Chord Mojo 2 vs FiiO Q7: Which Drives More Headphones?

Chord Mojo 2 vs FiiO Q7

Short answer

Power: about the same. The Chord Mojo 2 has 564 mW into 32 Ω, the FiiO Q7 550 mW. The FiiO Q7 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the Chord Mojo 2 cannot (Symphonium Titan).
Quieter with sensitive IEMs: the Chord Mojo 2. 3 headphones stay below audible hiss on it but not on the FiiO Q7 (Grado Signature HP100 SE, Grado Signature S950, Westone Pro X10).
Output impedance: 38 headphones are left alone by the Chord Mojo 2 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO Q7 (64 Audio Nio, 64 Audio Ocean, 64 Audio U18s, 35 more).
Price: the FiiO Q7 costs $100 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are portable amplifiers, $650 against $750.

The FiiO Q7 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Chord Mojo 2 on 566.

Specification	Chord Mojo 2	FiiO Q7
Power into 32Ω	564 mW	550 mW
Power into 150Ω	145 mW	123 mW
Power into 300Ω	90 mW	65 mW
Power into 600Ω	45 mW	33 mW
Output impedance	0.06 Ω	1.2 Ω
Output noise	2.7 µV	2.8 µV
Price	$650	$750
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	566	567

Specification

Chord Mojo 2

FiiO Q7

Power into 32Ω

564 mW

550 mW

Power into 150Ω

145 mW

123 mW

Power into 300Ω

90 mW

65 mW

Power into 600Ω

45 mW

33 mW

Output impedance

0.06 Ω

1.2 Ω

Output noise

2.7 µV

2.8 µV

Price

$650

$750

Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567

566

567

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

Balanced	Chord Mojo 2	FiiO Q7
Socket	no separate rating	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	—	1.5 W
Power into 300Ω	—	260 mW
Output impedance	—	2.2 Ω
Output noise	—	4.5 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	—	567

Only the FiiO Q7 has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here. The Chord Mojo 2 may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it.

Where each power figure comes from

Load	Chord Mojo 2	FiiO Q7
32 Ω	Derived	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Published	Published
600 Ω	Derived	Derived

Both makers publish a power rating. Chord Mojo 2 publishes at 300 Ω; FiiO Q7 at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 32 Ω only the FiiO Q7 figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the FiiO Q7 but not on the Chord Mojo 2 — Symphonium Titan.

38 headphones are left alone by the Chord Mojo 2 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO Q7 (64 Audio Nio, 64 Audio Ocean, 64 Audio U18s, 35 more).

3 headphones stay below the audible-hiss threshold on the Chord Mojo 2 but cross it on the FiiO Q7 (Grado Signature HP100 SE, Grado Signature S950, Westone Pro X10).

566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020: FiiO Q7 has +20 dB of headroom there against +17 dB. 4 dB is about 2.3 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

Hiss below about 20 dB SPL is inaudible in a quiet room.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	Chord Mojo 2 headroom	FiiO Q7 headroom	Chord Mojo 2 hiss	FiiO Q7 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+37 dB	+40 dB damping	23 dB	23 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+17 dB	+20 dB damping	3 dB	3 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+25 dB	+25 dB	1 dB	1 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+22 dB	+21 dB	-3 dB	-3 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+18 dB	+19 dB	-4 dB	-4 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+16 dB	+14 dB	-10 dB	-10 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+11 dB	+10 dB	-14 dB	-14 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	+8 dB	+8 dB	-16 dB	-16 dB

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The FiiO Q7 costs $100 more than the Chord Mojo 2. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 1 more model driven to 100 dB.

It does not run one way only: the cheaper Chord Mojo 2 leaves 38 models alone under the one-eighth rule and keeps 3 below the audible-hiss threshold that the FiiO Q7 does not, which is the part worth checking against your own headphones before paying the difference.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.