@ benstelz
LOL!
I have to agree with you that our DACs are an ugly black box.
Of course we could do what most companies do and have fancy looking chassis that cost more than the parts inside of them.
We considered a fancy machined billet aluminum chassis. The only problem was that we would have to charge almost DOUBLE for our DACs and they wouldn't sound as good.
Those ugly black chassis of ours are actually high-tech.
The narrow/deep orientation puts the noisy power supply in the front and the sensitive signal path in the rear.
That baked on polymerized powder coated finish is more anti-resonant than anodizing.
And we use an Alodine undercoating that not only makes it even more durable the Alodine is resistant to EMI...anodized aluminum can't have an Alodine undercoat.
All the hardware in our chassis is non-magnetic stainless steel.
The inside of the chassis are dampened for mechanical resonance with a combination of Sorbothane sheeting and a material that was developed by the US Navy to soundproof submarines.
Even the white lettering on the rear panel is considerably more durable because it is laser etched into the black polymer instead of being screen printed on the surface like most companies do.
So we could double the price of our DACs and give them fancy looking chassis and fancy looking packaging. But they won't sound as good and won't be as durable.
As for our Mystique Z it looks like a lower profile Mystqiue X (only 3" vs 4" high).
We did switch to a thicker darker black glossy polymerized finish that is even more durable and even more anti-resonant.
But here's the best news...
Today we're shipping the first of our Mystique Zs!
After we ship out all of our backorders Tim Mitchell (mitch2 who started this thread) is getting one of the first demo units.
So in about a week Tim might be posting his first impressions of our Mystique Z.
Currently our lead time is about 2 weeks from payment to shipment.
