Mojo Audio thread, Mystique / Deja Vu / Illuminati

Sovrce Gear
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The NS1 changed the nature of the Dave for me, and I was using a Pi2AES with a $300 PSU before that, impressions elsewhere.

Source first was always the way it was pushed in the UK in the 80’s, though Linn’s marketing department had a lot to do with that, and to be honest it makes a lot more sense for Vinyl.
The difficulty with digital has always been the Myth that it doesn’t introduce noise.
Transducer first is a more recent phenomenon, based entirely on where the gross errors in a system are, makes some sense, but if you looked at the output from any transducer, none of the upstream noise ought to matter, it’s all swamped, so clearly it’s not about overall quantity of “noise”, but to do with certain qualities of it.

I’m more in the camp, it all matters these days. And yes a good source (streamer etc.) can make a surprising difference.

I’ve given up trying to explain where that noise is coming from, there is a reasonable explanation with the NS1, it’s generating the clock and Jitter matters, but I don’t have an explanation I’m happy with for digital cables and Power cables. I can come up with credible arguments, but none of them really explain the amount of difference I hear to my satisfaction.

I was surprised again over the weekend when I plugged the new power cable in (well I rearranged some power cables plugged the new cable into the amp and replaced a $5 cable with one I already had), my expectation was at best a questionable difference, and it was yet another, wow that sounds different.

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No worries about ganging up, I really do appreciate everyone’s thoughts! I’m moving this chat to the source gear help thread so I can ask for advice about streamers and stuff!

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Small update: The Mystique V3 seemed to sound better each day until the third day of listening, and it seems to have settled after that, so at least to my ear, you’re potentially looking at under 72 hours for the initial warm-up time.

Also, note that I did buy mine used.

EDIT: It did sound a /little/ better again after the weekend, but yeah, sonic changes are slowing down significantly.

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couple of first impressions on the Mystique V2. 1st impression is that when you buy from a smaller vendor, legacy equipment and readily available information about legacy equipment can be hard to get. The flip side is that Ben Zwickel is an old timer that when you get him going, he won’t stop, he’s a fountain of stories.

2nd impression is that you should when you’re ready to move away from mid-fi hell ABSOLUTELY look at older higher tier gear. Where do you go from the Ares II or BF2? Well you to something like a used Mystique SE… or is it Mystique XA or Mystique X, and it all depended on what color underwear Ben was wearing that day aparently because there’s examples of all these names referring to what’s essentially the same DAC. Just whether it came with USB or Coax SPDIF or retrofitted with a number of whatnots.

3rd impression, the DAC I have is the very DAC pictured in the Mojo Audio website in the specials section listed as a Mystique V2 XA… except who knows really. I don’t have verified S/N proof so to speak, I have just circumstantial evidence. The date codes on a couple of the chips match, the worn off text on the bottom left capacitor is worn in exactly the same way, the wiring loops for the COAX input and the AC are EXACTLY the same which there would be variance on, and the picture on the site shows a (cat? I’m assuming) hair on top of one chip, (third from the left on top of the Mojo Audio silk screened name) that was there in the same place when I opened it up. What are the chances? lol

Anyway, none of this matters…

About the sound, it’s probably the best sounding $1250 dollar DAC on the planet. It reminds me a lot of a Yggy, a lot of tonal meat, great air, solid fun slam. The bonus though is the micro dynamics and micro details are very very good. There’s just something about a properly implemented NOS R2R that just sounds right.

So the whole point of this post is, where do you go when you want to upgrade from the mid-fi hell but you don’t want to spend 3 to 5K on a DAC (new or used) to do so? you search for something like this.

Now I know it’s not fair as I’m approaching this as a learning experience, knowing that I could flip this for the same if not a couple dollars more as I got it. But also knowing a lot more about what I like and how to combine things for optimum synergy. Not something that comes without hands on listening. But this is the second time I feel I’ve taken an educated leap of faith on a DAC and it’s absolutely paid off. The first was a Lampi Level 4 Gen 5 which was passed forward to a member here.

I’m just rambling like an old geezer now, but figured I’d share since it’s been a pleasant evening of listening to this.

One last thought… there really is no “free lunch” and very few things in the hobby really punch way above their weight. In the end, if you want high end you have to buy high end but there are ways to have a lot of fun, not pay top retail dollar and get components that are absolute bargains for what they do.

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Sounds like a fun ride thanks for taking us along the way!

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You absolutely have to (a) set aside at least 30 minutes and (b) be prepared for a torrent of opinions on the state of audio whenever you call him with a small question.

Joking aside, he’s a wonderful guy, and very supportive. Knowing I have a LTA MZ3, he recently emailed me to let me know that he had some matched NOS Miniwatt 18ECC tubes (12AT7 equivalent) lying around from the days when he modded LTA amps. He said they took his MZ2 to another level and asked if I’d like to buy them. And after checking his prices against Brent Jessee, I realized he was pretty much giving them to me.

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Those look like sparkos op-amps in there… Are they? Or am I completely wrong?

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  • Identical class A discrete Staccato op amp I/V conversion stage.
  • Identical direct-coupled class A discrete Staccato op amp output Stage
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You wait for others here to get bored of their old stuff. But yes finds like this are gold. I am jealous and need a lesson from you guys on how to find this stuff. Also more time at work probably helps.

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Speaking of these "older " models, does anyone know how the V1 stacks up? None of these are seen used often but it looks like there were some V1s for sub $1k.

@dB_Cooper i hope to hear your expanded thoughts soon. While i decided to stick with the bf2 for now due to its thump, thickness, and fun. I would love if it had some of the more technical, and up straight traits from the walnut. It seems a mojo could be in that arena.

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There’s going out on a limb and then there’s jumping off a ledge.

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Or you could push someone else off said ledge :thinking:

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This metaphor is in danger landing flat.

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Splat not slam.

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If you email Mojo, and just say you’d like to start your journey with one of his older models, and ask what the differences are, there’s a good chance he’ll tell you. He might even have an old v1 lying around.

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You know what. I will do just that.

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Tell him Paisley sent you.

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@dB_Cooper I’m gonna send you fishing line, that way you can start hanging equipment from the ceiling…Fugging pimp. Pimping the gear…lol :crazy_face: :money_mouth_face:

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From Ben himself:

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Thank you for that @Souldriver

@hifiDJ you were right, they’re sparkos, the website was never updated it looks like

Based on that list what I’ve got is the Mv2XA because the output stage matches the V3 but without USB, coax in only since mine does have the blue face place with the blue “on” LED. BTW, the led implementation is a complete afterthought and you can tell immoderately upon looking at the board.

You wanna join the Mv2XA gang?

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