Six DAC Comparison

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  my monos are pictured on SMc’s home page - the ones with total black faces.

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. 

Hey all, if it wasn’t clear, I believe what Benjamin meant was:

"Whatever differences mitch2 is hearing will be significantly more less than what is heard when compared to most of our X DACs that have the more common AD1862N-J DAC chips."

IOW, while Benjamin and other listeners believe the Mystique Z sounds better than the Mystique X line, the differences are likely to be less between my X SE NCZ and the Z, because of the premium AD1862N-Z DAC chip upgrade that I have in my X SE DAC. The sonic performance delta between the Z and the majority of Mojo Audio's X line-up of DACs (that do not have the premium Z chips) is likely to be greater than what I am hearing.

BTW, I had to take a short hiatus from listening this week and will get back to listening to the Mystique Z this weekend.  Based on my listening so far, I am confident of what I am hearing from the Mystique Z but I want to spend more time directly comparing it to my Mystique X SE NCZ.  After that, I plan to compare to the sound of my Aries Cerat Helene DAC but that will be more easily done through my new SMc Audio VRE-1C preamp that just shipped out today, since that preamp has a phase switch so I won’t need to flip-flop speaker cables to account for how the AC Helene inverts polarity.