Mojo (original)
What it is
The original Chord Mojo is a portable DAC and headphone amplifier. Watts said in January 2016 that the Mojo project started with Hugo and its success What Hi-Fi? 7:06. It was being designed in January 2015 Head-Fi, Jan 2020; in a 2022 talk he said it launched in 2015 and Chord sold large numbers MFG Audio Reviews 45:45. In talks in 2016 and 2018 he called it a 400 pound device What Hi-Fi? 4:59Pursuit Perfect System 10:21; in 2018 he said it gives "truly high end performance for £400" without the listening fatigue of other digital products article, Mar 2018. At CanJam RMAF in October 2017 he thought over seventy thousand had sold RMAF 56:42.
Design
Mojo has 44 DSP cores What Hi-Fi? 4:16, filtering to 104 MHz and noise shaping at that rate while "consuming only 0.45 W" Head-Fi, Aug 2016. It runs the cores at 104 MHz, not 208 MHz, to save power; "Mojo design is all about saving power" Head-Fi, Jan 2018. The chain is a 16FS WTA filter, linear interpolation to 2048FS, two 260 kHz low-pass filters, then the noise shaper Head-Fi, Oct 2016, which he put at -200 dB against Dave's -350 dB Head-Fi, Oct 2016.
Tap counts come from talks: "similar" to Hugo's twenty-six thousand-odd in an interview recorded about January 2016 Hifistatement 3:15, then 38,000, unpublished, at a November 2018 open day Pursuit Perfect System 10:21, repeated in 2022, once with "I think" Darko.Audio 12:58MFG Audio Reviews 27:42.
The 4 element pulse array, noise shapers and truncators are the same as Hugo 1's Head-Fi, Feb 2018; he agreed it is noisier than Hugo 2's 10 elements Head-Fi, Nov 2020. Truncator resolution is 7 bits Head-Fi, Oct 2019, and there is no measurable noise floor modulation at -170 dB Head-Fi, Aug 2016.
100uF tantalum coupling capacitors follow the pulse array; DC coupling would leave mV of DC, and tantalums add softness, warmth and bloom Head-Fi, Oct 2019. In 2017 he said digital DC servos would be too expensive for Mojo Head-Fi, Jul 2017; in 2022 he gave power dissipation as the reason Head-Fi, Feb 2022. Expected use with brighter, cheaper headphones implied a warmer balance, set at the early design stage Head-Fi, Jan 2018Audio Force 6:09.
The discrete output stage is pure Class A into 300 ohms or more, Class AB below that at high output Head-Fi, Sep 2021. In 2022 talks he said the analog section fed unregulated from the battery Audio Force 14:51, which had to be present for best sound Darko.Audio 13:48.
Inputs, outputs and power
USB takes 768 kHz; coax tops out at 384 kHz Head-Fi, Feb 2017Head-Fi, Aug 2018. Dual-BNC 768 kHz coax was dropped during design to save power Head-Fi, Jan 2020, so an M scaler feeds it 384 kHz Head-Fi, Jul 2018; in 2018 he said he rather regretted that c w 29:47. In 2022 he gave 253 mW for the USB decoder and 13 mW for the optical receiver, about 15% more battery life on optical or coax Head-Fi, Apr 2022. Ferrites sit in the USB ground Head-Fi, Oct 2021; at the 2022 Mojo 2 seminar he said "Mojo and Hugo 2 does not have galvanic isolation", without saying which Mojo MFG Audio Reviews 56:58. First-batch surface-mounted USB connectors could break off; later batches used through-hole connectors Head-Fi, Nov 2023.
Into 300 ohms at 1% THD, output is 5.4 V Head-Fi, Aug 2016. As on TT2 and Dave, -3 dB is 3 V RMS Head-Fi, Jun 2020 and blue 1.0 V RMS Head-Fi, Apr 2021; there are 96 volume steps Head-Fi, Dec 2022. In 2019 he guessed 0.75 W into 6 ohms, doubting it and noting Mojo is not rated for 8 ohms Head-Fi, Oct 2019; in 2020 he said it will drive 8 ohm loudspeakers (see Can Hugo, Hugo 2, Mojo, TT2 or DAVE drive loudspeakers directly…) Head-Fi, Jul 2020. Explaining in 2022 why Mojo 2 dropped the line-level start-up, he said users forgot it and blew their ears with IEMs, and Mojo's 3 volts is too much for many amplifiers Darko.Audio 17:18Darko.Audio 17:48.
In talks he gave a 1.7 W budget (podcast published June 2020) Part-Time Audiophile 29:37 and a case limit of about 1.8 W, with a third of the FPGA used (CanJam NYC seminar, late February 2022) MFG Audio Reviews 25:11MFG Audio Reviews 24:26. He ran Mojo at 8.2 V "so that very long life was assured", at the cost of discharge time Head-Fi, Mar 2017; it shuts down below 6.5 V and needs 8 V for best output power Head-Fi, May 2020, and needed topping up after weeks on a shelf Head-Fi, Mar 2022. In a podcast published in October 2026 he said connecting the charger caused audible problems Distorsiuni Interioare 43:23.
How he says to use it
Send bit perfect data, without PC upsampling or DSD conversion (see How do I make sure my player sends bit-perfect data at the native…, Should I upsample in software (HQPlayer, PGGB or my player) before…) Head-Fi, Feb 2017; the Remedy's sample rate converter is "Possibly the fastest way to destroy the sound of Mojo" (see Does source jitter matter with a Chord DAC, and would a reclocker,…) Head-Fi, Dec 2016. ASIO sounded a bit better than WASAPI, he suspected from less processor activity (see Do I need the Chord driver on Windows, should I use ASIO or…) Head-Fi, Dec 2016. At the same seminar (late February 2022), asked about "the old Mojo", he said optical is best; USB sounds the same from a mobile source but brighter when "Mojo" and source are earthed, his words naming only "Mojo" (see Which input sounds best on a Chord DAC (optical, coax, USB or…, Which Chord inputs are galvanically isolated, and which setups…) MFG Audio Reviews 56:08MFG Audio Reviews 56:15. His USB-against-optical view changed over time; in January 2018, of Dave, he wrote "I used to think that USB had the edge on optical" Head-Fi, Jan 2018. Use certified USB cables, kept away from the headphone cable (see Why do I hear a buzz or feel a tingle when the charger is…) Head-Fi, Oct 2021Head-Fi, Oct 2021. In 2017 he said the charger just matches Mojo's consumption when left on Head-Fi, Jun 2017; in 2020, that it has no desktop mode and should be off when the charger stays connected (see Can I use Hugo, Mojo or Mojo 2 while it is charging, and is it OK…, How does desktop mode work on Hugo 2 and Mojo 2, and will Mojo 2…, Should I leave my Qutest, TT2, DAVE or M Scaler switched on all…) Head-Fi, Mar 2020. There is no crossfeed, for button count, power and his then lesser enthusiasm (see What does crossfeed do, which setting should I use, and why didn't…) Head-Fi, Dec 2020. MQA's flaws should be easy to hear on it (see Do Chord DACs decode MQA, and what does Rob think of it?) Head-Fi, Nov 2017.
Compared with other Chord models
Dave is better than Mojo/Hugo (2015) Head-Fi, Dec 2015; Dave gives 6.8 V against Mojo's 5.4 V Head-Fi, Aug 2016 (6.75 V in other posts Head-Fi, Nov 2015Head-Fi, Jul 2022), and Mojo's jitter is slightly worse but pretty much the same (2017 talk) RMAF 50:44. Hugo 2's "Mojo filter" selects a 16FS WTA but does not make it sound like Mojo Head-Fi, Mar 2017; in 2018 he said Mojo's output stage is electronically the same as Hugo 2's, differing in transistor packaging and power delivery Head-Fi, Jan 2018. He expected a big uplift from an M scaler's 0.5M taps but had not heard it, and said upgrading Mojo might be better Head-Fi, Aug 2018. Against Mojo 2: 33% of the FPGA against 98% Head-Fi, Apr 2022, 38,000 taps against 40,960 MFG Audio Reviews 27:42MFG Audio Reviews 28:30, identical measured frequency response, and warmth from the coupling capacitors Head-Fi, Feb 2022.
Release and official documents
- Launched in 2015, in his words.MFG Audio Reviews 45:45
From Chord Electronics. Links open Chord's own copies; reviews hosted on Chord's site are left out. Chord's Mojo (original) page.
Manuals and guides
Drivers (Windows)
- Windows driver (2026)
- Windows 10 and 11 driver (2025)
- ASIO driver installer, 32-bit
- ASIO driver installer, 64-bit
Key figures
His own figures, dated. Where he gave different figures at different times, each appears.
Show all 28 figures
| Figure | Value | When | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSP cores | 44 | 2016-01 | What Hi-Fi? 4:16Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| Power for the filtering and noise shaping | 0.45 W ('does all this whilst consuming only 0.45 W') | 2016-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| DSP core clock | 104 MHz rather than 208 MHz (twice the cores for the same filter) | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Filter chain | WTA 16FS, linear interpolation to 2048FS, two low-pass filters set to 260 kHz, then noise shaper (stated for Hugo/Mojo) | 2016-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2016 |
| Noise shaper performance | -200 dB (Dave -350 dB) | 2016-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2016 |
| WTA filter taps, first statement | a tap length similar to Hugo's 'twenty six thousand odd' | 2016-01 (recorded about then; published 2016-07) | Hifistatement 3:15 |
| WTA filter taps, later statements | 38,000 taps, which he said had not been published; in January 2022 prefaced 'I think' | 2018-11 | Pursuit Perfect System 10:21Darko.Audio 12:58MFG Audio Reviews 27:42 |
| Pulse array elements | 4 (4e), same pulse array, noise shapers and truncators as Hugo 1 | 2018-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2018Head-Fi, Nov 2020 |
| Noise shaper truncator resolution | 7 bits (on the 4e, with 64-clock PWM switching) | 2019-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2019 |
| Noise floor modulation | none measurable, to -170 dB | 2016-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| Coupling capacitors | 100uF tantalum in series with the pulse array output | 2019-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2019 |
| Output stage class | pure Class A into 300 ohms or more; Class AB below 300 ohms at high output voltage | 2021-09 | Head-Fi, Sep 2021 |
| Output voltage at 1% THD into 300 ohms | 5.4 V | 2016-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| THD and noise at 3 V | 0.00017% | 2016-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| THD at 2.5 V RMS into 300 ohms | 0.0001% | 2016-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2016 |
| Output power into 6 ohms at 1% THD | his best guess 0.75 W; he said Mojo is not rated for 8 ohms and doubted the estimate | 2019-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2019 |
| Volume steps | 96 | 2022-12 | Head-Fi, Dec 2022 |
| Blue volume color level | 1.0 V RMS, same as Dave, TT2 and Hugo 2 | 2021-04 | Head-Fi, Apr 2021 |
| Output at the -3 dB volume setting | 3 V RMS (said of TT2 as 'exactly the same as Mojo'); a 2022 talk has 'Mojo with the 3 volts coming out' | 2020-06 | Head-Fi, Jun 2020Darko.Audio 17:48 |
| Maximum input rate | USB 768 kHz; coax 384 kHz | 2017-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2017Head-Fi, Aug 2018Head-Fi, Jan 2020 |
| USB decoder and optical receiver power | 253 mW and 13 mW; about 15% more battery life on optical or coax (Mojo 2 thread post; see caveats) | 2022-04 | Head-Fi, Apr 2022 |
| Power budget | 1.7 W | 2020-06 (podcast published then; recording date not stated) | Part-Time Audiophile 29:37 |
| Case dissipation limit | about 1.8 W | 2022-02 to 2022-04 (CanJam NYC seminar in late February, video published March; Audio Force visit in April) | MFG Audio Reviews 25:11Audio Force 3:29 |
| Share of the FPGA used | about a third (33%) | 2022-02 to 2022-04 (CanJam NYC seminar in late February, video published March; forum post April) | MFG Audio Reviews 24:26Head-Fi, Apr 2022 |
| Battery voltage Mojo was run at | 8.2 V, 'so that very long life was assured', at the cost of a smaller discharge time | 2017-03 | Head-Fi, Mar 2017 |
| Battery shut-down and best-output voltage | shuts down below 6.5 V; 8 V for best output power | 2020-05 | Head-Fi, May 2020 |
| Price | 400 pounds (2016 and 2018); £400 (2018 interview) | 2016-01 | What Hi-Fi? 4:59Pursuit Perfect System 10:21article, Mar 2018 |
| Units sold (hedged with 'I think') | over seventy thousand Mojos | 2017-10 | RMAF 56:42 |
Quotes
“Mojo design is all about saving power, in order to save battery life and because the unit is small, so can't dissipate the heat.”2018-01-11 Head-Fi, Jan 2018
“The issue is power consumption; adding an extra SPDIF decoder module in the FPGA would add to power loss, and everything about Mojo is power.”2018-08-05 Head-Fi, Aug 2018
“the SQ of Mojo was set at the early design stage and I was pleased that the balance I intended was there without needing to adjust the sound”2018-01-11 Head-Fi, Jan 2018
“Mojo's warmth compared to Mojo 2 is down to reduced LF distortion and aberrations from dielectric absorption in the coupling capacitors that have been removed from Mojo 2”2022-02-12 Head-Fi, Feb 2022
Caveats and open points
- 'Mojo 1', 'Mojo one' and 'original Mojo' in transcripts all refer to this unit, as does 'Moto', a transcription error. From 2022 a bare 'Mojo' in the Mojo 2 threads can mean either unit, so only posts and passages that set the two apart, or that fit the original on their date, are used.
- Tap count differs by date: 'similar' to Hugo's twenty-six thousand-odd in an interview recorded about January 2016 (published July 2016), then 38,000 from a November 2018 open-day talk (uploaded December 2018) (prefaced 'I think' in January 2022) Hifistatement 3:15Pursuit Perfect System 10:21. He does not say the filter changed between those dates. In a podcast published in October 2026 he said 'I think it's 44 thousand taps on the Mojo Mojo 2', which could be either unit and is not used as a figure Part-Time Audiophile 33:10.
- Power limits differ by talk: a budget of 1.7 W in a podcast published in June 2020 (recording date not stated), a case limit of about 1.8 W at the CanJam NYC seminar (late February 2022, video published March 2022) and in April 2022, and a package that can dissipate around two and a half watts in April 2022 Part-Time Audiophile 29:37MFG Audio Reviews 25:11Audio Force 2:44. In the same June 2020 podcast he also said about 3 watts can be dissipated comfortably in a unit that size Part-Time Audiophile 31:24.
- THD labels differ: in March 2016 he gave Mojo 0.00017% as its THD against Dave's 0.000015% Head-Fi, Mar 2016; in August 2016 he gave 0.00017% as THD and noise at 3 V and 0.0001% as THD at 2.5 V RMS into 300 ohms Head-Fi, Aug 2016. Both are shown as he wrote them.
- Load advice differs: in October 2019 he said Mojo is not rated for 8 ohms and doubted his 0.75 W estimate for 6 ohms, while in July 2020 he said it will drive 8 ohm loudspeakers Head-Fi, Oct 2019Head-Fi, Jul 2020.
- Charging advice differs by date. In June 2017, in a Hugo 2 thread post that does not name the feature (it reads as desktop mode), he wrote 'Mojo does not need it', saying it charges at the lower voltage and the charger just supplies current to match Mojo's consumption; in March 2020 he said it has no desktop mode and should be off when a charger stays connected; of a podcast published in October 2026 (recording date not stated) he said you could hear problems with Mojo when the charger was connected Head-Fi, Jun 2017Head-Fi, Mar 2020Distorsiuni Interioare 43:23.
- The galvanic isolation remark, like the optical and USB remark, is of the CanJam NYC 2022 Mojo 2 seminar (video published March 2022), which says 'Mojo' not 'Mojo 2' MFG Audio Reviews 56:58. In April 2021, before Mojo 2, he wrote that all the desktop DACs have galvanic isolation and portable DACs do not need it with a battery powered source, without naming Mojo Head-Fi, Apr 2021.
- The 125 dB dynamic range is his figure for Mojo 2, with the original described as pretty much the same; he did not give a separate figure for the original in that passage MFG Audio Reviews 44:22. A 'Mojo is the same as Hugo, so -130 dB' reply has no visible context and is not used Head-Fi, Jun 2018.
- The 7 bit truncator figure is for the 4 element array with 64-clock PWM switching, and he added that raw truncator resolution is no indicator of performance Head-Fi, Oct 2019.
- Sales figures are and hedged; the figure of well over one hundred thousand, from an interview published in October 2026 (recording date not stated), covers Mojo and Mojo 2 together RMAF 56:42HiFi Buys 2:27:55.
- The Japanese Weekly ASCII article, a machine-translated third-party report, says Mojo plays 768 kHz/32 bit PCM and DSD 11.2 MHz natively; that is the author's caption, not Watts's words, and is not used article, Mar 2016. Watts himself said 768 kHz works on USB only and that Mojo takes 384 kHz on coax Head-Fi, Feb 2017.
- Why Mojo has no digital DC servo: in July 2017 he said it 'would be too expensive to implement for Mojo'; in February 2022 he said the issue was power dissipation, as it needs the FPGA ADC and the servo; the CanJam NYC seminar (late February 2022, video published March 2022) puts Hugo 2's servo at about fifty milliwatts Head-Fi, Jul 2017Head-Fi, Feb 2022MFG Audio Reviews 26:14.
- Output stage: in January 2018 he said the Mojo output stage is the same as Hugo 2's electronically, differing in the packaging and power delivery of the output transistors; in 2019 and 2021 he credited Hugo 2 (and TT2 and Dave) with an analog noise shaper output that removes crossover distortion, and did not include Mojo Head-Fi, Jan 2018Head-Fi, Sep 2019Head-Fi, Sep 2021. He does not reconcile the two.
- The 253 mW and 13 mW figures come from an April 2022 Mojo 2 thread post that opens 'No Mojo was never double'; the post does not say whether the power figures are for Mojo or Mojo 2 Head-Fi, Apr 2022.
- Line-level start-up: in the January 2022 interview the host said the original had it; Watts replied 'Yes' and gave reasons for dropping it on Mojo 2 Darko.Audio 17:18Darko.Audio 17:48.
- Price: in the January 2016 interview the host said 'For 400 pounds' and Watts repeated it; no source has him naming a launch price as such What Hi-Fi? 4:59.
Indicator colors
What each light means on the Mojo (original), from Chord's manual: Indicator colors: Mojo (original).
Questions about this product
Owning and setting up
- How many taps and pulse array elements does each Chord DAC have?
- How do I make sure my player sends bit-perfect data at the native sample rate?
- What do the colored indicators mean (volume, sample rate, charging), and is a volume color the same level across Chord DACs?
- What does the M Scaler actually do, and is it worth adding to my DAC?
- Can I use Hugo, Mojo or Mojo 2 while it is charging, and is it OK to leave it plugged in all the time?
- Do I need the Chord driver on Windows, should I use ASIO or WASAPI, and will my DAC work with Mac, Linux, Android or an iPhone?
- Do lossy or streamed files sound worse than local files on a Chord DAC?
- Does an M Scaler help Mojo, Mojo 2 or a non-Chord DAC?
- How do Mojo 2 and Hugo 2, or TT2 and DAVE, compare?
- How does desktop mode work on Hugo 2 and Mojo 2, and will Mojo 2 drain on the shelf?
- How good is Bluetooth on Hugo and Hugo 2, and are aptX HD or LDAC lossless?
- Should I put ferrites on my BNC or USB cables, and which kind?
- Should I send DSD as DoP or native?
- Should I use balanced or single-ended headphone drive, and why are Chord headphone outputs single-ended?
- What does crossfeed do, which setting should I use, and why didn't the original Mojo have it?
- Which Chord DACs accept 705.6/768 kHz from an M Scaler, and how do I connect Hugo 2 or Qutest to get the full 1M taps?
- Which headphones, speakers and sources does Rob use himself, and which pair well with Chord DACs?
- Why does Rob use a digital DC servo instead of coupling capacitors, and is there anything worth modding?
- Why does my Hugo 2 switch itself off, and how does standby work on the battery-powered DACs?
In depth
- Does source jitter matter with a Chord DAC, and would a reclocker, external clock or USB-to-SPDIF converter help?
- What do noise shaper order and speed buy, and why does DAVE's 350 dB noise shaper matter?
- Why does Chord use FPGAs and discrete conversion instead of DAC chips or a custom ASIC?
- Do Chord DACs decode MQA, and what does Rob think of it?
- Do Chord DACs need burn-in or warm-up?
- How does a pulse array DAC work, how does it differ from R2R and delta-sigma, and why is it insensitive to jitter?
- How were Chord's current DACs and the M Scaler developed, and how long did each take?
- Should I upsample in software (HQPlayer, PGGB or my player) before a Chord DAC, and can it match an M Scaler?
- What does Rob mean by depth, and what in a DAC improves or collapses it?
- What is noise floor modulation, how does Rob measure it, and why does he say it is audible below what can be measured?
- Which Chord inputs are galvanically isolated, and which setups short the isolation out?
- Why does Rob design to -301 dB, how can that be verified, and how does small-signal accuracy relate to depth?