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Stereophilus

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  1. I have not experienced anything like what you describe with my MM Makua, but I would consider the following things: 1. there could be a ground loop from ER to Tambaqui if you are using a shielded Ethernet cable. Try using a basic Cat 5e cable from ER to Tambaqui to see if that works. 2. there may be an issue with ER or it’s power supply. Try removing the ER from the chain. 3. is there an issue with the Roon core? Try powering up the Tambaqui with the Roon core switched off. Then see what happens when you turn the Roon core on with the Tambaqui already on. 4. there may be an issue with your Tambaqui. Ask your local dealer to help you.
  2. Could you describe the upstream network feeding the Tambaqui? Do you have any other inputs connected? Have you got the latest firmware installed on the Tambaqui?
  3. Bruno made a reference to using the DAC he designed for Mola Mola in the Kii’s in this interview: He mentions needing to change some elements in the DAC to avoid Kii infringing on Mola Mola patents. This thread is mainly for the Tambaqui, but I thought it worth expanding on the discussion about the Makua as a “Tambaqui + preamp” for @mevdinc. I have been demo-ing different preamps to see if the Makua analog section can be improved on. Preamps can add flavour / colour to a system sound, which is legitimate, but not my preference. I am aiming for transparency and naturalness. To get anything as transparent sounding, especially at low output level, the closest I have found is the Audionet Stern. And even the Stern, as good as it is with delicacy, is not as dead quiet (at its output) as the Makua output at idle. The Stern is USD $45k…
  4. Mola Mola Makua. I am biased because I own one, but it is a truly exceptional preamp with the same DAC + streamer (Roon only) as the Tambaqui.
  5. The real question is do you need a preamp for anything else apart from the DAC? If your only source will be the Tambaqui DAC, then save some money and use the Tambaqui direct into your active ATC loudspeakers. The money you save can be better spent on other areas of your system, or music… However, if you need a preamp for other sources, then the Makua offers an edge over the Tambaqui, albeit at a price. The Makua has a very transparent analog volume control along with excellent current drive for overcoming the cable length losses to your active ATCs. You may notice, as I did, that the Makua digs a bit deeper in the bass compared to Tambaqui direct. Any interconnecting cables between a DAC and preamp will detract from the sound, which is why the direct connection within the Makua will sound the best if a preamp is needed.
  6. It’s so hard to know if the update makes any difference to SQ… it’s not like you can ABX firmware in the Mola Mola gear! FWIW I usually don’t notice any change to SQ, but with this update I did think there a slight improvement.
  7. I too have compared the Mola Mola DAC (Makua) to the Sonnet Morpheus. They are very different. I noticed the Mola Mola conveyed much more air and sense of space. The Morpheus has that R2R timbre, but is, IMO, claustrophobic in comparison.
  8. Glad you enjoyed my take on it. I see Chris has taken up where my review left off and has gone into even greater depths with his official review (of the Terminator). If I ran a system based around HQplayer, I think the T-plus would have to be the perfect dance partner. You could tweak the sound almost infinitely. Unfortunately my time trialling the the T-plus was limited to 5 days. I did return it, but I remain intrigued by it.
  9. I have recently had an opportunity to trial a T-plus in my system. I use Mola Mola gear (Makua + Kalugas) into Rockport Cygnus speakers, fed from Roon on an Antipodes CX. I used a LightSpeed USB for the comparison. The T-plus was connected via balanced ICs into the Makua and is 3dB quieter than the Makua DAC input, so any comparisons required volume adjustment through the Makua. The T-plus takes at least 15mins to warm up before it sounds any good. Set to NOS mode and warmed up it is hyper-detailed and very focussed. Instruments and vocals have ultra-fast attack and decay, which sounds natural and easy on the ear. There is no ringing or overhang at all with this DAC and the space in between notes is as black as it gets. You hear everything. There is, unfortunately, a price to pay for such brilliant resolution. Rhythm. A quick change back to the Makua DAC highlights how such a focussed presentation can sound staccato. The Makua DAC, by comparison, does not give as sharp a focus, and misses some very fine details that pop out of the blackness with T-plus. But the space around instruments and in-between notes contains a more natural and “live” feel to it with the Makua DAC. Music flows and contains rhythmic energy when presented this way, and the illusion of 3-Dimensional space from good recordings was also much more convincing. It would seem the fundamental differences in architecture behind each DAC govern this outcome. But there is a trick the T-plus has. Its sound can can be tweaked with upsampling. I learned this through playing MQA tracks via Roon. These are (partially) unfolded to higher sample rates within Roon. These tracks played through the T-plus lacked nothing in detail, but were much more rhythmically satisfying than redbook 16/44, even if not quite as spacious as through the Makua DAC. Could OS mode on the T-plus replicate what MQA was doing? In short, no. OS mode on the T-plus makes the sound more vague and flat without any real benefit. Enter Roon DSP. Upsampling 44 and 88 material to 176, and upsampling 48 and 96 to 192 in Roon DSP transforms the T-plus from a un-engaging detail driven monster, to a real contender for the Makua DAC. The upsampling brings much needed life to the T-plus, without loss of detail or focus. Even switching between the different upsampling filters gives very different sound signatures. In comparison, the Makua DAC is mostly ambivalent to software upsampling, the exception being when it is fed music upsampled to DSD, which sounds very marginally worse than the original. The Makua DAC still retains a certain “live” and spacious quality that the upsample-fed T-plus can’t quite match, but T-plus counters with its greater detail and image focus. To pick between them would have to be a matter of personal preference. Caveats: 1) USB is probably not the best input for either DAC. I only used this to keep the comparison simple and fair. 2) The T-plus could almost certainly be further improved upon with HQ-player upsampling, instead of Roon DSP. I did not try this. 3) The Gaia DDC reportedly adds to the T-plus performance as well. I did not try this. 4) The Makua DAC has a built in streamer which sounds more detailed and focussed sound than the USB input. I did not use this in the comparison.
  10. Benchmark make great gear at a great price. I think the HPA4 is a superb buy. I haven’t heard it back to back against my Makua, but I doubt it would be much different. The DAC3B is tonally quite neutral and very detailed. When compared on the Makua I didn’t think it reproduced depth layering or soundstage to the same degree as the internal Makua DAC, but this did include an extra set of interconnects for the DAC3B to connect to Makua. Whether this difference is apparent to you or important to you depends on the rest of your system and the music you listen to. For instance, if you use headphones for listening, the DAC3B is probably all you will need.
  11. I am a JS-2 and EtherRegen owner. I use a cheap optical Ethernet converter upstream from the ER. I power both with the JS-2. Does powering both units with the JS-2 defeat some of the isolation of the ER moat, given the floating ground and non-galvanically isolated outputs of the JS-2? Would there be any potential improvement using a separate LPS on the optical Ethernet converter? Thanks in advance.
  12. I think most of us have thrown around audiophile terms such as “transparency” and “accuracy” when we are searching for a way to describe what we are hearing. And in general, most readers here know what you mean when you use those terms. The problem with the terms “transparency” and “accuracy” is that they are relative to some arbitrary ideal (eg the studio performance, or a live performance). The person using those terms was almost certainly NOT present in the studio or at the live performance, and even if they were, can they remember the performance in perfect detail? So how can we truly know if DAC A is 50% more “transparent” than DAC B? We cannot, because we cannot know the ideal to which we are comparing.
  13. In my system I have the Makua DAC, rather than the Tambaqui. I was using Antipodes CX (Roon core) to Antipodes EX (Roon Ready endpoint) to Uptone ISO-Regen (Powered by an Uptone JS-2) to the USB input. There is an EtherRegen (also powered by JS-2) upstream of the CX. The sound quality using this setup was awesome. I upgraded the Makua recently to have the Ethernet streaming board added. Comparing the original setup to using Antipodes CX directly (via Ethernet) into the Makua’s streaming input, the latter is a clear winner to my ears. I would not go back to USB (even highly tweaked, regenerated, isolated and using high-end USB cables) having heard how good the streaming input is. In what way better? To my ears, the streaming input sounds more musically relaxed and yet with sharper focus and consequentially more apparent detail. It’s not “night and day” different, but it was clear to me very quickly in back to back comparisons. Does anyone know if the Tambaqui uses the same USB board as the Makua?
  14. “For the price... I expect...” This phrase (or similar) gets replayed a lot on audiophile forums. It seems to be the operating norm for undermining a product in terms of value or relevance. Expectations of value are more related to personal circumstances than the product itself. There are DACs costing many times what a Tambaqui costs that do not feature any streaming input at all. And in contrast, you can find fully featured DAC+streamers that cost a fraction of what the Tambaqui does. The Tambaqui is what is... For $14k you get a top shelf DAC, with an average headphone stage, a digital volume control and a basic streamer built in. For many people that represents tremendous value.
  15. lol, of course not! You can hook up any streamer via USB (or whatever digital input you prefer) and stream that way. It is just that the built-in streamer is limited to Roon. I won’t list all the options for streaming here.... This forum has copious pages to help you decide which option will suit you best.
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