[proedros]

After few hours listening to Mojo now and feeding ZX2 toward it, I can totally see why some people would love and make purchase on the Mojo and disregard Zx2. Though Zx2 owners need not to worry. However, I am fully open heart to welcome new tech and upgrades. Mojo wouldn't be a what called to be an upgrade, but rather side-grade ? different sound signature. Personally these questions would arise. These are personal opinions answered below.


1/ Can Zx2 use Equalizer on transport toward Mojo ?
-Answer: No, unless using 3rd party app as Onkyo hifi player app. However 3rd party does not output any higher than 16/44.1. It down samples the quality before feeding into Mojo

2/ Would I think Zx2 as a transport toward Mojo is the best combo ?
-Answer: No. In my honest opinion, it would be a waste of money. Both out of the box offer different sound signature (be that I had to disable sound adjustment on zx2), why would I want to stack it and drain my zx2 battery.

3/ How does Mojo sound ? Is it good ? Can it beat Zx2 ?
-Answer: Mojo sounds good and very high-end. Yes! Very good. Yes and no, depends on circumstances. Out of the box Mojo edges out on Zx2, and the majority of people would make a purchase on the Mojo. So Yes, out of the box, Mojo sounds better than Zx2. If Zx2 has Sound adjustment app disabled and using TRRS connection, then Zx2 edges out on Mojo on soundstage, tonality and the immersive feeling

4/ If I never owned any quality portable devices, and would like to purchase one. Would I buy ZX2 or the Mojo ?
-Answer: I would definitely buy the Mojo. Because it pricing is great, it designs is fun, it is small and compact. It offers the sound quality that is high-end and unmatched at the sub $1000 price point by simply using standard cables that comes with all kind of head phones, and that means no need to bother with upgraded cables or balanced, or modify anything and dumb more money down the "black hole". Mojo also would drive many headphones without struggling.

4+/ Don't you like Zx2 ? As answered on the #4 question, it seems that you like the Mojo more ?
-Answer: Actually I do "love" Zx2, but for the fact that ZX2 needs the use of "TRRS" which can easily suck people into the "black hole" of snake oil cables, and may not ended up with any noticeable improvements while spending out a lot more, and that is not to say that there is no cables materials that offer me a noticable "upgrade and improvements". There is, and I vouch for solid-silver. I had referred a couple fellows to make the purchase and so far everyone can confirm the improvements. Beside, the sound adjustment app is a very tricky one as it only affect nuances extensions in the music, and without good observations and time spending on listening sessions + good revealing gears, it is more than unlikely that anyone can hear the differences. Simply put, Mojo edges out on the Zx2 out of the box, stock, and no need for any of modifications with a lot of power. Yes, the reason I would buy Mojo instead of Zx2.

5/ According to all of the answers above, would I trade my Zx2 here and now for the Mojo ?
-Answer: No, I would absolutely not be trading my Zx2 for the Mojo. Zx2 is a DAP, I don't need to feed it anything beside micro SD if needed. I am a DIY fellow, so I enjoy tinkering with my gears, and the fact that DIY skills can net in improvements from the ZX2 over the Mojo, I enjoyed it a lot more this way.

Thank you for reading guys. I will try to compose a detailed impressions and reviews on the Mojo and VS Zx2. Ask me any questions

 
great impression , thanx for the feedback

 

[nc8000]

It is all a question of what you want. I would never buy a Mojo over the ZX2 despite it perhaps having better sq simply because I wanted a great stand alone dap with good storage and super battery life and with those criteria ZX2 ticks all the boxes. Also all my phones already had very good balanced after market cables so it was just a question of reterminating to go trrs

 

[augie7107]

Totally new to the world of high res audio but enjoying my music all over again. I have a Xperia Z5 and I listen to HR FLAC using a PHA-3 and Z7 headphones. Since I'm new to the game I am amazed at the improvements from lossy formats and mediocre headphones.
 
Is the ZX2 a major upgrade in this setup or should I remain satisfied with using the Z5 as a player?

 

[Buddhahacker]

After few hours listening to Mojo now and feeding ZX2 toward it, I can totally see why some people would love and make purchase on the Mojo and disregard Zx2. Though Zx2 owners need not to worry. However, I am fully open heart to welcome new tech and upgrades. Mojo wouldn't be a what called to be an upgrade, but rather side-grade ? different sound signature. Personally these questions would arise. These are personal opinions answered below.


1/ Can Zx2 use Equalizer on transport toward Mojo ?
-Answer: No, unless using 3rd party app as Onkyo hifi player app. However 3rd party does not output any higher than 16/44.1. It down samples the quality before feeding into Mojo

2/ Would I think Zx2 as a transport toward Mojo is the best combo ?
-Answer: No. In my honest opinion, it would be a waste of money. Both out of the box offer different sound signature (be that I had to disable sound adjustment on zx2), why would I want to stack it and drain my zx2 battery.

3/ How does Mojo sound ? Is it good ? Can it beat Zx2 ?
-Answer: Mojo sounds good and very high-end. Yes! Very good. Yes and no, depends on circumstances. Out of the box Mojo edges out on Zx2, and the majority of people would make a purchase on the Mojo. So Yes, out of the box, Mojo sounds better than Zx2. If Zx2 has Sound adjustment app disabled and using TRRS connection, then Zx2 edges out on Mojo on soundstage, tonality and the immersive feeling

4/ If I never owned any quality portable devices, and would like to purchase one. Would I buy ZX2 or the Mojo ?
-Answer: I would definitely buy the Mojo. Because it pricing is great, it designs is fun, it is small and compact. It offers the sound quality that is high-end and unmatched at the sub $1000 price point by simply using standard cables that comes with all kind of head phones, and that means no need to bother with upgraded cables or balanced, or modify anything and dumb more money down the "black hole". Mojo also would drive many headphones without struggling.

4+/ Don't you like Zx2 ? As answered on the #4 question, it seems that you like the Mojo more ?
-Answer: Actually I do "love" Zx2, but for the fact that ZX2 needs the use of "TRRS" which can easily suck people into the "black hole" of snake oil cables, and may not ended up with any noticeable improvements while spending out a lot more, and that is not to say that there is no cables materials that offer me a noticable "upgrade and improvements". There is, and I vouch for solid-silver. I had referred a couple fellows to make the purchase and so far everyone can confirm the improvements. Beside, the sound adjustment app is a very tricky one as it only affect nuances extensions in the music, and without good observations and time spending on listening sessions + good revealing gears, it is more than unlikely that anyone can hear the differences. Simply put, Mojo edges out on the Zx2 out of the box, stock, and no need for any of modifications with a lot of power. Yes, the reason I would buy Mojo instead of Zx2.

5/ According to all of the answers above, would I trade my Zx2 here and now for the Mojo ?
-Answer: No, I would absolutely not be trading my Zx2 for the Mojo. Zx2 is a DAP, I don't need to feed it anything beside micro SD if needed. I am a DIY fellow, so I enjoy tinkering with my gears, and the fact that DIY skills can net in improvements from the ZX2 over the Mojo, I enjoyed it a lot more this way.

Thank you for reading guys. I will try to compose a detailed impressions and reviews on the Mojo and VS Zx2. Ask me any questions

 
Thanks for the clear and articulate review of these two great products. 

 

[salavat]

After few hours listening to Mojo now and feeding ZX2 toward it, I can totally see why some people would love and make purchase on the Mojo and disregard Zx2. Though Zx2 owners need not to worry. However, I am fully open heart to welcome new tech and upgrades. Mojo wouldn't be a what called to be an upgrade, but rather side-grade ? different sound signature. Personally these questions would arise. These are personal opinions answered below.


1/ Can Zx2 use Equalizer on transport toward Mojo ?
-Answer: No, unless using 3rd party app as Onkyo hifi player app. However 3rd party does not output any higher than 16/44.1. It down samples the quality before feeding into Mojo

2/ Would I think Zx2 as a transport toward Mojo is the best combo ?
-Answer: No. In my honest opinion, it would be a waste of money. Both out of the box offer different sound signature (be that I had to disable sound adjustment on zx2), why would I want to stack it and drain my zx2 battery.

3/ How does Mojo sound ? Is it good ? Can it beat Zx2 ?
-Answer: Mojo sounds good and very high-end. Yes! Very good. Yes and no, depends on circumstances. Out of the box Mojo edges out on Zx2, and the majority of people would make a purchase on the Mojo. So Yes, out of the box, Mojo sounds better than Zx2. If Zx2 has Sound adjustment app disabled and using TRRS connection, then Zx2 edges out on Mojo on soundstage, tonality and the immersive feeling

4/ If I never owned any quality portable devices, and would like to purchase one. Would I buy ZX2 or the Mojo ?
-Answer: I would definitely buy the Mojo. Because it pricing is great, it designs is fun, it is small and compact. It offers the sound quality that is high-end and unmatched at the sub $1000 price point by simply using standard cables that comes with all kind of head phones, and that means no need to bother with upgraded cables or balanced, or modify anything and dumb more money down the "black hole". Mojo also would drive many headphones without struggling.

4+/ Don't you like Zx2 ? As answered on the #4 question, it seems that you like the Mojo more ?
-Answer: Actually I do "love" Zx2, but for the fact that ZX2 needs the use of "TRRS" which can easily suck people into the "black hole" of snake oil cables, and may not ended up with any noticeable improvements while spending out a lot more, and that is not to say that there is no cables materials that offer me a noticable "upgrade and improvements". There is, and I vouch for solid-silver. I had referred a couple fellows to make the purchase and so far everyone can confirm the improvements. Beside, the sound adjustment app is a very tricky one as it only affect nuances extensions in the music, and without good observations and time spending on listening sessions + good revealing gears, it is more than unlikely that anyone can hear the differences. Simply put, Mojo edges out on the Zx2 out of the box, stock, and no need for any of modifications with a lot of power. Yes, the reason I would buy Mojo instead of Zx2.

5/ According to all of the answers above, would I trade my Zx2 here and now for the Mojo ?
-Answer: No, I would absolutely not be trading my Zx2 for the Mojo. Zx2 is a DAP, I don't need to feed it anything beside micro SD if needed. I am a DIY fellow, so I enjoy tinkering with my gears, and the fact that DIY skills can net in improvements from the ZX2 over the Mojo, I enjoyed it a lot more this way.

Thank you for reading guys. I will try to compose a detailed impressions and reviews on the Mojo and VS Zx2. Ask me any questions

Thanks for detailed review. Please answer to one more question
 
- Does ZX2 fed to Mojo sounds better than (say) iPhone 6 fed to Mojo?

 

[Aeneas]

  Has anyone paired the ZX2 with the Oppo PM-3's ?

Yes, but only for a (thorough demo). No red flags. Sounded very good, more than adequate power (Japanese version). 

 

[Aeneas]

  Totally new to the world of high res audio but enjoying my music all over again. I have a Xperia Z5 and I listen to HR FLAC using a PHA-3 and Z7 headphones. Since I'm new to the game I am amazed at the improvements from lossy formats and mediocre headphones.
 
Is the ZX2 a major upgrade in this setup or should I remain satisfied with using the Z5 as a player?

I tried the PHA-3 out of my phone (not Z5 and not Z7) but I don't think that's a worthwhile upgrade unless you plan to use the ZX2 heavily by itself. But ZX2 with Z7 might not be ideal.

 

[Aeneas]

  If streaming services was your primary use case, you wouldn't need a high quality DAP in the first place, could save a lot of money with a phone that has lots of storage. ZX2 users particularly still have Spotify and Tidal, which is better than 95% of DAPs out there which can't even install apps in the first place.
 
Nice try.

To some extent. But the ZX2 has a lot of storage space and a great battery. Not many flagship phones have expandable memory.
I know it's not as good when streaming, but I typically save albums from Spotify/Tidal for offline use.

 

[mcemce13]

Awesome review, also appreciate your open mind to admit it sounds better out of the box than the ZX2. 
 
One question, I read that when you put the mojo as a stack (or very close) with the Iphone 6 it gets a lot of RF noise, did you try that?

 

[mcemce13]

Also is nice to have your music separated and uninterrupted by phone calls, sms, or whatever notifications popup while you listening to your music 

 

 

[Whitigir]

Thanks for detailed review. Please answer to one more question

- Does ZX2 fed to Mojo sounds better than (say) iPhone 6 fed to Mojo?

I am trying to find out about that. I need cable first . However I think the different sound signature the Mojo "may" perform out of different "transport" is the actual result of the "software/app/OS" being used to play and feed data into the Mojo. It is very clear that while feeding Zx2 toward the Mojo and using different player apps, I can hear some changes, very minutes but the results were clean enough for me to conclude that Stock player app was superior on UI and sound quality transporting into the Mojo.

So if and to assume the above was correct, then I wouldn't think that any other devices would do a better job at feeding the Mojo than Zx2, just for a simple fact that under pure performance Zx2 is already leap and bound away from smartphones. Feeding Zx2 into the Mojo was still not as satisfying as playing Zx2 + TRRS + good gears alone by itself, then I would doubt Very much that the "transport" would matter to the Mojo performances, and so using iPhone would be almost similar if not the same as zx2

Z7 with TRRS and zx2 actually sounds very good, and I did A/B zx2+z7 to zx2+mojo+z7. The results were answered above.

 

[Rob49]

  Yes, but only for a (thorough demo). No red flags. Sounded very good, more than adequate power (Japanese version). 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Whitigir]

Awesome review, also appreciate your open mind to admit it sounds better out of the box than the ZX2. 

One question, I read that when you put the mojo as a stack (or very close) with the Iphone 6 it gets a lot of RF noise, did you try that?

I have yet to try that. I will be sure to check it out once I got the appropriate cable.

 

[RPB65]

Never mind all that technical talk.
Mr Blue Sky in my ears in all its high-res glory. Brilliant. 

 

[davidmolliere]

  I tried the PHA-3 out of my phone (not Z5 and not Z7) but I don't think that's a worthwhile upgrade unless you plan to use the ZX2 heavily by itself. But ZX2 with Z7 might not be ideal.

 
I think the PHA-3 does a very good job with the Z7 especially balanced, but it's pricey and even single handed the Mojo sounds simply way better, I love the Z7 + Mojo combo. Transparency and clarity is well improved while retaining the qualities of the Z7, and bass are better defined and impactful