Mojo Audio thread, Mystique / Deja Vu / Illuminati

[NickMimi]

Took a little bit of work to set up properly but I managed to get both Mystique X and Baltic 3 up and operational for my own personal comparison to see what stands out most to me between the two completely different style DACs which have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other in make, design philosophy, build, materials and sonic character

I point out this fun fact lest anybody read too much into my words as I post my opinions. Let us remember I’m playing with 2 completely different topologies that are both created to do the same job but differently

Superfluous photographic proof that I managed to squeeze both large DAC’s into the space of one system
I’m doing my best to enjoy my free time!

[dB_Cooper]

So many ways to skin a cat and get great results. It’s a really fascinating aspect of the hobby. One tree, many many branches and offshoots.

[NickMimi]

@dB_Cooper

So many ways to skin a cat and get great results.

Ick, I don’t have any great love of cats but still what a gruesome analogy More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Humorously enough, I was thinking this exact thought, a bit before you muttered and posted your gruesome thoughts forever on the internet, (you sick bastard ) and based on a few hours of HP listening time with the Mojo/MZ3 combo this early AM I was VERY curious to try a speaker amplifier I know to be more neutral sounding in this set-up AND I wanted better control of the gain, the Lance Cochrane amp can be a bit too much fun and since I am doing serious work today, I decided fun was NOT to be had, I needed something less lively to work with

I got nothing else to say at the moment, sometimes listening to music critically for hours on end can get boring and calling @dB_Cooper a sick bastard made me laugh

Also, I wanted to post another gratuitous picture of the current amplifier I swapped into the system this morning. (Decware 341.5) It’s funny, how folks say DAC’s and amplifiers have very little sonic character or don’t make much of a difference anymore because technology has gotten so good that you can get away with stuff that simply measures real well and nothing more is needed…yeah no, my ears/mind and personal experiences disagree with those folks.

[NickMimi]

I’m very much enjoying the character of the MOJO Mystique X DAC. Thus far using a variety of amplifiers and 2 slightly different front end sources I’m feeling like I am finally getting a feel for the character of the MOJO itself.

Stone cold dead quiet gives this DAC exemplary background blackness. Adding further isolation footers, may or may not make a difference in your particular setup but in all honesty unless you have vibrations going through your placement location I feel Ben builds even his least expensive model tight enough to provide great quiet background performance.

Highly resolving performance. The DAC is squeezing character and performance out of my amplifiers, speakers and headphones. I have spent good money on my transducers and I have a variety of amplifiers I have tried this unit with and thus far have not experienced any lesser performance than anything else I use daily. There is no loss of detail retrieval, there is never any veil or lack of output performance of the files being played both in standard formats and HD. I’m simply not feeling lacking in any aspect of this performance matrix, many thumbs up and much hearty approval here.

Great spatial separation, see above reference to quiet black background.
If your speakers or HP’s are capable of capturing this, then fine nuances present in well recorded and mastered tracks or albums should leave you well pleased in not only being able to make out each and every individual instrument but much of the fine nuances associated with this characteristic. There is no edge though and the presentation here is smooth and presented really well & fleshed out. There is no feeling of sharpness in the separation no “sharp” edges. Really nice trick Ben did here with his technical skills and build. (It’s like watching a small fish swim through bubbles in a fish tank, yes I can see the individual bubbles within the outline of the tank, but the fish just glides through them and the water and everything is nice and smooth despite me being able to distinguish a bunch of individual bubbles while the fish smoothly swims through them.)

Full soundstage performance, the Mystique X is no holds barred capable of bringing forth as much as your room, placement and transducers being either HP or Speakers are capable of presenting with the only item of note that some of the sound focus will be a bit forward of speaker plane, akin to sitting in the front row or two of a performance. Yes, it does sound mid-forward, I did not want to say this earlier because I wasn’t sure if it was an appropriate capture of the feature but the more variety of music and hours I put on the unit, the more I feel the term would apply here in both spatial & depth quality along w/ sonic character. Obviously the quality and style of recording will also affect this to a point but in general this is the most outstanding character performance of this DAC I am experiencing that is differentiating it heavily in all my use cases.

In my smaller room using the Spacial Audio open baffle speakers this was an extremely pleasing experience. The forward soundstage depth, in the small fairly well treated room was reminiscent of a small venue stage presentation and i found it entertaining and pleasing.

In my much larger, main 2 channel set-up after several hours (6+) the speaker forward soundstage presentation along with the extremely forward mids/vocals was getting fatiguing using my Salk/BMR towers. The in-your-face/space presentation in this larger space, using higher volume levels, much more exciting and busy musical genre’s eventually lost its unique charm.

In a “warmer”, low volume, high dynamic setting (my smaller room) i was really able to appreciate the soundstage depth in close to my seat with the singer almost in my face. I did not have the same reaction in my larger, less treated space, the room is just not treated properly for this focus of energy. The more oval shaped pattern of the soundstage, with my close-in sitting arrangement simply doesn’t work well for me (using my Philharmonic towers) and i simply don’t have room to pull my chair back 4-6 feet needed for the experience (it would put my seat in my hallway which may work for testing temporarily but is simply not a long term solution.)

Same exact space though using my Klipsch K-horns which fire across the 26 ft length of the room where I could back up my chair and I had a match made in heaven I want to purchase this DAC simply to use it with my K-horns, the mid forward presence and ability of the DAC to extend the depth of the soundstage well forward of the speaker plane really made the K-horns shine and it was awesome! The size of the soundstage changed from their traditional grand stadium feel to a more moderate theater like sensation and I really got into it. The combination Mojo and Vinnie Rossi amp on the K-Horns is a winner, I pulled the listening chair out 16 feet to make a nice equidistant triangle and kicked back to enjoy. This was the one combo that finally got me to stop listening to the equipment and just enjoy the music, it was just right

The DAC has beautiful and rich tonal qualities and if your system has any ability of producing textured rich bass, quality textured midrange and extended air in the top end I feel the Mystique X series will enhance and put forward all that comes after it. In my main 2 channel system I am pushing some volume beyond what would be normal for me, I think the low end Bass performance may be the best I have experienced in this room to date with any combo. That little bit of extra “weight” the Mystique X provides in low end performance simply feels and sounds like more than I have currently with my other equipment.

Between the quality build for background quiet & blackness and it’s ability to really bring forth detail I feel that experienced cable rollers using one of the multiple inputs and outputs WILL be able to eventually tune the rest of their system to within very fine parameters using a MOJO DAC.

The Mystique X has performed admirably thus far with USB and AES in my hands. If the USB input is lacking I really could NOT tell with my Innuos Zenith MK3. I really have nothing negative, or even less than stellar and full of admiration and joy to say based on the few weeks I have had to play with the Mystique X. in the larger system I used AES out of my Innuos Pulse. I personally simply could not tell if there is better performance or not between the two inputs.

It’s built like a tank, it has great heft to it and the actual parts quality, to my untrained eye, really seem to be beefy, well implemented and of overall good solid materials.

In the attached photos I have the Salk built BMR Philharmonic tower speakers being fed by:
Innuos PhoenixNet switch > Innuos Pulse Streamer > via AES > MOJO Mystique X > via XLR > Vinnie Rossi L2iSE

One item of mild note, the DAC seemed to have a more “vibrant energy” when regularly powered down fully after each use. This may truly and simply be a figment of my imagination because it has been mentioned to me multiple times to “Let the DAC warm up and settle in for at least 3 days.” Well I tried it both ways, and maybe , the vibrancy of the sound character is more pronounced when you power down and start fresh each session.
In complete honesty and transparency I tried my best to hear anything of much note and this is the very best answer I can give to the issue of warm up for the MOJO mystique X.

I assume there will be differing impressions, my own experience is limited to what I understand best and feel I can speak to based on my listening experiences. My various systems perform damned well and are currently offering me the most I feel I can expect out of my rooms and the combination of parts I own. There are folks whose experience is much beyond my own and who know to listen for particulars well beyond what I know. If my words can help anyone make a better purchasing decision the many hours I am putting into this are worthwhile

Room set-up, size, speaker placement and listening position played a decent role in my enjoyment and finding synergy w/ the Mojo DAC. It was fine w/ HP use but in my opinion you get so much more out of this bad boy in a 2 channel set-up and it’s not for amateurs and neophytes, using its strengths takes a bit of experience, experimenting and knowing your gear and room character.
This photo captures the difference in listening position that made one system fatiguing and the other an absolute joy, same room, same chain, different speakers, different seats, different experience.

[dB_Cooper]

Great writeup Nick. I forgot that you’re using the Innuous in your main system and given that I’m not surprised that you liked it with the USB equally well. I forget how much new stuff you’ve gotten since the last time I visited, a lot of stuff to hear.

You’ve got one great listening space there! It’s roughly half the size of my apartment. lol

[Camus]

Some Mojo X stuff floating around in my head…

Initial Thoughts from Day One:

Main Rig:

Roon → Pi2AES → Boomslang AES → Mojo X → Mogami Gold RCA IC → DNA Stratus (Elrog 5U4G, Linlai Global Elite 2A3, and Mazda 6BQ7) & → Mogami Gold XLR → DSHA → Utopia (Original) w/Lazuli Reference Plus

Pitch black background More laid back than I expected, can hear the Yggy comparisons I have read about on the forums and reviews.

Vocals are standing out more than I am used to, assume more forward

Softer attack, as in less incisive and smooth. Or not aggressive in your face sonic signature.

This is all in relation to my typical DACs which currently have been the TT2/M-Scaler and Sonic Frontiers P3 and SFD-2 mkii.

Day Five through Day Nine Thoughts:

So…I have been struggling to get a grip on the Mojo X the last few days. It definitely benefited from being warmed up and not listened to for a few days since the first listen on my first day with it. Although looking at my previous notes one thing that has not changed is the laid back nature, and it does a weird thing with some tracks where sometimes I feel like I am in the middle of the dance floor and other times I am sitting in the balcony listening from above. Here are a few traits I feel comfortable describing, forgive me if my audio terms don’t line up with common sentiments (side story not worth getting into with some friends)

Presentation: A bit too laid back and linear (straight line from ear to ear), stage is wide but depth/height is not proportional to width

Tonal Density: A bit too thick, and at times bloated despite hitting heavy with bass

Resolution/Detail: Not as dynamic (resolving?) as TD, P3, or TT2 where it heavily favored a macrodynamic focus.Presentation; Similar to speakers in a room where they are too big for, feels far away at times, yet the vocals were more pronounced and forward. It threw me off at first as I am more used to a cohesive balance of placement.

Uncategorized Thoughts

Congested/gray type filter: The best analogy I could think of is the infamous Senn HD650 veil or the Schiit grayness that the BF2 and Yggy can have.

Song Analogy: Slow Dancing by U2 vs. Closer by Nine Inch Nails where you feel the impact of that background beat with Trent’s lyrics, I want to fuck you like an animal…

This is not a fatiguing DAC, hence the Slow Dancing reference. Feels more enjoyable for background listening as it is not incisive, which is a good thing but it is has the tendency to relay a blunted signature that will disengage me from the music.

One may be reading and thinking this is a negative review of the Mojo, it is not.

Wait for it……

One big change I did during the later days of the demo period, I stopped using the Utopia and switched to the RAD-0 and I like the Mojo a hell of a lot better with these headphones. Which is quite odd to me as the RAD-0 is also a bit laid back, yet with the Mojo it blended right in. I also added two additional solid state amps; Bryston BHA-1, and Pass HPA-1 while using the RAD-0. Another odd thing that was noticeable right away, my preference for the Bryston over the Pass. I usually like the Pass with the RAD-0, really the only reason I still keep it around, yet the Pass/RAD-0 was too polite like a bourbon with too much ice, while the Bryston/RAD-0 were a nice smokey whiskey with subtle flavors coming through no matter the song.

So what about my original rig? Synergy is a lot like chemistry between people, this was the blind date gone wrong. Mojo is thinking it should have swiped left instead of right and wasting happy hour with another dud.

There was a big wrench during my demo with the Mojo X, receiving a totaldac d1-core w/integrated streamer, This was unexpected timing as a deal came together and happened to land in the middle of the Mojo demo. Having four DACs together at my house could be a blessing or a curse since I am shit at describing differences in the detail.

So now I had four quality DACs in house, have not even connected the TT2 yet, will eventually get that going for a comparison along with the others at some point where it might be brief, it might not happen. In the mean time here is the most brief descriptors of each:

d1-core is charismatic, has refined tastes, and able to quickly build rapport within five minutes of meeting

Mojo is chubby, sweats a bit too much, and is the last man standing at the end of a night of drinking with your pals, or escapes to an all night dance party with Tiësto spinning away.

P3 is Wooderson in Dazed and Confused;

Wooderson: “Hey man, you got a joint?”

Mitch: “Uhh, no; not on me, man.”

Wooderson: “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

TT2 is the person who tries to talk over others at a gathering, thinks they know everything, they annoy you in a short period of time causing one to look for a quick escape

Other amps I threw into the mix for brief periods were an OTL and the BW, which I used with the HD650. This would not be my go to combo as it shared similar traits with the Stratus and DSHA.

I did use the Mojo X with a 2.1 speaker rig, mainly background listening as I was doing other things around the house. Big caveat, my space is not ideal for speaker listening due to room layout and many reflective surfaces. With that in mind no DAC or other sources like vinyl is ideal through my speaker rig, hence the majority use in a headphone environment.

In closing, the good traits others have posted was not the right match for my main listening rig, Stratus. However it did show me those traits through the RAD-0 and Bryston BHA-1. As such we did not mesh well and despite being a self-admitting DAC whore, I would not be keen on adding it to my rig to only be able to use a single headphone and amp combo. However If you enjoy those traits, have a RAD-0 or equivalent headphone, and a Bryston or similar solid state amp then I think one would be happy including the Mojo X into their gear rack.

Feel free to disagree, discuss, or rant away

[Souldriver]

I would love a yggy personified description too, please. I think you would come up with a riot.

@Camus

Resolution/Detail: Not as dynamic (resolving?) as TD, P3, or TT2 where it heavily favored a macrodynamic focus.

Hmmm, I am wondering a little bit on this one. When you say dynamic do you mean volume or intensity swings? Or is it more detail retrieval and the ability to focus and flesh out what it is retrieving. I think on the mojo both lean towards the macro, but i think there is slight term overlap (as you did note in your impressions).

I think this is a great example of s-y-n-e-r-g-y and how the sum of the chain can make or break the experience. For me, my different amp works well for the Utopia but at the moment i am not enjoying the LE (i hope this changes as I am one of the few that find it very comfy). I think something with a stiffer upper lip like a totaldac of rockna would be way better for that headphone.

[Camus]

@Souldriver

Hmmm, I am wondering a little bit on this one.

Stereophile: dynamic Giving an impression of wide dynamic range; punchy. This is related to system speed as well as to volume contrast

Yeah I flubbed what I was trying to relay, not as dynamic as those DACs. Not due to an increase of “technicalities” , but rather the focus on macro at a 80/20 ratio.

Hope that is more accurate of what I was trying to relay, please continue to correct so I may learn it better.

[karangovil]

I didn’t get a chance to do a proper side by side between Mojo X SE and d1-six but from memory, I kinda have similar-ish impressions. My main takeaway was that totaldac (and unity was more impressive in this sense) is more forward and immediate whereas Mojo was a little more laid back. To me this translates as totaldac being more energetic for the lack of a better word.

[SaberPunch]

@Camus

Mojo is chubby, sweats a bit too much, and is the last man standing at the end of a night of drinking with your pals, or escapes to an all night dance party with Tiësto spinning away.

This sounds like my long-lost twin, exact description of me lol. Maybe that’s why I like the Mojo so much . Awsome write up btw. Haven’t heard the other higher end DACs, but what makes the Mojo DAC stand out to me compare to other the DACs is the warm, sweet, richness it brings to the music and its special ability to make music just really easy to listen to that 5 hours could pass and I wouldn’t notice.

[PaisleyUnderground]

That was a fun read.

It reminds me of when I visited a friend, who also had a Stratus, along with Holo Spring and Chord Qutest DACs. The Spring-Stratus combo just didn’t work for me, as I found it too laid back for my taste, and I preferred the Qutest, which seemed to inject some energy. My friend and I have different taste in music and different preferences, and after many shared comparisons, he preferred the Spring. I suppose that just goes to show how subjective all this is.

I do love what I’m hearing from my Mojo, but then again, my tubes and cables were chosen to reflect the sound that I want from the entire chain. I’d be interested to put a totaldac into my chain, because I wonder if that would destroy my carefully curated synergy, and perhaps it would sound too forward/high energy for me. Then I’d have to start all over again with different tubes and cables and perhaps other gear, so I’ll stick with what I have, and live in ignorant bliss.

[Camus]

@Souldriver

I would love a yggy personified description too, please. I think you would come up with a riot.

Somehow at 4am I missed this line! Let me ponder that one, it usually rolls of the tongue when a piece of gear is in house and will have to look back at my Yggy notes.

@karangovil

My main takeaway was that totaldac (and unity was more impressive in this sense) is more forward and immediate whereas Mojo was a little more laid back.

I felt the forwardness on vocals leaned more towards the Mojo X than td. Vocals are not high on my list of traits for enjoyment, perhaps that is why they would become more noticeable and forward than instruments (which I typically focus on more).

@SaberPunch

This sounds like my long-lost twin, exact description of me lol. Maybe that’s why I like the Mojo so much . Awsome write up btw.

Thank you, did not mean to describe your twin! You seem very fond of your Mojo, which is great. With the Mojo, one could not need to listen to other DACs unless they were curious how they differ.

@PaisleyUnderground

The Spring-Stratus combo just didn’t work for me, as I found it too laid back for my taste, and I preferred the Qutest, which seemed to inject some energy.

I can verify this how I felt about the Spring, I did not hear it with my Stratus and felt it could be a bit dulled in that combo. Same with the May, ironically those are both NOS R2R with a similar architecture to the totaldac yet sounded quite different. Whereas the Mojo is NOS multibit R2R and NOS, and both Sonic Frontier models are multiunit R2R with OS.
So go figure on similar approaches yet subtle differences can have more of a pronounced change. Not an epiphany but something for me to consider before say chasing tweaks ahead of source gear.

@PaisleyUnderground

I do love what I’m hearing from my Mojo, but then again, my tubes and cables were chosen to reflect the sound that I want from the entire chain.

Not sure if I mentioned this before about my tube selection for the Stratus, with my main tube set which was used in the above impressions, my chain is borderline laid back and warm in sonic signature. It is literally on a cliff with one foot hanging off, and by adding a component such as a DAC or a cable upgrade it may slip off the cliff and lose the balance I currently enjoy.
Hence my proclivity for asking so many damn questions on tweaks, cables, and other minutiae on the forum. One step in the wrong direction and my Jenga tower collapses…

[NickMimi]

I continue to play w/ the Mystique X and try various amplifiers with it, like other high end pieces this is not a DAC for beginners and requires it be mated to other high performance pieces in order to pull its quality traits out.

Thus far i have tried it with 5 speaker combinations, 4 speaker amplifiers, 3 headphone amplifiers, 3 headphones, 2 streamers, and 2 speaker cable combos. I have tried it via USB and AES and also tried it using both RCA and XLR outputs.

I very much enjoy the DAC, but would recommend you take your time in matching it with equipment that will both fit your music character preferences and sound signature desires. Since folks with a better grasp of audio terminologies have spoken to its character nuances I’ll instead list my most to least favorite combinations.

Yes- Innuos Pulse > DH labs D-110AES > Mystique X > wireworld Equinox 8 XLR > Vinnie Rossi L2iSE > Klipschorn
•Really great combo, brought the soundstage height down a bit along with the forward stage and mids. The overall tone and presentation was just so pleasant I could listen to this combo all night.

Yes- Innuos Pulse > DH labs D-110AES > Mystique X > wireworld Equinox 8 XLR > Vinnie Rossi L2iSE > Decware Tube-Tots
• These speakers took so well to the combo it was simply a great match.

Yes- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Decware 341.5 > Omega Mikro Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters
• I just can’t find anything to criticize about this combo, very easy to lose track of time while listening. Great resolution overall without adding any fatigue.

Yes- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Decware 341.5 > Space & Time Quantum2 Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters

• the only difference between this and the above combo was the speaker cable and i don’t feel it made a big enough difference to comment on.

Yes- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Lance Cochrane Ms Scarlett Mk VII >Space & Time Quantum 2 Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters
• Bolder upper mids, great stage depth. Allot of detail and a very strong soundstage presentation.

No- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Lance Cochrane Ms Scarlett Mk VII > Omega Mikro Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters
• A bit more revealing in the upper mids and treble than I enjoy and became fatiguing within a few hours. The speaker cables made just enough difference that i preferred the other combo above.

No- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Radu Tarta Shiny Eyes DHT > Omega Mikro Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters
• Soundstage lost its clarity and separation, simply became too rich overall.

No- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > Radu Tarta Shiny Eyes DHT > Space & Time Quantum 2 Spkr. cable > Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters
• Unfortunately this combo sounded too mushy.

Meh- Innuos Pulse > DH labs D-110AES > Mystique X > wireworld Equinox 8 XLR > Vinnie Rossi L2iSE > Falcon LS3/5A
• The mids were just too forward for me to enjoy.

No- Innuos Pulse > DH labs D-110AES > Mystique X > wireworld Equinox 8 XLR > Vinnie Rossi L2iSE > Salk/BMR Philharmonic Towers
• Simply too fatiguing to enjoy. This combo would be pretty OK if I could adjust my seat further back by about 6ft.

Yes- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > LTA MZ3 > Shipibo audio Waira (Grado clone)
•I really liked this combo, great quality bass and just overall beautiful sound.

Yes- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Nordost TYRE2 RCA > LTA MZ3 > Cardas Clear RCA > Bryston BHA-1 > Rosson RAD-O
• Very nice, easy to enjoy long sessions.

Meh- Innuos Zenith MK3 > FTA Callisto > Mystique X > Cardas RCA > LTA MZ3 >Focal Clear Pro
• Nothing special for the cost of all the equipment, it sounded OK but I never managed to get into this HP nor do I feel the MZ3 is the best amp for the Clear-Pro.

Some combinations sounded friggin awesome and others did not. Guess what, i go through this regularly with many pieces i own which is why i like to take pictures and write/post about the combinations that sound impressive so that i can reference my posts and re-create those combinations. Someday i hope to settle down with 1 system and equipment chain chosen for qualities i desire but i simply haven’t been forced to downsize or make that hard a decision yet so I’ll take all the choice and variety i can get till then and the MOJO Mystique X really got me salivating for one of Ben’s pieces someday🤌

[Souldriver]

You know whats funny? It seems the X and the Radu may not be a match for you but i really liked the Radu and the Mojo V2xa when i had it. House sound is not always the full equation. But i do see two things, i was headphone only on the radu, and i only had the more U sounding PSVane ACME globe 300Bs which i see youre onto something different. I am not sure how much tube rolling you did, but that is an entirely whole other layer.

[NickMimi]

@Souldriver, I hope folk’s understand and take all I say with a heavy grain of salt. It’s hard enough to distinguish the performance of a DAC let alone do it in listening sessions that are not weeks long.

My opinion, and I feel it is shared by many of the folks on Sonus, is that just about every element in a system can be influenced by each piece to include cabling. Some pieces provide more influence on the sound character than others.

I had my preferences with the MOJO but all my listening sessions were done with the exclusive intention to try and capture any major or broad sound character influence of the DAC itself in pieces I had recently set up to listen to using different equipment just before the MOJO came into my hands.

I agree that taking time to vary tubes and even cables and outputs the fine nitpicking I have done above could all be overcome and turned into joy

[Souldriver]

Absolutely. And like you said, even a few weeks at a time is just scratching the surface. Only so many days and so many hours in each day. I hate this it is one of the aspects as you go up in tiers but you really need the TIME to do it all. It would be much easier if we can just immediately say “yeah that’s great” or “nah not for me” but there is so much to unfold and a lot of grey area between amazing and mediocre.

[dB_Cooper]

Being familiar with the Mojo was the only thing that game me confidence to speak about what I was hearing. Unlike Nick who’s giving us a baker’s dozen of chair reviews, I listened to it on my 2-CH and I’m intimately familiar with that. I agree though about the compressed nature and really appreciate what @NickMimi did here as it shows how “fickle” the hobby is and how reviewers can often get things very wrong because they’re listening to a component on the wrong chain. Dollars to donuts it happens a lot more frequently than we can imagine.

[Souldriver]

The fact I have a few cables and tubes to swap out is already too much for me at times. I dont know how you do it @NickMimi but I am very glad you are, grains of salt and all!

[Camus]

At a base level one should be able to get a sense of what the component is doing without the need to jump through hoops. Especially if one has other gear to compare it with like Superman @NickMimi

It is not realistic to know what gear plays well with others until you try, dismissing someone’s impressions because their gear didn’t match up is a bit judgemental, no?

[Souldriver]

@Camus

dismissing someone’s impressions because their gear didn’t match up is a bit judgemental, no?

Well yes, but I dont think and I hope no one is dismissing anyone’s impressions including yours. All impressions are important and they paint the picture as a whole. The more experiences, good/bad/in between that are expressed better helps as a whole. Also please take any notes Ive stated on Nick not as a “his words are gospel” but more of a wonder that he is willing and does have the time and energy to swap out all his resources. I simply hate gear swapping, I like to be set up and just go and enjoy it all.

In some retrospect, I think your points also provided some clarity to myself. When I went from v2 to X it 100% added a lot but it also smoothed things out a bit, and i think things like microdetail is less flat and more in the background haze now. When I went Lumin > Antipodes it also gave it a more relaxed, but organic and natural feel. Right now I am probably on the edge of where i would want to be, anymore smooth or warm and I think ill be listening to roasted marshmellows. I am thinking about what some ELROG 300Bs will do or the EML Mesh plates as they are supposed to be a bit more linear compared to the “golden hued” WEs. The Eddie Current is a pretty stiff amp and provides a lot of the backbone this chain needs to get by. I can hear almost all of the aspects you touched on, but my chain mitigates a bit of it.

@Camus

It is not realistic to know what gear plays well with others until you try,

Absolutely, that is why I am happy the X is making it’s rounds. It can be considered a pricey piece and as much fun as it is to get excited and buy something new and (hopefully) it is a homerun, it is much better to get that time and test it in your enviroment.