Mojo Audio Mystique EVO

@divertiti - I will be getting my Evo in 2-3 weeks if all goes well.  I currently have a Mojo Audio Mystique v.3 which has been a mainstay in my system for the past 2 years.

I was able to do an extensive comparison of the Mystique v.3 to some other dacs that I owned at the time: a Benchmark DAC 3L, a PS Audio DirectStream DAC, and a Border Patrol DAC SE.

Also, when I bought the Border Patrol dac, I was able to compare it to two other dacs that I owned: a Yamamoto YDA-01 with an Empirical Audio spdif to usb converter, and a Teac UDH-501.

I will post my comparisons on this thread of all of these dacs after my Evo arrives. The Mystique v.3 is my reigning champ and, to be frank, my expectations for the Evo are a bit low because it is hard for me to imagine it being that much better than the v.3. 

I got my Evo B4B21 last week. I have over 100 hours on it. It must still be breaking in. I am using a Laufer Teknik Memory Player with Roon streaming ripped cd files, Quoboz, and Tidal. At first, there were a lot of ticks and pops. It was kind of like listening to a record. Not sure what was going on, but the last couple of days have been better, with only a couple of very light tick sounds over several hours of listening. I’m thinking maybe it’s my usb cable. I have a few others I could try, but the sound has been so good that I haven’t been motivated to swap cables yet. Maybe my Roon settings are not optimized. I will need to investigate more.

Despite this relatively minor issue, I am finding that there is much less distortion when playing back my favorite music. One strategy that I use is that I listen to poor sounding recordings when auditioning new gear. I am finding that the Evo is making some of my "modern" recordings that are compressed sound more tolerable. Bad recordings sound better. One example is Nathan Rateliff’s self titled album. This is a recording that was intolerable when I had my Benchmark Dac 3L. The Dac 3L is supposed to have near perfect measurements but it made certain recordings unlistenable. I don’t know how the Evo measures, but Rateliff’s album now sounds quite good in my room, especially the song "SOB." I even made it all the way through the dreadfully recorded Oasis album "(What’s the Story) Morning Glory" which is a first for me. I can now make more sense of the fuzzed out, distorted guitar playing and cymbal crashes that are on Champagne Supernova. I have always felt very uncomfortable listening to this album, but now it is border line acceptable, if not great. Jazz recordings are wonderful. The cohesiveness and naturalness of my Mystique V.3 has been retained but now there is more incite into the recording. Also, there is more bass heft. For example, McCartney’s bass guitar playing in "Silly Love Songs" is more prominent. My speakers have an adjustable bass output knob so I can dial it down if I feel it’s going to be an issue, but I’m actually enjoying the extra weight. I think I am hearing more like what a live bass guitar is supposed to sound - and feel - like.

Thanks mitch2. Tonight, my EVO is presenting an even more holographic soundstage. I am really enjoying it. I think I found the problem with the pops and ticks. My usb cable is heavy and somewhat inflexible. It was not making a good connection with the "floating" usb connector on the back of the EVO. I tried another cable and it seems all is well. Hope you get your EVO soon.. 

Interesting that the subject of cd transports came up in this thread, as after 9 months of ownership of my EVO, I recently decided to experiment with listening to the EVO through my disc player as a transport. Last night was mesmerizing. I am using an Esoteric UX3-pi into the EVO spdif input. EVO/UX3-pi breathes life into the music, whereas the UX-3pi alone sounds flat and uninvolving in comparison. Might have to try a Jay’s or Pro-Ject transport one day.

The reason it took so long to try the spdif input is that the EVO simply sounds fantastic with my Laufer Teknik Memory Player streaming to the EVO. Matt Clott also used a Memory Player in his positive review of the EVO in the Absolute Sound. In my system, it is hard to say which is better, EVO/Memory Player or EVO/Esoteric. I will say that the EVO/Memory Player combo seems to have a knack of making compressed recordings sound more palatable to my ears, and recordings that already have good dynamic range are simply wonderful.

I use Roon, but @grannyring as usual is ahead of the curve and I will have to try some of the things that he has done that has improved the sound of his system. I appreciate that @grannyring is sharing his endeavors and results with the rest of us.

Benjamin’s description of the sound of the EVO is spot on, as it should be. I bought and tried 5-6 dac’s and chose Mojo Mystique v.3 (since upgraded to EVO) because of how it blends the musicians coherently together in a way that makes it seem that there is a live performance in front of me (in a “you are there” manner), instead of sounding like people are in a recording studio in separate sound booths. Benchmark DAC3 was like the latter. Border Patrol DAC SE came closest to sounding like the Mystique, in my system. I also had PS Audio DirectStream, which was around the same price as the Mystique, but the obviously smaller image size and flatter sound staging of the DirectStream (relative to the Mojo) made it an easy decision to go with Mojo.

Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their EVO as much as I am.