We tested three excellent DACs in a head-to-head – and found the ultimate desktop upgrade

For many, your music system will consist of your laptop and a pair of wired headphones.

A laptop gives you access to a host of music online, from music streaming services offering millions of songs from all genres, to download sites where you can buy and store your favourite albums in the highest file quality, to internet radio, and more.

Paired with a good pair of wired headphones, the laptop is a compact and convenient source – and it’s a system with so much hi-fi potential.

Whether you stream music from Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal or Qobuz, or have gigabytes of 24-bit FLAC downloads, you'll want to hear your tunes at their very best, at their full resolution, to get maximum enjoyment.

So in enters a DAC.

What is a DAC?

A DAC converts the digital music files (the binary 0s and 1s) into an analogue wave form that you can hear through your headphones and speakers. While your laptop (and smartphone) might be one of the main ways you listen to music, the DAC circuits built into these multi-tasking products are simply not efficient enough to accurately process the crucial digital-to-analogue conversion; and this has a knock-on effect on the resulting sound quality.

Separate, external DACs only have one job to do, and they do the essential job of carrying out this conversion process more faithfully and with the least amount of errors that can degrade the audio signal. Thus, this one addition is the simplest way to get the most out of your digital music, while still sticking with your trusted laptop-and-headphones set up.

A dedicated DAC is also more likely to support and relay all the hi-res audio formats and sample rates in full – up to and beyond 24-bit/192kHz, for instance, and even the more esoteric ones, like DSD files.

To drive your best wired headphones, you’ll also need a headphone amplifier. Luckily for you, most external DACs these days also have a headphone amplifier built-in, along with a socket or two to plug in your favourite wired cans. These DAC/headphone amp products can transform your laptop and headphones listening into a true high-fidelity music system – and the trio we are focusing on here are some of the best examples of this type of product.

The three DACs we've chosen to test here, from Audiolab, Cambridge Audio and Chord Electronics, occupy the mid-priced £350-£450 range where you’re stepping out of budget convenience and into serious hi-fi territory. All three DACs are neat, desktop sized products that make natural companions for your laptop – one is even portable – and, best of all, all are five-star performers already.

These desktop DACs share many features, and each has its own quirks, foibles and strengths – with different sonic signatures to boot. But which model is best for you?

For the test, all three DACs were hooked up to a MacBook Pro playing Tidal, with a variety of wired headphones used, including the Award-winning Grado SR325x, the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X and a pair of old favourites, the Shure SRH1540.

Versatile connections and user-friendly

If you’re after the most versatile connectivity and features, the Cambridge DacMagic 200M and Audiolab D7 are neck and neck. Both feature a full complement of analogue and digital inputs, along with aptX Bluetooth streaming. They even give you scope to grow when branching out into a full hi-fi system down the line.

Both feature USB type B inputs (ideal for connections to a laptop), optical and coaxial inputs, as well as both RCA and balanced XLR outputs. The D7 further adds digital outputs, while both sport a full-size 6.3mm headphone jack on the front.

We have next-to-none complaints when it comes to the usability of both these desktop models, with clearly laid out buttons and easy to use controls. The Cambridge’s labelled LED system makes it easy to discern source and incoming sample rate at a glance, while the newer Audiolab D7 has a display screen for relevant information and even comes with a remote control.

Both are well made and user friendly, and both Cambridge and Audiolab get top marks, with the Cambridge feeling just that bit classier and sturdier in build quality than the plainer and smaller Audiolab.

• Read our full Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M review

Quirky portability

The Chord Mojo 2 is another beast altogether. It actually offers many of the same functions as its rivals, but with fewer (and via different) connections. In contrast to the other two, the Mojo 2 keeps things simple with USB type B and USB-C ports for connecting to your laptop.

You get two sets of 3.5mm headphone outputs here. Do note that the updated 2026 version of the Mojo 2 will swap out one of those 3.5mm for a 4.4mm Pentaconn headphone jack to meet the increasing popularity of this type of wired headphones connection.

Those same headphone outputs can be used as audio outputs if you want to plug the Mojo 2 into a hi-fi system, but you'll to invest in some adapter cables (e.g. 3.5mm to RCA line level) to do so.

Let’s not forget this is a portable model, with eight hours of battery life, charged via USB. This means you can take the Mojo with you on your daily commute, on a flight, on holiday – something that’s simply not possible with either the Cambridge or Audiolab mains-powered models. This is certainly a boon, and the Mojo is small enough that you can carry it in a backpack easily.

There’s no Bluetooth here, and usability requires a little bit more work thanks to the multi-coloured, multi-button interface that will usually require the manual at hand. Our tip: just remember the colours for how high or low the volume goes, and you’re golden.

Benchmark sound

But put up with the Chord’s quirks we will, as the Mojo 2’s sound quality is simply phenomenal; it remains the standard to beat at this price. The Mojo’s handling of rhythmic precision and punchy dynamic subtlety, and its superbly insightful and clean, cohesive sound, is fantastic.

No matter what music you play through it, it just sounds right. The tactility of instruments, the interplay between the musical arrangement and the vocals, the sense of space – it’s all conveyed with such insight and ease.

We said in our review that when listening through the Mojo 2, "music has the vividity of a stained glass window here – bright, intricate and demanding of your attention."

The Mojo communicates the message and feel of the song with great talent, while also revealing oodles of texture, along with a toe-tapping, ferociously agile presentation that’s just heaps of fun to listen to.

• Read our full Chord Mojo 2 review

Two excellent alternatives

The Cambridge Audio has a smooth, full-bodied presentation that’s appealing on the ears, with fat basslines and a fluid handling of dynamics. It’s pretty easy to get grooving to the funky tunes of Act Like You Know by Fat Larry’s Band, or get contemplative with a Nick Cave track.

We said in our review: "That smoothness clings to the violins leading Ólafur Arnalds’ Spiral (Sunrise Session) (24-bit/96kHz) in a way that makes it enjoyable without clouding the textural finesse or dynamic undulation of the strings that communicate the piece’s beautiful fragility. The Cambridge rides the dynamic ebbs and flows nicely, showing its grace in the quieter moments and its authority in the louder ones."

A former Award-winner, the Cambridge DAC has served us perfectly fine over the past few years. The DacMagic 200M’s age starts to show only when listening to its rivals in comparison, as the newer Audiolab D7 and Mojo 2 both offer a clearer, more detailed and more precise sound overall.

The D7’s soundstage is more spacious and layered, basslines hit deeper and sound tauter, and overall it is able to dig up greater detail than the Cambridge. High frequencies in particular have more clarity, shine and sparkle, and it’s that bit more agile and evenly balanced throughout. It simply paints a clearer picture than the Cambridge.

We said of the D7 in our review: "It has a broadly neutral and even-handed presentation that impresses for its clarity and detail resolution. It’s a clean and crisp sound without being over-etched. We love the sense of spaciousness the DAC imparts, so the music we play rarely sounds cluttered."

The D7 comes close to closing the gap to the multi-Award-winning Chord Mojo 2, but the Mojo still races ahead when it comes to sonic performance. Its rhythmic prowess and dynamism are phenomenal, especially for this compact product and for this price.

• Read our full Audiolab D7 review

Overall winner: Chord Mojo 2

You'll get a great sonic upgrade by using any of these DACs in your system, no matter how modest. There is no doubt that the Cambridge Audio and Audiolab’s more conventional designs, ease of use and versatility will have their fans, and they remain firm recommendations.

But the Chord Mojo 2 remains our pick of the three for its clear sonic superiority. If you want the very best performance from your laptop-based music, the Mojo 2 is the ultimate option at this price. We think it’s great value, too.

MORE:

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7 mistakes to avoid with a DAC

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