QoA Mojito

Queen of Audio(QOA) might be a new name in the industry but from what I have heard about them, they are a sister brand to Kinera and have a professional team with years of experience. Like Kinera designs and names, all their IEMs related to gods from the Norse Mythology QOA products are inspired by cocktails. Earlier they released Pink Lady, a triple hybrid driver IEM with beautiful looks. It grabbed decent reviews from the people around them. My review is still pending for it lol but I promise to deliver it soon. Earlier this year, they released their second IEM, the QOA mojito. It is a very beautiful pair with sparkling looks and a powerful 6BA setup on each side. Today I am gonna share my experience with the Mojito with you all.

Disclaimer:-

I received the QOA Mojito for review purposes from the review circle organized by hifigo.com in my country. I am not affiliated or paid by anyone to write any positive or negative thoughts about the pair, all impressions are based on my personal experience with the pair.

Buying Link:-

QOA Mojito 2 Sonion BA+4 Knowles 6BA Driver In Ear Earphone IEM

You can also read my review at my blog here:-

https://gadgetgenerations.com/queen-of-audio-mojito-review-lovely-vocals/

Unboxing:-

The QOA Mojito comes in a beautiful cardboard case that looks like a cookie/chocolate packaging. As I open up the packaging, the first thing I notice is the beautiful earpieces sitting firmly in the foam cutouts. There are six pairs of silicone ear tips, three black and three color matching to the IEM color. The package also has a leather carry case that holds the 3.5mm terminated copper cable. The package looks beautiful and comes with all the required accessories. Though if you use foam ear tips, you don’t get them in the package.

Package Contents:-

>Pair of QOA Mojito IEMs.

>2-pin pure copper cable with a 3.5mm termination plug.

>Six pairs of silicone ear tips( 3 pairs of color-matched, 3 pairs black).

>Leather carry case.

Build Quality & Fit:-

One thing everyone will praise about the QOA Mojito is the beautiful looks of the pair. I got the Grape Sparkling Wine color, believe me, it looks very beautiful in hands. They are made with natural wood and have that wooden texture feel to them. Both the earpieces with me have different unique textures with a smooth finish. The cable included looks to be of very good quality, it is very soft, connects firmly to the earpieces, and has a straight plug 3.5mm termination plug.

Earpieces are actually very lightweight and provide a very comfortable fit to me using the stock color matching ear tips. I get proper isolation from outside noise.

Driving the QOA Mojito:-

The QOA Mojito has a low impedance rating of 23 Ohms with a high sensitivity of 118dB, it is very easy to drive. I used it with my smartphone Samsung Galaxy S10, my DAP iBasso DX160. I was able to enjoy music at around 50-60% volume on both the devices with more than adequate volume.

Sound Quality:-

The Mojito is a dark/veiled sounding pair of in-ear monitors. It shows impactful mid-bass slams with a rich textured feel to them complementing the main attraction, Vocals. The vocals have a lush, crisp clarity to them with natural tonality. Vocals are actually one of the best I have heard so far, superior to DK3001 Pro. The Bass portion shows good powerful slams but is a bit less in quantity and speed as compared to dynamic driver IEMs. High frequencies show decent details but suffer early roll-off resulting in mediocre performance in the high frequencies.

Lower End:-

The lower end shows good texture, impactful slams, brings layered feeling to the music but it lacks in quantity and speed when compared to a DD IEM. It is slower compared to dynamic driver bass but it leaves its impact. I must say the mid-bass slams are pretty powerful and rich in texture. The sub-bass portion shows its presence with good rumble complementing my music. For me, It is more than adequate with rich layered slams and feeds my hunger for thumping in music.

Mid Frequencies:-

The mid frequencies take a step forward as compared to the lows and highs. Sometimes I feel like it has an “A” shaped sound signature with elevated vocals. They are decently detailed with high-resolution natural vocals. It’s right and the presentation is forward for the user. Vocals are actually the main attraction of the pair. They sound really soothing and crisp with a natural tonality and never sound fatiguing or shouty even at louder volumes. Listening to vocal-centric artists like Damien Rice, Gloria Gaynor is bliss with the Mojito where they pop out in a rich tone.

High Frequencies:-

The treble portion suffers early roll-off in the tuning of QOA Mojito. This makes the pair sound veiled and makes instruments like Violins, Electric guitars lack some extensions. The plus point here is that it shows no signs of sibilance or harshness even at louder volumes. It is very smooth and transparent.

Soundstage and Imaging:-

QOA Mojito has a very good soundstage presentation. It is wide, deep, and produces a big headroom for the user with ample airiness. The headroom is more than adequate for different genre’s of music and shows good imaging capabilities.

Conclusion:-

Overall the Mojito is a decent pair of in-ear monitors with outstanding looks, superb build quality, and a high-quality cable bundled in the package. In terms of sonic performance it produces some of the best vocals out there with impactful yet slow bass performance, and a veiled treble portion. For people who love bright sounding IEM’s, this might be a disappointment for you. But if you crave for smooth performance and natural vocals, the QOA Mojito has that in an ample amount to make it an excellent choice for you.

QOA Mojito Vs TFZ Secret Garden 3:-


I compared the QOA Mojito with TFZ Secret Garden 3.0 which is also an all BA driver IEM and features 3 BA drivers on each side as compared to the 6 on the Mojito. Not to mention both the pairs look outstanding but in my opinion the Mojito outperforms it in terms of looks and build quality with premium stable wood ear shells.

In terms of sonic performance, The TFZ SG3 produces a brighter signature as compared to Mojito and has better extensions in the higher frequencies. While the Mojito produces better vocals and bass-slams, the SG3 produces better instrument details with a little bit better bass quantity. The soundstage is more or less similar in both the earphones. So if you are someone like me who craves rich vocals, the Mojito is the one to go for.

Disclaimer:

The unit has been sent to me from Hifigo as a part of a review circle. I am not working or affiliated to Hifigo and I am not being paid or influenced otherwise to say anything positive or negative about this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Purchase Link: https://hifigo.com/products/2020-qo...er-in-ear-earphone-iem?variant=32047937945649

Product Specification:

Driver Configuration : 2 Sonion Balanced Armature and 4 Knowles Balanced Armature
Frequency response range : 20-20000 Hz
Stock Cable : Furukawa 1.2 m ± 3 cm Pure copper and Silver Braided
Interface type : 0.78 mm -2Pin connector
Plug Type (Stock Cable) : 3.5 mm
Impedance : 23Ω
Earphone sensitivity : 118 ±2dB
Color: Available in Aqua Blue / Amber Orange / Grape Sparkling Wine

Introduction

QoA was established in 2019 as a sister company of Kinera. It continues Kinera's technology and R&D experience and incorporates its own innovative ideas in product positioning.

Design

The Mojito demands attention at the very first look that it gets. With three color variants, Aqua Blue, Amber Orange, and Grape Sparkling Wine, you have multiple choices available to spoil you.




Sources Used:
I have used Cayin N6ii w/A01 module for this review purpose.



Sound Analysis:

Lows:

In simple words, No Bass. Mojito will always make you question…where is the bass? With no Sub-bass rumble, and no depth in bass, my favorite tracks for bass testing felt un-natural. I know, what you are going to say…All BA setup…but…having used the Shozy Pentacles (Also an all BA setup), I disagree. Mojito has to works its ass off to give you the bass.

Mids:

The mids fare off better than the bass. There…I said it…but…the mids are still not what one would expect with a 399$ IEM. These require further tuning. Also..Cable change and tip rolling helped a lot with mids. The Vocals are clean, well-forwarded. However, highly dynamic tracks feel crowded. For example, Noor-ul-ala-Noor by A R Rahman.

Highs:

The highs are the most decent part of Mojito’s sound spectrum. But you will still experience the Treble roll-off and lacks energy. The higher frequencies will give you a cluttered feeling.

Soundstage:

The QOA Mojito has decent soundstage. The instrument separation is ok. As I said earlier, if you use a highly dynamic track, you will feel it becomes crowded.

Conclusion:

Overall, the Mojito is not a poor performer, but it will leave you feeling incomplete. I guess, that comes as an expectation if you will pay 399$ for it. Leaving the soundstage, the rest of the performance areas need improvement. I hope QOA takes this review positively and work on that tuning. Overall it is a decent first attempt.

Disclaimer:

The unit has been sent to me from Hifigo as a part of a review circle. I am not working or affiliated to Hifigo and I am not being paid or influenced otherwise to say anything positive or negative about this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Purchase Link: https://hifigo.com/products/2020-qo...er-in-ear-earphone-iem?variant=32047937945649

Note: Please note that my opinions and ratings are based on price, category, market competition and personal expectations and are subjective in nature.

Product Specification:

Driver Configuration : 2 Sonion Balanced Armature and 4 Knowles Balanced Armature
Frequency response range : 20-20000 Hz
Stock Cable : 1.2 m Pure copper and Silver OCC Hybrid Cable
Interface type : 0.78 mm 2Pin connector
Plug Type : 3.5 mm
Impedance : 23Ω
Earphone sensitivity : 118 ±2dB
Color: Aqua Blue / Amber Orange / Grape Sparkling Wine

Introduction: QOA (Queen of Audio) is a new Chinese brand, however they are a sister brand of the popular brand Kinera. Mojito has a 6 BA driver setup consisting of two Sonion and 4 Knowles drivers each side. It comes with a 3.5mm pure copper and silver occ hybrid cable, 3 pair of silicon tips, three pairs of earpiece matching colored ear tips and a hard case.

Design, Build Quality and comfort: The Mojito earpieces are made of solid stable wood with natural grain wood, which is combined with soft matching shell colors. The name “Mojito” is etched on the face in golden inside the shell. The earpieces come in 3 colours- Aqua Blue, Amber Orange, and Grape Sparkling Wine. I received the Grape Sparkling wine variant. The connectors are 2pin 0.78mm and the cable is very premium and well built. Its lightweight and flexible. Mojito looks really beautiful and carries a style statement. The iem is pretty lightweight and the fit is very comfortable.

Score: 4.5/5

Lows: The bass on the Mojito is quite low and lacks sub bass rumble. However there is good detail retrieval and texture in this region which often goes unnoticed due to lack of quantity. The punch seems missing in most tracks and creates an unnatural experience.

Score: 2.5/5

Mids: Coming to the mids, they sound decent. Maybe the only good thing about the Mojito are its vocals, they sounded clean, smooth and appropriately forward. They weren’t shouty either and had a relaxing tonality to the mids. But as we moved into some busy tracks, they started sounding congested. The vocals lost clarity and the activity happening across the mid spectrum sounded cramped up.

Score: 3.5/5

Highs: The highs sounded decent in tonality but there’s a heavy roll off. Cymbals, acoustic guitar sounded as if the extreme frequency was cut off. Cymbal hits, hi hats sounded incomplete.

Score: 2/5

Soundstage, Imaging, Separation: The Mojito has decent soundstage width and depth. This is one area where the Mojito does good apart from its looks. The imaging is fairly decent too. There’s decent separation as long as the tracks are not heavily instrumented. For heavily instrumented tracks, the imaging and separation takes a hit and the sound becomes slightly congested.

Score: 3/5

Overall Sound: The overall sound signature was more or less balanced however the tonality was heavily messed up. Somewhere I felt that it’s a well-designed iem with tuning gone wrong. It lacks the naturalness and is heavily coloured. At a price point of $399 there’s nothing that Mojito does special which is really not acceptable in this price point.

Source and drivability: The Mojito is easily drivable by any source and there’s hardly any change in its sound signature with change of source. I have used Ibasso DX160 and modded Q5 with am3a and am3d (thx) module.