Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC and Streamer Review

[Matias]

Wonder how a excellent implementation of the 9038Pro or 4499 would compare (and cost).

Search for Matrix Element X and Topping D90 here in ASR.

 

[Thomas savage]

Restoring faith in high end audio , thanks @Bruno Putzeys .

 

[pozz]

another good boutique dac that should perform well based on the measurements posted by stereophile is the dCS (the Vivaldi especially)... but this comes at a price, and honestly I cannot see why should I pay more for that, since delta-sigma alternatives are equally good but less expensive due to the fact that they do not have to pay for the R&D of a new dac architecture.

Finally we can compare what's out there in a reliable way.

I'm curious to see if equally expensive dCS DACs reach this performance.
Thanks Amir!

Feels like it's only just a matter of time.

 

[socksrolleddown]

Do they take kidneys?

 

[bidn]

Congratulations to @Bruno Putzeys !
Your good looking tiny device totally annihilates the more expensive, big, chunky and ominous looking TOTALDAC!
And restores credibility to ultra-expensive audio products.
Now hopefully we would get to see a higher end Chord DAC like the Dave tested one day.

 

[pozz]

Why the slow filter rolloff though? It seems against the design philosophy.

 

[Matias]

Why the slow filter rolloff though? It seems against the design philosophy.

I suppose that this is for the transient response to be free of pre-ringing artifacts? I don't know.

 

[jeroboam]

Should have been called the Moolah Moolah !

 

[anmpr1]

From an ergonomic standpoint, why put the headphone jack on the back where you can't reach it easily?

 

[Veri]

From an ergonomic standpoint, why put the headphone jack on the back where you can't reach it easily?

It's probably an afterthought. But who knows, maybe it's good. We'll see when amir measures it.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I suppose that this is for the transient response to be free of pre-ringing artifacts? I don't know.

That's not artifact but desired band limited system response.

 

[Matias]

From an ergonomic standpoint, why put the headphone jack on the back where you can't reach it easily?

I guess cosmetics, so that the front looks nice.

 

[Boatswain]

Thanks for the test, great review!

 

[Veri]

That's not artifact but desired band limited system response.

@amirm any chance for a frequency response measurement? Any roll-off?

 

[Matias]

@amirm any chance for a frequency response measurement? Any roll-off?

According to Mola Mola:
Bandwidth: Up to 80kHz (apodizing response).

 

[HammerSandwich]

@amirm, I2S results would be interesting.

 

[Bjoran]

Also tested by HiFi News:
https://perfect-sense.se/wp-content...la_Hifi_news_2017_www.perfect-sense.se_-1.pdf

 

[sonci]

Has anyone looked inside it? I bet it has some Sabre chip..

 

[Veri]

Has anyone looked inside it? I bet it has some Sabre chip..

Is this a joke? There surely isn't

 

[Matias]

Has anyone looked inside it? I bet it has some Sabre chip..

The Mola Mola DAC module is custom designed and used both in Tambaqui standalone DAC and as an optional module for the Makua preamp.

https://www.mola-mola.nl/dac.php