halfercode OP t1_j9watj9 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 12:41 AM

Reply to comment by StarWarder in Do you tolerate poor hi-fi sales service in pursuit of excellent sound? by halfercode

Out of curiosity, would/have you used the Mojo 1 as a DAC only, and fed the output to a headphone amplifier? This configuration in the demonstration system seemed odd to me, as the Mojos (both 1 and 2) can drive headphones directly.

I assume the analogue amp I was presented with was just regarded as being able to drive the cans better than the integrated DAC/amp.

StarWarder t1_j9x5lsk wrote on February 25, 2023 at 4:55 AM

For the vast majority of headphones, the Mojo 2 will directly power them with plenty of headroom. The Mojo 1 is slightly more powerful and will power all headphones including my Susvara, infamously the hardest to drive headphone.

In fact, an amp can only decrease the fidelity of the chain. Since the Mojo has its own full powered and digitally adjustable output stage, you should indeed just use that directly.

I could see the argument that since the Mojo 2 can’t power a Susvara or HE6 with much headroom, they’d want to put an amp in the chain in case someone walks in with one of these but still…