DAC comparison

[RoA]

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The placebo effect is incredibly strong, you can even tell someone they have received a placebo drug, and it will have the placebo effect.

I decided to replace my speaker cables, as they were very different lengths and a bit ugly. The new ones were nothing special, from KabelDirect, a reputable supplier. For days I heard a huge improvement in the sound when the two were compared. Gradually that impression vanished.

I was also convinced that speaker break in was real, and when I auditioned at home new Kef LS50 Metas, straight out of the box, I heard a gradual break in as expected. When I received my brand new pair, they sounded … the same. There was no break in. Okay, there might have been subtle changes, I can’t rule that out, but nothing obvious as per the supposed break in of the first pair. I suspect the brain initially adapts to the sound, if the treble is too high, it makes adjustments, just as if you wear glasses that turn the world upside down, over time the world rights itself.

With a good DAC the differences will be below the threshold of audibility. Cheaper ones will be audibly worse e.g. the one in the Wiim Mini. Of course a manufacturer of a boutique DAC could voice the frequency response, I don’t know if that happens.

I had a Chord Mojo. I compared it with the £10 Apple DAC dongle, and I couldn’t hear a difference, using a Sennheiser HD600 and an Audeze Sine. Some reviewers will tell you the opposite. To be fair it is incredibly different to perform such tests, and you really need to have two systems level matched to each other. Measurements confirm that they should sound the same, except that the Mojo can provide a higher output signal which can be important with insensitive headphones. The Mojo failed after 18 months, a piece of overpriced overhyped junk.

I agree with you, absolute level matching is required to do a comparison. Mojo 2 user here (it currently is doing speaker system duty). Not had any issues. FWIW and imho it's a well made, unusual product available at an affordable price for something made by a/ a high end company and b/ in the UK. Times have probably moved on and very good DAC/HP amplifiers are available, usually from China (no issue) and with off the shelf chips (no problem either). I use one for my HP system.

If I had one complaint about the Mojo 2 it is that it should have automatic input sensing, that's about it. Perhaps it could do with a balanced 4.4 instead of the second jack. Otherwise it's brilliant.

 

[Noddy]

I agree with you, absolute level matching is required to do a comparison. Mojo 2 user here (it currently is doing speaker system duty). Not had any issues. FWIW and imho it's a well made, unusual product available at an affordable price for something made by a/ a high end company and b/ in the UK. Times have probably moved on and very good DAC/HP amplifiers are available, usually from China (no issue) and with off the shelf chips (no problem either). I use one for my HP system.

If I had one complaint about the Mojo 2 it is that it should have automatic input sensing, that's about it. Perhaps it could do with a balanced 4.4 instead of the second jack. Otherwise it's brilliant.

I had to use fiddly and expensive cables when using it with my iPhone, horrible. I believe it works much better with Android phones.