Six DAC Comparison

Hi everyone.

This is Benjamin from Mojo Audio, the designer of the Mystique line of DACs.

I just wanted to give you a bit of a perspective on our DACs and I wanted to offer Mitch one of our new entry-level Mystique Y Fe DACs ($3,999) to add to the comparison. Our new Mystique Y is almost identical in circuit, power supply, component parts, and chassis to our award-winning Mystique X, but sells for about half the price. Certainly more in line with the cost of other DACs in his comparison.

First thing I wanted to say is that we don't use any "voicing" to make our DACs sound a certain way. Our main design criteria is harmonic coherency: if the harmonic structure of the notes align from the lowest lows to the highest highs then it simply has to be correct. This is what gives the music proper time, tune, texture, timbre, musical flow, emotional content, and all of those other adjectives music lovers are looking for.

The unique thing about all of our DACs is that we use LC choke input power supplies which are the largest, heaviest, least efficient, and most expensive power supply typology. The LC choke input power supply was developed by Western Electric and Bell Labs about 100 years ago, and unless the laws of physics have changed in the past 100 years, it is still the only power supply typology to provide instantaneous effortless power.

The capacitive power supplies used in most DACs don't store current the way a choke/capacitor power supply does resulting in the music being off time and tune and corrupting the harmonic structure. The more energy a note requires, such as a belting vocal or a booming bass note, the more off time and tune that note is from the rest of the music.

When people talk about how organic and natural our DACs sound what they are actually hearing is the coherent harmonic structure and harmonic alignment we get from our LC choke input power supplies.

Also don't be confused: those tiny high-frequency filter chokes that are about the size of a jellybean companies like LTA use to filter out HF noise from their switch-mode power supplies are nothing like the massive Lundahl chokes with exotic core materials we use in the linear power supplies in our DACs.

The shrimp and steak served off the steam tables in those all-you-can-eat restaurants are not the same shrimp and steak you get at a 5-star restaurant. 

Another thing I wanted to touch on are bench test specifications such as the ones done by Stereophile magazine. Those tests are not incorrect, but they are incomplete, and they are often inaudible. Stereophile has named our Mystique X SE a "B" class recommended component for the past two years. Our "B" rating was due to our bench test measurements not being up with many of their favorites like the Benchmark DACs.

Of course the "less than" specifications are all inaudible. For example, John Atkins criticized our Mystique X SE for only resolving 18-bits of resolution yet he has also stated that he's never measured any recording with more than 18-bits of resolution. And despite claiming 24-bits most good recordings actually have less than 10-bits of resolution. 

The important take away is that the Reviewer from Stereophile found that our DAC sounded better than anything he compared it to. How is that possible if the bench test measurements were audible?

My favorite analogy in regards to bench test measurements being incomplete is this: picture a sphere, a cylinder, and a cone. All could look identical when measured in two-dimensions but all look quite different when measured in three-dimensions.

In any event, I would like to invite all of you to take advantage of our 45-day no-risk audition and hear one of our DACs in your system. I can honestly say that I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of DACs we get returned for refund in any given year.

And I can honestly say that literally half the reviewers or editors from the magazines who reviewed our DACs ended up purchasing the demo unit as their digital reference. I think that says it all. 

Hello Benjamin. I hope things are well. My comparison includes two of your best DACs but as you point out, the Mystique Y Fe would be a much closer competitor to the LTA Aero since they are basically the same price. Of the six DACs currently in this comparison, only the Benchmark costs less. The SMc would be the next higher priced but attaching a number to it is hard since it is not a regular offering and I know they put a lot of extra effort into it. It would be at least 50% more than the Aero and your Y Fe. The Merason is $8,500 and your other two DACs probably originally listed/retailed for north of $10K with the (unobtainable) Z-chips and the NC chokes. You have shared before that you believe the Y Fe punches well above its weight and provides much of the benefits of your other DACs at a much lower price.

@fuzzbutt17 

It’s an intelligent design.  Can you explain more about what you mean in the differences of how a pure C vs CLC power supply store energy?

”The capacitive power supplies used in most DACs don't store current the way a choke/capacitor power supply does resulting in the music being off time and tune and corrupting the harmonic structure. The more energy a note requires, such as a belting vocal or a booming bass note, the more off time and tune that note is from the rest of the music.”

@ Mitch2

The Mystique EVO Pro (2018-2020) originally sold for $11,999 and with the Z chip upgrade it would have been $12,999.

Originally we sold the Mystique X SE for $9,999 and the NC nano crystal core choke and Z chip upgrades are $2,500 making that DAC $12,499.

But due to higher sales volumes our manufacturing costs have gone down so we lowered our prices. 

Our new Mystique X AM (2024) with amorphous core chokes is identical to our Mystique X SE (2021-2023) and sells for only $8,499. And our new Mystique X NC with nano crystal core chokes sells for only $9,999.

@ gavin1977

CLC is an excellent power supply and also stores energy similar to an LC power supply but the LC is still slightly better. 

With an LC power supply the rectification multiplier from AC to DC is only .9 vs 1.414 with a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the power transformer has to be 50% larger and heavier. Some would call this "electrical torque."

The size of the choke can be significantly smaller in a CLC power supply to achieve the same inductive reactance which is also a cost, size, and weight saving. 

The crest factor in an LC power supply, meaning the peaks and valleys of the DC after rectification, is literally 50% that of a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the capacitors have literally half as much work to do. 

The heat in an LC power supply is 50% of a capacitive or CLC power supply making them last significantly longer.

And an LC power supply has the highest impedance to AC and lowest impedance to DC of any power supply typology making it the most tolerant of AC noise and providing the most effortless power to DC. 

Because a CLC power supply is considerably smaller, lighter weight, and less expensive to manufacture, they are significantly more popular than the LC.

Of course because a capacitive power supplies are even smaller, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture, they are the most popular.

The funny thing is that since nearly all high-end audio electronics use capacitive power supplies everyone is used to hearing the time and tune distortion so very few people notice it.

You should see people's jaws drop at audio shows when I play them 1940's and 1950's recordings that were made with LC choke input power supplies in the recording studios. When played on one of our DACs the difference between them and modern recordings made with capacitive power supplies is unmistakable. 

Very few companies aside from those who manufacture the best-of-the-best of tube amps use LC or CLC power supplies. 

Recently a few companies, such as Schiit and Musical Fidelity, are making solid-state power amps with LC choke input power supplies (kudos!).

The ridiculous thing is that the laws of physics are identical with micro amps and mega amps so it always makes me wonder why these same companies who apparently know the benefits of chokes in a power supply are not putting them in the preamps and DACs they manufacture.