Topping NX4 DSD vs Mojo vs Micro iDSD BL

Once I read from ASR and some post in reddit that:


A: Good DAC/AMP sound the same and transparent.


B: Chord Mojo and NX4 DSD should sound the same because both measure good.


C: iFi Micro iDSD BL measure worst compare to freaking Topping and the Mojo.


D: Cans that are easy to drive like mine (Clear, Utopia) will not gain much from extra juice amp provide.


E: DAC all sound the same.


And my personal use case is something transportable while have enough juice for my full size cans such as Focal Clear and Focal Utopia and sometime Hifiman Planars. As I travel a lot as part of my work.


I really want to likes the Topping it’s so compact but here are impression I have after few years of use.


TL;DR: Non of these sound same and Topping is not as good as the other two, not by a long shot. And DAC/AMP is quite easy to distinguish to the point that I wonder if those who said they all sound the same use some sort of $10 earbuds to listen in A/B test. Mojo and iFi Micro BL is very close in quality but different presentations on both. And there is a lot of real important things ASR measurements can't tell you.


Start from Topping NX4 DSD which ASR said it’s so good and my impression on this is - -“ . That is.

High: Got a lot of quantity but seem to be smear so bad and glaring sound not at all refine not by any mean. Ok it have sparkle but it sound fake and compressed. High Hat sound like noise.

Mid: Seem to be ok but there is no life or soul or whatever. Seem to take all the magic off music.

Bass: Super loose bass with medium quantity and low quality no texture no detail no impact no slam just some flood of low sound frequency.

But compare to headphones out of my M1 MacBook Pro this little Chinese DAC/AMP seem to have little more 3D feeling to the music but not by much.

For those who think easy to drive headphones like Clear and Utopia don’t need some okay DAC/AMP, Mate it’s like you paid full amount for the cans but can use only 60-70% of their potential. Even from OK’ish one like the Mojo or the BL it’s still 90% at most. Once you plug to real system like f'ing Dave or Yggdrasil they sound like their retail price.



And now The Mojo and The BL. Two of these for me sound much better than the Topping.

Between two of these the BL is better allrounder. All music sound at least ok on this.

High: Mojo have some sort of roll-off on high frequency yet detail still on good level and never glaring. But it lack of sparkle but at the same time sound much more real and life-like than the Topping or MBP. There is details on high texture and so on. The BL give you more air up top even with BitPerfect filter. Similar level of detail but BL sound little bit more nature to my ears at least.

Mid: Female and male voices on Mojo is quite special there is micro-nano detail there which bring a lot of emotion to the music. You can feel emotion from words. But on some records sometime can sound little bit too grainy. The BL more smooth and but sometime I felt like I missed some emotional the Mojo give. But on the other hand it never sound harsh or grainy on any record.

Bass: Mojo have a tight bass and medium amount of impact and slam much better than the Topping and MBP. And there is a lot of textures and details on bass too miles ahead freaking Topping and MBP. But the bass on BL is quite something. It slam very hard go down very deep and impact so good give you sense of physical tactile sound very fun and have good amount of textures and details too.

And to me the Mojo sound so surreal with some Jazz and live record. The Mojo sound like you listen to live acoustic music in a small room. And the BL sound like you go to concert with very impressive sound system it’s fun it’s real but still it not live acoustic.

One thing to note is that The BL sound signature is consistent across every headphones, earphones plugged to them. While on the other hand The Mojo sound FR seem depend on their loads.

This is my impression on these transportable DAC/AMPs. And both the Mojo and the BL can’t keep up with proper desktop setup. But if compare to DX3 Pro+ and alike I found both Mojo and BL still much better.

If I can keep only one of these. For sure the BL would be my choice.