*DAC

@carlsbad2 @axeis1 Thanks guys. The Chord products get rave reviews and was considering the TT2 and the Mscaler combo and yes, I will get to those cables...    one day!

Well, I've had my Mojo Mystique Y AM dac for a few days. It certainly brings out more of the recording than my ANK 4.1x. I wouldn't say it sounds better but it is more resolving. The Mystique is still settling in so we'll see.. hear. One of my current favorite tracks is Ambrose Akinmusire's ROY - it sounds gorgeous through the ANK, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I heard it through the Mystique.

And, cables do matter. I had a pair of Mojo Audio silver interconnects hooked up to my ANK when the Mystique arrived. I did not like the all Mojo combination. I'm not a big fan of silver but they did sound good with the ANK. I put in my usual Audio Tekne cables and everything immediately sounded right.

Norman

@nrthomas2 at twice the price the Mystique should better the ANK!                   Ya had me going for a minute though when you mentioned "Mojo" I thought you were talking Chord Mojo...LOL

@audphile1 Well, I finally got around to taking the FMCs out of the equation and oddly enough, the system sounds better with them in place, at least to my ears!

Another thing I found was moving further back from the speakers sounded better. They are only 6.6’ apart due to space limitations and I was sitting 10 feet away. If I sit 15’ away, things sound better.

I will play around some more on the weekend, but I would say at this point the Gustard R26 is performing well. I would love to try some other DACs I just need to figure out on just how to do that!

There needs to be some sort of a DAC Club, so people could swap DACs around and try some different products out.

I am down to the last piece of the puzzle. I am very happy with the sound of my system at this point, so I’m not sure if the DAC needs to be improved on. What I am looking for is to hear those background subtleties in the music a little more pronounced. The strum of a guitar, the stroke of the piano keys, the clicks, ticks & tingles that accompany the music. I do here that now, I just wondered if there is a way to elaborate on those background sounds (details) a bit more.

@navyachts , looks like you are just about ready to chase your tail.... That gustard is about as good as it gets these days.

- Put your dac and ALL front end components on a AQ Niagara 5000 or 7000, which would be a higher return on investment upgrade w.r.t to subtleties pursued.

- Treat the room, not just put up a couple of panels for decorative purposes.

If that still didn’t cut it, it’s about time to discard brand loyalties, ditch whatever speaker you’ve got and start looking into "higher" resolution speakers.

Or...you could just have a couple of vodka shots/calm the squirrels in your head before listening (cheap fix).