New Mojo Mystique X

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.

Mr Mojo, I’m actually honored you took my suggestions and openly expressed it, that gives me good feeling. 🙂 Simplicity does make a difference, you can always answer complex questions and dilemmas, but again, nothing like keeping it simple and user friendly without zillion of options. Here’s a quote from one of the Mojo threads here on AG.

stereo5

5,139 posts

04-26-2020 12:24pm

Too many options to choose from for me. I wouldn’t buy because I would be afraid I picked the wrong options and would always be wondering if I picked the right ones. Looks like a winner though.

Reminds me of Gordon Ramsey episode about Indian restaurant where they had customers "make your own" curry with seemingly endless options. They blindedfolded the crew and even they couldn’t really tell one dish from another or what they are eating. Gordon put a stop to that, and they created FEW, DISTINCT dishes that best represent the cuisine and what the restaurant can offer, thus creating an identity for themselves...