[chelseafc]

Changing to what out of interest?

Keeping the MS and replacing DAVE with Mojo2.
I am not a headphones guy, in my setup Mojo2 beats DAVE if you could believe it.
As an added bonus, it does not need two expensive AC cables, power conditioner and a stack of LPSs to get the most out of it.
Money savings was not a factor in my decision.
In fact, I was so biased towards DAVE, that I tried to find anything in Mojo2 that would keep me from looking like a fool, but could not.

That said, I can see why headphones listeners would not exchange DAVE for anything Else.

 

[Meridian7]

Keeping the MS and replacing DAVE with Mojo2.
I am not a headphones guy, in my setup Mojo2 beats DAVE if you could believe it.
As an added bonus, it does not need two expensive AC cables, power conditioner and a stack of LPSs to get the most out of it.
Money savings was not a factor in my decision.
In fact, I was so biased towards DAVE, that I tried to find anything in Mojo2 that would keep me from looking like a fool, but could not.

That said, I can see why headphones listeners would not exchange DAVE for anything Else.

Thumbs up for being honest to yourself!
"In my setup" is most important here imho. All things together that cannot be simply recreated/simulated elsewhere.
I suspect your dave does not breath to max potential in 'that setup' but thats just thinking thoughts.

I've found mojo2 needs warm up time for sounding best. At about 15 mins the shine comes.

 

[walterboss]

Keeping the MS and replacing DAVE with Mojo2.
I am not a headphones guy, in my setup Mojo2 beats DAVE if you could believe it.
As an added bonus, it does not need two expensive AC cables, power conditioner and a stack of LPSs to get the most out of it.
Money savings was not a factor in my decision.
In fact, I was so biased towards DAVE, that I tried to find anything in Mojo2 that would keep me from looking like a fool, but could not.

That said, I can see why headphones listeners would not exchange DAVE for anything Else.

I ditched Mscaler for similar reasons. Resent having to spend £1000 on BBC cables to get most of it. Diminishing returns much!

 

[Reactcore]

Keeping the MS and replacing DAVE with Mojo2.
I am not a headphones guy, in my setup Mojo2 beats DAVE if you could believe it.
As an added bonus, it does not need two expensive AC cables, power conditioner and a stack of LPSs to get the most out of it.
Money savings was not a factor in my decision.
In fact, I was so biased towards DAVE, that I tried to find anything in Mojo2 that would keep me from looking like a fool, but could not.

That said, I can see why headphones listeners would not exchange DAVE for anything Else.

Its what RF free sounds like off mains.
Soft and lifelike. And if you want some extra treble spice.. youll add some lossless EQ without amplifying harschness.

 

[chelseafc]

Its what RF free sounds like off mains.
Soft and lifelike. And if you want some extra treble spice.. youll add some lossless EQ without amplifying harschness.

Appreciate your sarcasm, but softness is not what made Mojo2 sound better than DAVE to my ears.
Just to be clear, non-upsampled Mojo2 sounds blah,
But with OPTO-DX isolation from the source and external upsampling to 705/768, it sounds more detailed and open compared to DAVE.
If nothing else, DAVE is on the warmer side between the two.
When someone insisted that I tried it, I thought it is crazy, but figured $650 won’t break the bank, plus Mojo2 could stay on my desktop in case things go as I expected they would (DAVE wins in the first round by a knockout).
Then when I heard it, I told myself, it must be illusion or an expectation bias (although the expectation was supposed to be working against it).
But after listening to it for a week non-stop, I was sold.

 

[Reactcore]

Appreciate your sarcasm, but softness is not what made Mojo2 sound better than DAVE to my ears.

Dont get me wrong. As i can truly imagine what you mean.
By softness i mean closer to real life sound.. one free of mains pollution. And using OptoDX and HMS youre maximising its performance.

I tested it too.. sadly not optically connected.

 

[chelseafc]

Dont get me wrong. As i can truly imagine what you mean.
By softness i mean closer to real life sound.. one free of mains pollution. And using OptoDX and HMS youre maximising its performance.

I tested it too.. sadly not optically connected.

To stress maybe the most important thing here - I am not listening through the headphones.
When I did, Mojo2 sounds fine, but nowhere near as good as amplified by my class A Luxman integrated.

BTW, curious where did you get that nice DBNC to RCA adaptor from?

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Keeping the MS and replacing DAVE with Mojo2.
I am not a headphones guy, in my setup Mojo2 beats DAVE if you could believe it.
As an added bonus, it does not need two expensive AC cables, power conditioner and a stack of LPSs to get the most out of it.
Money savings was not a factor in my decision.
In fact, I was so biased towards DAVE, that I tried to find anything in Mojo2 that would keep me from looking like a fool, but could not.

That said, I can see why headphones listeners would not exchange DAVE for anything Else.

It's cool I prefer the TT-2 to the DAVE.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

To stress maybe the most important thing here - I am not listening through the headphones.
When I did, Mojo2 sounds fine, but nowhere near as good as amplified by my class A Luxman integrated.

BTW, curious where did you get that nice DBNC to RCA adaptor from?

Frankly I barely any difference between batteries and using Toslink vs USB, it must be because I use an expensive power conditioner that filters it all, including the so-called GHZ RFI noise people harp on here.

 

[Meridian7]

Just made that comparison MS (always x16) to first mojo2, ten TT2, then Dave.
Each time using its own Headphone Out to Meze Elite.

Mojo2 was no lesser at all considering drawing out and presenting the notes in clarity imho, very very clear.
But the stage was more centralized in space, partly in my head and partly outside, say 75% inside, 25% outside.

TT2 brought more music outside my head (say 20% inside, 80% outside) and with Dave it felt nothing came from within my head anymore, like it came from an endless sky.

I suppose it's all about transients here, tearing the stage open with more taps.
I heared this clearly in the experience and/or I've been victim of taps-to-transients knowledge biasing the outcome experienced.

An amp after Dave that has a weak transients preservation factor would kill Dave's most profound asset imho.

The available dynamic range felt also a bit rising mojo2 - TT2 - Dave but mojo2 had enough of that to be utterly satisfied with imho.

PS: MS on a LiFePO4 batt, no voltage regulation, raw from the terminals)

 

[Meridian7]

Continuation of the test but replaced Meze Elite with Focal Stellia. MS still on x16.

FS is way less capable to draw a wide stage such as Meze Elite, so it inherently centralizes or compacts stage width and depth to a max limit, whereas Meze Elites draws wide without limits.

Tested only Mojo2 vs Dave.

Now I can absolutely attest Mojo2 doing at least just as well as Dave, if not better! Feels like this synergy favors the mojo2.
Setup is everything.

It confirms my suspicion that anything added to the Dave that does not preserve its main asset, kills or numbs Dave's main advantages.

 

[chelseafc]

Continuation of the test but replaced Meze Elite with Focal Stellia. MS still on x16.

FS is way less capable to draw a wide stage such as Meze Elite, so it inherently centralizes or compacts stage width and depth to a max limit, whereas Meze Elites draws wide without limits.

Tested only Mojo2 vs Dave.

Now I can absolutely attest Mojo2 doing at least just as well as Dave, if not better! Feels like this synergy favors the mojo2.
Setup is everything.

It confirms my suspicion that anything added to the Dave that does not preserve its main asset, kills or numbs Dave's main advantages.

Great that you've been able to run these comparisons.
In my Mojo2 speakers setup I am not missing anything DAVE and actually prefer the Mojo2 to it.
This opens a new can of worms, of course, in terms of getting Mojo2 to the next level.
I heard a testimony that it sounds much better off a supercaps based PS, with Mojo2 internal battery removed.
I already ordered a kit to build a DYI PS based on that design.

 

[Reactcore]

BTW, curious where did you get that nice DBNC to RCA adaptor from?

Just a simple 3.5mm to stereo RCA cable with a set of BNC-RCA adapters.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33051401459.html

 

[Meridian7]

This opens a new can of worms, of course, in terms of getting Mojo2 to the next level.

As I see it for now, Mojo2 can only 'beat' (in case of successful synergy) or equal Dave when Dave's rendered stage has been affected somehow by the gear dowmstream. It needs synergy again for the Dave's theatre to reach the brains as best as possible.

 

[chelseafc]

Just a simple 3.5mm to stereo RCA cable with a set of BNC-RCA adapters.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33051401459.html

I see.
I am not sure interconnect cables are suitable for digital, they may not be impedance matched to the source and destination.