Chord Poly Setup Tips - Everything you need to know
Chord Poly is a Portable Wireless Streaming device to pair with Mojo by Chord Electronics. Please find our Chord Poly How To Setup Guides below to help you set up your Poly and how to connect Poly to various different configurations including your network, phone, Roon, aandroid, Roon, Tidal, AK Connect, 8Player and BubbleUPNp. Direct Links below will show you how to get to each how to document and what each guide includes.
Chord Poly: Setup Tips
- Please read the Poly manual carefully.
- Poly needs to be fully charged before you use it.
- Poly charges best when connected to a charger which outputs 2 Amps or more. Many common chargers, ie. standard 5V USB mobile phone chargers and USB outputs on typical PCs only output 1 Amp. iPad 10 and 12 watt and some Android Tablet chargers are 2 Amps. Poly will charge fine with 1 Amp devices but it will take twice as long to charge. If charging Poly the first time on a 1 Amp device, please allow Poly to charge for a full 10 hours.
- Poly is only compatible with 2.4ghz networks. (Mesh networks should detect this)
- You need to know the name and password for your network.
- When Ithe setup you will be asked for the SSID this is the name of your WiFi network.
- You must type into all three fields in the setup menu. “Name” “SSID” “Password” If you do not, it will not connect to a network. It may look like the name field is already filled in, but it’s not.
- You cannot connect to Bluetooth while Poly is in Access Point Mode. This means you need to connect Poly to a WiFi network before configuring it for Bluetooth.
- Micro SD cards should be formatted in ExFAT (FAT32 may work but not recommended)
- The GoFigure setup app is not available yet. It is waiting for Apple approval and this should happen soon.
- Apps:
- For iOS UPnP/DLNA control and playback we recommend using 8Player (the paid version)
- For Android UPnP/DLNA control and playback we recommend using BubbleUPnP (paid version)
- For Computer control and playback use Roon. Note: Poly is not a Roon Core.
- MPD playback and control for iOS and Android. Soundirok.
- Another option for Android only is M.A.L.P - To use the Micro SD card feature you must use either 8Player or BubbleUPnP.
- Hotspot feature is not available yet.
- Mobile Hotspot feature on your Mobile device may require contacting your wireless provider for activation.
- In addition to solid network infrastructure, customers need a fair bit of networking experience to use this product with confidence, it requires patience and it is not a plug and play wireless device for music playback.
Chord Poly Charging Guide
The Chord Poly charging guide will show you how to charge your Poly to optimal power quickly and efficiently.
Chord Poly Status Lights
When you charge the Poly and Mojo while connected together, the Mojo takes charging priority over the Poly. Thus the Mojo will be fully charged before the Poly is fully charged. Please do not use your computer to charge the Poly via its USB connection. Most computers only output 1/2 amperage when charging devices and this is not enough power to fully charge portable audio devices.
We recommend the wall wart chargers that you plug directly into the AC outlets. They need to be a 2 amp or higher rating. Please see the Tronsmart USB Charger which is a 3 amp charger so you can charge both the Poly and the Mojo separately in different ports at the same time. Using a 3 amp charger will greatly reduce the time to fully charge them both. And by charging them separately with there own cable greatly decreases the charging time.
This charging guide will also show the lights and colors the Poly and Mojo will have when charging the device. The percentage is illustrated by a change in LED color. If you see the p.status with no light on it, that means the Poly has not been charged and only the Mojo has been charged. The bottom m.status, is the charging status for only the Mojo. Let's say the light on the p.status is red and the light on the m.status is orange, that illustrates the Poly is only 5% charged and the Mojo is 25-50% charged.
Connecting the Chord Poly to WiFi:
Attaching Poly to a WiFi Network: 1:1
This Wifi guide will help you connect the Poly to a WiFi network. To complete this process Poly will need a 2.4Ghz enabled WiFi network to connect to. An Android or Apple IOS phone or tablet will be required as the intermediary. You will need to know or create a Wifi(SSID) on the 2.4Ghz WiFi network you want the Poly to connect to along with its password. If your network does not have a password, you will need to create one for it. Poly should also be fully charged before setup is attempted. Poly also must be set up with WiFi before Bluetooth can be used.
An important note: Your Wifi router may be set up to do different bandwidths, both 5Ghz and 2.4gGhz. I would highly recommend setting up two different SSIDs with 2 separate names.
Set up the first one with the standard configurations to connect all other devices in your house: portable laptops, phones, etc. Set up the second one specifically for your Chord Poly. This will make your life much easier when connecting the Poly via WiFi. Set up the second one to default to 2.4Ghz for the Poly. You will have much fewer issues when connecting to your media libraries on your network with your Poly.
Poly Status Indicators:
The Poly Status Indicators guide shows you how to understand the Poly status indicator lights. When you are charging the Poly, you will see one set of colors. When you are connecting via Wifi or Bluetooth, you will see another set of colors. This document will also help you connect the Poly to multiple types of wireless networks.
Connecting Poly to Bluetooth:
Poly guide for Bluetooth connection illustrates how to connect the Poly via Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a much quicker, simpler way if you want to connect to your friend's phone or maybe you have a device that only has Bluetooth and doesn't have WiFI access such as a AV soundbar.
For your TV, if you want to watch a movie and use the Mojo as your DAC and the Poly as the interface to connect to that Bluetooth device, this guide will show you how to do that. Or to connect to your friend's phone, so you don't have to set up a complex wireless network, you can just connect the Poly to it via a simple Bluetooth connection.
Using 8Player with Poly:
The 8Player app is an iOS app for connecting your Apple devices to the Chord Poly. Once you've set up your Poly to connect to your WiFi, the 8Player app acts as a remote control to point to media libraries or different computers on your network for streaming the music libraries to your Poly. Or it's for controlling and directing the Poly to look at the SSD card on your Poly and to pull the music from that access point.
There are very flexible UPnP and DLNA apps for seeing all kinds of plug and play audio devices on your network. There is no right or wrong app, they all do things a little differently and there are Pros and Cons to each one of them so I download each one and see which one fits your situation best.
Using BubbleUPNp with Poly:
The BubbleUPNp app guide is for connecting your Android devices via WiFi to the Chord Poly. Very Similar to 8Player but for Android devices.
AK Connect with Poly:
The AK Connect App is designed by Astell & Kern to connect their music players to your iOS device so you can control them and output music to your 2 channel setup. The AK connect will also see the Poly on the network so you can stream the music from your Astell & Kern digital audio player straight to the Poly. It will see other devices, not just the AK devices, but its a little more streamlined based on the interface of the AK, so if you prefer using the AK interface, then this app may appeal to you.
Using Roon with Poly:
Now that Poly is on a WiFi network. Poly can be set up to be a playback device in Roon. Roon is a subscription service that essentially acts as an encyclopedia or Remote control for all the music on your network. It finds all the media libraries on your network and catalogs them into one general remote control space for you to find all your music easily.
You can also interface your Tidal account, another subscription service for hi-resolution music streaming so you can integrate and combine both subscriptions in one place as if Tidal is part of your library in Roon so you can search and browse all types of music that aren't on your playlists as you would with the normal Tidal interface through Roon and its a much sexier and nicer layout than Tidal.
Poly User Manual
The Poly user manual is a basic manual or go-to guide on how to use and set up the Poly.
Poly Firmware Update Page
Our Poly firmware update page will show what changes have been made by the most recent firmware update and what improvements have been made or what is new and available with the Poly. This guide will also show you how to update your firmware on the Poly and to make sure you always have the most current firmware update for the Poly.
The current Poly firmware version is: 1.0.10
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