Mola Mola Makua pre/dac comparisons with Chord Dave dac

Review continued.

Ease of use.

There are three options to use the Mola Mola remotely plus manual operation. The remotes are the supplied Apple controller, the cnc machined Mola Mola handset (optional extra) and the Mola Mola app using an iPad. There are six presets that can be selected remotely, each one can be set up for whatever application you need. If a phono stage is included (at an extra cost) you could for example set up one for MM cartridges and another for MC cartridges, each with their own R, C, Gain and Equalisation. The volume can be controlled from the remotes or the knob on the front and is a relay analogue device.

The rear has IEC for power, and six pairs of balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (phono) inputs with a switch to select. The selection can also be made remotely. Also there are digital inputs (if the dac module is included), one USB type B, and one AES/EBU plus LAN for future use.

Comparisons.

Price points: Benchmark DAC 3 (£2350), SST pre/dac (£4200), Lumin S1 streamer/dac (£8,500), Chord DAVE dac (£8,500), Mola Mola pre/dac (£11,000).

I have been using the Mola Mola Makua pre/dac for around 6 months and have had the opportunity of comparing it with the above. My reference before taking on Mola Mola was the built in dac in the Lumin S1. The transport only version, the U1, is £4,500, so the dac in the S1 is worth around £4,000. The sound of the S1 was far more open and natural sounding and musically engaging compared to the Benchmark and SST. The Benchmark was detailed but over bright, the SST a bit constricted but better balanced and smoother, more natural than the DAC3. The S1 was clearly superior to both. At this time I had tried the S1 with both the SST as preamp and also direct using the Lumin's app to control volume. I preferred the sound when used direct.

The Mola Mola pre/dac took the sound to new levels of sonic delights. The sound stage expanded, there was more texture, notes lasted longer, smoother, more open and natural, musical enjoyment increased and I was tapping my toes more often.  And they weren't even run in yet. The sound just got better and better as time went on. The sound became more dynamic and even more musically involving and maybe there is even more to come.

Comparison

Mola Mola vs Chord Dave

I was very pleased with the sound quality of the Mola Mola but I was curious to know how the Mola Mola compared to the Chord Dave, obviously a very good DAC that had so many positive user reviews in the forums. I also read a report of a Chinese Hi-Fi Club that had compared the Dave with some other top performing DAC’s including some costing much more. The blind test results were:

1. Chord DAVE
2. Lavry Quintessence DA-N5
3. Merging NADAC
4. dCS Vivaldi DAC
5. TOTALDAC D1-DUAL
6. Lavry DA2002
7. SCHIIT YGGDRASIL
8. AQUA La Scala

I had been aware of a private test of a Mola Mola DAC vs Nagra DAC with the former coming out on top. Also I was told of another comparison with the Dave DAC, in which the five people present were split 2/3 in favour of Mola Mola.

I started the comparison with the Dave connected directly to the two mono Kaluga power amps. The interconnect was a HiDiamond XLR3, a revealing and musical interconnect in my opinion. Inputs were fidata network audio server through usb and Lumin S1 digital out through AES. All listening tests were through Boenicke W11 speakers.

As high-lighted by many posters in the forums, the Dave was a smooth, open, refined and naturally balanced performer. Many types of music were used in our comparison: acoustic jazz, rock, opera, acoustic blues, classical and percussion. We listened to a number of tracks and then repeated the same series of tracks with the Mola Mola in place. Both DAC’s were really good of course, PRAT was very close, coherence, transparency and information equally as good. But, there were differences in terms of musicality, the Mola Mola being more musically involving. On all forms of music the Mola Mola was just a bit more engaging and toetapping. It was the same “painting”, the Dave was in muted colours and the Mola Mola in more lit up tones.

Obviously the next thing to try was the Dave into the Mola Mola as a preamp with Dave’s digital volume control muted. I have read that a number of users prefer the sound with Dave connected via a preamp. Some, like @romaz, would disagree that Dave with a preamp is necessary and would prefer to use the Dave direct, even without a power amp. The dac direct to speakers set-up I didn’t try because, one, it didn’t occur to me at the time and secondly I wouldn’t have had the cables prepared to make that test. In our system and to us, the Dave benefited by using it with the Mola Mola as preamp. @romaz would argue that that is just putting another unnecessary layer behind the dac. To my ears, when connected to the Mola Mola as a preamp, the Dave gained in more inner musical energy, texture and colour and got much closer to what I preferred about the Mola Mola.

There are other considerations of course. Cost for one thing. The Mola being the more pricey set up being around £11,000 as a pre/dac vs £8,500 for the dac only Dave. The Dave also enables the user to use headphones directly connected to the dac, a big plus for head-fi fans. The upcoming stand alone DAC from Mola Mola I hope has the same facility, but this is not confirmed yet. Price point should be comparable with the Dave and the Mola Mola will have Roon end points built in. If you need a top flight preamp (because you are also using a turntable for example) then the Mola Mola makes a lot of sense as a one box solution that can later be updated with other facilities (such as Roon) when available.

I hope this helps.