Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Has anyone compared the Explorer 2 or Prime vs Chord Mojo or iFi iDSD BL

It's currently looking like the Chord Mojo is the Winner.

I received the iFi yesterday and thought for sure that was the winner. The bass boost feature was very nice (very mild boost) and had lot more power than Explorer 2. The iFi has 3 gain settings, Eco, Normal and Turbo. On Eco it was slightly less power than the Explorer 2. On Normal it had quite a bit more power than Explorer 2 and similar power to the A20. On Turbo it added like another 25%. It had the detail of the Explorer and the Bass of the A20.

iFi iDSD also could function as my USB to SPDIF/RCA for the DSP 5K's (eliminating my need for M2Tech Hiface2). Really nice package.

Ifi driver behavior was also flawless. Where when I bounced around a lot between apps and bit rates with the Explorer 2 it would occasional get wedged.

When the Mojo arrived today I almost didn't open it. How much better could it be in such a small package 1/3 the size and spec of 35 milli watts into 600 ohm. Also to top that off the slimy place I got it from had a ribbon around the box with 20% restocking fee if opened.

But I had to know and knew I would not bother ordering another without restocking fee since I was so happy with the iFi. So I opened it. I am so glad I did.

So many reviews kept saying "more musical". Well I have to agree. It is more detailed, without being bright or harsh. The bass is awesome without any boost.

The whole package is a bit odd. I really prefer a simple volume knob instead of the quirky buttons. But it sounds too good to not keep it.

The Mojo also has PLENTY of power to even drive 600 Ohm headphones. It is probably around the "Normal" range of the Ifi.

The iFi would be more Musical and engaging if I turned it up fairly loud, like some speakers. But the Mojo was engaging at modest volumes. Kind of like Meridian speakers do.

I have not listened all day yet to see if they might be fatiguing, which is sometimes the trade off you make. But so far it feels fine.

#1) Mojo ($550)
#2) ifi iDSD BL ($400 on sale at Adorama)
#3) Explorer 2 ($200)
#4) Explorer 2 with A20 amp ($350 for A20)

I could have tried every combination because they can all function as an Amp or DAC Only (Except Explorer 2 cannot act as an Amp only).

I really wanted the iFi to win because I really liked the features and package and price.

If you use headphones you MUST try a Mojo. I heard way more improvement than I strained to hear with MQA.

Chord Just announced a Hugo 2 ($2300).

No MQA on Mojo or iFi (I misspoke that iFi is getting MQA and that is not correct)

The Designer of Chord Mojo/Hugo does participate on Head-Fi.com and has some fairly technical detail of what the design does. And interesting read.

iFi also participates on Head-Fi.com but I believe it's a marketing person and is a total turn off. Blabbing about # of cores and the credentials of the developer. He then starts babbling about Ada programming language that the Developer used years ago, with Wikipedia links, so bizarre, so weird.

Anyway

Check out John Atkinson of Stereophile Review

Where his conclusion ends with


That kind of sums it up for me too. Wow.

Shoot I thought I hit reply and hit edit and wiped out my original post. Sorry.

Chord DACs seem to be in very high favour with many people. It is territory that we might have expected to be occupied by Meridian, given their expertise.

I had the original explorer which was ok.
I have the AK240 player from Astell&Kern for the work commute which is very good, especially native DSD files.
At home I use the AK 240 as a hard drive connected to the Chord Hugo using optical out, the signal is sent as PCM and shows up as 192 files on the Hugo but the sound quality is exceptional, especially after the Hugo was run in.
Chord seem to be making great products which are reaching a wider market - Meridian take note

Yes, the Hugo has done especially well and there is a Hugo2 about to launch.

I will be interested to read up on the Hugo2, Chord have an interesting range.

Russ

Blimey - the Hugo2 is not exactly cheap for a portable headphone DAC\amp (and I know I'm on the Meridian forum)

The more expensive Dave is only just over half the price of the Meridian Ultra DAC.

Ah, that takes me back... as they say "Ada: your five favourite progamming languages"

But I digress

This Rob Watt's appears to be beating a similar drum to Bob but I think he has gone about solving it somewhat differently.

One of his big things is, his DAC's are FPGA implemented and as new methods are discovered prior released products can get updated with "new" DACs !!

Some interesting Data presented by Rob Watt's.
I think this has been the type of (And AMOUNT of) interaction Meridian owners have craved for.

Hugo Presentation and WTA Filter (Power Point Presentation)

Huge amount of information on Mojo/Hugo

Mojo Presentation

This particular post is very interesting

DAC Design notes

Thanks George.

Russ

Good day,

Contrarily to Meridian, Chord are using a so called closed form filter type, which is non apodising. It might not be 100% the same but you might simulate the Chord sound on an Explorer by downloading a Trial version of HQ player and set it on closed form filter type for PCM.

Give it a try...