Chord Electronics – Hugo 2, Blu 2 and Poly

Chord Electronics announced 3 New Products Yesterday at CES 2017 Las Vegas

The products are:

• Poly is a revolutionary streaming module for Mojo
• Hugo 2 is the successor to the vastly popular Hugo Dac/headphone Amp
• Blu MkII is an upscaling CD transport for use with the Chord DAVE DAC

All of us at earphonia.com are excited that the revolutionary British company has released these new products and are looking forward to getting our hands on them to review.

Chord Electronics’ Poly brings wireless, network and SD playback to the award-winning Mojo DAC

Chord Electronics’ new Poly module enables the award-winning Mojo headphone amp/DAC as a fully fledged high-resolution wireless network music player, streamer and SD card playback device, and offers wireless playback and control from smartphones. Poly removes the need for a wired link between phone and Mojo for the first time, and allows a world of content to be decoded and played back using Chord’s proprietary DAC technology.

Poly is based on a condensed high-level PC, with data server, DLNA receiver, Wi-Fi hub, Bluetooth module and SD card (using MPD) functionality, and highly sophisticated software. Poly acts as a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hub and can access music in a number of ways including streaming over Wi-Fi, network storage devices (NAS) and collections stored on SD cards using Mail Player Daemon. Bluetooth connectivity and AirPlay functionality provide real flexibility with smartphones and enable mutilple Mojo/Poly combinations to be used throughout the home, providing a high-quality multi-room streaming playback solution.

Highly advanced yet miniaturised as a plug-in module for Mojo, Poly has been designed for full control using the best (and most familiar) user interface in the world — the smartphone. When connected to Mojo, Poly conveniently slips into pockets, bags and handbags — it doesn’t need to be hand-carried or regularly checked like other players. Mojo was always a smartphone-enabling device and the same is true of Poly.

Poly is compatible with the latest high-resolution-audio file types and supports PCM files up to 768kHz resolution and DSD64 to DSD512 (Octa-DSD). Poly’s high-quality SD card reader/player frees up smartphone memory and storage, so vast libraries no longer need be kept locally on phones.

Chord Electronics and its design partners have made Poly’s high-speed technology fully mobile: Poly includes a rechargeable LiPo battery giving around nine hours playback from a sub-four-hour charge using the device’s fast-charging circuit. Both Mojo and Poly can be simultaneously charged using Poly’s Micro USB connector. Poly is precision-machined from aircraft-grade aluminium and hand assembled in the UK.

Playback

Poly can be controlled with a wide range of music playback apps for both Android and iOS devices, with AirPlay offering additional compatibility and intuitive operation with enabled devices. Poly also integrates with advanced music players such as Roon (excluding SD cards). Supported file types (to be confirmed) include: ACC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, OGG VORBIS, ALAC, WMA and MP3.

Features and specifications:

• Materials: Precision-machined aluminium casing with black anodisation, opaque black wireless signal window and silicone feet
• Battery: Rechargeable LiPo (Lithium Polymer) 2200mAh
• Play time: 9+ hours
• Charging: Sub-four hours, 2-amp Micro USB input. Both Mojo and Poly can be simultaneously charged via Poly’s Micro USB
• Connectivity types: Bluetooth A2DP and Wi-Fi 2.4GHz
• Storage: Micro SD card — unlimited maximum capacity
• Playback support: Roon, DNLA, AirPlay and Bluetooth playback
• Files supported: (to be confirmed) all major file types including: ACC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, OGG VORBIS, ALAC, WMA and MP3
• PCM sample rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 358.8kHz, 384kHz,717.6kHz and 768kHz
• DSD via DoP sample rates: DSD64 – DSD512 (Octa-DSD)
• Devices supported: iPhone; iPad, Android phones/tablets, Windows phones/tablets/PCs, Mac OS X computers and DAPs (Astell & Kern etc)
• Dimensions: 50mm (L) x 62mm (W) x 22mm (H)

Capabilities

• Playback of SD card audio. The file data is pushed to the phone for selection within a dedicated (MPD Music Player Daemon) app. When playback is initiated the command is sent to Poly for output via Mojo
• Playback of audio from a host device to Poly via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. File data is read by the host’s MPD music player app and pushed to Poly for output via Mojo
• Roon playback pooled from multiple sources inc. storage from host devices, network storage and streaming service storage simultaneously. All audio playback will be pulled through to the Roon application for decoding then pushed back out to Poly to output audio via Mojo
• Playback of audio stored on local networks. Music on connected network storage devices can be accessed via W-Fi, for example, a Synology drive read by Poly, decoded and output through to Mojo for playback

POLY – TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Materials: Precision machined aluminium casing with black anodisation, opaque black wireless signal window, and silicone feet.

Battery: Rechargeable LiPo (Lithium Polymere) 2200mAh.

Play time: In excess of nine (9) hours.

Charging: Less than four (4) hours. 2amp Micro USB Input. Both Mojo and Poly can be simultaneously charged via Poly’s Micro USB.

Connectivity types: Bluetooth A2DP and WiFi 2.4gHz.

Storage: Micro SD card – Unlimited maximum capacity.

Playback support: Roon, DNLA, Airplay, and Bluetooth playback.

Files supported: To be confirmed, although all major file types including: ACC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, OGG VORBIS, ALAC, WMA, and MP3.

PCM sample rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 358.8kHz, 384kHz, 717.6kHz, and 768kHz.

DSD via DoP sample rates: DSD64 – DSD512 (Octa-DSD).

Devices supported: iPhones and iPads, Android smartphones and Tablets, Windows smartphones and tablets, Windows computers, Mac OS X computers, and DAPs (ie. Astell & Kern).

WiFi device set up: Manually enter SSID of device and enter password. Poly will remember previously connected devices and automatically connect.

Bluetooth set up: Select Poly as the output device and input code 0000.

Airplay set up: Simply select Poly and instantly airplay to the device.

Name of device: This is user configurable, however by default it is named ‘Poly’. This feature is enabled to allow Poly to be used in zones. For example, an owner of two Mojo’s can label one unit that is used within a static system as ‘Home Mojo’ and a Mojo for on the go as ‘On the Go’.

Dimensions: 50mm (L) x 62mm (W) x 22mm (H).

Capabilities

• Playback of SD card audio. The file data is pushed to the phone for selection within a dedicated (MPD Music Player Daemon) app. When playback is initiated the command is sent to Poly for output via Mojo
• Playback of audio from a host device to Poly via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. File data is read by the host’s MPD music player app and pushed to Poly for output via Mojo
• Roon playback pooled from multiple sources inc. storage from host devices, network storage and streaming service storage simultaneously. All audio playback will be pulled through to the Roon application for decoding then pushed back out to Poly to output audio via Mojo
• Playback of audio stored on local networks. Music on connected network storage devices can be accessed via W-Fi, for example, a Synology drive read by Poly, decoded and output through to Mojo for playback

Price and availability

Poly will be available in early 2017, estimated price £499