Tbh abyss bothers me a lot more but only because joe was rude to me directly (an already paying customer trying to get amp recomendations for a 1266 order i was considering) basicaly going “your current amp is a mini? Your too poor for 1266 anyways (dispite me asking for amp reqs inlinenwith wa33 prices)”. Thats kinda what took it from “defensive” to “asshole” to me tbh.
But i digress. His comments wont stop be from buying the product but i still dont think they look good
Well there’s a difference between defending positions on a forum to being an ass to a potential client directly. That should never be done by a respectful consumer company.
Moving this here from the Used deals thread
So I just heard back from Ben that they are no longer making the evo. I asked if that meant they had also ditched the PCM63 project they spoke about on audiogon (will see what he says). He also said that the new X has an even lower noise floor than the old EVO Pro. Given that the size of the X works way way better in my setup as is, I am very heavily leaning towards just doing it. Apparently he has an ex-demo coming in in a few weeks so Ill hear then on pricing.
I’ve been on a bit of a journey with the Mystique V3 and I changed a lot of stuff around in my chain since I first got the DAC, so I haven’t really been talking about it much. But it seems like Mojo is kind of in the air these days, so I figured I’d write an update with my thoughts after owning the V3 for a couple months. Sorry in advance for the rambles.
Listening to the Mystique V3 after owning the Exogal really felt like I had crossed some kind of threshold. Things sounded good before, but the Mystique V3 really was on another level. I remember reading hifiDJ’s Spring 3 review and seeing their aside about aiming higher for a Utopia, and I immediately 100% understood the sentiment, lol:
To be completely frank, I personally wouldn’t aim for this level of DAC with the Utopia or D8kP (hear me out). Over the many months of owning and living with the Spring, I’ve never felt satisfied in terms of straight performance and resolution (even before hearing an Amber). That being said, I’m not implying that it cannot sound enjoyable or that it sounds unacceptable. But if you want to hear (or start to hear) what the Utopia/D8kP can be capable of, I highly encourage shopping DACs around the $5k range new, or ~$3k used if you can swing it. After getting the Amber, I realized that that’s when you start to approach the actual value the Utopia/D8kP sells for.
I would echo this same thought given my experience with the Mystique V3 and the MYSPHERE 3. I definitely had a similar moment of like, okay, now it’s starting to sound like I’m hearing what the MYSPHERE can do.
Not too long ago, a few deals came around on some Mojo DACs, and NickMimi reached out to me to ask 1) is the Mystique V3 /really/ an improvement over the Exogal? and 2) should they sell some stuff and buy a Mojo DAC?
My answer to #1 was “yes,” the Mystique was definitely an obvious improvement over the Exogal, but my answer to #2 was actually “no,” that I didn’t think that Nick should buy one.
The way these two DACs present sound is quite different. I’m going to explain this really poorly, but the Mystique V3 kind of sounds like you’re in a pool of blackness, and individual sounds are these droplets that ripple outwards in all directions. The Exogal, while it’s not on the same technical level, sounds more enveloping, and the individual sounds feel more like they’re all sharing the same space with each other. The Exogal is also more set back, so while the depth between the two is probably pretty similar, the depth in the sound is a bit more obvious on the Exogal, and in general, I think the Exogal is probably better if you want a more sit back and relax kind of listen.
At the time, I blamed this difference on the lack of oversampling, which is part of the reason I did the whole HQPlayer thing, but the V3 definitely still has a certain character of it’s own no matter what oversampling filter you use.
When I first posted in this thread about the V3, multiple forum friends made it clear that I shouldn’t be using my phone as a source. (I personally found that my phone was a better source than my laptop, but I understand that neither are ideal.) But yeah, part of what continues to muddy my opinion about the Mystique V3 is that I’ve done a lot of trying to dial in my chain in the wake of buying it.
Since buying the DAC, I bought a microRendu and a fiber optic ethernet converter and a passive pre and I bought a bunch of new cables (USB, coax, RCA interconnects) and that’s on top of messing around with HQPlayer. But I will say, pretty much all of this has been rewarding. The microRendu improved the dynamics, the Curious Evolved USB cable brought me a boost in technicalities, adding a modded Goldpoint attenuator and some Anticables 6.2 RCAs brought more texture to the sounds, etc etc.
However, my overall takeaway isn’t so much that these cables I’ve bought are particularly amazing or anything, but more that my previous chain was likely being bottlenecked by all the little things that I hadn’t taken the time to upgrade.
And I know people say that upgrading cables and stuff won’t make a DAC sound like a different DAC (which is true), but all of these tweaks have felt really worthwhile with regards to tilting the sound in a direction that I like. I’m legitimately excited to buy some new power cables, lol.
I definitely like the V3 more than when I first bought it, and some of it is that I’ve tweaked a bunch of stuff around it, but some of it is probably just that it’s grown on me over time, and unfortunately those things aren’t especially easy to separate from each other.
So um, anyway, the Mojo Mystique V3 sounds fucking incredible, the space is awesome, percussive elements are addictive, it takes really well to tweaks and to oversampling, but it might not be for you depending on your preferences and what kind of experience you’re looking for. It might not even be for me and my preferences, I dunno.
We got the same amp and it’s only right you get the same cables as well 
The real shock is what you’d hear if you were to go back to your previous chain. As good as things sound, they eventually become the new norm and it’s easy to forget where we were previously which is when people get antsy and start looking to upgrade something.
This is when having a good synergy mid-fi chain comes in and give you a different flavor for a week or two and you enjoy it but then you appreciate your system that much more when you get back to it.
The problem with the 3 to 5K used gear pricing is that you pretty much have to double or more your investment in used pricing to the a meaningful bump, then you have to double or more the price again to get another meaningful bump and before you know it, you’re in the I’m seriously considering a 30K chain? am I funking nuts? LOL
There’s a lot of fun to be had tweaking with cables and such when you find a chain you’re very happy with, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper too.
I don’t see it as a problem, on the contrary - makes every move from here on out much more calculated for me personally. Always requires much more personal convincing to go for it.
That may be why I like my Mojo.
Really GREAT feedback, tweaking a system to personal preferences gets harder and harder as you get a feel for your own desires. Good sound is good sound past a certain level, tweaking sound to your personal idea of nirvana, now that takes patience and finding synergy in your gear, room, music selection etc.
Thank you so very much for taking the time and effort to put into words your experiences thus far!
Oh hey, I meant to ask, how did you end up liking the Bryston/Mojo pairing?
Loving it actually. The BHA-1 becomes a different animal when you switch out of SE listening. So much more power and control.
I’m also glad that moving out of your PC/Phone as your source made the impact I knew it would. So many things that we don’t think about can have such a dramatic effect. It’s easy to throw money at hardware and not get nearly the benefits you should out of them if you neglect those little things!
Wondering if anyone has listened to the EVO Basic vs v3 and if making the jump to the baseline EVO is worth it? There are two listing within ~$500 of each other right now and having a hard time finding anything on the Basic model (looks like most went with the B4B version understandably)
I guess the EVO Basic may allow for upgrades if they are still being offered
You can get just about anything by dealing with Mojo directly. He’ll work/re-work things on an individual basis. It’s pretty much a one man shop when it comes to decision making.
That said, what do you want from the DAC? If you’re sure it’s what you want, and your intention is further progression in the hobby, the EVO is likely the way to go.
Idk how accurate this is. When i spoke to ben a few weeks ago he said he has currently tabled the evo upgrades and is currently focusing on the X chassis
Yeah, I’ve heard similarly but apparently it’s a temporary workload thing. He offered to work on my V2 if I wanted to change it to USB and he said he’d work on power supplies he’s no longer selling. Maybe it’s when you catch him.
BTW, he’s got a balls to the wall Evo Pro demo for sale on his site for $7500 which he seems always willing to negotiate on.
I got my v2xa for a bit off what he had listed on his site just by saying “hey, i want to check you out but dont know where to start.”
I think I’m looking for a natural sound that has a touch of warmth with tonal weight/density. I don’t really focus on overly technical aspects as I more so value non-fatiguing presentation.
I ended up reaching out to Benjamin at Mojo Audio and he had told me the EVO Basic and v3 are nearly identical. He said they still do upgrades on the EVOs but didn’t necessarily mention how timely those were or the availability.
I think if this ends up being the signature that would suit me best (still trying to better define what I want) than my next question is if I want to have an upgrade path in the future with the EVO or take the v3 straight up as is
Fwiw, the evo is a different chassis (internaly) that may be easier to upgrade later
@zachzach curious on your thoughts on the new dac. Also that faceplate/case is so much better than the old one lol
So these are some very early impressions, its only been powered on for about 24 hours
Right off the bat the sound has a lot of weight and body to it. It is very spacious and staging extends better into the surrounding. It may sounds sort of odd but it feels like the music is pushing against me to a degree compared to before; its filling the room more. My assumption is that I’m experiencing the forwardness of the dac and expressing it as pushing the music towards me
The instruments on the tracks each originate and maintain their own space and aren’t as muddled with one another
My previous dac was a Bifrost 2 in this setup and man is it really an extravagant degree of improvement. I also have a dac2541 but that remains at my desk setup for my vio280 so unlikely it will see any direct comparisons swapped into the same chain. I think the best part is that I’m really comfortable with the sound signature - just a fun experience listening to tracks 
I still haven’t had the chance to sit down with headphones as I’ve been putting many hours on various pairs at work and less interested at home. I’ll eventually get some impressions on my VCs but may not do this for a while since I’m really enjoying speaker listening
RPi 4 > Mystique EVO Pro 21 > Bigger Ben Rev 2 > Zu Audio DWs
My next step is to improve the front end streaming as I understand this dac can scale well. That and swapping some pieces around I already own
Haha couldn’t agree more, really appreciate the subtle look