Replacement/upgrade for Bluesound and Chord Mojo 2 streamer/external DAC combo

I will be looking for 2nd hand. It’s not worth spending for new equipment in digital source which will have technology change every year.  I think the ongoing market price for second hand Bluesound and Mojo 2 is around US$600 together, so ideally would like to spend that much or up to US$1,000.  I listen mostly to jazz instruments and vocals, so would like to be able to listen to details of instruments and warm vocal sound without being tired for long listening hours, perhaps warm and neutral but enough clarity and detail, if that makes sense.  I do listen to pop music but usually just looking for decent bass, which i think the size of my speaker will limit it.  The tempo/beat of pop music usually is quite fast so not listening for detail, just enough to hear the dynamics.  Thanks

I had an eye on a 2nd hand bluesound node with pd creative upgrade kit installed, but no lps provided. This what deters me from switching as lps does not come cheap, unless it can use any 5v power supply without making significant difference, ie iFi iPower, then the cost will make sense to me.

Thanks everyone for the input.

@soix unfortunately musician and denafrips is out of my budget for now, but will consider it for next upgrade.  

@glennewdick yes i agree, Mojo does sound nice and i am quite content with it. But hopefully something can be done to enhance it further with minimal costs and unfortunately it’s quite hard to have a live demo with the exact same amp/speaker/cable combo.  It took me quite a while to come to the accuphase/dynaudio combo and actually listened to them live together.
 

Seems the consensus for the most economical solution for now is the bluesound upgrade.  I am eyeing on LHY audio, price is quite lower than pd creative and teddypardo and shipping is nearer, no need to ship it halfway around the world.  Wonder anyone has opinion on this LHY audio? Also i’ve read there are two options for the 5V LPS, a 25watt and 50watt, the later seems to be recommended for external ssd use with bluesound, which is what i intend to do, but is it just gimmick or will the 25watt suffice?

Cheers,

Can you send me the link on aliexpress? I can only find one at $150 for lps and additional $70 for psu.  Alternatively there is one on taobao which sells it for around $160 lps+psu, shipped. Took quite a bit of effort to translate, but seems legit.

Thanks all.  I have bite the bullet and order the LHY kit, PSU and LPS.  Let see how it goes, will report here once it enter into my system.

Cheers

Installed the LHY audio kit, now i understand all the praises of changing the power supply unit out of the bluenode. I’ve only had listened to this for an hour, but It indeed improves the output on both the direct analog output to my amp and digital output to the dac (though i would say to lesser extent than the analog).  Previously i always can hear the difference between using the bluesound directly vs. using the Mojo in between.  Now they have become very close.  One immediate noticeable difference is improvement on the bass, which was previously lacking as it is more of an accuphase character plus a bookshelf speaker arrangement.  The difference is like removing a screen protector/tampered glass put of your smartphone screen. You normally wouldn’t see much difference for daily use until you remove it and suddenly there is a difference, not night and day but it is just different in a good way.  So far this has been a good spend on the upgrade and thanks for all the recommendations from here.

@dogearedaudio, i hear you. Chord character suits me well and was thinking about upgrading to the next line, either to Hugo 2 or Qutest as you said, but was not sure the costs vs. benefit of it.  Was considering a Hugo version 1, but many reviewed the difference vs. Mojo 2 as marginal.

@sadbird, i ordered the lps50, 5v option. I ordered through an app called taobao and had chat with the store beforehand, quite helpful and understand right away the needed hardwares for bluesound, with the right 2p to 5.5/2.1mm cable etc.  installed per instruction and followed lhy audio guide in youtube.  Simple enough.  Store name is LHY audio also or Lau Hu Yu Yin Pin, seems genuine reseller or even the official store itself.  Price is quite good, anyone interested in detail can pm.me.

Yes one at a time.  I used Chord Mojo 2 originally to replace my Mojo 1 for my headphone setup, which i then turned for desktop use prior to selling to boost my Bluesound.  When i heard improvement using Mojo against the internal bluesound DAC, it stuck in my home audio set up ever since.  I wasn't keen in changing the digital source for now as technology changes quite fast and i am quite happy with the easiness of the BlueOS app (I used AudioLab previously and the app was just painful) and the Chord mojo combination, sound signature is to my liking already.  This upgrade was just a marginal step on improving the setup with minimal costs and I am not keen on trial and error for now.  So far the power supply upgrade has been quite fruitful relative the the cost, so i would stick to it for now until the itch comes back.