With the Mojo Mystique X24AM, the sound is full, it's rich, it's organic, it's dynamic, it's got detail, it's got bass.....
I'm loving that when it plays the "note" that you hear the attack of the note ( but it's not hard or over emphasized like with the Aero ); you hear the full harmonic structure of the note ( the fullness of sound/ the meat on the bones); and you can hear the decay of the note ( ie: ringing of the cymbals/ bells/ or the trailing off of a sustained piano note).
With the Aero, I would hear an emphasis on the leading attack of the note, and less so of the substance of the note. At times the reproduced sound would come across hard or etched or glaring and would become fatiguing. However, with the Mojo, it sounds dynamic without sounding hard. With the Mojo, it plays in a relaxed and natural way without becoming fatiguing, but yet at the same time it still plays with speed, with dynamic expression and with emotion.
With the Aero, even though you could easily hear the full frequency range of the music, it tended to favor the upper midrange and treble regions. With the Mojo, the sound favors the midrange to the low end of the frequency range, giving the sound a nice fullness and weight to the music. It has great density to the sound of the music while also allowing you to hear the treble details, without throwing those details in your face.
With the Aero, it was highly focussed on detail. It was very, very transparent. Between the details and the hard hitting of the notes, it would really grab your attention. No, I take that back... It would really demand your attention. With the Mojo, the details are there to be heard in all of it's glory, but it invites you to listen to and experience the music instead of the Aero forcing you to hear the music being thrown at you and all of it's details.
I have been listening to this unit with both the USB and the Ground lifted and it seem to be working well this way. I'm using a very nice 1.5 meter Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper Foil true 75 Ohm RCA digital cable and it sounds very nice to my ears right now. I haven't compared any other digital cables as of yet, but my entire system is loomed with Acoustic Zen's Absolute Copper Foil cabling and I love how it sounds.
Needless to say, I have returned the LTA Aero. I think for the money, it truly is a great dac and they are truly top notch gentlemen there! My biggest concern with the Aero was how flat and compressed sounding it would sound (only during the week days in my system). I think the quality of the AC power coming into my house is compromised due to my local power grid being over taxed and becoming dirty. Late at night or on the weekends it sounded glorious. I think the Mojo does a better job of filtering the incoming AC signal than what the Aero does. I could be wrong... this is just my impression or guess, because the Mojo sounds good day or night, whether it's a weekday or weekend.
I did truly loved the purity of tone that the ZOTL tube output stage gave to the various instruments. The transparency was truly holographic at times. But, the sound was just too hard hitting and fatiguing to me over the long haul. Plus, it seemed to lack the kind of foundation of the music that I enjoy and would oftentimes sound too tilted up for my preferences.
I hope this description will be helpful to you. Please always keep in mind that my comments are based on these two DACs in “my” system, in “my” room. System synergy and the listening room play a huge role in the outcome of your listening experience.
Best wishes,
Don