“Audio processing isn’t sexy. Better sound doesn’t lend itself to easy marketing through numbers or pretty posters, and so many companies treat it as an afterthought when designing their products,” Vlad Savov writes for The Verge. “The blissful ignorance of ‘good enough’ audio pervades the world of consumer technology, leaving only a niche of audio enthusiasts supporting a few boutique hi-fi manufacturers. Things have been like this for quite some time, but recently a new gadget was introduced that bridges the gap between the many and the few, and its name is the Chord Mojo.”
“The Mojo is an audio processor and amplifier that’s smaller than a pack of cards yet delivers the awesome performance of much larger rivals. Honestly, I think its size works to its disadvantage because it looks like, and is, a portable unit you can plug into your phone and use off its 10-hour battery,” Savov writes. “By audiophile standards, it’s almost too practical.”
CHORD Electronics Mojo, ultimate DAC/Headphone Amplifier, USB, Coaxial, and Optical, Black
“But those same audiophiles would struggle to find anything to complain about from the Mojo’s sound output, which is as pure and crystalline as that of digital-to-analog converters that cost multiple times its $599 price (such as Chord’s very own $2,195 Hugo DAC),” Savov writes. “The Mojo fits the performance of VCR-sized audio equipment into a shirt pocket. If it were a graphics card, it’d be an Nvidia Titan X priced at $100 instead of $1,000.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve heard the difference the Chord Mojo makes and, for those who care about pristine quality audio, it’s easily worth the price.
A new earbuds product that has made an amazing difference for me is the EVEN. it uses a small
Microprocessor integrated into a pair of earbuds which analyzes each ears hearing and corrects for differences to make them balanced. The difference in sound is impressive. Even more impressive, degradations in hearing from any source are also corrected. I can now hear high frequency sounds lost to me for years due to naval gunfire. The top notes on a piano or violin for example. I no longer struggle to understand speech on Tv or a movie. All this for $99.00.
My Even earbuds will be here tomorrow, and I hope I enjoy them as much as you. Another groundbreaking product is Mimi Music, which will create your personal ear print and apply it to music you listen to on an IOS device. It has some limitations since it cannot play DRM music on iTunes. I’ve discovered that my ears cannot detect 4khz tones very well. Technologies like Even and Mimi compensate for hearing deficiencies without adding audible distortion or artifacts. If your hearing is deficient in any area, then you will not be able to fully appreciate some of these audiophile technologies.
https://www.geteven.co
I went to get even.co and tried the demo for EVEN. I have two things to report, and would love to know what actual EVEN owners think about what I’m saying.
1) The demo itself was very impressive. The idea is simple, but could actually make a huge difference to how you listen to music. The EVEN demo is that a hearing-test style procedure that makes a custom ear-print for both ears, and then applies it to all your music.
HOWEVER. (and that’s a huge however)
2) The demo used a psychoacoustic trick that is well know in the industry. Any time the “modified” version of the song is played, 6db of volume gain is also added. Anyone that knows about how humans perceive sound, knows that people always equate LOUDER as CLEARER. It’s a trick used very often with in-store displays. Press button X to hear the “other guys,” then button Y to hear “us,” and the volume almost doubles.
To be clear, I’m not saying their technology doesn’t work. And I really wish I could hear a sample of it with their demo without the volume duplicity.
Right you are. Higher volume does sound better. EVEN technology may seem like it’s increasing volume across the board, but it is really increasing the volume of specific frequency bands that your ear print indicates are deficient. I noticed the volume increase in the demo too. I got the earphones yesterday and they do seem to work. Not a bad set of phones for the money. Buy them before Aug 31 for $99 (instead of $150) and you’ll get 30 days to evaluate them. I’m not sure audiophiles will be impressed. I was more impressed with the results from the Mimi Music app.
Two things that are keeping me from pulling the trigger on them are: 1) the fact that you have to charge them, I understand why, but meh… another thing to charge… and 2) waiting to see if the 3.5mm port is dropped on the next iPhone. If so, perhaps Mossberg is correct, and the next EVEN headphones will be self charging off the lightning port.
$600 fscking bucks? Give me a break. And I have the EVENs. Well worth it IMHO as I’ve definitely got some hearing loss from years of listening to loud music.