Mojo 2 + Poly + Roon : Volume control and charging?

Hi, folks.

I’m considering a Mojo 2 + Poly combination as an alternative to a more stationary home setup. I’m hoping someone with experience with the combo can help.

I’ve read that when using Poly as a Roon zone, the Mojo 2 has to be set to “fixed volume”. Is that correct? I assume the entire story is that the Poly Roon zone is set to device volume in Roon and Roon then controls Poly’s volume. Do the physical volume buttons on the Mojo 2 work in this case (i.e., are they mapped to control Poly)?

Can someone also please confirm that when Poly is connected, charging is chained such that you just need to connect a single charger, of sufficient power, to the micro-USB port on the Poly and both units will charge. It’s challenging to confirm this from pictures but I think that’s what I’m seeing.

I’m also interested in anyone’s general comments about Poly’s usability and stability as a Roon endpoint in a home with solid WiFi. I don’t mind tinkering to get it set up initially but I do want it to be reliable once it’s configured.

Thanks!

Why do you want/need the poly? I use an ethernet connected RPi4 running RoPieeeXL connected to the Mojo 2 by USB. I don’t use the Mojo 2 as a mobile device, but if I did, I would use a wired connection from my iPhone. I’m not sure the poly is worth the expense.

For walking my dog, I have an AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt and a FiiO KA1. I prefer the KA1 because it doesn’t require a camera adapter and it was only $50 and sounds great.

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Fair question :slight_smile:

Few reasons but they reduce down to “because I can afford it and it’s worth it for me to spend the cash up front to get the listening experience I want”.

I want to listen in multiple places, I’d like my phone to not be in the mix when I’m listening at home other than for control - I use my phone for personal and work while listening. I don’t like having cables and dongles.

I get that it’s an indulgent add on. Just trying to figure out if it works the way I hope it does.

For use at home, it’s your choice of the poly or RPi or similar. No phone involvement. I think the poly is most beneficial for mobile use to connect wirelessly to your phone. Anyway, I think you will enjoy the Mojo 2. Not sure about the poly.

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It depends. The Mojo/Mojo2 is designed with the use case as mobile headphone amplifier in mind. As a such, users usually use the volume control buttons on the unit. Using it with Poly doesn’t change anything about this. If you want to use it stationary in combination with a long cable to your headphone, you may want to use device volume for the Poly instead but keep in mind that his is a different volume control than the one in the Mojo – be careful when you later-on want to use the Mojo standalone.

If you set it up that way, then yes, that is what is happening.

Yes (“Do the physical volume buttons on the Mojo 2 work in this case”) and no (“are they mapped to control Poly”)

All the above written under the assumption that no functional difference exists regarding how volume control works between Mojo and the Mojo2.

grafik

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I get that. RPi would limit me to one listening position, would require a 10-foot headphone cable, and would put volume control out of reach. That’s why I think I’d be more likely to run the Mojo off of battery and connect directly to my phone or some other source device. Having the thing just behave as a Roon zone is appealing.

By the way, I’m very aware of how idiosyncratic I am around volume control. It’s an issue for me.

Thank you!

I still don’t fully understand what this means in practice. Can I ask you to clarify the behavior of one specific configuration?

Mojo + Poly Connected
Mojo set to Fixed Volume using GoFigure
Poly configured as a Roon zone
Roon Volume control set to “Device volume” for the zone

Do the physical power buttons work on the Mojo in this configuration? I’m reasonably sure that Roon’s software controls will work and I also have rooExtend and DeepHarmony as options. I’m just curious if you happen to know what happens with Mojo + Poly when used this way.

In any case, I appreciate your help and I may have talked myself into this purchase :slight_smile: .

I use a MoJo 2 and Poly as my daily drive in the office. The physical Mojo buttons for power and volume always work.

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This is not possible. GoFigure is to configure Chord’s streamers (Poly / 2Go).

Any button (and button combination) should work as described in the manual of the Mojo AFAIK (for the disclaimer please read above). The Poly is an independent (from the Mojo) device.

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Thank you for clarifying this. I’ve mis-read or misunderstood what I’ve read online about this. I appreciate your patience.

Perfect.

I’m going to go ahead with this. Sounds like it’ll behave the way I’d like it to. I sincerely appreciate the help.

I have two RPi4’s. One is connected by ethernet and one by WIFI. I can use the WIFI connected RPi4 all over the house. I mostly use it away from home connected by WIFI to my Dell laptop WIFI out with the Dell connected to my iPhone or iPad hotspot.

I use USB from either RPi4 to Mojo 2 and Moon Audio Silver Dragon and Black Dragon headphone cables. Both ethernet and WIFI are flawless. I keep the Mojo 2 plugged into charger. Volume control is always via Mojo 2 buttons.

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You have a fantastic setup. I understand better now what I’ve seen in pictures you’ve posted on other threads. You’ve been influential in my interest in the Chord stuff.

I’m headed in the right direction with Chord + Poly. I like the idea of moving around the house (including outside locations that have good WiFi) without needing a power outlet and without cabling up my phone or another source. The only downside of the Poly vs. PI approach is, I hope, cost.

The dealer I purchased from has free next day shipping so I should have a better sense of this tomorrow.

I’m grateful for this forum - it’s a huge help for figuring out stuff like this. Thanks again, @Jim_F, for your help!

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I believe this refers to bitperfect/DSD mode, which fixes the volume in Roon and you only use the Mojo 2 volume controls

Yes this is the design. You’ll get a faster charge if both are plugged in separately, but leaving overnight this works fine for me. As an aside Chord recently confirmed that the desktop mode (battery charge off once fully charged to save the battery life) is available on both devices in this config. This comes from the Mojo2 or Poly threads on Head-fi, I’m on mobile so can’t get you the link.

If you can afford it I think it’s great for around the house Roon listening. I did think about another Pi setup with battery in the house to add to my fixed listening positions, but it was just too many cables and faff.

I struggled to get 2.4Ghz wifi working until I changed my router. My listening position was as far from the router as you can get and some bit rates skipped. Now I have a new set up it’s great.

I have a love hate relationship with Poly out of my home, e.g. on a train, I’ll work it out, but can’t get the same set up twice to work. If you travel infrequently like me (or use Android) this is not an issue, but if you travel a lot it could be a pain. Or maybe you’d spend more time doing it and get better at it than me.

An expensive, but good purchase.

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Your questions have already been answered by others, and I see you have ordered one to be delivered today - congratulations!

Just to add to the positives, I use the Mojo2Poly combo for around the home listening and, having tried many other permutations, from my experience it is unsurpassed.

While I acknowledge the cost/benefits of using RPi etc, for me, the Mojo2Poly combo is neat and tidy and it works supremely well in this scenario. It avoids the need for long trailing headphone cables and means it can sit on the sofa next to me, or slip in my back pocket while moving around. I love it.

Although voiced by some as a limitation, it’s use of 2.4Ghz is preferred as it has longer range, so ideal for moving around. You don’t mention what sort of network you have, other than that it is reliable. I have a 5x Deco mesh WiFi system at home, and I have found that if I arrange for the Mojo2Poly to connect to the most centrally located Deco and then turn off “Mesh Technology” for it within the Deco app it works brilliantly, because you then avoid the occasional issue of dropping connectivity with Roon Core when it moves between Decos (turning off Mesh Technology prevents it hopping between Deco satellites).

Enjoy your purchase, and enjoy the music!

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Thank you @Johnny_Maelstrom and @Red_R.

Going the Chord + Poly route seems like joining a club within a club within a club.

That might be what I’d read. If so, I clearly mangled the details. DSD isn’t a priority for me but I’m not sure fixing the volume in Roon and using the only the Mojo would be a problem anyhow. I’m hopefully just hours away from a delivery and I’ve got time this weekend to play around. I’ll figure it out.

Thanks. It was surprising challenging to figure out if a connected Chord + Poly required two power adapters and cables.

I’ve done more reading since my initial post and I understand the desktop mode issues better now, including the issues people had with batteries it the original Mojo. I hadn’t read about the confirmation about desktop mode on Poly. No need for the link. I’ll poke around more on other forums. Thanks for the pointer.

I think I’ll be fine on this front. We’ll see soon! If not, I can easily extend what I’ve got.

Up until a few years back, I used to travel quite a bit more though more international stuff than back and forth on transit (which we don’t have much of here). Nowhere near as much travel now. First goal isn’t to use this thing to flip between modes - it’s to set up an in-home portable Roon station with volume control at hand. If it’s a completely house-bound system, that’s actually fine. I’ve got other options for mobile including stuff that prioritizes convenience and noise cancellation (ya know - Apple stuff :slight_smile: ).

This is the kind of peer support and pressure I need!

UniFi with 6 hard-wired access points, each doing 5GHz/2.4GHz. Good coverage everywhere. These access points can do mesh (create peer to peer connections) but there’s no reason for that in my environment. I’m not sure why turning off mesh for you means that your devices don’t hop between access points. In theory, at least, mesh is about using p2p connections to extend network coverage but is orthogonal from handoff/roaming. I don’t use mesh but I do rely on handoff. Handoffs should be infrequent and I wouldn’t expect them to interfere with listening since the device should have enough buffer to make a handoff not matter. Whatever happens here, though, networking is unlikely to be the thing I struggle with :slight_smile: Of course now that I’ve said that, I’ll end up paying for my hubris one way or another and I’ll probably be back here asking you folks for networking help soon.

If UPS delivers it today, I’ll share some thoughts. Otherwise, we’ll probably have to pick this up next week.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

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Well that wasn’t so bad!

GoFigure definitely has issues - froze a couple of times going through the setup process. And I have absolutely no idea what these colored lights are trying to tell me. But about five minutes of effort has the thing set up and working great as a Roon endpoint.

I’m going to let it charge up before I play further with it.

It’s a very cool little unit - smaller than I expected. Looking forward to playing with it more. Thank you all for showing up here with info and suggestions!

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When I travel I put an sd card in it and press shuffle. It’s fab with that as well as ROON about the house.

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Roy G Biv (10 char)

I am still trying to make sense of the fact that this is an entire Roon zone + outstanding DAC + headphone amp. I’m fairly blown away.

Thanks again for the info and encouragement - think I’m going to love this.

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Green = 24/96

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