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MojoAudio

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  1. Hi One and a Half, Our power supplies don't discriminate between OSs: they work equally well with Windows and Linux as they do with OS X. A significant portion of our customers purchase our PSUs for Windows OS computers, proprietary servers, and streaming devices that use a single voltage power source. We have had plans to release a multi-voltage ATX compatible power supply for some time and have several prototypes collecting dust in our R&D dept. The problems that confront us are not the ability to build an ATX compatible ultralow-noise linear PSU, but to build one that can fit in a chassis smaller than a 3U rack mount server that we could sell for under $2K. The other problem that confronts Mojo Audio is that currently we have a 4-6 week pre-paid waiting list for our Joule II PSUs and Mac Mini-based media servers. Hopefully we will have a handle on this soon but there are few companies that are able to adjust to a 5X increase in sales in a matter of only a few months. I know...a good problem to have. The reason I started blogging this year was an attempt to answer the more common customer questions allowing more time working at my R&D bench and less time answering the same questions over and over again. My OS X optimization guide was in response to years of customer inquiries. Since Foobar and JRiver are on Mojo Audio's so called "bit perfect" list of player software, and since they are also the most popular players for Windows OS machines, there have been significantly fewer questions from our Windows OS customers and even fewer contradictory opinions. As for the "forum hornets," it seems that whenever they start "buzzing" our Google Analytics go through the roof and our phones ring off the hook with orders. Considering the number of sales all of this forum controversy has prompted, I would like to sincerely ask all of you "forum hornets" to bite me. But seriously...I don't want to argue with or insult anyone...I just couldn't resist the play on words...hopefully people that read my above statement will interpret it in the light hearted and humorous way it was intended. Also, I would once again like to ask everyone with questions to contact me directly as it states in my blog. My intention in posting yesterday was to announce my latest blog post and to get those of you that still believe iTunes overlay players have the best performance to consider the possibility that Amarra may have recently admitted to the shortcomings of their former products by introducing a new player that has the option to operate independently of iTunes. Once again, kudos to Amarra. ~ Benjamin
  2. Hi wgscott, I know what I am saying in the edited quote of mine you posted, but I have no idea what you are saying. Please clarify.
  3. As I stated in an earlier post on this thread: Logic would dictate that all bit perfect player software would sound nearly identical. They could have different features, and could work with different file formats, but if what they output is in fact bit perfect, it would sound nearly identical. As I stated in an earlier post on this thread: All the player softwares that have been consistently regarded as sounding correct by hundreds of people in our in-house and audio show listening test sound nearly identical and would be almost impossible to tell one from another in a blind listening test. As I stated in an earlier post on this thread: All the player software that have been consistently regarded as sounding off in some way by hundreds of people in our in-house and audio show listening tests were those that overlay iTunes. In the earlier posts on this thread when I made similar statements in regards to bit perfect player software and asked for an explanation not one of the members that had been criticizing me for my statements attempted to offer an explanation as to why they believed my statements were false. So now I ask all of the readers on this forum: How is it possible that all so called bit perfect player software would not sound nearly identical as I have repeatedly stated? I am open to someone...anyone...enlightening me as to why what I believe is not correct. ~ Benjamin
  4. Hi Paul, Possibly you misunderstood some of what I was trying to say. I was complementing Amarra on listening to customers and offering a new version of their product that allows the user to choose between performance and convenience. I was also attempting to emphasize the fact that I am not a software engineer (as I've stated before) and that anyone who still believes that Amarra overlaying iTunes is not somehow corrupted by iTunes should ask the engineer(s) who designed their latest software why they felt the need to offer an alternative to iTunes as opposed to bashing me for stating the obvious. Apparently no matter what I write on a forum, or whatever free information I may offer in my blog, there will be people that prefer to side step whatever facts I may present and sling insults at me. Criticizing is obviously easier than doing. ~ Benjamin
  5. Hi everyone…Benjamin from Mojo Audio again. I just posted a new blog that dispels some of the more common misconceptions I’ve heard in regards to computer audio. Audiofiles | Tips & Tricks to Give Your Audio Mojo I have not doubt this new blog post will stir up a hornet’s nest on this forum. Some of you will find my new blog post informative and others will find it another opportunity for more “Ben-bashing” (I’m a big boy...I can take it). BTW, in some of the earlier posts on this thread I mentioned that our testing showed that many of the so called “bit perfect” music players were in fact not bit perfect and that the worst offenders were music players that overlay the iTunes library. Some followers of this thread considered our testing to be invalid. Recently several of my customers told me they auditioned a new version of Amarra that they thought was much better than the former version. They told me when set up properly the new Amarra sounds quite similar to our/their current reference, Audirvana. Like I always say: “all bit perfect player software should sound nearly identical.” Apparently the engineers at Amarra must agree with our findings that iTunes somehow degrades the sound of their player software so they now offer an option to bypass iTunes completely. Of course if some of you still disagree with this I would recommend arguing with the software engineers at Amarra as opposed to me : D
  6. Hi Benjamin from Mojo Audio weighing in our this whole "is it worth it" conversation... You can buy a high-quality LIO4 batter and charger off of eBay for under $200. Replacing the stock SMPS inside a Mac Mini with this external battery will TOTALLY transform the performance. Aside from significantly more resolution, you will get a more liquid and analog like sound with notable improvements in time, tune, tone, texture, and timbre. A simple LIO4 battery will sound about 80% as good as the best ultralow-noise linear power supply. Combine a battery PSU in your Mac Mini with 8GB+ RAM, an SSD drive, and the right player software you would have a GIANT KILLER of a digital source that would be quite close to the best of the best on the market. Is it worth spending another $200 to convert your Mac Mini to use an external LIO4 battery PSU? YES...no doubt about it...one of the highest value upgrades you can make with your system. Is it worth spending another $800 to get up to 20% higher performance? That would depend on your budget and the system you are using the Mac Mini with. Some people spend over $800 each on USB cables, power cords, and anti-resonance devices. Some people don't even spend $800 on their DAC. So "worth it" is a relative term. We're about to release a new blog on Audiofiles that will give step by step instructions on how to convert a Mac Mini to use with an external power supply like an LIO4 battery. Easy Peasy...try it for yourself and let me know if you think its "worth it" or not ; )
  7. Sorry about your questions slipping between the cracks... If anyone has more product questions I would prefer to answer them "off forum" - I don't want to be rude and not answer questions but I also don't want to do business on a forum. Let me answer ItemAudio's question for now... The breakdown of our $2K media server is: $200 labor to remove/bypass the stock SMPS from the Mini including labor for any other upgrades (RAM, SSD, etc). $600 Mac Mini new 2.5GHz dual-core (cost from Apple) $200 internal power filter (in the space the stock SMPS was removed from the Mini) $100 60GB SSD $100 Hardwired DC power cable $800 PSU As for what our sever has been compared to: Heavyweight optical spinners by industry leaders like Wadia, Teac VRDS, Accuphase, Revox, and Sony as well as famous CD drives like the Philips CDM-0/1 Philips, Sony BU-1E, and CEC belt drive variants. I did upgrades for customers on all of these CDPs for years before switching to computer-based audio. Before switching to a Mac Mini with external PSU as my reference I was using a highly modified CEC transport...before that it was a highly modified Teac VRDS transport....and before that it was a highly modified Sony BU-1E. As for computer-based audio comparisons... All other stock Apple laptop and desktop computers. Several other brands of Windows-based laptops. Any age Mac Mini with any type of battery PSU upgrade. Several popular HTPCs that run from an external SMPS. Several popular streaming devices both stock and modified to run on batteries. Of course at shows like RMAF we've been compared by hundreds of attendees and dozens of reviewers that all tell us either our digital front end is the best they've ever heard or among the best they've ever heard. We have the awards to confirm this. There are several more extreme Mac Mini mods, such as removing the CPU fan or the WiFi and Bluetooth, that we've experimented with. Generally we find these are a bit too extreme for most customers. We have had some customers that requested we do those extreme mods to our media servers but we don't advertise them. I hope this answered your questions.
  8. Since I was a teenage I had been into DIY audio starting with modding my old Dynaco ST-70 up until I was upgrading and selling vintage CD players on eBay - over three decades of DIY audio experience. In all of those years I found that POWER SUPPLY is the most important part of any circuit - you could transform any component with a handful of caps and a proper regulator. My first job as an Engineer was in '82 working with computerized equipment used in soft goods manufacture such as robotic material stacking/cutting, computerized embroidery, conveyor systems, and injection molding. In the late '80s I became an independent consultant specializing in high tech manufacturing technology working all over North America including a year in Jamaica as a US-AID consultant (great year). So for over a decade I was responsible for choosing, installing, and training mechanical and production staff on computerized industrial equipment. Starting in the early '80s when I had to install and maintain computerized manufacturing equipment in Mexico and the Islands. This is where I first became a "power supply specialist" - those countries are notorious for brown outs. Half of the success of my consulting business was getting computerized equipment to work in 3rd world countries ; ) I left consulting in '95 to open a computerized embroidery business which I had until 2007 when I decided to get out of soft goods manufacture and go back to school for electronics. I was intending to work as a tech on aviation or medial. Mojo Audio just happened. I was only trying to make a few bucks working part-time selling audiophile upgrades on eBay while attending college. By my first semester demand was so high for my products I had to hire other students (former Navy techs) to work for me. BTW, at the age of 51 I recently graduated at the top of my class from ITT Tech with a degree in Computer Electronics Engineering Technology and a 3.975GBP. They also made an exception and waived my capstone project and two other classes in leu of my presenting the Joule I power supplies I was already manufacturing and selling all over the world. So...I showed you mine...you show me yours ; ) What is your background?
  9. Chris, thanks for that clarification on Amarra. Bottom line is that 80% of what I know about what player sounds like what and what I need to audition in hardware or software comes from my customers. Oddly enough, my ears agree with what the majority of my customers tell me. I base decisions for Mojo Audio on those STATISTICS. Being an engineer who specializes in power supplies, I also have to take a LOGICAL approach. LOGIC does state that ALL bit perfect players would sound IDENTICAL, correct? Over 90% of the literally hundreds of people I've spoken to that have compared them can barely hear a difference between JRiver, Foobar/WASAPI, and Audirvana FREE. Exactly what you would LOGICALLY expect from bit perfect player software. Over 90% of the hundreds of people I've spoken to that have compared Audirvana FREE to Amarra, Pure Music, or one of the other players that overlay themselves on iTunes, find they all sound similar but no where near as articulate or harmonically coherent as Audirvana FREE. This is a broad group of people with a wide range of audio systems from several countries all around the world. What conclusions would you draw from that STATISTICAL data? How is it possible that software, like Amarra, is bit perfect, yet could sound different then a group of well known bit perfect players that all sound the same?
  10. Certainly I don't claim to know everything nor do I claim to have tested everything. Certainly I don't wish to offend anyone or any company. One thing I find interesting in our tests is that Audirvana FREE, Foobar/WASAPI, and JRiver sound so close no one can consistently tell one from another in blind listening tests. Wouldn't LOGIC dictate that "all bit perfect players should sound nearly identical?" When we've recommended that our customers from around the world compare the FREE player software against their current reference and consistently nearly all of them agree with our findings (we didn't set up the system, software, or test). With all that STATISTICAL data we find it hard to believe that the conclusions we've reached are not correct. What I suspect is that some of these players, such as Amarra, are optimized for studio formats like DSD. They may be in fact bit perfect on those formats, but do not have that same level of performance on the more common 16/44.1 Red Book format that comprise the majority of all available recordings. What I suspect is that a professional software, such as Amarra, that is used for both encode and decode would be using complimentary algorithms, giving them a distinctive advantage in tests on those specific formats. Personally I have nothing to gain by recommending the FREE players but have much to gain recommending the "big name" players that I can make a 50% profit selling installed on our media servers. Once again, my recommendation is that people test Audirvana FREE and Foobar/WASAPI against their current reference on all types of recordings and make up their own mind. I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of people I've recommended to do that who came to a different conclusion than we have. Also, please note the use of the words "theory" and "may" and "suspect" in my comments - I am not stating these things as empirical facts but more as statistical observations and logical conclusions.
  11. Hey wgscott... I'm now offering a DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK GUARANTY on my OS X optimization guide as well as on my soon to be posted Mac Mini power supply upgrade blog. Wait a minute...they're both FREE...zero times anything is still zero. In that case let me increase that offer to TRIPLE your money back if not 100% satisfied ; ) Geezzzzz...I try to give away free info to help people and all I get is crap. Its a sad world when people can't tell the difference between someone trying to be nice and a con man. Seriously.
  12. Hi Chris, Sorry...I didn't want to bore the readers or sound egotistical with rhetoric about our three years of extensive in-house blind listening and bench tests. I also won't outline the multitude of calls and emails I get from customers that have tested this or that player software on this or that system over the past three years from the 17 countries that Mojo Audio sells that nearly all agree as well. Why I mentioned the informal tests we did at audio shows was because the results were SO unbelievable, not because the were so credible or the last word in testing. Have you EVER been in a room full of audiophiles that EMPHATICALLY agreed on something in less than a minute???????? This was the first time for me, and I've been at this for over three decades ; ) Considering the premiss for all of these informal listening tests at audio shows was me talking customers out of spending $50-$100 on popular player software that I would make a profit selling them, as opposed to me making no money recommending something that is FREE, speaks for itself as to my motives. I have no reason to debate any of this with anyone, especially with a person that was not present at any of these listening tests. Oh...did I mention that our digital front end got another award as part of one of the best sounding rooms at RMAF this year? Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012 Anthony Kershaw, the editor of Audiophilia, gave the Mojo Audio room an award for "Best Sound Value" (middle of the page). That's our first two shows and two awards by prestigious audio reviewers (two people that heard the player comparison BTW). What I suggest to readers is to forget about opinions or other people's tests or any of this... Considering new player software comes out all the time, and that the big name companies that engineer player software update their software all the time, it would only make sense that people approach the topic of player software with an open mind and not simply assume because something is popular or used by recording studios or expensive that it sounds better. My main point in my recent posting was that OS X optimizations are SUBTLE and that player software can make a SIGNIFICANTLY larger difference. So people who are finding little or no benefit from OS X optimizations may CONSIDER that there are other factors in their system that may be overshadowing the SUBTLE benefits of OS X optimization. I regret that this SIMPLE concept has digressed into something else due to my use of colorful examples.
  13. Certainly no offense intended... The basis of what I was trying to say in my last post was that OS X optimizations are FAR more subtle than the differences between player software, cables, computers, and power supplies. I certainly would not mean to offend anyone or to state that you need to spend so much on components to hear a difference, so much as the more refined the system (regardless of price), the more apparent the improvements OS X optimization will make, AND that I can understand that many people would hear little if any improvements from OS X optimizations based on the above factors.
  14. Hi Everyone, Benjamin from Mojo Audio again. I see a few of you have tried the optimizations and have noticed little of no difference in performance. The short answer to this has a few parts: The improvements from OS X optimization are rather subtle - I've heard as much or more of an improvement from changing USB cables and significantly more improvement from switching player software. As a matter of fact, if you are using the wrong player software, the damage created by the player software could be far greater than the subtle improvements made by the OS X optimizations. To date, one of the only players we've found to be truly "bit perfect" and to not screw up the time and tune of the music is the FREE version of Audirvana. This is not an "opinion" but rather based on extensive testing we've done at both Capital and Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. We played the EXACT same music files through the EXACT same system changing only the player software for several rooms full of attendees. Within 10-20 seconds playing Amarra or Pure Music people start saying "that sounds like crap...put the other back...I can't believe how much of a difference the player makes." Can imagine literally DOZENS of audiophiles all agreeing 100% on something? Can you imagine that in all the tests we've done like this not even ONE person has asked to "go back so we can hear that again." Surprised us as much as anyone how consistent the responses were. Sonically, the big differences were not in the detail or dynamics but in the time, tune, and musical flow. For some reason, all the players that use the iTunes library sound similarly off, and this is not subtle. Attendees used adjectives like "analytical" and "mechanical" to describe the iTunes overlay players compared to Audirvana FREE on the same system. Interestingly enough, the major improvements we've heard from the OS X optimizations also have to do with improved time, tune, and musical flow (makes sense, doesn't it?). Also quite interesting, Audirvana, Foobar/WASAPI, and JRiver sound so close to each other it is hard for anyone to pick out which one is playing in a blind listening test. Since literally everyone we've done comparisons with strongly prefers the sound of these over the other big name players, we can only assume that it is because these players are in fact "bit perfect" and the other players that don't sound this way are not (despite claims made by the companies). So if you are using an iMac at work I would seriously doubt you could hear the difference unless you were playing it through a good $2K+ DAC and a good $500+ pair of headphones using one of the truly bit perfect player software options. These optimizations are subtle but worthwhile on high end systems as the "icing on the cake" and are far from the bottleneck in most computer audio systems we've heard. BTW, the biggest cause of distortion in computer audio we've heard is POWER SUPPLY. So if you're not using an LIO4 battery or one of the respectable ultralow-noise linear power supplies to power your computer then you would likely not be able to hear much if anything from these optimizations. If you check out my Audiofiles blog next month there will be instructions on how to replace the stock switching mode power supply in a Mac Mini with an external power supply. Since not everyone has enough of a budget to afford one of the power supply conversions offered by companies like mine, I will be showing people how to get over 80% the benefit for a fraction the price by using an LIO4 battery you can buy off on eBay for about $100. I would be very interested to hear back from some of you as to what your impressions are of the OS X optimizations using Audirvana FREE player as opposed to the player you are currently using and/or once you've upgraded the power supply on your computer. I hope some of you found this to be helpful. ~ Benjamin
  15. Hi everyone. Thanks for your feedback on my OS X optimization guide. I took wgscott's advice and made my warnings about the Terminal interface more accurate. It seems many of you have a great deal of experience with these types of optimizations. As I mentioned in my introduction, this guide is a collection of the optimizations Mojo Audio got from several people over the years. It would be great if some of you had more optimizations you could forward to us so that we could add them. Also, since some of these optimizations are very noticeable and some are very subtle it would also be great if some of you could "comment" on the blog as to which ones worked best for you. We do this as a service to the computer audio community so the more feedback you can give us on how easy our guide was to follow and as to which of the optimizations you recommend or don't recommend that would be great. ~ Benjamin
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