[seamon]

For sure -I've only tried a handful of DACs but the Mojo beat the lot of them hands down, and it's a keeper. I'm still not 100% sure why I enjoy it with the LC more than on its own...but I definitely do.

According to reviews, LC has been described as not as revealing/neutral but very engaging. I think this is exactly what you are hearing with your combo.

 

[Hooster]

From SoundFreaq, sponsored by Cavalli http://www.head-fi.org/t/702787/chord-hugo/8055
 
(This is specifically regarding the Hugo, but some if it also applies to Mojo.)
 
"Mathematically, you cannot add to a complete analog system and make it better. Unless there was something fundamentally wrong with the Hugo at the line-out. Which is not the case. The specs top most everything. And some specs by enormous proportions. You can't add a lower performing anything and make it operate on a higher level. And simply, there are inherent and inevitable flaws associated with attaching another box electronics of any caliber to the Hugo's signal, it is not the best use of the signal! But some people will dig the character it adds to the sound. And that is fine, as long as you understand that picking up any extra gear to add to the output is actually only adding flaws, and you're tweaking coloration. The whole point of hi-end audio is to get out of the way of the music. Leave it as simple and pure as possible. Adding loads of electronics in the form of an amp is the antithesis of this concept. An amp adds alot. It really does."
 
At the end of the day it is up to you. If you like the way it sounds, then you like the way it sounds. I would however suggest that if coloration is what you are after, then a tube amp will in most cases introduce a more pleasant coloration than a transistor amplifier. 
 
Also, if you really think that "it gives a much wider sound stage to my ears. And so the impression of details/instrument separation increases" then you should buy another one, plug your first one into that and your headphones into the new one. Then when you have more money buy another and so on and so forth. When you have 10 or so connected together you will surely be blown away by the width of the soundstage and instrument separation.
 
Finally, when you are sinking hundreds of $ into components that may or may not bring anything positive to the table, then do yourself a favor. Learn something about how these things work, things like power supplies, output devices, balanced implementation, volume control implementation, etc. It will make this hobby more satisfying.

 

[seamon]

  Finally, when you are sinking hundreds of $ into components that may or may not bring anything positive to the table, then do yourself a favor. Learn something about how these things work, things like power supplies, output devices, balanced implementation, volume control implementation, etc. It will make this hobby more satisfying.

It's actually not hard to understand why Mojo is not enough.
https://www.audeze.com/products/lcd-collection/lcd2
 
If you look under the specs - LCD 2 requires optimally 1-4W at 70ohm
 
http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/product/mojo/
 
Mojo can't even provide 1W at 8ohm, let alone 70 ohm.
 
Sure, the LCD 2 won't always draw 1 W but when the music starts to get complex is when the power spikes. It is during this when the LCD 2 is not able to draw enough power out of a Mojo and leads the sound to become congested. 
A amplifier in the link solves this problem.

 

[Voley]

According to reviews, LC has been described as not as revealing/neutral but very engaging. I think this is exactly what you are hearing with your combo.

Yes, that sounds exactly right from my experience... Bottled engagement factor. Cavalli should start a line of perfumes

 

[Hooster]

 
If you look under the specs - LCD 2 requires optimally 1-4W at 70ohm
 

 
Really? Like really really? 
 

Efficiency

101dB / 1mW

 
https://www.audeze.com/products/lcd-collection/lcd2
 
2mW = 104dB
4mW = 107dB
8mW = 110 dB
16mW = 113 dB
32mW = 116 dB
64mW = 120dB
 
"When listening to a personal music system with stock earphones at a maximum volume, the sound generated can reach a level of over 100 dBA, loud enough to begin causing permanent damage after just 15 minutes per day!"
 
http://dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/noise-induced-hearing-loss/
 
120dB is loud enough to cause "immediate damage".
 
This statement: "LCD 2 requires optimally 1-4W at 70ohm" is absurd.
 
 
The fact is that the Mojo can drive the LCD-2 to 120dB. If that is not enough for you I suggest you have a hearing test done immediately. 

 

[seamon]

Again,as I said before, a good amp brings much more to the table than just loudness

 

[Voley]

Hooster, I've read the link you sent. It's useful and informative (and polite, which seems to be rare around here), and I agree entirely that adding an amp will introduce distortion and colouration. But I LIKE the colouration introduced by my LC. It sounds wider and better to me. Whether that's due to increased power or not, I don't know. I just like it, and it suits my tastes. That's all.

So thanks for pointing to that post, I appreciate it. But -1 from me for being patronising while you were doing it.

 

[Voley]

And thanks for the power explanation, Seamon - it makes sense to me! I'm not getting into the whole balanced vs se debate, but I definitely hear a difference via xlr - but that has much more power available on the LC, so could well be that.

 

[seamon]

And thanks for the power explanation, Seamon - it makes sense to me! I'm not getting into the whole balanced vs se debate, but I definitely hear a difference via xlr - but that has much more power available on the LC, so could well be that.

LC was always meant to be used balanced. If you have v1 then the SE is pretty bad. They improved the SE a little in the second revision. Balanced in both are nearly same.

 

[Girlfrombrasil]

Tx for all the input.I appreciate it!!

 

[crossfire]

Any suggestions on an alternative DAC for the LC besides the Mojo? I was looking at Schiit's Multibit stuff for a while but a bit worried that it won't pair well like the Mojo.

 

[seamon]

  Any suggestions on an alternative DAC for the LC besides the Mojo? I was looking at Schiit's Multibit stuff for a while but a bit worried that it won't pair well like the Mojo.

I am going to use my DX200 DAP in balanced mode. It outputs 6VRMS so I should be fine I guess. I'll let you how it performs when it arrives.

 

[Hooster]

Since some posters have reported good results using the Cavalli with a Mojo, I have a question. I mostly use my Mojo to power my home audio system, connecting it directly to a power amplifier. Does anyone think I could improve the sound by connecting the Mojo to a Cavalli and then connecting that to my power amplifier and using the Cavalli to drive the power amp? It would make sense that the same benefits would become apparent, right? Has anyone done that? 

 

[Voley]

Okay, I'll take the bait, Hooster. (It's bait, because you're making a point, not asking a genuine question, right?) To me that doesn't make sense. My understanding is that the Cavalli benefits my headphones by driving them with more authority than the Mojo, which cannot output the same power (2.5w into 50 ohms - my headphones need 1-4 w at 70 ohms, and as Season says, the Mojo doesn't get close...and authority is different to volume, as he established). So I enjoy two properties of the combination: the headphones responding better to the additional power (as distinct from volume) and the colouration of the amp. These are traded against an inevitable loss of transparency by including the LC in the chain.

So...you are using a power amp because the Mojo doesn't have enough power to correctly drive your speakers, right? This is directly analogous to my use of the LC to drive my headphones. You won't see any additional driving benefits from including the LC, because your amp has enough power to compensate for the Mojo's shortcomings there. So if you included the LC, it would just be for colouration. That's your choice, but the 'benefit' then would be a deliberate loss of transparency (as you pointed out to me at some length).

 

[Hooster]

Okay, I'll take the bait, Hooster. (It's bait, because you're making a point, not asking a genuine question, right?) To me that doesn't make sense. My understanding is that the Cavalli benefits my headphones by driving them with more authority than the Mojo, which cannot output the same power (2.5w into 50 ohms - my headphones need 1-4 w at 70 ohms, and as Season says, the Mojo doesn't get close...and authority is different to volume, as he established). So I enjoy two properties of the combination: the headphones responding better to the additional power (as distinct from volume) and the colouration of the amp. These are traded against an inevitable loss of transparency by including the LC in the chain.

So...you are using a power amp because the Mojo doesn't have enough power to correctly drive your speakers, right? This is directly analogous to my use of the LC to drive my headphones. You won't see any additional driving benefits from including the LC, because your amp has enough power to compensate for the Mojo's shortcomings there. So if you included the LC, it would just be for colouration. That's your choice, but the 'benefit' then would be a deliberate loss of transparency (as you pointed out to me at some length).

 
Great post. It is a genuine question because the ability/quality of pre-amplifiers to drive a power amplifier varies greatly and people are willing to pay a lot for one that is better than another. I am genuinely interested in the experiences of people who pair the Cavalli with a Mojo and use the combination as a pre-amplifier.
 
At the end of the day, whatever your philosophy is, the sound you like is a personal preference. That is one of the tough parts of this hobby. You can read as many reviews of a component as you like. You can however never really tell how much you are going to like it until you actually give it a listen.
 
With respect to driving headphones, that has already been covered, don't you think? I wonder how loud your headphones would be with 4 Watts? What headphones are you using?
 
My speakers have a 175 Watt power handling but I am using a 25 Watt amplifier to drive them. Why? Because I love the sound.