These are quotes directly from Benjamin of MOJO Audio. I am pasting them here from another forum for easier reference for all.
Quoted from Ben of MOJO audio:
"Benjamin from Mojo Audio here to clear up any misconceptions. The Mystique X is not replacing the EVO. The EVO is still a current product and fully supported.
There are no plans to stop supporting the EVO and there will be a new EVO for 2022. The Mystique X is a new lower cost model which has better performance than our EVO Basic and very close performance to our current EVO Pro.
Now you know why weâve been offering a 20% discount on our EVOsâŚwe knew we were going to be releasing the lower priced X.
The X stands for âextruded chassis.â Switching to a 9" wide x 4" tall x 16" deep extruded aluminum chassis with custom face and rear plates is one of the many cost saving compromises we made.
Because the X is so close in performance to our current EVO models, in 2022 our EVO is being totally redesigned and upgraded. The 2022 EVO will start at about $15K and go up to about $20K. The new X will start at only $7,777. This is where the âall the magicâŚhalf the priceâ stuff comes from.
Among the upgrades to the 2022 EVO will be things like dual mono power supplies, custom Lundahl amorphous core power transformers, and the PCM63 DAC chip. Since the new X is quite a tough act to follow, the new EVO wonât be available until mid year 2022.
But back to more info on our new XâŚ
The circuit and most of the component parts in the X are identical to the EVO. There are a few almost inaudible compromises in the digital power supplies and 9 vs 16 Belleson regulators total. There are also some improvements made to all the power supplies which will offset the compromises.
For those of you who are purists like me, there are improvements to the S/PDIF inputs. The X will also have a USB input cut off switch that will remove all clocking from inside the chassis to improve S/PDIF performance even more.
Among the other cost saving compromises we made was going to all PC board mounted connectorsâŚpretty much what most manufacturers do. There are almost no wires inside the X chassis. The compromise is that we are no longer able to suspend all the circuit boards on anti-resonant mounts. But the chassis itself has some new anti-resonant treatments. So overall switching to PC board mounted connectors is a net gain in performance.
In 2022 we are also evolving our manufacture from 100% hand built to robotically assembled. This is going to both lower our cost of manufacture and significantly increase our productivity. So for the first time in over 12 years in business Mojo Audio will be selling through an international network of retail distributors.
The Mystique X is the first of our manufactured vs hand built products which will sell through retailers.
Hopefully in a few days weâll have engineering drawings of the new X chassis and full descriptions on our website.
Mojo Audio DACs are engineered for natural, neutral, and harmonically coherent sound.
This will not appeal to everyone.
To over simplify, I divide high end audio customers in to two categories: the audiophile and the music lover.
Audiophiles will talk about things like bass extension and weight, high end extension and penetration, image, depth, and layering.
None of those things have anything to do with music. Those are what I call âspecial effectsâ and âattractive distortion.â
Music lovers talk about things like time, tune, harmonic coherency, and the ways instruments and voices intermingle.
Time and tune: thatâs music on the written page. The most basic components of all music.
Harmonic coherency is the mathematical alignment of all frequencies. When a note is struck it has harmonics at twice the frequency and half the amplitude going up to infinity. Alignment of the bass, mid, and high frequency harmonics is essential for music to have an organic character.
Iâve been told by customers âno matter how loud I play my Mojo Audio DAC it never sounds loud.â This is because all the harmonics align perfectly.
This is also what gives Audiophiles the illusion (or rather delusion) that our DACs have less resolution than some of these other more impressively âvoicedâ DACs. When harmonics donât align it gives a false sense of separation, layering, and resolution. Sort of like a black outline around animation. It makes things âpopâ at the expense of no longer sounding natural and organic.
Those of you who actually listen to live acoustic music all know that the separation of instruments and pin point imaging that many audiophiles are looking for simply does not exist in the real world. It is a trick of the recording studio.
Let me finish by staying there is no right or wrong here. Everyone is entitled to have the sound they prefer.
If youâre looking for that âlarger than lifeâ sound that many audiophiles desire, then there are several DACs on the market with FPGAs, Delta-Sigma DAC chips, and impressively voiced output stages to choose from.
If youâre looking for a natural and neutral sound with correct time, tune, and harmonic coherency, I suggest you audition one of my DACs with our 45-day no-risk audition."
End quote; this explanation satisfies my curiosity on impressions folks have given about his DACâs I was curious and searched till i found the words âstraight out of the horses mouth.â
