Consider yourself lucky then, some people paid a bit for their Z-chips. I feel it gives great harmonic richness and complexity.
3 Likes
Welcome. Weāre a little meh about Mojo DACs here as you can tell. Interestingly enough, Ben told meā¦ almost verbatim what he told you. So I guess boh of our hearing is a little sus.
In my listening to an X SE (ish) last year, I didnāt find it to be like my EVO Pro at all, something that surprised me. It did some things slightly better, but the sound stage was not similar at all. (2 CH system)
I would consider a Z chip upgrade but not changing to the AD 1865 based on what Iāve been reading thus far, however that ship has sailed from what I understand as there are no more of the Z chips left. I like my Mojo where it is and Iād be afraid to change itās presentation and character as thatās the reason Iām keeping the DAC in the first place. The NC chokes, perhaps but to be honest the DAC is not the bottleneck in my system to Iād be hesitant to plunk money where I know Iād not be getting the most bang for my buck. (heh heh).
Welcome to the forum BTW. 
6 Likes
That is probably true for me too - the DAC is not the bottleneck. Some of the soundstage observations you made are related to my ultimately deciding I liked my EVO Pro better than the X SE, and I was more than fair in the evaluation/comparison having lived with mostly the X SE in my system for a full year, with occasional weekāish-long comparisons to the EVO Pro. I owned the Mystique v3, B4B, and then EVO Pro before the X SE, and each move up the line-up prior to X SE was a clear improvement to the same basic sonic signature but the X SE brought a bit different sound - IMO a trade-off between incisiveness and energy compared to a bit of a loss of the natural soundstage, tone, and smoothness of the prior DACs (not a great explanation but close to what I heard).
Regarding the NC chokes, I plan to be careful since Benjamin indicated they push things in a similar (softer?) direction as the Z chips. In comparison, I wouldnāt say the B4B with upgraded amorphous core chokes that I owned was any more incisive or dynamic than my current EVO Pro with Z chips, just that the EVO Pro pushes things toward a more natural/organic and maybe a touch āsweeterā sound that brings a bit more musical enjoyment, even on the blues/soul, rock, and acoustic grunge I most often listen to. Both of those Mystique DACs have great tone and adequate dynamics. The Tambaqui had great dynamics, outstanding clarity, was dead quiet, and all the control features anyone could want (it was mostly perfect, and in every measurable, audiophile way, a better DAC) but nowhere near the soul of the Mojo Audio DACs, or even Steve McCormackās DAC-2, IMO of course.
I plan to try and hear Benjaminās different DACs before making choices and certainly before pulling Z chips out of my EVO Pro, so maybe I will go to AXPONA in April to listen since it is only a few hours away. I keep telling myself that and I need to be careful about crossing the āif it aināt broke, donāt fix itā line just to try something new. I have tried/owned many DACs a little south of the stupid money line (including Metrum Acousticās top R2R DACs, Ayre, and the DACs listed in my previous post), and the good oneās all have their strengths but the Mystique DACs (while maybe not as technically āperfectā as some of the others) have brought me the most musical enjoyment so sometimes it is best to be satisfied and just take the win.
7 Likes
I think Iād prefer the X SE for a HP environment but for 2-CH and the synergy with my chain, the EVO Pro was as you describe it. I described it as more enveloping. Where the blacker background and increased detail on the HP rig made the X SE a better fit, simply because the spacial ques are not revealed to the listener in the same way and that enveloping effect s more inherent in HP.
2 Likes
Just adding a small update - after months of testing I finally got the Snake River Boomslang AES cable to function with my Alpha USB and Mojo Mystique EVO Pro 21 
Honestly canāt say what the root cause was considering it just happened to work one day this week after I was planning to give it one last shot before moving on/selling. I had turned the Mojo off/on and the Alpha is plugged into different a outlet on my power conditioner just by chance however really donāt want to move anything around now that itās works to test it out lol
General impressions (on Alpha USB + Boomslang AES cable) is that noise floor has come down a bit and it seems that the synergy/chain character is still balanced; didnāt tip anything out of wack from initial listening. I think the biggest benefit is being able to use the boomslang cable, which to my ears has added more energy to the mix in dynamics and some technical prowess in instrument separations on busier tracks
I believe I will be focusing on an amplifier change in 2024 now that Iām in a better place with front end. Still planning to add either an ultrarendu or opticalrendu if it pops up for a decent price to get off PC audio routing. Look out for my WTB post coming soonā¦EC Studio T (unicorn), E3 Hybrid dC, or realistically a 394 II since the first two are very hard to get 
8 Likes
Canāt speak as to the SPDIF vs. the AES cable if they werenāt both Snake River but what I gathered, the improvement for me was in the fact that the AES out from the USB alpha seems to be moābetter than the SPDIF out. I donāt believe the Mojo has anything to do with it based on the digital input board connection I saw when I had it open.
4 Likes
Nice to confirm this. When I was emailing Ben about my issue, had told me that the AES and SPDIF inputs were identical, but wasnāt sure to what degree that meant at the time
1 Like
I am running S/PDIF (Oyaide DB-510) from a Sonore ultraDigital converter into my EVO Pro with the Z chips. I also occasionally run the same connection into my SMc Audio DAC-2, which only accepts S/PDIF or optical inputs. A Sonore Signature Rendu SE optical feeds the uD converter through a Network Acoustics USB cable. It was nice to hear the same types of sonic benefits through the converter and S/PDIF connection as I perceived after adding the SRSEo connected directly to the EVO Pro by the USB. It is a bit different type of sound compared to what I hear when I switch to my Metrum Ambre endpoint. Music through the SRSEo sounds a bit more rounded and organic.
Do you guys have any impressions on whether the USB input or the S/PDIF (or AES/EBU) input sounds better in the EVO Pro?
1 Like
USB from the opticalRendu directly into Evo Pro sounded like stuffy ass to me. Granted I was comparing it to the sound of AES and SPDIF from a Berkeley USB Alpha so thereās a DDC at play in the comparison and not fair but itās the only relevant feedback Iāve got.
3 Likes
Assuming your source clock is solid, Iād assume AES is likely better.
But Iām basing that entirely on the fact he does no processing on the incoming clock other than feed in into a serial converter and the USB solution is just an off the shelf XMOS board, and as far as I can see from the board he just converts USB to SPDIF.
He does use the JLSounds board which is considered the best of the off the shelf solutions, but the good USB solutions that use it tend to customize it with better clocks and use the digital out directly rather than going via SPDIF.
Having said thatā¦ There is no right or wrong here, if you prefer the USB input, then itās better.
2 Likes
Any thoughts on USB from a Signature Rendu SE optical into a Singxer SU6 DDC, and then try the various outputs from the DDC into the EVO Pro DAC?
Happy Galentineās Day fellow Mojo info seekers:
Special thanks to @Camus, @dB_Cooper, and @PaisleyUnderground for taking much nicer pics than me.
13 Likes
Thanks for making and publishing this article, it was worth the wait and is a great read! Itās nice seeing the growth from base to SE to the NC upgrades.The article was entertaining and informative. Love the little puns here and there in the article and comparison of the NFL linebacker taking ballet lessons and chocolate pudding vs chocolate mousse. My only regret is reading this at 3am in the morning. Now I strangely crave some chocolate mousse, so I must go and find some.
2 Likes
I donāt have first hand experience with the SU6 DDC but Iād expect the results to be similar to what Iām seeing and others have using the Alpha USB. DDCs do have their own characteristics and the Evo Pro is resolving enough to clearly let you hear it.
1 Like
Nice article on the X DACs @Souldriver.
Your description of the. X SE is about what I heard when I owned it although in my system and to my ears, it was bettered by the EVO Pro, much to Benjaminās dismay. What neither he nor I knew at the time, and I only found out after selling the X SE, was that my EVO Pro has the AD1862N-Z chips in it. After AXPONA, I am going to try one of his X NC DACs, hopefully with Z chips, but I hear those may be all gone. I can always do a trade to move my Z chips into a X NC DAC, if I like the sound otherwise.
BTW, sweet pics in the article.
2 Likes
Itās only missing the 3 amorphous chokes to make it a pro, itās got everything else. Itās really hard to tell given the lighting but you may have Z chips in there from what I see but you need a better pic to be certain. Good candidate to send in for the NC choke upgrade when youāre ready. But get to know it now as is for a good long time.
3 Likes
If you look at the AD chips they will look like this:
They are located at the bottom of the first pic, opposite all the power stuff, and right next to the Mojo text on the circuit board.
It would be real interesting if a lot of EVOs got these Z chips and people didnt know it.
4 Likes
I guess the B4B 21 has many upgrades from the 2019.
Hereās a close up of the chip. I dont think it is a Z and upgrades made feom existing B4B (Bang for Back). This thing is thick.
1 Like
