Really want to upgrade my Mojo

My current system is HD800s ifi ican pro and mk1 mojo . It boogies along nicely and i really like it , however lately ive been listening to headphones quite a bit and am contemplating changing the Sennheiser or the Dac to see what improvements i would gain
I love what the HD800s do ,just lack slightly in the bass extension . I was talking to a friend in work who has agreed to lend me his Audeze LCD xc and hugo 2 to see what i think of them in my system
Last Sunday night they arrived so i sat down for a very long good listen and i was quite surprised with the results
Im not going to do a long review but this is what my experience was like
Audeze - hmmm - honestly did like them one bit , way too heavy and to be honest not a huge difference in the bass department , sounded more compressed than the Sennheiser and the most annoying aspect was the highs - just didnt sound sweet at all and didnt do it for me at all
Tried them on mojo and hugo 2 as stand alone and yes the hugo was much better .The Sennheiser sounded pretty good on the hugo 2 but the little mojo just couldnt get the most out of them
Attaching the Ifi to the hugo is alot more revealing with better separation and a punchier bass . The big surprise here was just how much better balanced cables are over the single cable - big difference using both sets of headphones
The Audeze sounded better on solid state amplification and the Sennheiser sounds lush on the tubes
After listening for hours both dacs sounded better through the headphone amp
Im happy i got the chance to demo these items and yes i will admit the hugo is a far more revealing dac and does better the little Mojo in every area , however the Mojo has a boogie factor , its really hard to explain but its just soo appealing and the more i listen to it i think i actually prefer the Mojo
So there we have it , i just dont think spending all that extra money justifies it , but i wouldnt mind hearing the Mojo 2

 

Why not eq the hd800’s to gain more bass response?, they have low distortion so will take eq very well.

 

There is Xbass on the Ifi which does a pretty good job . I guess headphones are much like speakers , you'll never find the perfect one but settle for one 90% to your liking .I was very much looking forward to audition the LCD xc given the positive reviews , but after having the Senns for some years now i really like their presentation, would be an endgame if they had an isobarik bass

 

I’ve not heard the Ifi can pro but I imagine the xbass option is a rather blunt eq, do you use roon?, if so then play around with the dsp/parametric eq as it can be very surgical in changing a headphones character, roon has free trials if you don’t have/use it.

 

As a late user of Roon I can confirm the effectiveness of its EQ (and other facilities such as Crossfeed) for headphones and Hifi alike. I wouldn't subscribe to it just for that but it really is a super useful option and I use it for all my HP's using pre-sets.

As to Planar's, I have limited experience with only having a Sundara but if it is representative of the breed they are certainly dynamically limited/limp compared to fast Dynamics but they have their own advantages, low distortion being one.

I hope to broaden my horizons at the Bristol Show Headphone stations.

 

You clearly like Chord DACs, how about trying the Mojo 2 with it’s inbuilt EQ (and crossfeed) DSP?

 

I think your right , probably a no brainer
I still have the Hugo 2 here with me and Im comparing it to the Mojo
Yes its a much better Dac but is it £1000-£1500 better (hugo 2 vs qutest)
Hmm i really dont think so

 

I have just received the Mojo2. It's too early for me to really judge it but initial impressions (after a couple of hours only, in flat settings using Roon with my Beyers) is of a 'pristine' sound with refined treble, no glare whatsoever and nice punch/transients.

It sounded bass light initially but that was completely solved after a half hour warm up.

Fantastic build quality, Jewel like and smaller than I thought though it has some weight/heft to it.

I have to add that I am using it connected to mains at the moment. I believe using it in battery only mode is said to bring benefits but I wouldn't know (yet).

 

Let me know how you get on , a friend in work has just ordered a Mojo 2 and has agreed to lend me it next weekend so it will be very interesting to compare
Thanks

 

Will do. I think if power is the issue with your Sennheiser then the Mojo2 will not solve the issue.

I have yet to try it with the Hifiman so can't say if that will be a good match.

 

I have noticed that even if I play higher resolution through Roon (96 or 192, using Tidal and Quobuz) using a Macbook Pro 14 M1 (2021) the Mojo 'resolution indicator' stays resolutely on red 44.1khz (USB C)

Bit puzzled about this ... . Works fine through my phone ie. Mojo sample rate indicator changing with stream quality.

Mac OS issue?

 

My setup in primarily desk top , the mojo will be used as a Dac feeding the Ifi headphone amp

Qobuz imac mojo ifi hd800s on tubes it really sounds brill

 

You can check the output resolution on a Mac - might be set to default at max 44.1 khz somewhere along the line.
*Go to Applications> Utilities>Audio MIDI Setup ... choose your output and then check your track resolution from the menu. Check then what Mojo reports.

This might help pin it down .... this should change automatically dependent on the resolution of the track you play (as it does with the phone) so maybe a local setting in Roon on the Mac?

*NOTE - this may have changed with Ventura, I am still on Monterey....

 

I will try this, thanks.

 

That Ifi looks a serious device!

 

I must say I don’t get those Chord contraptions. Plain ugly and very expensive. What do they do that others do not?

 

I luv the mojo.. it’s a delightful little thing

 

It's certainly different. Expensive ... Not sure about that for the build quality and work that has gone into it. Sound quality ... I'll get to that once I have sorted that weird way Mac OS goes about things.

 

I bought the Ifi based on good reviews , some people prefer the Hd800s on tube amps so the Ifi was the best of both worlds running on solid state and tube

 

After a lot of faffing it works. I still don't understand what and why exactly but it transfers at what seems 'bit perfect' to the Chord and it changes illumination correctly.

Got to love Apple ... . Many thanks miktec.