The Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC

[Vampat]

On 6/21/2022 at 8:48 PM, further said:

I really enjoy the K50 with the Mola-Mola.   Antipodes is a pretty organic presentation.  I have been a fan of Christiaan Punter's reviews at hifi-advice.com.   I like the style of his reviews and how he compares various input/outputs of the item being reviewed as well as to his equipment and recent reviews of similar positioned equipment.   The K50 had been very favorably reviewed by him, but the Grimm MU-1  has now taken the top review spot for him based on his preferences.   His site has full reviews of the K50, MU-1, and Tambaqui, as well as other equipment.   He now has a work association as well with Taiko Audio, and I do not know how that will affect future reviews.  The Taiko Extreme is highly praised by owners, but is approximately twice the list price of the K50.   

 

My server prior to the K50 was a Small Green Computer i5 CDR, with which I was happy, and still have though not in use.   I used an etherREGEN with it and microRendu to DACs without internet connection.   The K50 does not lack information, but is a smoother and more engaging presentation for me than the SGC i5 CDR.  They are also priced considerably differently as well.  While I found the K50 to improve sound quality pretty quickly, Antipodes suggests that sound quality will continue to improve for a considerable time--recall 6 months was a period they suggested.   While it is difficult to quantify smaller incremental changes, I do think my unit continued to evolve beneficially over many months.   The K50 has lots of options, including I2S, which the Tambaqui has.   My Makua does not have I2S input, but I was able to use with my PS-Audio DirectStream.   I2S with the last software update from PS Audio provided me the best sound quality I have had with the DS.   I'm a bit promiscuous when it comes to DACs, having several still including the DS.   I periodically put the DS back in service.   It's kind of a comfort food DAC for me.   I do much prefer the Mola-Mola and Lumin X1 though.  

 

The K50 will give you AES/EBU and USB options as well for the Tambaqui, in addition to ethernet Roon Ready and S/PDIF and BNC.  You also have additional server and player options within the K50--very full featured.   If you have not yet done so, recommend you check out the Antipodes Forum, accessible on the Antipodes web site along with videos on setup of your new unit.  Mark Cole of Antipodes participates there as well.  

 

One word of caution--Antipodes does not want its line pricing discounted, so suggest you not actively discuss in open forum the source or price of your deal.   It can be against many forums' rules and have negative consequences for the source of your deal.  That being said, congratulations on the deal and your new K50!   I am happy with my choice with the K50 and believe you will be as well.  

I just have ordered an Pink faun i2s cable for my Tambaqui and K50 !

Their streamer seems really interesting, I’m curious how they sound compare to the antipodes K50..

[m_j_s]

Just replacing an Auralic Vega G2.1 with the Tambaqui, looking forward to it!

[Low325]

Hello fellow Tambaqui owners. I have a quick question regarding my Tambaqui being fed by a MU1.  An amazing combo so far, which a number of you have expressed. 
 

I’m just wondering, if it’s being fed from the MU1 over AES/EBU, will the tambaqui always lock at 174.6 PCM regardless of the file or stream?  It also locks at 192 both always PCM.  Is PCM the only conversion via AES/EBU and SPDIF? 
 

 

[coldbru]

10 hours ago, Low325 said:

 

I’m just wondering, if it’s being fed from the MU1 over AES/EBU, will the tambaqui always lock at 174.6 PCM regardless of the file or stream?  It also locks at 192 both always PCM.  Is PCM the only conversion via AES/EBU and SPDIF? 
 

 

The MU1 upconverts/ downconverts all file types to 176 or 192 kHz PCM (aka 4fs).   This is done in a specialized FPGA, with proprietary digital filtering.  This is said to be the ‘secret sauce’ of the MU1.  

 

So to answer what I think is your question: the Tambaqui will lock on to whatever you feed it (up to its limits). For example with an Antipodes server, or any old laptop, you can pass high-res PCM and DSD to the Tambaqui’s USB input. But the MU1 only outputs PCM 176 / 192 (depending on the base rate of the original recording; everything including DSD is a whole-integer multiple of the 44.1 or 48 khz base rates). I’m not familiar with the options on the MU1 - I think I read it’s possible to bypass the digital resampler board and send non-resampled output through one of the USB ports but I could definitely be wrong.  And of course doing so would defeat (much of) the purpose of the MU1 and likely (probably) wouldn’t sound as good.  
 

The MU1 is a bit of a disruptor compared to other server / streamers - it is telling us that “bit perfect” is less important than … whatever very proprietary digital filtering it’s doing. But if you are not a very-high-res devotee it’s the sound of redbook and moderate high-res — the vast proportion of your library — that probably matters more.   

[Low325]

2 hours ago, coldbru said:

The MU1 upconverts/ downconverts all file types to 176 or 192 kHz PCM (aka 4fs).   This is done in a specialized FPGA, with proprietary digital filtering.  This is said to be the ‘secret sauce’ of the MU1.  

 

So to answer what I think is your question: the Tambaqui will lock on to whatever you feed it (up to its limits). For example with an Antipodes server, or any old laptop, you can pass high-res PCM and DSD to the Tambaqui’s USB input. But the MU1 only outputs PCM 176 / 192 (depending on the base rate of the original recording; everything including DSD is a whole-integer multiple of the 44.1 or 48 khz base rates). I’m not familiar with the options on the MU1 - I think I read it’s possible to bypass the digital resampler board and send non-resampled output through one of the USB ports but I could definitely be wrong.  And of course doing so would defeat (much of) the purpose of the MU1 and likely (probably) wouldn’t sound as good.  
 

The MU1 is a bit of a disruptor compared to other server / streamers - it is telling us that “bit perfect” is less important than … whatever very proprietary digital filtering it’s doing. But if you are not a very-high-res devotee it’s the sound of redbook and moderate high-res — the vast proportion of your library — that probably matters more.   

Okay great.  I think thats the answer I am looking for.  That said, it will take the incoming signal and still do it’s jazz;

‘….upsample to 3.125MHz/32 bits and converted to noise shaped PWM….then do it’s discrete 32- stage FIR DAC and a single-stage 4th order filtering I/V conversion to PWM into analogue…’

 

My concern was that in the mola mola app; it always shows (primarily using 4fs in the MU1) it is Locked to PCM but thats to be expected since that IS the incoming stream provided by the MU1.  However, when I turn off oversampling in the MU1, it states the incoming signal; 44.1k or other - with no indication of the stream being Locked.  I wonder what bits of data tell the Tambaqui to indicate it is locked?  Perhaps, the bits from the MU1 Clock?

 

Also, my OCD (no im not that ocd “guy”) probably wants to see the Tambaqui “magic” being displayed somewhere, ‘…3.125 -> PWM, 32 stages of FIR —> 4th order filtering to analogue blah blah…” turning it all into magic fairy sonic particles.  ☺️

[coldbru]

Haha fair enough.  I have no idea why the UI would say ‘locked’ in one instance and not in another.  To my understanding.. if it’s playing music it’s locked.  If it’s not locked, there’s no sound.  Someone more knowledgeable please weigh in. 
 

This DAC’s upsampling can’t be turned off, so like some other similar DACs (like the PS Audio among others) there’s no setting or fanfare about it, it’s just happening.  
 

perhaps you could read Mola Mola’s website softly to yourself while listening.  😀

[Low325]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:09 AM, coldbru said:

Haha fair enough.  I have no idea why the UI would say ‘locked’ in one instance and not in another.  To my understanding.. if it’s playing music it’s locked.  If it’s not locked, there’s no sound.  Someone more knowledgeable please weigh in. 
 

This DAC’s upsampling can’t be turned off, so like some other similar DACs (like the PS Audio among others) there’s no setting or fanfare about it, it’s just happening.  
 

perhaps you could read Mola Mola’s website softly to yourself while listening.  😀

LOL!  I might just do that!  I actually I stand with a correction.  It looks like without incoming music or signal being passed, the Tambaqui will state “Unlocked”.  But when there is an incoming signal, it will state what that signal might be without specifying ‘Locked’, whether it’s 176.4/192k from the MU1 or other source.  Too much eggnog I think :P

thanks again! @coldbru

 

I am really pleased with the Tambaqui.  I just had one of my long time trusted audiophile friends come over and impressively of the many things he said were very verbose of what all the online reviews and communities have shared about its characteristics.  He is NOT familiar with the Tambaqui as he is more into HT this past decade.  Blasphemy, I know!

[mriguy]

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.

[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. 

[mriguy]

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

[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. 

[mriguy]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

All good thanks for the quick response. 

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.

[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. 

[PYP]

22 hours ago, mriguy said:

I too want to share my experience of adding the Sablon AES-EBU cable to my MU1 / Tambaqui combo.

 

The MU1 and Tambaqui have a wonderful synergy.   Yes, the cable makes a difference.  In my setup, however, the cable was less important than the power conditioning and acoustic treatments, but that is probably always true.  And of course, they are additive.  

 

Was just listening to Roon Radio and I was sure the song that was playing was high resolution.  No question.  Nope.  44.1/16.  Truly wonderful because, as you said, it isn't about the sound but total musical engagement.   It is the first time in a long time that I've thought:  I'm done.  

[Low325]

Small but most appreciated FW update released. Dimmable LEDs…! My life has come full circle now :). I’m being serious. I kept bugging my dealer and the distributor said it would come in a next update. 
 

Amazing DAC and now I can listen with less distracting LEDs.  Perfect timing too with a small MU1 update as well. 

[craighartley]

That’s great (I had asked for it too). Unfortunately it makes the Kaluga LEDs look even brighter by comparison. 

[George Hincapie]

On 2/6/2023 at 1:34 AM, mriguy said:

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

 

Because that's a lot of words for a cable. It just moves data, it's not a religious experience. 

[Vincent des Champs]

On 2/16/2023 at 8:55 PM, George Hincapie said:

Because that's a lot of words for a cable. It just moves data, it's not a religious experience.

Until you take a deep dive in cable auditioning.. its amazing how digital interlinks can have a dramatic effect on the sound reproduction.. I recently received a few demo interlinks from Ansuz.. coming from the beloved Jorma AES/EBU, this is not a minor improvement.. all sonic characteristics were taken several notches up 👌🏻

[BigAlMc]

On 2/16/2023 at 7:55 PM, George Hincapie said:

 

Because that's a lot of words for a cable. It just moves data, it's not a religious experience. 

 

Late to this party as just read this thread but buy a Sablon cable and then report back. I don't know how Mark Coles of Sablon does it but his cables have cured me of cable-envy and upgrade-itis. Just saying and sorry for the delayed reaction.

[yellowblue]

Someone who use the MMT with a SR purple fuse (in the case that it is possible to change the fuse)?

[Low325]

I too, went with a Sablon AES.  I demoed the AES and SPDIF RCA, and to my ears, the music was just more engaging by presenting a wider and more transparent-ness into the sound stage.  It was also a livelier presentation over my Belden cables prior.  I have to admit, they dont look the price compared to other jeweled performing cables, but the Sablon cables did leave an impression on me obviously.  Btw, the tambaqui made it so easy to make the inputs active while sitting at your listening position.

[mriguy]

26 minutes ago, Low325 said:

I too, went with a Sablon AES.  I demoed the AES and SPDIF RCA, and to my ears, the music was just more engaging by presenting a wider and more transparent-ness into the sound stage.  It was also a livelier presentation over my Belden cables prior.  I have to admit, they dont look the price compared to other jeweled performing cables, but the Sablon cables did leave an impression on me obviously.  Btw, the tambaqui made it so easy to make the inputs active while sitting at your listening position.

At the risk of coming off as a fan-boy and I know it's difficult to believe, but I would add that the Sablon Prince power cord takes the Tambaqui to an even higher gear. If you have a Tambaqui, you owe it to yourself to try a demo cable from Mark. You don't know, until you know.

[PYP]

16 minutes ago, mriguy said:

At the risk of coming off as a fan-boy and I know it's difficult to believe, but I would add that the Sablon Prince power cord takes the Tambaqui to an even higher gear. If you have a Tambaqui, you owe it to yourself to try a demo cable from Mark. You don't know, until you know.

I also found that upgrading the power cord for the Tambaqui was worthwhile (but, I should add that was before adding the Grimm MU1, so cannot say how much the power cord changes the combo, only that the combination sounds great).  

[mriguy]

3 minutes ago, PYP said:

I also found that upgrading the power cord for the Tambaqui was worthwhile (but, I should add that was before adding the Grimm MU1, so cannot say how much the power cord changes the combo, only that the combination sounds great).  

Interesting! I'm the opposite. I've only heard the Prince PC with the Tambaqui and MU1 combo. I can say with authority that the Prince PC made a much bigger ans  worthwhile difference on the Tambaqui, then it did with the MU1.

[PYP]

1 hour ago, mriguy said:

Interesting! I'm the opposite. I've only heard the Prince PC with the Tambaqui and MU1 combo. I can say with authority that the Prince PC made a much bigger ans  worthwhile difference on the Tambaqui, then it did with the MU1.

I wasn't clear.  I upgraded the PC when I only had the Tambaqui.  It was a noticeable change.  Later, when I added the MU1, I only tried the PC that previously sounded very good with the Tambaqui but that was replaced with the upgraded PC now on the Tambaqui.  So, I really don't know how big a difference upgrading the PC on DAC would make to the sound of the combination.  

 

Are you saying that you listened to the Tambaqui/MU1 combination using the Prince on the Tambaqui and then switching it with the PC that was on the MU1 to determine your preference?