Mojo Audio Mystique EVO

New EVO review up at Enjoy the Music.

Congrats, @c_avila1 

"In the zone" - a great description.

If you don't mind, what interconnects are you using with your EVO?

I recently switched to Cerius Graphene Matrix, which in my system, is was a great match.

That makes sense, @grannyring .  I bought my single-ended v3 used a little over a year ago for $3100.   I should have checked today's used prices.

I haven't heard a lot of dacs, but I think a $2600 v3 would be one of the best values out there.

@sabrejet - Ben at Mojo offered a very fair trade-in of my V3 as a credit towards the EVO. On the Mojo website, you can see that single-ended V3’s have dropped in price to $3500. That’s around the used market price - maybe a little higher.

The upgrades Ben suggested that I went with:

• Analog PSU Choke - Lundahl
• SPDIF Upgrade - Lundahl Amorphous core and Vishay resistors
• Signal Path upgrade - Capacitor upgrade and Vishay resistors
• AC Filter- Discrete Double-Pi

I ordered the EVO with an AES input as well - as my streamer has AES output and I want to try it out.

Ben’s position is that clean power is paramount to good sound. His Illuminati power supply gets overwhelming good reviews, as do his dacs and servers that have robust power sections of his design.

I can’t imagine how the sound of the v3 in my system could be improved, but I have tempered excitement of Mojo’s claims that the EVO provides a compelling lift in SQ.

This is cool and impressive, Grannyring!  Congrats.

Can you expand on the sound differences vs the stock V3?  Can you quantify the uplift in SQ - 10% better?

I think the Mystique v3 sounds fantastic, and I can't imagine how it can improve - so this is great to hear from you.  My EVO should arrive in a week or two.

A review of the Mystique EVO:

Audiophillia - Mojo Mystique EVO DAC

My EVO arrives this afternoon.  I'll post some feedback soon.

It's now been a little over a week that I've had the EVO. 

Comparing to the v3, I hear improvements in micro details, timing, texture and cohesion. On their own, each of these traits might be small improvements over the v3 - but as a whole, it sums to a significant improvement in realism.  

Right now, I think the biggest improvement is in hearing small details around instrument and vocal vibrations and resonance - all with subtlety and dynamics.   The EVO creates incredibly organic and natural music - that on some recordings is little spooky.  They are in the room.

While my amp and speakers have a reputation as being a very good value, they certainly wouldn't be considered "hi-end" by many.  But even in my modest system, I'm extremely pleased with the upgrade to the EVO.

No matter how much I turn it up the music sounds right and never loud. It grows and swells filling the space and I can feel the impact, but it never sounds pushed or “loud”.

I totally agree.  I'm playing louder than normal (about +10db) as well and the sound only becomes fuller - never strained nor distorted.  And while playing at higher than my normal volume, I can hear more of the delicate details and dynamics of this excellent DAC.

I live in Vero Beach, FL.  If anyone would like to have a listen, you're more than welcome to come by.  Or, I can come to you and bring the EVO - I love hearing different systems and meeting people.

@ddafoe , nice!  Would love to learn what you think of the V3, and how it compares to your other DACs.

I've had the EVO for a couple months now.  Continues to impress.

After about a month of having the EVO, one morning I heard a significant hum out of my speakers.  

I changed the position of the ground switch on the EVO and that fixed it. I couldn't tell you what the original and current position is, but I can look if you need that info.

No idea what caused this - my house is 55 years old and probably has the original wiring.   

From Mojo Website:  "To optimize system integration the DC signal ground can be floated from the AC, Earth, and chassis grounds with the flip of a switch."

I'm guessing there might be a few more EVO owners out there now.  Anyone care to provide their experience?

Mine continues to impress, especially the microdetails and realism from top to bottom - but really I'm just sitting back and enjoying the music.

I read that there are new boards and perhaps a new chassis coming out.  The "21" model?  Anyone have details.  Oh, 'just looked at the Mojo website and I see the 21 indicated on the products now.

I'll have to ask Ben what that might mean for my original B4B EVO.

@mitch2  - yes, I did own the V3 for about 2 years before getting the EVO.  I was extremely happy with it, and wasn't considering a new dac at all.  I couldn't imagine better.   

To my ears, the EVO brings more of what the V3 does so well, from top to bottom.  Micro-details in the lows and mids were improved in my system.  Low notes aren't just tones, but real instruments with their vibrations, decay and resonance more present.   There are other small SQ improvements in the EVO - but as a whole, the EVO in my system, is probably 20-30% improvement over v3.

To feed the EVO, I use AES/EBU.  With the V3, I was using SPDIF-RCA.  Before receiving the EVO, I asked Ben for his advice on RCA vs AES, and I'll just show you his reply:

AES XLR is a significant upgrade over coaxial S/PDIF.
The reason is that with coaxial their are only two conductors and the ground is the shield, but with AES XLR there are three conductors the plus, the ground, and the minus, plus the shield is a fourth conductor that connects the chassis of the two components and is totally out of the signal path.
Really no comparison, and that’s not even counting how much better an XLR connector is compared to an RCA or BNC.

So, I've been using AES the entire time with the EVO.  I haven't tried RCA yet.  While waiting for the EVO, I sold my SPDIF cable (Sablon) to help fund a new AES cable (BlackCat).  My streamer is the DCS Network Bridge.

I did hear my EVO using USB when I brought it to a friend's house.  He has a Antipodes DX Gen 3.  It sounded excellent.  He was using a Accoustic BBQ usb cable (sold by @grannyring ).  In his system, there was not a big difference between his DX with USB, and the DCS with AES.  Not a great comparison with 2 different streamers feeding the EVO, but to our ears, the USB was certainly not a step down in any way in our limited test,

Thanks for the updates on the new boards.  I told Ben I would be a beta tester for the PCM63 boards.  I hope I'm chosen.  I have an old Rotel CD player that has 2 of them.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have more questions.

VeroGuy

My EVO B4B is en route from Mojo Audio right now.  I had the opamps upgraded from Sparkos to the current Staccatos they use today in the '21 version. I'll post my impressions soon.

FWIW, I feed the EVO from a DCS Network Bridge using AES - BlackCat Digit 110 cable.

Just got my EVO back from Mojo Audio.  I had the the Sparkos opamps changed to the Staccato's Ben is now using in the '21 version.

It's an improvement to my ears.  Not a change in character, but a small but noticeable refinement in detail and coherence.  Recommended.

@grannyring , do you have the Staccato opamps in your EVO?