Evaluation of the Mojo Mystique V3:
Benjamin of Mojo Audio was kind enough to send me a Mojo Audio Mystique V3 ladder chip PCM only DAC (Spec’s at bottom of report). Converts up to 24/192 via a USB, Coax or Toslink input. Comes in 2 flavors: single ended at around $5555- and balanced at around $7555- (Don’t know the reason for the price difference but I believe it is parts cost related, which makes sense). He also offers a matching music server he calls the Déjà vu available in both Linux and Windows versions for around $4555- which he will be sending to be towards the end of the month. I did not request these evaluations. Benjamin reached out to me as he felt his product deserved a bit of recognition and I’m always happy to hear more gear at any price as long as I am given the time to allow it to burn in and take my time to offer opinions. SO here we go….
Case and build:
It appears to be a folded sheet metal case beautifully finished in a black crinkle coat. Although not a solid thunk when you tap on the top like a milled case wound do, it’s also not the hollow clang you get from lesser sheet metal construction. Very simple and elegant design up front with only 3 input buttons and a silk screened name. The back has well laid out inputs and outputs, and a solid IEC connector that can hold a heavy aftermarket power cable without issue. Power switch is on back. Simple feet underneath clearly would benefit from one of the myriad of aftermarket products I have recently been playing with. I’d suggest the IsoAcoustic Gaia or Orea for an easy inexpensive upgrade; or go for the Symposium rollerbocks or HRS Nimbus for a more expensive higher level upgrade. What you give is what you get with these footers. I’d also suggest a good aftermarket powercord as it clearly benefited from the higher end power cables I tried. As everyone knows, I’m a HUGE Shunyata fan…
From a functional standpoint I ran it off of my Memory Player (via USB) with a driver and off of my Linux based Aurender N10 (via USB and spdif) both without issue. Benjamin was available for tech support when needed, but it was needed rarely. The N10 is as rock solid as always and links right up to any DAC you connect to it via any output you try or all of them simultaneously. After trying both the spdif and the usb from the N10 I preferred the USB. Now I think the USB is a better output from the N10 anyway, so it probably isn’t a fair statement. But if given a choice I would use the USB input on the Mystique; that’s just me…. There is no remote needed as it has three input buttons that are push and play, set and forget. Done.
So, how does it sound. Well, I asked for the balanced version so I was evaluating a $7555- DAC. I was told my Benjamin that the single ended and balanced essentially sound the same but just service the cable selected the best it can (Ben, please comment if incorrect). I’m gonna get the finale out of the way early – At $5555- , if the single ended does in fact sound the same as the balanced, then there is N-O-T-H-I-N-G currently available that can come close to the performance of the Mystique V3, that I have heard (and I have heard MOST of what’s available). At $7555- the balanced version is rubbing elbows with some bigger players that are serious performers. $8K is in Jeff Rowland, ODSE, Lampy territory and what I would consider to be serious competition. But lets get to specifics…
Soundstage is wide, deep and clearly limited by the speakers and room treatments more then the DAC. I got the same depth and width from the ODSX (which is my $13+K resident DAC, and one of my favorites) as from the Mystique V3. Image specificity was better defined with the ODSX but not much. It was more the air around the performers that was more defined, natural and “airy” with the ODSX than the actual performers. Height was about the same. There was a sense of natural presence with the ODSX that the V3 lacked, but at $6K more this is almost an unfair comparison…
Tonal color was wonderful and just right. Not warm, not lean, not overly accurate, not mushy or soft. This DAC is dynamic, punchy but not overly so, develops proper leading and trailing edge although not quite as prolonged and “thorough” as the ODSX. It just doesn’t do anything wrong or offensive; I cant see anyone NOT liking this DAC. The V3 offers a sense of presence that some more expensive DAC’s that I have heard struggle to reproduce. That sense of “they are they and in the room” was quite impressive for a DAC at this price range and Ben should be proud of this, because its not easy to achieve. Again, compared to my ODSX it did not offer the level of layer, depth and harmonic complexity but what it offers it correct and above the performance of many other DAC’s for the same amount and more. I have not heard a sub $10K Lampy DAC in a while, but from memory this and the Lampy are both in the same category for solid state and tube variants of a great sub $10K DAC. As everyone knows I am a HUGE fan of the ODSE and think it would be a hard choice between the two… The Rowland Aeris is another option that is also an over performer at this price range. With the external power supply I could see it being better then the V3, but the Aeris with power supply is also well over $10K.
The DAC switched between resolutions without a hiccup and gave a proportionate improvement with resolution change that was proper and luxurious.
There was not a moment I wasn’t tapping my feet or swaying my head to the music. Really a great DAC.
SO, if you are looking for a single ended DAC you’d be a fool to not listen to the sub $6K single ended Mystique V3! For a balanced DAC in the sub $10k range the V3 is a must audition. And since its available from a small company I would imagine arranging an audition would be much easier then some of the boutique store alternatives… Of course, DSD lovers need not apply. Then again, the Aeris and ODSE don’t do DSD either… and I don’t know about the Lampy.
I look forward to hearing the Déjà Vu with the V3 when it arrives! What a treat Ben. Thanks for the fun times!!!
Specs:
· Built around Analog Devices’ legendary monolithic AD1862 R-2R ladder DAC chips.
· Converts PCM format files up to 24-bit 192KHz via USB, coaxial S/PDIF, or TosLink.
· Vishay TX2575 "nude" resistors matched to 0.1% tolerance throughout analog signal path.
· Direct-coupled ultrahigh-performance Sparkos discrete op amps in the output stage.
· No output transformers or coupling capacitors to narrow bandwidth or distort phase.
· Hardware-based demultiplexing to ensure perfect phase and time coherency.
· Independent circuits adjust MSB for left and right channels at the zero voltage crossing.
· Five independent choke input power supplies with Mundorf M-Lytic AG+ 4-pole capacitors.
· Twelve Belleson ultralow-noise regulators isolate every type of IC chip and clock.
· Laboratory grade filtered IEC input combined with multistage cascaded AC filtering.
· High-performance Furutech connectors and cotton covered UniCrystal silver hookup wire.
· Anti-resonant polymerized aluminum composite chassis with ferrous internal shielding.
· Sorbothane anti-resonant standoffs under PC boards and Sorbothane feet under chassis.
· Field convertible from 110VAC to 250VAC both 50Hz and 60Hz. (100VAC is Special order).
· Solid brass ground post and DC ground lift for optimized system grounding.
· 17.5"W x 3.25"H x 12"D and 23 pounds.
