Yea, I agree, the comparisons where a bit strange. From what I have heard, the S2 is more neutral than the Mojo but don’t know which is “best”. I selected the S2 over the Mojo since it is more practical as a desktop DAC (nice display + real volume control).
Hi, abused and lonely reviewer here 
We choose those comparison units not based on price but on shared commonalities such as being primarily desktop rather than portable for the Burson and NuPrime as well as having RCA outputs.
We picked the iFi for its MQA ability (rendering or otherwise as well as its high decoding rates.). If you will note the Burson Play we used is priced over $500 also which is more expensive though it can be cheaper with lower rated opamps.
We did not pick the Mojo as it is primarily a portable device which some people have, with a bit of fiddling, opted to use it as a system DAC but that is not its primary pitch. It does not do MQA either which we felt relevant.
Of course, everyone is welcome to the 0.02c so happy to hear peoples thoughts on the Mojo comparison in this excellent community.
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I would choose the S2 over the mojo because we can see that bugs actually gets fixed. As far as I know the only fix available for the original Hugo DSD dropout issue is buy a Hugo 2.
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Except AFAIK the S2 filter bug has not been fixed. After MQA files play, the same filters are stuck as on and apply to non-MQA content, and that affects the sound quality of the non-MQA files.
Hey James, this bug is known and the fix has been confirmed to be in progress and there’s a simple temporary solution for that particular issue - switch the S2’s filter to “linear phase + fast rolloff” or anything other than the default “optimal transient” filter. Also it’s been suggested by Jussi (HQ Player developer) to enable distortion compensation on the unit (push the volume knob inwards to select and save it permanently).
Hey Rune, did you know that the Hugo2 converts DSD to PCM705kHz?
Having said that, I still think Hugo2’s DSD to PCM conversion sounds great. Roon’s does too!
Is there any consensus on whether having distortion compensation enabled (or not) sounds better subjectively? If I’m not mistaken, JohnW likes it disabled?
Nope, not on any of the popular S2 DAC forums (PinkFishMedia and CA Forum). Jussi said his measurements show no harm in enabling it and a little help with high DSD sampling rates. But no subjective comments about any difference being heard - not that I’ve seen or heard myself.
Audio Science Review got into a bit of a tangle with measurements of distortion compensation, so I politely ignored those measurements.
I’m not sure what JohnW said about this feature but if he’s still around hopefully he can comment here.
Well, some bad news on my S2. Yesterday, I noticed my S2 had become unplugged from the power supply. When I tried to plug it back in, the power plugin on the S2 broke and fell inside the unit. I still could have used the USB power, but now my Windows 10 PC will not “see” the S2. I have contacted the USA distributor via the instructions for return/repair of the unit. Obviously not happy, but we will see what kind of support I get, which I will relay on here.
NOT happy about warranty support. I called up Audio Advisor last Monday, who I bought the DAC from, through Amazon, to get warranty support and have NOT received an email nor call. I called them today and am waiting for a call back.
Two weeks ago my S2 ‘rebooted’ while in use. Upon coming back up I found that the USB icon stayed colored red, meaning that the computer was not communicating with the DAC - many computers later and many USB cables later I realized that I had a problem.
I worked with Sumiko for a few hours trying to get the DAC working with no success. When I told Sumiko that I purchased the DAC from Amazon through Audio Advisor I was told that they were great guys, easy to work with, etc, and that I should try to do an exchange through them instead of sending it in to Sumiko for warranty repair (I only had the DAC for +/- 40 days).
The guys at Audio Advisor were great - the S2 is currently out of stock but I shipped them my broken DAC and am waiting for the S2 to come back in stock for them to ship a replacement. I called on a weekday so I can’t speak for their weekend support.
I’m wondering if there isn’t a flaw in the USB design of the DAC? I was powered through the USB port of a MacBook Pro. I never had physical damage to any of the USB ports on the DAC and could always get it to power up through either of the USB ports. The DAC just never showed on a computer through device manager or lsusb after working fine for a month. Odd.
My 5v jack fell out. I have no idea why or how. Once I set it up I have not moved it and it has been on 24/7. It was poorly soldered. I called Audio Advisor 3 times after emailing them and they finally returned my call. He said they would RMA the unit and that he would email me the info. That took 2 weeks. I tried to use it via USB power which worked fine but I have no audio through the right RCA jack. So I will send it back and see what happens
Just saw your post. I had the very same issue. It took 2 weeks for AA to get the return info to me.
Same. I got a response from Audio Advisor, after a WEEK, and got an RMA. We will see how it goes.
Sounds like topping d50 is the way to go… Tomorrow is going on sale for $210
Hi @Fella55, Just wondered how you were getting on with this S2/NUC Rock combination? I’m wondering about doing something similar to feed my power amp/totem speakers but there seem to be a fair few concerns about reliability.
All going fine, once set up correctly as per the below I’ve not had to touch it.
He didn’t like the headphone amp as much as he liked the DAC as a preamp to amplifier or to active speakers. No comparison to Mojo though, which would be nice to read.
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Just a general observation/query. Using the S2 with roon do people prefer MQA or sample rate conversion in Roon via Tidal as a source? It is the first time I listened to MQA so maybe expected more. To my ears converted redbook sounds better (very good). Is this maybe the S2 implementation of MQA???