Here is a fancy gadget to make your sound tripping on the road celestial, CHORD MOJO!
The internationally renowned maker of
high-end audio equipment such as Hugo TT and 2QUTE, Chord Electronics Ltd, unveils
its latest DAC (digital to analog converter)/ Headphone Amp Mojo in the
Philippines today.
Mo – Jo. The name reminds me of many
things unrelated to sound. Monkey? Potatoes? My friend’s email? Ah. Okay but
one related to music – Mojofly – a pop rock band in the Philippines.
Why name
the DAC (What is a DAC?) device Mojo?
Mojo is a contraction for mobile joy. This device brings joy by
amplifying the sound in your headphones (for your smartphone or other compatible
device) wherever you go and definitely makes you love your phone’s music. For
we know we love our smartphones as much as we hate listening to the music in it
especially on loud speakers.
Product Launch
The Chord Mojo is released in Europe
this October and is brought from London straight to Manila this month. We were
fortunate to try it for ourselves here in BGC Taguig.
The launch was kicked off with
the introduction of Chord Electronics profile and products.
Chord Chief Executive and Senior Designer
John Franks talked a bit about Mojo’s history, discussed its design and
features, and demonstrated how it’s operated.
The event was highlighted by the product
testing by the technologically bent and side discussions with Mr. Franks together
with the JBL product management team.
Unboxing the Chord Mojo
At £399 (~PHP 30, 990) you can have
these from the little white box*:
- Mojo
- USB Cable for Charging
- User Manual
*You can make use of the box as sample
frequency light indicator scale. You might want to keep the box with you.
CLICK HERE FOR MOJO’S FULLSPECIFICATIONS
Features
Mojo is an abbreviation itself for the
technology it holds underneath. As Chord Chief Executive John Franks puts it,
Mojo’s core is like the cityscape of London or any developed country laid
before your eyes.
It may be wrapped in an 82L x 60W x 22H (mm) small aluminum
block adorned with illuminating adjust ball buttons, but the depth of how its
designed to give outstanding performance is rather complex and consequently,
what matters.
Product Testing
Mojo devices and headphones are set up
on each table.
We were eager to try the device. I was utterly curious about the sound difference.
At first trial, I plugged the ‘on the go’
cable into my Android device and connected it to the Mojo. I played Children
from Justin Bieber’s Purpose: Movement album but the sound just played on
speaker. The Mojo didn’t seem to work on my Samsung Galaxy A7 smartphone.The JBL
product manager helped me and gave me a different cable but still it didn’t
work. My excitement immediately sunk to bottom.
What went wrong?
Actually nothing’s off beam with the
Mojo or my smartphone, it’s THE music player!
A must note – YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD a USB
audio player to enable USB audio support. In my case I downloaded the free
music player Hiby Music. You can also try the paid USB Audio Player Pro or Onkyo
HF Player for premium services.
I found the Mojo device to be
user-friendly—just plug the cable, connect and press ball buttons to play—no
need to be trained or adept in sound engineering to operate. It is also smart
as it has light indicators in its ball buttons. The ball buttons illuminate
different colors as user adjusts volume and also to indicate digital signal
connection as well as the sound frequency of the music being played. You can
actually tell the rate of your file from a red color of 44 kHz up to the white
color of DSD signals.
Listening to Justin Bieber’s song with
Mojo in my smartphone literally took me into a different world. I didn’t want
to stop listening. The sound was clearer. No hiss or noise in the background
that I usually hear when using my earbuds. The volume was incredibly upped. No
wonder because the Mojo addresses sound problems 2048 times than an average DAC
device (that addresses sound issues just up to 8 times). It is a downright slay
and I believe it’s what makes the Chord Electronics confident about the price tag
they put into this device.
I also tried another sound player. It had
a terrible track with lots of noises, very small sound even at maximum volume.
But with Mojo it was ultimately transformed.Mr. John Franks was right about
saying the Mojo will‘wow’ the users. I literally said to myself, WOW! You know
when you max your volume and you get broken sound with lots of noises, uhm, bad
audio for the lack of better terms? With Mojo this ain’t a problem. The sound
is amplified into a recording studio level.
We feel for the media people who constantly
battle with bad audio outputs from an interview, they tend to dwell in the
stress of it. But with Mojo, again, we’ll say,there is hope!For audiophiles and
home audio veterans, we assure you sound can still be improved with Mojo.
PROS
Audio quality at its finest
Ease of use
Ease of storage and maintenance
Portability
Compatibility
Long battery life
Durability
Warranty
CONS
Cost is not cheap
Long hours of battery charging
Needs paid App like Onkyo
Music Player for iDevice to play FLAC files
What We Think
We think Mojo is the ultimate DAC device
/ headphone amplifier and the best there’s ever been.
Mojo for Music Lovers
Mojo is undoubtedly for the audiophiles—the
music lovers who commute for hours and depend on music to relax or finish a
task or stay motivated. It is also for travelers who seek the highest audio
quality while on the road. It is highly recommended for people who earn a
living through music editing or music related endeavors. It is recommended for
everyone who listens to music and wants to fall in love with it.
How to buy
You can buy the Mojo device from JBLstores and other distributors. Send us a message to avail of the 20% discount
if you buy them until the end of this month.
Parting Words
As an old adage says to see is to
believe, we say to hear is also to believe. You can visit JBL galleries and try
the Mojo device for yourself. It won’t disappoint.
What do you think about the Mojo? Do you use/know/ recommend other DAC devices? Are you a music lover? Would you like to buy this device? Let us know your thoughts down the comment section below! Thank you for your time!
