. Sennheiser HD800
  37.  
  38. Singles/Albums setlist (all in FLAC unless otherwise noted):
  39.  
  40. Anison/vocal
  41. Soldier game (μ's) [32/96]
  42. Wonderful Rush (μ's) [32/96]
  43. White Album 2 Vocal Collection (Aquaplus) [DSD64 as PCM]
  44. Blue Snow (Trident) [24/48]
  45. Perfect Idol 1, 4 (iM@S) [16/44]
  46. Fantasic Funfair (Mimori Suzuko) [16/44]
  47. Synchrogazer (Mizuki Nana) [16/44]
  48. Vitalization (Mizuki Nana) [16/44]
  49. Paradise Lost (Chihara Minori) [16/44]
  50. Sugar Song to Bitter Step (Unison Square Garden) [16/44]
  51. Suisai Candy (marble) [16/44]
  52. Hoshikuzu no Interlude (fhána) [16/44]
  53. 珠洲ノ宮~SUZUNO=MIYA Ar tonelico III Hymmnos concert side 紅 (Gust) [16/44]
  54. 咲夜琉命~SAKIYA=RUMEI Ar tonelico III Hymmnos concert side 蒼 (Gust) [16/44]
  55. Ar nosurge Genometric Concert side.紅 ~天統姫~ (Gust) [16/44]
  56. Ar nosurge Genometric Concert side.蒼 ~刻神楽~ (Gust) [16/44]
  57.  
  58. Soundtracks (instrumental)
  59. Moanin' (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers) [24/96]
  60. Aria the Natural OST (Choro Club) [16/44]
  61. Cowboy Bebop OST 1; 3 - BLUE (Kanno Youko) [16/44]
  62. The Disapperance of Suzumiya Haruhi OST (Kousaki Satoru/Erik Satie) [16/44]
  63.  
  64. Other stuff
  65. The Greatest (Matt Monro) [16/44]
  66. It Had to be You (Rod Stewart) [16/44]
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