[HONEYBOY]

Yes, I've had it consistently set at 4FS. I think when I tried, there were some subtle variations between original, 2FS, and 4FS. 4FS seems to give the more heightened sense of space and detail, 2FS less so, and original even less so. These are rather subtle to my ears.

 

[coldbru]

.. so if you turn off the upsampling can you output DSD64 / 128 through the AES output?

 

[coldbru]

The Mola Mola Tambaqui is really special and definitely the DAC I've been waiting for. Out of the box impressions are really really positive. I also did not expect to like the headphone out nearly as much as I do, particularly since most posts I've seen dismissed it relative to the DAC output. Only thing is that I have noticed some interference or static on both headphone outputs. Can anyone tell whether they get total silence? I tried my IER-Z1R IEM and the DCA Stealth headphones and it'll be a shame if I can't solve that issue.

Truth is the combo with the Grimm MU1 so far with the Tambaqui's headphone output is the best thing I've plugged my DCA Stealth in. It isn't perfect, as I wish I had just a tad more body, but it's quite revelatory, musical and super organic. It is so good that I actually preferred that sound compared to when I connected the WA 23 Luna to the Tambaqui using the provided XLR to RCA adapters. The drop in transparency was quite noticeable and it made the Luna sound overly soft and warm sounding. As such I'll be avoiding those adapters.

I'll be pursuing the same Snake River Audio XLR to RCA cables that @hifixman has posted about here recently. We'll see how that goes, but for the first time in a while I'm just transfixed! Great times ahead!

Given the pretty inefficient Stealth - did you have any volume constraints with the Tambaqui hp output? Did you use the SE or balanced? I listen to tons of classical and the wide dynamic range frequently means I need a lot more gain than I would with studio-produced music.

 

[801evan]

Given the pretty inefficient Stealth - did you have any volume constraints with the Tambaqui hp output? Did you use the SE or balanced? I listen to tons of classical and the wide dynamic range frequently means I need a lot more gain than I would with studio-produced music.

May need xlr. Susvara wasnt loud enough on SE. And usually stealth is 3-4dB louder over Sus

 

[alxw0w]

Given the pretty inefficient Stealth - did you have any volume constraints with the Tambaqui hp output? Did you use the SE or balanced? I listen to tons of classical and the wide dynamic range frequently means I need a lot more gain than I would with studio-produced music.

Do you have any particular track on mind? I can check it for you.

For example this one is quiet recording (btw. I love this one ):

And I'm fine volume wise on -13dB Tambaqui XLR -> Stealth.

Here I'm somewhere on -10dB to -5dB with Stealth. With -5dB I would say that amp is running a bit out of steam. Sound and highs are not as clean as they can be on something like HPA4

 

[alekc]

In January I will finally have a chance to demo Mola Mola Tambaqui and I'm mostly interested in headphone setup so I would appreciate your recommendation regarding headphones and possibly amps pairings. My two traditional picks for cans are: Focal Clears MG and Meze Empyrean. Will those reveal all Tambaqui qualities?

 

[HONEYBOY]

.. so if you turn off the upsampling can you output DSD64 / 128 through the AES output?

I basically stream everything via Roon + Tidal and don’t have any dsd files to test. A cursory look at the MU1‘s manual has this to say:

There are 3 options for the oversampling option: Original (no oversampling), 2FS (two times oversampling) and 4FS (four times oversampling).
Original means that the FPGA does not touch the bits of the audio when possible. Mark that DSD rates and 8FS (DXD) will still require downsampling to 4FS, and of course the bits will be altered if digital volume control is engaged

DoP on AES:
“DoP” is brief for “DSD over PCM”. It is a standard for transporting DSD64 audio over an AES3 or S/PDIF PCM digital audio connection. Some DACs support this format and the MU1 is able to forward DSD64 material unaltered to these DACs. Mark that volume control is impossible on DSD signals, hence the DoP option is disabled when volume control on digital out 1 or 2 is turned on. To avoid confusion, volume control on PCM sources is disabled as well when DoP is enabled. If DoP is turned off, DSD material will be decimated to PCM by the FPGA with very high resolution.
Note: This setting has no effect on the Roon DSD playback strategy setting, which should always be set to “Native”.

Given the pretty inefficient Stealth - did you have any volume constraints with the Tambaqui hp output? Did you use the SE or balanced? I listen to tons of classical and the wide dynamic range frequently means I need a lot more gain than I would with studio-produced music.

May need xlr. Susvara wasnt loud enough on SE. And usually stealth is 3-4dB louder over Sus

yeah I use the XLR output and have no issues with gain.

Do you have any particular track on mind? I can check it for you.

For example this one is quiet recording (btw. I love this one ):

And I'm fine volume wise on -13dB Tambaqui XLR -> Stealth.

Here I'm somewhere on -10dB to -5dB with Stealth. With -5dB I would say that amp is running a bit out of steam. Sound and highs are not as clean as they can be on something like HPA4

When I’m not using the AES input of the Tambaqui, I use its Ethernet input with Tambaqui as a Roon endpoint. At -30db and it’s already very loud with the Stealth for most music. I cannot even imagine getting beyond -20db without serious consequences to hearing and equipment. What input connection to the Tambaqui are you using? Would this matter? There are also volume offsets in the presets that can be configured for various inputs.

Also, what voltage output do you set for output to the HPA4?

 

[alxw0w]

When I’m not using the AES input of the Tambaqui, I use its Ethernet input with Tambaqui as a Roon endpoint. At -30db and it’s already very loud with the Stealth for most music. I cannot even imagine getting beyond -20db without serious consequences to hearing and equipment. What input connection to the Tambaqui are you using? Would this matter? There are also volume offsets in the presets that can be configured for various inputs.

Also, what voltage output do you set for output to the HPA4?

With most music I would be also about -30 or -20 with tambaqui.
But with very quiet recordings I need to go further - alas it's loud for me, I was describing more of an edge situation when you want to listen loud and recording is quiet.
Try these two tracks that I gave you and tell me if it's too loud. To me it was loud but not too loud or painfully loud.
As for input I'm using ethernet with Roon without any DSP or EQ enabled.
I'll check later maybe when I enable headphone mode on Tambaqui the voltage is switched to 2V?

With HPA4 I'm using 6V output from Mola Mola. HPA4 is fine up to 12V input, so no worries here.

 

[Salmonad]

Deleted

 

[kwilkins]

If anyone is interested in selling their Tambaqui I am a buyer, will pay above market price since I can't find one. PM me if interested. Thanks.

Ken

 

[kwilkins]

If anyone is interested in selling their Tambaqui I am a buyer, will pay above market price since I can't find one. PM me if interested. Thanks.

Ken

I found one, thanks all.

 

[tomwoo]

I found one, thanks all.

Where did you find one? These are very rare in the used market.

 

[kwilkins]

Where did you find one? These are very rare in the used market.

GTT Audio. He had one that recently came in on trade.

 

[yyzSB]

I have read about half of this thread and was hoping someone can fill in some blanks for me.

- Anyone prefer the Tambaqui direct to amp? Most posts seem to point to using a preamp. If so, I will buy a second Benchmark LA4
- I plan to use a Sonore OpticalRendu, so fibre optical to DAC USB. Is the USB in the Tambaqui the best input?

I have recently bought a used Lumin X1 (for office) and this DAC would also work nicely in the Livingroom, but I am thinking a bit more variety of sound would be nicer. I will also pair the DAC with a slightly warm CODA #16 amp and KEF Blade 2 Meta speakers.

The more I think about it though a second Lumin X1 seems to make the most sense. I compared the Leedh volume control of the X1 with the Benchmark LA4 preamp. It was so close, and the LA4 only pulled away at very low volume. At that low level the difference was not really sonics. It was the graduations in volume changes that were perfectly linear on the LA4 vs the slightly jagged increase in the X1. That is nitpicking though.

So, the question I should get answered is, how does the Tambaqui stack up against the Lumin X1 on DAC sonics only? The fibre streamer on the X1 will be better for sure than the Ethernet streamer on the Tambaqui. That is OK since I have the OpticalRendu fibre streamer on hand for the Tambaqui.

 

[coldbru]

In January I will finally have a chance to demo Mola Mola Tambaqui and I'm mostly interested in headphone setup so I would appreciate your recommendation regarding headphones and possibly amps pairings. My two traditional picks for cans are: Focal Clears MG and Meze Empyrean. Will those reveal all Tambaqui qualities?

Sorry for the delay.. I don’t know those headphones directly but both are easy to drive so the Tambaqui would probably do well. I’ve only experienced issues with very difficult to drive headphones. The Empyreans would probably be a beautiful match for the light, bright personality of the Tambaqui.