10 minute read
GEAR REVIEWS
Simon Lucas takes a look at the Chord Mojo 2 and Dave Gale plays with the AMS Neve 88m
GEAR REVIEW
CHORD MOJO 2
W H A T
G O O D
B A D
V E R D I C T The Mojo 2 is the latest version of Chord’s widely admired Mojo portable-ish DAC and headphone amplifier.
Thrillingly open, detailed and musical sound. Good connectivity options.
Charges via microUSB. Not as portable as it thinks it is. Arcane control interface.
Some connectivity improvements are helpful, but fundamentally the allure of Mojo 2 is in the profound improvement it can make to your desktop or (at a push) your portable sound.
EQUIPMENT
Chord Electronics has been setting audio standards and establishing bewildering control methods since its inception in 1989. And with the original ‘Mojo’ DAC/ headphone amp, the company arguably legitimised the entire ‘portable DAC’ sector – even if it was a pretty chunky device by ‘portable’ standards.
So successful was the Mojo from the moment it hit the market in 2015, in fact, that it inspired a slew of imitators (most of them a fair bit more portable, admittedly) from companies both venerable and upstart. Imitation is a form of flattery, certainly, but unless the Mojo 2 can put some distance between itself and all the very many alternatives it’s ‘inspired’, it could well find itself flattered into irrelevance.
BUILD QUALITY
The majority of Mojo 2 is made of anodised aluminium – which feels almost as good as it looks. The casework itself is 23 x 83 x 62mm (HxWxD), but its rounded-off corners help it feel nicely palm-sized. Whether or not it’s pocket-sized is a different question, and whether or not its weight of 185g is pocket-friendly is yet another question.
It looks and feels like a premium product, though, no two ways about it. And if you’re not the one who has to interpret the dozens of different colours in which its polycarbonate control ‘spheres’ can glow to find out what Mojo 2 is up to, the control interface is uniquely decorative too. If you are, though, lots of luck – the size of digital file Mojo 2 is dealing with,
volume level, EQ setting and more besides are all indicated only by variations in colour.
Mojo 2 is a strictly hard-wired device. The addition of a USB-C input is very welcome, and there are digital coaxial and digital optical inputs as well; analogue audio is available via either (or both) the two 3.5mm outputs. The battery is good for roughly eight hours of use between charges – Mojo 2 still has to be charged using the elderly microUSB standard, which is a pity, but at least it doesn’t (unlike the product it replaces) get disconcertingly hot while it’s charging.
SOUND
And here the gripes and criticism come to a screeching halt. Attach Mojo 2 to your laptop, smartphone or whatever at one end, attach an appropriately talented pair of headphones at the other (or an analogue connection to a full-size system) and the difference this DAC makes to the unassisted sound of your source player is never less than significant. In the right circumstances, it can be profound.
The Chord Mojo 2 is on sale now, and it’s priced at £495.
It creates a big, well organised soundstage. It has absolute authority over dynamic shifts both broad and fine. It expresses rhythms with the certainty of James Brown. And it knows exactly what’s going on even in the depth of a mix – no detail is too fleeting or too minor to elude it. And it does all of this while maintaining an attitude that’s all about entertainment rather than analysis.
At the bottom end, bass sounds are deep, swift and packed with information. At the opposite end of the frequency range, treble is similarly substantial, similarly rapid and similarly stacked with detail. And in between, Mojo 2 can reveal all the character, all the attitude and all the details of technique that your favourite vocalist has to give.
Integration of the frequency range is smooth, with nothing overstated and nothing underplayed. There’s a unity and coherence to the way Mojo 2 presents music that gives a strong impression of ‘performance’ – even if the music you’re listening to never previously existed outside its creator’s laptop and headphones.
Naturally enough, the bigger and more informationrich the digital file you serve it, the more convincing and confident Mojo 2 sounds at its output stage. But it’s by no means snobby – if a bog-standard Apple Music stream is what it’s given, it’ll do its utmost to make the best of it.
In short, it seems unlikely in the extreme that you can make a more significant pound-for-pound difference to your digital audio experience than the one Mojo 2 can give you.
GEAR REVIEW
NEVE 88M USB AUDIO INTERFACE
W H A T
G O O D
B A D
V E R D I C T A desktop audio interface debut from AMS Neve
Solid sound stage Great size, build quality
No custom software
When it comes to exemplars of the audio industry, there are few companies as revered as Neve, but can they apply that same status to their new audio interface? We bus-power-up some classic mic preamps.
In case you’d missed it, ‘Vintage’ is not so much the next big thing, as the beautiful-newthing that has been rediscovered, yet again! While there is a quest for ever quieter and more discrete audio interfaces, there’s also a great demand for vintage sounding equipment, from hardware to software emulations.
BOXING LARGE AND CLEVER
Neve’s new 88M audio interface perfectly straddles both ubiquitous territories, with a sense of the old, through the re-versioned use of preamp technology, but with the contemporary angle of a bus-powered interface.
Before we get into the sonics, let’s consider what we have in this box. Firstly, and most obviously, the 88M is a reassuringly weighty device, at 1.675Kg. That’s quite a number of bags of sugar, and might suggest that while it’s slightly larger than many other similar desktop audio interfaces, (it offers a 18x20cm footprint) it’s going to feel pretty heavy in transit. Place on your desktop, and the rubberised feet keep it securely in place, while its tolex-style wraparound finish looks classic and stylish.
The front of the interface provides 2 x mic/line/ DI inputs, via XLR/1/4” jack connectors, with 4 pots which double as push-button switches. Due to the added functionality, the pots don’t feel quite as sturdy as they might if they were just dampened pots, but the ‘made in the UK’ quality shines through. Each of the input channels toggles between mic/
line/DI input, with phantom powering available from a button next to input connector.
The presence of a see-saw monitoring pot allows easy balancing between incoming signals and DAW playback, with the ability to dictate your signal priority, along with the option to switch to mono, proving to be flexible for playback and tracking possibilities. These elements are very simple to access, which is just as well, as the 88M does not offer any accompanying software, to fine tune your interface preferences.
Around the back of the interface, there are monitor outputs on TRS 1/4” jack only, with send and return insert points for both input channels. You may also extend the number of inputs via the on-board ADAT light pipe, making the 88M a perfect partner for outboard mic pre’s with ADAT functionality, which include Neve’s own excellent 1073 OPX, albeit with the optional digital card fitted.
NEVE’S CLASSIC NUMBERS
If you buy into this device, you’ll be dialling in to Neve’s history, which might make you wonder why they haven’t placed their legendary 1073 pre amp at the front end? Put simply, it all boils down to power; one of the major party tricks that the 88M has to offer is its ability to run solely on bus power, which is to say that it powers directly from your computer. This explains the presence of the heftier USB3 connector to the rear, with included cables for conventional USB A and newer USB C connectivity, supplying the 88M with the appropriate amount of power. It still blows my mind that you can bus-power an interface such as this, and connect a condenser microphone using phantom power.
USB power has its limits, which explains the move toward a tweaked incarnation of Neve’s very own preamp circuit, culled from the legendary 88RS console. There is a reduction in headroom, over a fully powered channel, but it’s impressive and useable nonetheless, being reliant on the very same input transformers.
SONICALLY NEVE
I used several different mic’s, in different recording scenarios, to get a flavour of what the 88M could offer. Beginning with a U87, tracking was a total cinch.The low-latency monitoring proved to be impressive, with more than enough headroom for vocal work, both at the channel and monitoring stages. Some like their playback loud; that’s not me, although I would defy anyone to suggest that the 88M cannot crank to high enough levels.
While recording vocals, the depth of capture feels impressive, with what I would describe as a full-tone, particularly in the middle frequency band. My other day-to-day interfaces do feel different, with a suggestion of greater brightness in the upper frequency bands.
Reaching for a Coles 4038, paired with a Fet Head transformer, I picked up a trombone and layered up some tracks. In this scenario, the Neve sounds fantastic. Its classic calling pays enormous dividends here, where the richness of mid-register tone lends itself beautifully to the sonority of the instrument.
While the presence of some mighty channel preamps will provide one reason for the tonal colour, it’s worth noting that the 88M uses a SABRE 32 convertor, which is not the more usual D/A and A/D convertor, found in other interfaces. Under all circumstances, it’s a class act, but as with all timbral colours, you may well gravitate to your preferences, possibly directed by the music you choose to record and produce.
Further recording explorations yield a very solid sound-stage, which is wide and detailed in all respects. Everything just feels like it slots into place. As my time with the 88M increased, I found the overall sonic makeup really great to work with, although referring back to my usual day-to-day high-end interface, the 88M definitely presents what could be regarded as a slightly more vintage or classic tone, which is very desirable. There can be no doubt that the 88M is a class performer. One point, that you will either love or hate, is its total reliance on hardware operation. The lack of Neve software could feel like a moot point, dependent on how you choose to use the device. If you’re looking for a stereo-based interface, which will provide a quick and easy route to tracking, with one of the classiest signal paths available in this format, the 88M is something of a winner. The 88M oozes quality in bundles.
Neve 88M – £1075
CONVENTION DIARY 2022-23
PASIC 2022
9th–12th November 2022 Indianapolis Conv. Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
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ISE 2023*
31st Jan–3rd Feb 2023 Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain
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11th – 13th May 2023 Berlin, Germany
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NAMM 2023
13th-15th April, 2023 Anaheim, California, USA
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25th – 28th April 2023 Frankfurt, Germany
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CES 2023
5th–8th January 2023
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NAB Show 2023
16th - 19th April, 2023 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
