Its hard to comment on any audio product without sounding like a cheerleader, or hater, or general camp based fanboy.
I have no other Chord products, have no emotional attachment, nor did I covet one for months before buying. I read a review on ASR, verified on youtube at Darko Audio, took a flyer and bought one.
I will keep the “review” short and give descriptors based on its performance in my system. I should note above all else my room is treated and set up for the purpose of 2ch reproduction. I am a math and measurements guy, and have either worked on or consulted for a bunch of rooms. Ballpark 30 or so “seriously”. Not to toot my own horn, but you can trust my feedback.
My System space:
Room measures 11x17x8 or so going off memory.
Decay time is around 400msec
Absorbers and diffusers deployed in room. Area rug on floor. Bare ceiling.
Hardware:
Google Chromecast
Chord Mojo 2
Leema Tucana Integrated Amp
Axiom M5 speakers
Over the course of a few nights and one quiet morning I enjoyed the Chord Mojo 2 and “squint listened”. How’d it do? Well…. It is a transformative piece of gadget. I was able to quickly bypass the chord and use just the chromecast audio into the system as one test. I also tested cables between the chord mojo 2 and the integrated, but thats another story…. I used the chord in “vanilla” mode and volume output was matched to the chromecast output by itself for testing.
I am now unequivicolly convinced a Dac is not a Dac. A cable is not a cable.
The differences were plainly audible. I did not test blind, I did not ABX, I did not take in room measurements.
The Chord Mojo 2 does these things better than just a chromecast as the source:
Deepens soundstage
Adds a sense of lightness or airiness around “delicate” sounds in the mix
Increases clarity of individual elements of soundstage
Gives a perceived greater dynamic/immediate presentation
Adds qualities above to low level listening
Sounds closer to a human singing than this system has ever produced for me. Above all else this gadget fooled me a few times that there was a human in front of me.
Would I buy again? Yes.
