New Mojo Mystique X

@fuzzbutt17 Wow! new models and new upgrades to the EVO already? I just received my Mojo EVO 2021 B4B 2 weeks ago! In any case, I will be coming back for more of that music Mojo. That PCM63 DAC chip and SPDIF upgrade (I spin CD's) sound very promising and interesting - I hope you have a nice returning customer discount too :)

The EVO 2021 has been a wonderful DAC and the first component change that has totally transformed my system. And it continues to amaze me as I continue to "burn it in". When I added the First Watt Sit-3 into my audio set up, I was happy you could get some of that SET magic/tone from a solid state amp, and then when I introduced the Shindo Masseto preamp into the setup, I got more of that 3D dimensional body and meat on the bones in the music. When I added the EVO into the setup, I (finally) started to enjoy and listen and move to the music, and stopped thinking about and analyzing the sound. With prior DACs in my system (Borderpatrol SE-i, TotalDAC D1-core), I was always analyzing soundstage width/depth, instrument separation, tonality etc. Although these previous DAC's had moments of "pop" and "excitement", but in the back of mind, those moments always felt exaggerated. To be clear, I am not trying to disparage these other DACs, they are very good DACs at their price points. And given the subjectiveness of audio perception, these "exaggerations" could be another person's musical bliss. Pick your own poison as they say.... 

One of the pieces of music that I use as a litmus test is a Chesky recording of Earl Wild (pianist) playing with a full orchestra. Supposedly a very good recording, but it was probably the piece that I skipped past the most when i played that album. The piano tonality was off and just sounded flat, and overall it was like hearing the piano "versus" the orchestra. With the EVO, the piano came alive, and I could finally hear and enjoy Earl Wild's masterful and nuanced articulation, and, Earl Wild and the orchestra "playing together" and "having a high energy conversation". Quite frankly, I continued to play that piece (even though i didn't enjoy it that much) each time I introduce a new component into my system because, subconsciously, I guess I was hoping to see which component change would stop me in my tracks to have a second listen.  Every CD I have put on since the EVO arrived, the immediate reaction has not been "wow, I am hearing this new detail or that new detail" (though this is true), but I am just smiling and enjoying the music immensely. The recorded trumpet has always been a tough instrument for me to appreciate because it sounded harsh and lacked richness, but all that changed with the EVO. I actually started to like listening to the trumpet, and I am developing a new found appreciation for Miles Davis.

Apologies for the long post, but all of that is to say that if Benjamin can bring some of that high end Mojo to lower (relatively speaking) price points, and also offer existing EVO owners a high value upgrade that gets us within reasonable striking distance of the new EVO63 (without shelling out $15-$20K), that sounds like a good thing to me. 

@lemonhaze for sure (happy to help). if you have more questions, feel free to post here or send me a message. One point you made about "fixation with details" - respectfully, I take a slightly different view on that. I actually think "details" and a resolving system are great things. I think that if you can extract as much details from the source (assuming it’s a decent recording) and those details are conveyed with the "right timing and coherence", the "details" sound enjoyable and better conveys the intent of the musician(s) and you are able to better follow the nuances and tune of the music. (btw, i am not referring to hearing the side chatter in a live jazz bar recording - that type of detail can be a little distracting at least to me:) ) An analogy I like to think of is, if details were all that bad, then most people won’t likely enjoy a live performance. when we sit in front of a group of musicians we hear all the details in their glory (we hear the interplay between the musicians, the energy each musician is bringing into the musical mix, the timbral accuracy/richness of instruments/voices etc). Anyways, my 2 cents, but take it with a grain of salt since we all hear differently.

@metaldetektor i think you grossly misinterpreted/misread my comments about the BorderPatrol (BP) and TotalDac DACs. You haven’t heard anyone describe them as analytical and I didn’t describe them as analytical. They are far from "analytical". In fact, I would say quite the opposite. Quoting from my previous post "Although these previous DAC’s had moments of "pop" and "excitement", but in the back of mind, those moments always felt exaggerated." - this is not a suggestion of the DACs being analytical. What I was saying is that they try to convey "emotion"/"drama" but at times in an exaggerated way (at least to my ears) especially the TotalDac. Not saying good or bad, and for some music lovers/audiophiles this exaggerated drama is awesome (no judgement there). The BP smooths over the digital edge and conveys a sense of "analog smoothness" at some expense of good details, imho. Perhaps you might have inferred "analytical" when I wrote "When I added the EVO into the setup, I (finally) started to enjoy and listen and move to the music, and stopped thinking about and analyzing the sound." - this again was not to suggest the other DACs were analytical, what i was hoping to convey, was that with the EVO getting "timing", "coherence" and "timbre" so right that I just enjoyed the music and I didn’t have to fall back to analyzing the usual audiophile attributes to "justify" the purchase.

Your point about buying for a variety of reasons. I agree with that. And, in this hobby i think that’s even more pronounced for the simple logistical reality that we can’t just "walk into a Best Buy" and audition all of these products at the same time (and not everyone has the time or opportunity to attend an audio show) and to make a purchase decision based solely on which sounds best to us. So we make a purchase decision that includes other factors (e.g. the designer’s approach, what reviews say, the brand has "Mojo" in it - kidding on this last one) . But where I disagree with you is the suggestion of "defensiveness" coming from owners on this thread. You have past/current owners offering their (positive/negative) opinions. And for the negative, i think the designer is entitled to respond to explain his design and voicing philosophy - in fact, given we buy for a variety of reasons, i actually appreciate a strong POV from the designer. Then you have the other posts, from posters who have NOT heard the product and are making assertions about the product, I would expect its quite natural for those who have heard the product to "jump on" those posts to offer a counter opinion based on their experience(s) of the product or to ask for more context from the poster. On one hand, you celebrate the diverse views of this thread/forum, but you are quick to "label" some of these responses as "owner defensiveness". Aren’t you (perhaps inadvertently) curbing diverse voices by negatively labeling some of these owner responses?