Reviewer: Edgar Kramer 
Financial Interests: Click here 
Source: AMR CD-77.1 CD player, MacBook with BitPerfect player and AIFF files, DEQX PreMate as 2nd DAC and preamplifier  
Preamplifier: Supratek Reference DHT with Bendix rectifier tube; NuForce P20 
Amplifier: NuForce Reference 18 monoblocks; Parasound Halo JC 1 monoblocks 
Speakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia 
Cables digital: Cerious Technologies; Harmonic Technology Magic; NuForce digital cables; ZenSati Seraphim; analog interconnects - Bocchino Audio Morning Glory; Cable Research Laboratory (CRL) Gold with Bocchino XLR and RCA; Cerious Technologies; DanA Digital Reference Silver; ETI Quiessence Reference; Exakte IC; Harmonic Technology Magic; MIT Giant Killer MPC; NuForce IC-700; PSC Audio Monolith AG; PSC Audio Pristine R30 Ribbon; ZenSati Seraphim RCA & XLR; speaker cables - Cerious Technologies; ETI Quiessence Reference; Exakte speaker cable; MIT Giant Killer GK-1 loudspeaker cables; NuForce SC-700; ZenSati Seraphim; power cords - Cerious Technologies AC; Eichmann eXpress AC power cables; Exakte AC; Harmonic Technology Fantasy; PSC Gold Power MKII; Shunyata Research Diamondback 
Stands: SGR Signature racks 
Sundry accessories: Burson Audio Buffer, Bright Star Audio IsoRock Reference 3 and BSA IsoNode feet; Bocchino Audio Mecado isolation diodes; Black Diamond Racing cones; Stillpoints ERS paper in strategic positions, Shakti On Lines; Densen & IsoTek CD demagnetizer; Auric Illuminator CD Treatment 
Room size: 6.4m wide by 7.1m long with high ceiling and narrow cavity behind speakers. Room has been professionally measured and found to be extraordinarily flat and neutral 
Review component retail: $599 ex tax


Mojo rising. I'm traveling to work this morning and whilst I mostly drive, today I'm training it. The modern carriage is quiet. Commuters are seemingly oblivious, incognizant of the environment, each in their own microcosm bubble. I look around. What's diverting their attention away from the world around them?


It's become the Zeitgeist of the 21st century, this absorption into that liberating and simultaneously most incarcerating of devices, the smartphone. Don't leave home without it or you'll be naked. Texting. Facebook. YouTube. Daily little morning secrets, personalized and inward. And, we listen to more music than ever. We have easy access to it. Another look around. Eight out of ten wear ear buds, over-ears even… Beats' brew. Countless brands and models, there's a whole new industry resuscitated into ubiquity from a mere niche, proliferating like an unstoppable virus to absolute pervasiveness. What potential for an intelligently conceptualized device to infiltrate a vast universe of private music enjoyment and evolve its mediocrity into excellence. Chord Electronics' astute leader John Franks saw this opportunity and seized it with the launch of Mojo.


But Mojo (MObile JOy) is a number of things at once. It's a headphone amp with computer audio connectivity (driverless for Mac, Android and Linux, downloadable driver for Windows via Chord Electronics' website). It's a smartphone integration device via USB socket to whatever flavour of smartphone connector you sport. And it's a high-quality DAC with line outputs for connection to a hifi system.