Literally exactly what I do lol, I just try shit and see what works well and what doesn’t
3 Likes
I asked Ben the same thing when I bought mine, as I wanted to know which cable to buy, and he told me he had no particular preference between aes and spdif, and as you say, he prefers both over usb.
I’m using the Snake River Boomslang spdif cable, partly on your recommendation, and really like it.
6 Likes
I was surprised to learn that. I guess I just made it up in my head that since AES is balanced, it wouldn’t suffer from those same issues. Lame.
Regarding the Heretical digital cables…have you used them? If so, have you used them with a Mojo DAC? I’m intrigued. I just got a new 75 ohm cable from Pine Tree Audio but I’m always down to try something new…you never know what synergy there may be!
SPDIF is 75 ohm. AES is supposed to be 110 ohm as far as the specs are concerned. I’ve never seen a resistance spec for analog, only specified in Digital. I like the AES out better but the again my AES cable is of a far better quality than my SPDIF.
Given the above analog comments from Ben, I might try the SE analog out for the hell of it as I have equal RCA and XLR cable from the same vendor even!
2 Likes
It is what it is, at least it’s not really all that extra length, not expensive to get the correct length, and not much hassle to meet the target
I have used them, although I actually don’t know if I ever tried them with the mojo or not, I’ll have to dig around and see if I still have one lying around and try it on my mojo. Cheapest cable I tried on it spdif wise was a cerious graphene extreme digital (300 ish bucks) and it was cleaner leaning and pretty solid but not much more to say about it. A bit higher I did really like a black cat silverstar 75 mk ii for spdif and snake river boomslang aes for something a bit more natural focused without sacrificing technical ability.
From memory the heretical digital with absolute harmony connectors was something that was a bit mediocre at first, but over time I started to really like it for what it is, it’s a cable that’s a bit less immediate wow factor but actually fairly neutral and nuanced and direct for the price, like it more than other cables in that range. I’ll let you know if I can find mine and see how it goes with the mojo lol
Typically for coax video and digital cables the standard is 75 ohm and for rca audio it might be more around 50 for some cables. For balanced cables I’ve honestly seen it go around 120 to wherever lol
I think that’s really what matters more lol, how nice the cable you have is
Might as well do it lol
5 Likes
Spent some time with this Ben description. RCA I’m using a pair of Gabriel Gold Revelations cables and XLR a pair of Gabriel Gold Rapture cables. I’d describe it in a less flowery way than Ben. RCA more intimate, with a bit more atmosphere. XLR more intensity with a bit more definition. But they’re very similar in the ability to present both an organic sound with correct timbre. You could take the tire trope and say that RCA sounds more analogu but oy vey, why?
The Mojo just has such an inherent ability to pull you into the space where the music is playing. I say this because every time you hear someone say it feels like the musicians are playing in you room; the Mojo changes that trope. Because you’re transported from your room into the music instead of the music being presented to you. It really is a different sound than other DACs I’ve owned.
6 Likes
Not a great review from stereophile…curious how much they paid to get it down only to get a mediocre/poor review
1 Like
He seemed somewhat satisfied at the end of the listening section. Where are you seeing the poor rating? Tbh I didn’t think.steriophile even did those 
1 Like
Read this review in my print copy (I got it for free) and didn’t know how to feel about it. The reviewer seemed pleased and also annoyed that he was pleased? It was a weird review for sure.
2 Likes
We must have read different version of the review, Herb liked it while JA didn’t care for its measurements.
Where did you feel the review fell short?
2 Likes
Is it just me or does that read pretty positive? Then again, it’s also coming from Herb which this is likely up his alley signature wise, and given how he writes things, this looks fairly positive to me from him. It’s not one of his “this is the best ever you must buy immediately” sort of reviews that he does from time to time on more budget gear, but idk to me this reads as something that he likes a decent bit. Didn’t look at the measurements section but that’s typically done by a different guy (typically john atkinson). To me looks like he was kinda confused as he couldn’t pick any few aspects to be standout in comparison to the other dacs he had on hand (which read as a bit more few trick ponies) but thought that as an overall experience it was really worthwhile
3 Likes
Agreed. Not being able to stop listening to a DAC and saying it’s the one DAC that simply disappears are pretty positive comments.
2 Likes
See now you made me read it.
Very positive listening impressions IMO.
Concerns with measurements.
Given the designers philosophy, it’s not really surprising, I guess I don’t read it as a bad review.
4 Likes
I guess I was expecting more enthusiasm from someone like Herb who tends to be very positive about gear. His conclusion at the end (In my system) seems like he’s giving the mojo an overall recommendation but his “Listening” section seemed less positive imo. But maybe you’re right, I could be looking too in between the lines but when comparing with the dCS, it seems like Mojo is less exciting and less resolving. When compared with the Spring, it lacked presence and dynamics as well but then he concludes that differences were not “that dramatic”.
For some reason I have the impressions that generally stereophile will mostly point out the positives and might slip in a negative or “difference” once or maybe twice in a subjective review. John Atkins definitely was not a fan of the unit when it came to measurements.
1 Like
Maybe I’m a bit too pesamistic, but tbh, I just always assume more glowing reviews paid more money…
I get where you’re coming from. If I was Herb’s editor, I would have made him rewrite that Listening section to be clearer.
He’s essentially saying that the Bartok is his reference DAC. He uses words like “crisper and more dramatic” and “bigger, tighter”, whereas the Mojo was “gentler and even more liquid and colorful”. He then tries to make the point that these are 2 different presentations, and that which one you like will depend on your personal preferences, but I think he did a poor job at this ("the Bartok appealed more to my left brain than the Mystique X SE, which …addressed itself almost exclusively to my right hemisphere).
He said the Spring had a “more full-weighted presence and dynamics” but was “a bit brash and overstated rhythm- and dynamics-wise” whereas the Mojo “came across as more relaxed and refined”.
And similarly, with the comparisons with the May and Terminator, the Mojo “presented an understated, naturally balanced”.
So I think he was pretty consistent in his description of the Mojo, but should have been clearer that this boils down to whether you prefer a vivid or a natural image of the sound.
3 Likes
I think that’s likely more common for YouTube reviewers than it is for a publication like Stereophile. The one sure indication of a payoff is an Amazon short link. 
Which I think is what he’s trying to say with the overarching comments of I didn’t want to stop listening to it to do comparisons. The problem is that people want more specifics rather than a generalized endorsement. But when you boil it down to the essence of enjoyment which is what he’s trying to say and doesn’t come right out and say it, he’s very positive on the DAC.
What I found myself feeling a bit odd on as seeing a $10K pricetag as not obscene for a DAC. What happened to the me from just a couple of years ago?
4 Likes
You’d be surprised, but it’s harder to do a straight pay off to a paper magazine, they usually have Chinese walls between the advertising group and the editorial content group.
It’s usually not so much pay off in these things as it is someone doing someone else a favor based on a personal relationship.
Having said that over my 25 years in the video games industry, I know definitively of exactly 1 case where that happened.
4 Likes
Sharing part of my exchange with Ben, though some of you would find it interesting. I 'd asked him about his dealings with LTA and their upcoming DACs. Also note the “new” item in the works.
The reason our DACs sound natural and organic is our design criteria: harmonic coherency.
When choosing between two circuits, modules, or parts, we do extensive listening tests and the one we select is the one which has the best mathematical alignment of the harmonic frequencies from the lowest to the highest notes.
You can’t fake that.
We figure if the harmonics align properly then all the other things will take care of themselves (bass weight, HF penetration, image, time, tune, texture, timbre, etc).
I worked with LTA in the past and I have a lot of respect for them as a company and for their products.
But this is just another example of an amp manufacturer (Krell, McIntosh, Ayre, Levison, etc) trying to cash in on the DAC market…they are always mediocre.
I’m sure they are going to get all sorts of raving reviews because they have that “ZOTL” sound but it’s going to be a mediocre digital stage with the excellent ZOTL tube outputs stage.
No one can be everything to everyone.
That’s why I don’t manufacture amps and speakers even though I’ve gotten dozens of requests.
I stay in my lane and stick to what I’m good at.
Right now I’m working on a new entry-level USB only DAC to sell for under $3K.
Over 80% of my customers only use USB and that’s a huge market.
14 Likes