Mojo Audio Mystique EVO

@mitch2 Totally agreed, despite the above criticism.

Can't say I love the business model, but obviously what they're doing works and is allowing them to create a wonderful sounding product.  And certainly you can find higher priced gear that sounds worse.

Input source (’streamer’) quality really matters - no skimping here. I believe Ben has said somewhere in these forums to get the best out of the Mystique you have to have a comparable quality streamer otherwise you may be wasting your money. I found between my Lumin U1 and Luxman CD player the CD player through spdif coax was best, at least for 16/44.1 obviously. For kicks I tried an Oppo as a transport and it was terrible - so bad that you could barely tell the Oppo from the Mojo playing the same CD; thin and harsh sounding. I pulled out my cheap Roon laptop server from the closet and plugged it in directly to the Mystique via USB and it was so much better than the Oppo. And then the Lumin of course was that much better via any connection. I think something like the Aurender N series or above with their attention to spdif quality is in order -especially if using spdif connections.

How about just using computer and usb into the dac?

@jimmy2615 Interesting. Many years ago I bought an oppo for the same purpose. Ended up returning it during the demo period for the same reason you cite. I bought a macmini instead and it was much better.  I now have a dedicated steamer.

Branislav, that's what I meant when I said I plugged in my cheap laptop that I normally use as a Roon core/server hidden away in a closet.  It sounded better than the Oppo.