Pricing is odd and low so be careful. Used prices of a Tambaqui from reputable dealers and reputable independents are going for $8,900 to $9,500. I recommend you contact Bill Parish, owner, GTT Audio in New Jersey (gttaudio.com; 908.850.3092). There is a preowned one listed on their webpage. GTT is the US importer and distributor for Mola Mola. Bill is extremely knowledgeable, patient, and does not believe in pressure sales. I audition the Tambaqui in comparison to my previous DAC. He spent over an hour not imparting any impartial comments to sway my opinion. He then waited over 8 months until I made a decision to purchase a preowned unit from him. I compared the Mola Mola to the Bricasti M1 and DCS Bartok. I found the Tambaqui had the most natural timbre, better micro and macro dynamics, better bass extension and detail, better detail in general without being etched or fatiguing, and most dense imaging. Staging had better separation between instruments and blacker space between instruments. However, I personally feel width not as wide as the other two. Really knit picking, possibly secondary harmonic decay in the spaces between were a little less evident than the others. I said I was knit picking because the envelope or bubble of sound that harmonic decay produces is very evident and combined with the dense sound stage produces lifelike images. In the end I felt the Tambaqui just sounded more musical. Realize, this is my analysis and if you go with a Tambaqui please audition and use your own ears. As I stated, the list preowned Tambaquis I see listed by reputable dealers and independents are in the range I stated and therefore be careful of much lower advertised prices. Maybe it’s a real bargain, but maybe it is not. I recommend contacting GTT.
Odd DAC Pricing
I’m in the market for a Mola Mola Tambaqui and I’ve noticed that many listed for sale are of recent manufacture and only owned by the seller for a few months, yet they are reselling many thousands below retail. How can it be that an item that retails for $13,500 is so often resold only months later for $4000- $5000 off. Sometimes the reseller is already the second owner in just 6-9 months. Is there something I don’t know? Some gray market? If you know something about how these are purchased that you can’t share publicly please DM me. Thanks for any information.
Showing 3 responses by jsalerno277
@snookhaus I just reviewed all listings on Agon and the Mart. Lowest list preowned price is $8700. Most above $9000. I look often. Never saw one below $8700. |
@snookhaus Mean $8552. Range $7000 (deal of the day) to $9980. Did this quick. Maybe some errors. Buy probably 95% accurate. A few did sell below $8000 as you indicated. If the Shark list is chronological, the trend you stated was not noticed by me in the last 24 sales. Sales below $8000 seem randomly dispersed. If I was not retired, and had access to Minitab, I would have done the trend analysis. Note, if go back further than the last 24 sales, the trend appears to be down from over $9000 to around the mean I calculated. |