No Z yet. I’m patient and imagine the mad scientist of Albuquerque is head down and busy on his bench making our magic black boxes.
Six DAC Comparison
I am in the middle of comparing the sound of six different DACs in my system. I own them all (I know weird) but one of them is still within a trial/return timeframe.
Not to share specific comparisons today, but a couple of observations so far are that first, they all definitely sound different from each other. On one hand, they all sound pretty good and play what is fed to them without significant flaws but on the other hand there are definite sonic differences that make it easy to understand how a person might like the sound of some of them while not liking others.
Second, raises the observation that most of them must be doing something to shape the sound in the manner the designer intended since one of the DACs, a Benchmark DAC3 HGA, was described by John Atkinson of Stereophile as providing "state-of-the-art measured performance." In the review, JA closed the measurements section by writing, "All I can say is "Wow!" I have also owned the Tambaqui (not in my current comparison), which also measured well ("The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance." - JA). The Benchmark reminds me sonically of the Tambaqui, both of which are excellent sounding DACs.
My point is that if the Benchmark is providing "state-of-the-art measured performance," then one could reasonably presume that the other five DACs, which sound different from the Benchmark, do not share similar ’state-of-the-art" measurements and are doing something to subtly or not so subtly alter the sound. Whether a person likes what they hear is a different issue.
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The Mystique Z arrived here earlier this week and I have had it connected and playing music most of the time but so far I haven't really had a chance to listen beyond casually. My initial visual impressions are very good, starting with Mojo Audio's no nonsense packaging, which includes what appears to be a triple wall corrugated cardboard box (very sturdy) with formed foam end caps holding the Mystique Z unit in place and spaced away from the walls of the box. I really like the high-gloss, high-durability, polymerized finish Mojo is using on the new Mystique Z, which reminds me of the finish on the EVO Pro and seems more substantial than the anodized type finish used on my X SE. I am also fine with the smaller size of the unit. I really like the retro-industrial aesthetics, including the laser-etched badge on the front panel, and the entire look appeals to my preference for solid, understated designs. The connectors are of a high quality and the perception is of a well-built, solid product. So, how does it sound. I will start doing more serious listening soon. I will probably start with comparisons to my Mystique X SE NCZ DAC. I have two of the exact same digital cables and can feed a signal to both DACs at the same time out of my Singxer SU-6 DDC. Therefore, I can literally switch between Mojo Audio DACs on the fly (if I choose) by switching inputs on my volume control. The issue with comparing to the Aries Cerat Helene is that the AC Helene inverts polarity (no idea why) so a comparison requires me to switch speaker cable leads coming out of my amplifiers. I will wait just a bit before comparing to the AC Helene because next week I am scheduled to receive a fully upgraded SMc Audio VRE-1C preamp (which has just been upgraded at SMc this week) . The VRE-1C has a polarity switch, which will make it much easier to compare the AC Helene with the Mojo Audio DACs. One other thing that will be important in any comparisons is trying to match output levels as closely as possible. The AC Helene is outputting a high'ish 5V while the Mojo Audio DACs are closer to 2.4V P-P single-ended and 4.8V P-P balanced. Therefore, if I use the balanced outputs from the Mojo Audio DACs, the output is close to the AC Helene but from the single-ended outputs I will need to significantly boost the volume of the Mojo Audio DACs. I typically use a SPL app on my phone to help me match outputs but it may not be quite perfect. |
@mitch2 You are stepping things up a bit with the upgraded SMc audio VRE-1C. I just received my SMc TLC-2 a few months ago. I asked Patrick where it landed in terms of all the preamps and he said better than the old VRE-Models but not as good as the new one. So I am pretty happy. So refresh my memory again you are running the SMc Mono's also and what speakers do you have? I pay close attention to your thread because our systems seem very similar. I don't have the mono's but I may upgrade to the mono's in the future. |
My system page is mostly updated except for the VRE-1C, which is supposed to get here next week. Patrick is enjoying it this weekend Mine is one of the newer VRE-1Cs and then Patrick did a bunch of stuff to it, including a thing or two they are doing with their VRE-2. I am really looking forward to it. |
@NO-REGRETS (and everyone else) Our Mystique Z NC (the same model mitch2 has) will be in room #661 with Volti Audio at the Capital Audio Fest next week. Greg got a burned in demo on Monday and he's been listening to it compared to his X'25 NC. Long story short Greg is trading in his X'25 NC on the new Z NC so from now on Volti Audio will be exhibiting with our new Mystique Z NC. For those of you who are interested in hearing our new Mystique Z, both Volti Audio and Mojo Audio will be at AXPONA next April. I'm not 100% sure but I believe Volti will be at the Florida show as well. As for mitch2's comparison you should all keep in mind that he has one of the rare Mystique X NCZ DACs with the AD1862N-Z DAC chip upgrade. There are only about a dozen of our DACs in the whole world that have those rare AD1862N-Z DAC chips. Whatever differences mitch2 is hearing will be significantly more compared to most of our X DACs that have the more common AD1862N-J DAC chips. I would estimate the differences would be something like double whatever mitch2 is hearing. One thing is for certain: everyone who has made the comparison is telling us how much more midrange bloom, musical flow, and emotional expression our new Mystique Z has over any of our other DACs. BTW, we're catching up with our back orders. Current lead time is about 2-3 weeks. By the end of November we're hoping to have inventory for immediate shipment. |
my monos are pictured on SMc’s home page - the ones with total black faces.- 524 posts total