The Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

@The Computer Audiophile

Ever try and get one of these to review? Any interest?

Very interested. 
 

I’ll put it on my list. For some reason I just overlooked this one. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, Ran said:

The Tambaqui Ethernet input supports only the roon protocol which is a deal breaker for me.

You’d need to add in a Rendu. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, 992Sam said:

I listened to both before I made a decision to replace my PS Audio DS DAC .... It was hard in some ways to chose, especially with the significantly higher cost of the dCS, but in the end I went with the dCS...  I use relatively small and inefficient (81dB) speakers and maybe it's just my setup, but the Bartok sounded better to my ears when playing just about anything where vocals wasn't the main focus ... and I tend to listen to instrumental music at a 9:1 ratio...  not discounting the dCS on vocals, but it wasn't as front and center as the Mola Mola .. however in the instrumental range, especially mids and lows... the dCS is the best I've ever heard.... and I listed to a lot of them...  Mola Mola, SimAudio Moon, Linn, Chord (including DAVE), PSAudio DSD Sr, McIntosh DA-2, and more...  This one stood out as significantly better, especially when listening to non-native DSD .. such as PCM 96 or 44.1

Do you use the dCS with 6 volt output?

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, 992Sam said:

 

Not sure if you're referring to a gain setting or is this related to headphones...as I don't use headphones...  and the unit I ordered was a non-headphone build to save $1500 USD..

 

The output was Balance XLR, into a McIntosh C52 Pre and, MC601 monoblock amps and XR50 speakers .. which is the closest the dealer could match to my system on order. 

 

The unit I heard was at a dealer in SF and mine is still in production as I placed the order last week. 

The balanced output voltage can be set to 2 volts and 6 volts. I usually prefer 6V.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, 992Sam said:

 

that's good to know... When I get my own unit I will play with both... looking like a month backorder sadly..

 

I will ask the dealer what he had it set to, but I assume it was the default setting. 

Some preamps can't handle the 6V input, but you'll want to test it in your system.

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, 992Sam said:

 

so just asked my dealer how he had it setup, and he said 6v...  so yeah, I think I will be turning on that switch as soon as it's out of the box!

 

btw... did you find that it needs a burn in time?  Did you have the chance to use it for more than day or two?

I haven’t had the Bartok. I usually have a Rossini here. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

32 minutes ago, 992Sam said:

 

I went back and heard them side by side for over an hour... didn't take long before I realized I wanted to uncharge and get the Rossini... it's noticeably better, which is saying a lot since I found the Bartok to be much better than my PS Audio DirectStream by a good margin. 

dCS is in an absolutely different league than PS Audio. I know it may make some people upset to read that, but I have to speak the truth as I’ve experienced it and researched it. 
 

With respect to Bartok and Rossini, it’s good you spent so much time and heard them through a great system. The Rossini has much better mappers that make a world of difference, among other things. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, 992Sam said:

 

yeah, I gave the PS Audio 3+ Weeks of trial and I wanted to like it as the price was great... but as you said, who another league.  I just hope with it being a 2015 release product that dCS keeps supporting it for a while... I can't see replacing this anytime soon at the $24K plus tax price tag.. 

I don't know of a digital company with longer runs for current products. Consider the Vivaldi. it was introduced in 2012 and it still current. think about that. In digital audio many things we talk about now, weren't on many peoples' radars back in 2012, but the Vivaldi is still current, still updated, and supports new features all the time. The Rossini will be no different. 

 

I've been to dCS several times and talked to everyone in the company from the top to the bottom, on and off the record. It's an incredible company with incredible products. I have to give credit where credit is due. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

15 minutes ago, fds said:

Wetzels comparison with the Bartok seems to me to be in contradiction to Darkos. Didn't Darko say that the Tambaqui had opened up the room more? Less blanquet than with the Bartok?

Do they have identical systems and rooms, other than the DAC?

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, fds said:

Very justified question of course. Still I would believe that relative differences between Bartok and Tambaqui wrt openess and clarity would show up even in different systems/rooms. Of course below 500 Hz the room matters a lot (assuming they are not using anything analogous to the great digital room correction + room treatment you have at work). Also liveliness of the rooms will be different. But still I would believe that it will be the same DAC among the two that is more extended/more open or maybe brighter. OTOH with Bartok maybe putting out more energy below 500 Hz in Darkos quite minimally treated room, the associated substantial room modes therein will reduce the perceived clarity as opposed to another DAC putting out less punch down low. 

Would be nice to see room measurements from more people writing about components. Measurements aren’t everything but if a room has a big boost and a DAC seems to have a boost in that frequency range, there may be a correlation. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, Summit said:

 

Room measurements may be relevant to know for speakers or whole audio systems, for DACs and cables not very significant, IMO.  

If one’s room is the largest factor in sound quality and has issues, I believe we must know the details to judge a review. It’s the baseline. Without a baseline we have nothing. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

37 minutes ago, Summit said:

All rooms which are not especially made for audio have some issues.

Agree. Even rooms made for audio have issues :~)

 

37 minutes ago, Summit said:

Are you planning to start compensate for room issues by choosing a different DAC 🤩 or what?

 

My only thing is this - how can one be certain they are hearing the DAC, the amp, etc... without knowing the characteristics of the room? More than likely one is hearing the room's effects on the DAC and that doesn't translate to my room, your room, or any other room.

 

It's all good though. This is a fun hobby and as long as we're having fun and enjoying it, that's what counts. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

36 minutes ago, JoeWhip said:

I think you can get a trial of this DAC and if it does not float your boat, can send it back.

This is so important given the current situation and the state of how audio commerce works today. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 minutes ago, barrows said:

I would suggest, that in the case of a reviewer making comparisons, the room stays the same and only the DAC(s) change, so the comparison should still be valid as for the difference between the DACs...

On the surface this sounds like sound logic, however if there are room problems being fed by DAC problems, all bets are off. 

 

Taking it to the extreme, what if I listen to two DACs in my car with the windows down, while driving? Only the DACs change. Yes, this is absurd but what I'm getting at is there's an interaction going on and one can't be certain the causes without knowing the details.  

[The Computer Audiophile]

25 minutes ago, Davidny said:

Eye opening story about a “modded” Tambaqui

 

Ha! What are those dots?!

[The Computer Audiophile]

New Linn Klimax handles DSD256

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, fheller said:

For me, the MolaMola Tambaqui is an endgame. It represents exactly what I was looking for.

 

Yeah, it's a great DAC. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, matthias said:

 

Asynchronous upsampling to 3.125MHz/32 bit.

 

Matt

Oh wow. That's a tough one to send at a native rate to avoid internal upsampling :~)

 

It is however, strong support that upsampling to very high levels can be beneficial. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

Sorry to ask a very basic question, that others may be curious about as well, but in layman's terms, what is the theoretical benefit of oversampling? 

I don’t think it’s theoretical. It’s objectively measurable. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

Ok, but I am just curious to understand. I'm not trying to challenge anything here,or derail the conversation, which in fact I initiated when mentioning J. Chevassus' comments above. 

I totally understand your intention :~)

 

from Wikipedia:

 

”Oversampling is capable of improving resolutionand signal-to-noise ratio, and can be helpful in avoiding aliasing and phase distortion by relaxing anti-aliasing filter performance requirements.”

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversampling

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, barrows said:

with a very short (and good, like Sablon) copper Ethernet cable

Do those meet the Ethernet specifications?

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, mriguy said:

I too want to share my experience of adding the Sablon AES-EBU cable to my MU1 / Tambaqui combo. But first, some foundational context is in order, or my opinion would arguably be rather meaningless for you.

 

I’ve been chasing the audio dream for about 4 decades now. I’m seriously closing in at long last, with most of the actual progress coming in the last few years. Suffice it to say mistakes have been made. The biggest one was mistaking brightness for detail. Don’t do it! Since you’re reading this topic in this forum, I’m pretty sure you’re a audiophile and we share many things in common. That said, I’ve come to what I believe are some pretty important guidelines for the hobby.

 

One of the most important is that when reading reviews, forums and researching what people are saying about any audiophile product, you often must consider them to be what I call, “uncalibrated.” You don’t know what they have heard, the conditions they heard it, and the surrounding combination of equipment. You don’t know what is, and isn’t, sonically important to them. How do they know good is, if they have never heard it (and heard it frequently). That’s what I mean by uncalibrated. Add that all up, and most opinions are actually quite meaningless. Unless you can change one component being evaluated for its sonic merit at a time, you have no idea of what the component under test is contributing (or failing to contribute). So how can anything anyone writes have much credibility? It occasionally can, but it’s a hard fought for and rare situation. The only hope is to read a person’s writings over time, hopefully with a few components here and there that you’ve heard and know. Did they agree with what you thought?  I know, even then, it’s is pretty weak proof statement. I say this because you should be applying this logic and critical thinking to what I’m going to say!

 

I’ve pretty much stopped dissecting and evaluating bass, midrange, treble line of thinking. Music isn’t about frequency bands. To me it’s become a thing about emotion, nuance, tamber and truth of the musical performance. The talent of the musicians. The fabric of the music, it’s texture. When it’s really right, it gives me goosebumps. Frequently occurring goosebumps mean it’s really, really good. Equally indicative… can you listen for hours on end, and yet still be ticked-off and disappointed when you have to stop? If so, that’s really, really good. When a system is really at the top of the heap, the music gains an amazing direct connection with you that is simply stunning. I have a theory… it goes like this. When a song starts, your brain spends about 2-10 seconds analyzing it to determine what’s going on. What right and what wrong with all the timing nuances, reverberation, frequencies, etc. It knows what’s real, what’s natural, is it naturally occuring. It knows when it hears things that don’t make sense or are unnatural. It’s like how do you know when you’re walking along the bars in Nashville, which bars have real music spilling out of them and which are being reproduced? Your brain just knows. Anything that assessed to be wrong, requires mental fixing. The more wrong, the more fixing is needed. When everything is right, there’s less to fix. When there no fixing required, you get that direct connection to the music, to the musician. Your brain accepts the music, with no pre-processing required. You can listen for hours without any fatigue. Your brain wants more!

 

The other, not-so-frequently discussed reality of our hobby, is that no matter how wonderfully musical and engaging your system is, it can be brought to its knees by a poor recording. It’s should be a crime that so much incredible music has been handicapped by poor recordings. I know, some would say, that the music supersedes the recording, perhaps for some. But for me, not so much. I wish it were different. No matter, it is what it is and there are a lot of wonderful recordings. Roon has been a godsend.

So now, with all that said, I can report with 100% certainty that the Sablon AES-EBU cable is an absolute winner, at least for the MU-1 / Tambaqui combination. It’s simply pure magic. I already had a very good AES-EBU cable, that cost a few hundred dollars less. I kind of thought I was out of my mind for taking the gamble with the Sablon. But several of the forum posters that I had qualified as being fully “calibrated” were all using Sablon cables. So, you don’t know until you know. I went for it. It turns out to have been a wonderful decision. The Sablon cable delivered considerable gains in nuance, musicality and that direct connection to the music that we all crave. I’ve now had the cable for over a month. In that time, I’ve tried going back-and-forth repeatedly on a given song, and listening to one cable for several days, then the other for several days. In every case, the Sablon won hands down. Not just different; but way better. You can tell immediately.

 

So here's my bottom line (finally), IMHO. If you are lucky (smart?) enough to own the Grimm MU-1 and the Tambaqui, I would go out on a limb and suggest that you may have likely not heard just how good they are. That’s how good Mark’s cable really and truly is. Very, very highly recommended. You don’t know, until you know. Perhaps it’s time for a new high-water mark in your audio “calibration” journey, just as it was for me.

Did you get the cable free or at a substantial discount? I’m not speculating, just curious. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, mriguy said:

I'm not sure why you ask... but no matter. Full price.

All good thanks for the quick response. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, mriguy said:

Thanks Chris... just wanted to take a moment to express how valuable Audiophile Style has been to me. In particular, the amazing "A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming" thread with austinpop, nenon and all the other usual suspects (you know who you are), was so important and so valauble to my audio quest. I learned so much from that thread. Audiophile Style rocks.

I love this!

 

I play a small role in the success of the site. This community amazes me on a daily basis. Incredibly smart and generous people from all over the globe. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I suggest a large inhale, hold, and exhale. Then press play and listen to some music for a while.