The Chord Electronics Mojo 2 has long been one of our favourite portable DACs, and I've used it for headphone testing and enhancing my own listening experience for years by this point. It launched for an eye-watering £450, although for Black Friday, can now be yours for £250 from Peter Tyson - that's nearly half price on some real premium audio gear. For reference, it's still £329 from Amazon, so there's a bit of a saving by switching retailer.
If you're unaware, a DAC - or digital to analog converter - has the job of taking a digital audio signal, and turning it into an analog signal that can be played by speakers or headphones. That's a very basic way of putting it and the good folks at What Hifi can help explain it in more technical detail if you're interested. Most devices, such as phones and laptops, have their own built-in DAC, although an external one such as the Mojo 2 will likely do a much better job of converting the signal and in turn, produce a more authentic, spacious and detailed sound relative to the original source material. Just make sure you're feeding it with high quality audio material (in file terms, that's CD-quality FLAC or higher) to get the full benefit.
The Mojo 2 is a real sterling choice, providing files with more room, detail and clarity against listening to the same thing straight out of a laptop or phone (assuming you've got a 3.5mm headphone jack around!) to make for a better listening experience. It also has two 3.5mm ports for simultaneous listening, if you're A/B swapping headphones like me for reviews, or want to listen with a friend; other inputs include optical, 3.5mm coaxial and USB-C. It charges via Micro USB, and it'll last for around eight hours on a charge in my experience.
The entire shell of the Mojo 2 is aluminium, and looks and feels lovely. It is also still designed and handmade in Britain, which is a pleasant touch - the light-up buttons on the unit can indicate volume and the sample rate of the music played. They take some getting used to, but can be overlooked as a minor gripe for the price tag.
If you want to take your listening to the next level for less, this £150 reduction on the Chord Mojo 2 is a Black Friday steal from Peter Tyson.