Good suggestion, I tried a different outlet with no avail. I am not sure if they’re on the same loop in the apartment though. I’ll try to order a cheaper AES cable to test as well.
Ben had a ground lift switch on the Xs. Is there one on the EVOs, or maybe he didnt ground the Evos?
There is a ground post on the back of the EVO I have but not sure how much it will help. I tried connecting a wire across two screws, one on the EVO and one on the Alpha but the chassis on the Alpha is plastic so it wont conduct to ground.
Hoping to try to figure out a better way to test grounds
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Just take care when attaching anything, don’t want to create an accidental short.
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It’s aluminum for sure but it’s powder coated so it should conduct if you’re touching the metal and not just the power coat layer. Also there is a ground lift on the EVO, right under the ground post. It’s a slider switch, you should spot it easily.
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vs what? Is there a new TOTL mojo?
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Oh, did a say toooo much? 
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Any updates on (hopeful) progress with your ground issue?
Tried a few more things without any success. I tried a different AES cable but still had static as soon as I stopped contact with the chassis. It is pretty odd, I can even just have a fingertip on the chassis surface and it clears up the signal perfectly. I also used a pi4 instead of my PC to see if there was something inside the computer that was interfering but encountered the same issue. I’ve pretty much tried every combination short of having another AES source. I know the AES output does work with my 2541 so could be specific to the Alpha>Mojo pairing; not sure if either party will assume it’s their device causing the issue since they work independently (minus getting to test the Mystiques AES input with anything).
I sent an email to Berk to see if they have any insight into what could be going on and still waiting on a response.
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Did you try that ground lift switch on the evo?
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Yes the reason it makes a difference, is that most devices wire the chassis to ground, when you touch it, you lift the ground slightly, because your now a part of that circuit, and you aren’t at the same voltage as the house ground. Normally all that happens is you’re natural voltage gets pulled to house ground, but if the device has a floating ground, you will change it’s ground.
It’s why you’ll sometimes hear hums when touching gear, you act as an antenna, and carry noise into the circuit.
Grounds get messy, between the amp/DAC and the DDC you have as many as 6 ground connections, any of which could be floating (not connected to ground at the wall), there are three on the connections to the wall, one on the USB in from whatever the source is, one on the AES cable, and one on the output connected to the amp.
In an ideal world they are all the same.
But we know at least on of those is different, because the DDC is trying to isolate the incoming USB from the out going AES.
The Mojo lift switch will disconnect it from the ground at the wall, and it’s worth trying, you probably want it connected unless you have a reason not to. But you should try it both ways.
Different cables deal with Grounds differently, and they can matter, Audiophile digital cables are often out of spec, you tried the AES cable, and it’s worth trying a cheap USB cable to see if it makes a difference.
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Also sometimes the orientation of the cable matters to, which end is connected to the up vs down stream.
Well, small update -
I connected a wire from the Mojo lift switch to a screw on the Alpha’s chassis and it enabled me to use the AES output with the generic Amazon cable I have on hand. However, when I connected the boomslang it had an error again on the dac. Would be a real bummer if I couldn’t use the boomslang AES cable but not really sure what else can be done
Tried this with a pangea cable and did not have a difference
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Does the boomslang work elsewhere? They are single core and kind of fragile. A lot of times when connecting new wires dacs and upstream devices meed a power cycle as well, not just to connect it.
My antipodes uses like 2-3 power cycles or resets when i move things around. Same issue with the little red error light. Sometimes even the input change on the dac will get it working again. Annoying but it works.
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Yes, I used it to connect the Alpha to my soekris dac2541 without an issue when I first got it and just verified again
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I would also suggest dropping snake river a line and asking if this is something they have seen before where a generic cable works but theirs does not on specific setups. From all accounts they are friendly and helpful people.
I wish i could help more, something funky is happening for sure.
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This is gonna sound stupid but…why not…
what is it plugged into? If a wall, when was the last time you replaced that outlet and made sure it was nice and tight?
Nothing sounds stupid after everything I’ve done haha
I have it plugged into a equi=core 1000, but I also tried plugging it directly into the wall at one point
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Just to confirm, the generic cable did not work without this added wire? Have you taken the top off of the dac and the alpha to make sure both actualy have their grounds connected?
I know you guys LOVE to see close up and personal internal guts pics. Like the very warped line from Turning Japanese by the Vapors, I’ll get a doctor to take a picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
I’m currently hosting @Souldriver Mojo X DAC in my home to just get the flavor of it. Thought it would be interesting to compare it to the Pro. I’ve been meaning to open up my PRO post upgrade of the power section to see what my $2K bought me. A quarter place on top of one of the new Lundahl cokes to give it scale. It’s one of the reasons this DAC weights the well over 40lbs it does.
So enjoy the pics but a cautionary tale to go along with the upload. I KNOW it wasn’t like this when I got the DAC back from Mojo, but after picking it to to make room for the X I hear a rattle inside. Hmmm… what’s that? Well as it turns out a nut was missing from the corner of the power section board and it was rattling around under the board and between the bottom of the chassis. How it got loose is a mistery because it wasn’t off when I originally set the DAC up and it hadn’t moved from there in months. So shock, horror, relief to know the potential for havoc that was avoided and the fact that nothing blew up in the first place with a steel nut loose in the power section. Oy vey.
Nut recovered and replaced with a bit of blue loc-tite for good measure this time.
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