New Mojo Mystique X

I want to thank you Branisalv for pointing out that there was some confusion as to the differences between the X and X SE models.

I was considering a spread sheet to clear things up but opted for highlighting the bullet pointed features list already at the bottom of the X SE product page.

I added "UPGRADED:" in front of each item which was upgraded compared to the entry-level X model.

Another thing to note is there are upgrade options on the X model. Each of those come standard on the X SE model as well as a few things you can only get with the X SE model.

For future reference Branislav, if you want know the differences between different models, go to the bullet point features list at the bottom of each product page.

Easy peasy.

For those who falsely stated that our DACs have a high noise floor, I suggest you don’t embarrass yourself any further.

Between the discrete AC input filtering, LC choke-input power supplies, massive 4-pole main capacitors, and 16X Belleson SPX ultralow-noise ultrahigh-dynamic discrete regulators, our noise floor and the speed of our power supplies are among the lowest and fastest in the industry. Well below -127dB and 0 to full current output in less than 10uS.

For those of you who don’t know what -127dB means, you would have to play your music at a volume 127dB above the noise floor in your room to hear it. And that would be a volume which would cause permanent hearing loss.

Similarly, the comments about "slow...syrupy...smoothed over details" and the like are exactly the opposite. Our DACs are so much faster and more detailed than most they allow the harmonic structure to perfectly align and the voices and instruments to blend and interact.

I could see how all of those never before heard harmonics and spacial cues could appear to be noise or slow and syrupy sound on a system which is not capable of reproducing them. And how a person would need a larger than life sounding DAC to bring a bit of life to a lifeless system.

Interesting how all the people who criticized the Mojo Audio sound listen to electronic rather than acoustic music. I’ve never read any comments on how violins or piano or horns sound off in some way. Only electronic music.

My guess is those guys don’t realize how many "voicing" decisions they made when they set up their system and that they were compensating for the harsher, harder, more digititus sound from former larger than life sounding DACs.

Think about it: if a system is voiced to sound tonally balanced with a DAC that has a larger than life sound, then wouldn’t it sound relatively slow or syrupy if you replaced that DAC with one that sounded natural and neutral?

And for those of you who don’t want to learn something and Google things like "amorphous core chokes" or "Silicon Carbide Shottky diodes" or the dozens of other highly specific technical terms I use in the descriptions of our products, I have an easy solution. Simply assume that if I made a point to mention it, that it is notably better and more expensive than what most of our competitors are using.

Of course I could always do what most of our competitors do and sell cheap parts that are not worth mentioning in a fancy chassis and then put total BS in my marketing rhetoric to confuse and sway the uneducated consumer :^P

But I’ve always found the educated consumer is my best customer.

Folks, I’ve been enjoying this thread and everyone’s descriptions of what they hope for from a DAC.

Unfortunately this statement below from Benjamin is not really correct:

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.

Yes indeed, instruments produce harmonics at APPROXIMATE multiples of the fundamental, but rarely exactly. These differences are a part of what differentiates the sound of various instruments. For example, in stringed instruments the stiffness of the strings causes the harmonics to be slightly off of perfect multiples. This is called “inharmonicity” and makes music interesting.

If a DAC forces the harmonics to be exact multiples of the fundamental, the music will be homogenized and lack true realistic character.

Therefore a DAC that accurately recreates the true sound of the instruments, will allow your ears to detect those subtle differences, and your ability to identify the individual instruments. This is part of what I interpret to be the “layers” we hear in well reproduced music, and this is a big part of what I enjoy about listening to music. Being able to differentiate these nuances is not "special effects" and not "attractive distortion."

I hope Benjamin’s DACs do not force harmonics to be exact multiples of fundamentals, but if they do that would NOT be a good thing for accurate reproduction.

Thanks for the more in-depth description of harmonics RockRider.

Our DACs don’t align or change or filter or correct ANYTHING...that’s the whole point. All they do is decode what is on the recording and attempt to preserve and amplify that musical signal.

Our philosophy is "error prevention vs error correction" and that is achieved with incredibly fast and incredibly low noise power supplies, proper shielding, and proper anti-resonance.

The LC choke input power supplies we use are the only (yes, ONLY) type of power supply which both puts current and voltage in perfect phase and stores both current and voltage.

Any other (yes, ANY other) type of power supply is an attempt to be smaller, cheaper, and/or more energy efficient, with as close performance as possible to the LC choke input power supply.

Capacitive input power supplies that are used in most gear on the market put current 90 degrees out of phase behind voltage and only store voltage. It doesn’t make a difference how much capacitance you have or if you’re using so-called "Super Caps." The physics remains the same.

Because capacitive power supplies only store voltage this makes the energy of the music always in a state of "becoming" rather than being instantaneous as with an LC choke input power supply.

This translates to the more current a passage of music requires the more off time and tune it becomes relative to the other passages. So when a note requiring a lot of current is struck the fundamental of the note is most out of phase and time, and then as less energy is required to reproduce each harmonic, the subsequent harmonics are more and more in phase and time.

Does that make sense?

This phase and time distortion from capacitive power supplies compounds as more and more are used in the recording and playback chain. So the tube amp I use in my reference system also has LC choke input power supplies.

The really funny thing is when I play people some of my favorite well recorded 1940’s and 1950’s recordings, which were done in studios using LC choke input power supplies. Then I compare them to modern recordings of the same instruments. You can see their eyes bulge and their jaws drop when they actually hear the energy and harmonics of the instruments aligning near perfectly for the first time.

As I always say: the educated customer is my best customer.

Mr Mojo, yes, that's the way to do it, now anybody looking at SE model can clearly see what the upgrade is. Way easier...

For future reference Branislav, if you want know the differences between different models, go to the bullet point features list at the bottom of each product page.

Easy peasy.

 - (That's my attempt at quote) Well, not quite. Again you get a long list of features, and you have find the differencies (like those kids games where you have to find deifferencies between 2 pictures), a lot of features are shared, some aren't. So going from B4B to PRO, on PRO bullet points, I'd highlight features and specify that these are upgrades over B4B. Not every customer is educated and super sofisticated, so easier it is, more orders will go in...

Even now, if someone was deciding between X SE and B4B for about the same, who knows how they would go about it...

@Branislav

That’s why I took your advice and added "SE Upgrade:" in bold letters in front of each feature that was improved over the entry-level X in the X SE.

And that’s why I added the "Optional:" in bold letters in front of features in the X and X SE which are optional.

Good suggestion for us to make it easier for people to see those differences at a glance Branislav. I plan on continuing with that format on future product pages.

As for your B4B vs X question, that’s a good one. .

I did clearly state in the product description even the entry-level X sounds better than the EVO Basic and that the that the X doesn’t sound quite as good as the EVO Pro.

But the B4B is one of those more complex "depends on" situations that I wasn’t sure how to express on our website.

The big "depends" is which Lundhal chokes are in the analog power supplies.

Of course the second factor is the S/PDIF upgrade, which doesn’t help the over 80% of our customers who only use the USB input, or those who purchase the entry-level X without the S/PDIF upgrade.

And a third factor has to do with which verion of the EVO B4B we were comparing to since there were originally different inputs, outputs, wiring, and shielding options.

The EVO B4B has the same Lundahl ferrous core chokes as the entry-level X, but the EVO B4B has all choke input power supplies for the three digital supplies as well as the two analog supplies. So the EVO B4B would sound better unless you were using the upgraded S/PDIF inputs, which are optional on the X version and standard on the X SE version, and then the entry-level X would sound better.

If you get the Amorphous core choke upgrade in your X or have an X SE and use the USB input it would also sound better than the EVO B4B and cost about $1K-$2K less. But the X realy isn’t upgradeable like the EVO B4B, and the EVO B4B has a much nicer chassis, so those are considerations that offset the value the X’s sonic performance.

The X SE comes with amorphous core chokes in the analog supplies, so it would sound better than an EVO B4B, unless you got the amorphous core choke upgrade option on the EVO B4B. Then we’re back to the are you using S/PDIF or USB input scenario.

Now let’s really mix things up: from 2019 to 2020 we made several different versions of the EVO B4B with different output stages, input stages, wiring, and shielding. I would say even the entry-level X would sound better than some of those EVO B4Bs because they didn’t have the same class A output stage. But if the EVO B4B had the class A output stage upgrade option then you’re back to what I wrote above.

See what I’m up against Branislav?

How would you suggest I explain such a complex set of scenarios on my website?

Sort of seems more like the kind of thing a person might ask on a forum and hope to get a response from people who owned the products or from the company.

But I am open to any suggestions any of you might have about how to explain complex scenarios like that on our website.