Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
A serial of event and a slaphappy financial determination have lead me to fall in love with a appliance I have n’t used for several years — and it all begin the solar day Apple make up one’s mind to allow the one-time Lightning connection behind and useUSB - C on the iPhone 15 seriesinstead .
But to tell apart the tarradiddle , I will have to go back even further in clip first . Let me excuse .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
A gadget I loved but had forgotten about
That story begin not with the iPhone but with a digital - to - analog converter , or DAC . At the start of 2022 , I reviewed theChord Mojo 2DAC — a gadget that suit in between your music player and headphones , enhancing the sound and providing a immense amount of customization , too . It made myiPhone 13 Prosound brilliant , but to do so , it involve the Lightning - to - USB Camera Adaptor dongle connected to another dongle , this time a USB - A - to - Micro - USB . It was a lot of cables and connexion to deal with , and that was before adding the cable to the headphones . There are some exceptional Mojo - compatible Lightning - to - USB - C cables out there , but purchase another cable television service to replace be cables I already owned seemed otiose .
I mostly used the Chord Mojo 2 with a pair ofFocal Stelliaheadphones , kindly loaned to me by Focal . The $ 3,000 earphone are brilliant and probably the best I ’ve ever used , apart from the even more expensiveFocal Utopias I once demoedand practically decline to take off my head they were so sublime . have the Stellia twin with the Chord Mojo 2 aright there in my home for an extensive period of time was amazing . I actually set aside time to pose down and listen to medicine , something I ’d forget how to do with Bluetooth earphone , which seem to encourage activeness .
When the metre came to pass the Focal Stellia ’s to the company , I was very sad to see them go , and , attend back , it mark the end of those days of relaxing with headphone on , explore both new and intimate music — sometimes just to experience how it fathom . I still used the Mojo 2 and its stupid collection of overseas telegram and dongles with my own Sennheiser HD660 phone , but I ’ve never really have a go at it them like I did the Focal Stellia . Time put across , and the cable television - tastic Mojo 2 was used less and less .
USB-C comes to the iPhone 15
Apple announced the iPhone 15 series in September 2023 , andI chose the iPhone 15 Pro Maxas the model I ’d expend for the next year or so , but the improver of USB - C never really appealed at first due to thelack of rightful fast charging . But a few weeks into ownership , I remember the Chord Mojo 2 and its maze of cables . Would it figure out without all that mess now ? Using the attractive braided USB - C - to - USB - C cable that comes included with the iPhone 15 Pro Max , I tried it out .
Indeed , all that ’s require to tie in the wonderful Mojo 2 to the iPhone 15 — regardless of which one — is a USB - C cable . The whole dongle incubus is over , and it ’s not only a lot easier , but it ’s also a lot neater , too . It encouraged me to find a duet of pumped up headphones and see how it sounded , but it also remind me that the Focal Stellia were long gone . Like many , my phone life has been wireless for some time , and any fresh pairs I ’ve buy or reviewed recently do n’t have cables .
This wouldn’t have happened without USB-C
I plant a newfangled hardening of Focal Elegias for just 320 British British pound , which is about $ 400 and less than half their original price . I knew they would n’t challenge the Stellia ’s , but it would still be money well spent if they had even a tenth of the emotional lick . They certainly have the same wonderful demonstration and publicity as the Stellia ’s , but out of the box , the sound just was n’t quite there . I could n’t put my digit on it , but they were a bit … exanimate .
plug away the single USB transmission line into the iPhone and the Mojo 2 felt funnily limited , having not done so for almost a yr at this point , as did tie the Elegia ’s oversized 3.5 mm jack to the opposite side . This is where I descend for the Mojo 2 again , as act with the equaliser to subtly change the sound made a monumental remainder to how the headphones sounded . I ’d see the extra submarine freshwater bass that was missing , and adjusting the crossfeed helped broaden the soundstage — complement the wonderful midrange and outspoken execution that were already there .
Has the Mojo 2 made the Elegia ’s sound like the Stellia ? No , of course not , but its versatility has let me to overcome the slightly dissatisfactory out - of - the - box sound . It has aid me exorcise the ghost of the amazing Stellia ’s , a curing of earpiece I understand I may never hear again , and to rediscover the joy of just sitting down and hear to euphony . While I ’ve write mostly about how the Mojo 2 and the Focal Elegia ’s sound , I would n’t have foundanyof it out if Apple had n’t ditched the Lightning cable television for a USB - C.
Fast charging may not have arrived with USB - 100 , but something equally helpful has : convenience . Fewer cable system and dongles make the Mojo 2 specifically more favorable to own and use , and it ’s likely the same for various other accoutrement that once relied on additional parts to operate . It has taken a while , but I ’ve last found a ground to rejoice about the arrival of USB - carbon on the Apple iPhone .
