Mola Mola Tambaqui streaming DAC

Although the name suggests some tropical origin, this very high end network bridged DAC originates from the North of The Netherlands. Mola Mola is a sister company of Hypex Electronics and the Tambaqui again is the brainchild of Bruno Putzeys.

Contents of this video

00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Start of program
00:48 - Where to use
01:46 - The outside
03:28 - The inside
04:26 - In use
06:42 - The test setup
07:52 - Sound quality
11:57 - The wrap

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[afrancois]

Speedy recovery Hans, seems you have a cold. Proud to be a compatriot of Bruno. One of the digital audio designers in the world!

[auditoriumforone]

Excited to see a run of reviews of this level of high end DACs. I would love to get my ears on this one.

[davidurquhart]

Nice to see some high end dac comparisons

[michaelmityok]

Very glad for this review, most likely this is my next DAC/streamer as it obviates the need for a server/DDC/DAC stack which I had been contemplating.

[Mat-Thias]

Dear Hans,
I always like the way you do your reviews, they have a nice blend of engineering systematics and your passion about music and playback!
This review was especially interesting for me, as you had the Terminator Plus as a benchmark, with an excellent network bridge.
Now I will look for your newer reviews of Dave and Co.
Thank you very much and all the best to you!
Matthias

[BelieveHiFi]

Fantastic as always Hans, you're truly a gift to the community & one of my key inspirations!

Interested to hear your thoughts vs the DAVE. I had many mixed feelings with the comparison but this was not in an A/B scenario as I had them at different times & its hard to trust memory.

For me, in my systems, as a Pure DAC shoot-out the DAVE out-resolves the Tambaqui with frightening levels of resolution, textural detail and transient information, but I found myself enjoying the Tambaqui more with longer more inviting listening sessions with a more grounded, easeful, somewhat richer and tangible portrayal. The Dave is the most raw and revealing DAC for me but it is a BRUTAL beast when it comes to imperfections in the source or your system.

Things do change with Chord DACs (particularly the DAVE) when the M-scaler comes into the picture, no longer is tangibility and image weight an issue and the timbre and tonality of instruments improves leaps and bounds as does staging.

In a pure 1-1 if I had to live with 1 forever it would be the Tambaqui, BUT if you put price & the other functionality a-side and allow for the m-scaler to be added I would absolutely go with the Chord combo no 2-ways about it.

[audiorick]

I was looking for a review that compared the streaming section of this DAC to an external Aries G2. I had heard many good things about this DAC and always wondered if there was a compromise by using the internal streamer (ROON) versus a dedicated one. This is just perfect! Thank you.

[JulienBourjault]

Better health, and interesting review as usual 👍

[nurikarsli]

Hans, Firstly, I wish you a fast recovery, I own a Gryphon Kalliope Dac, which I like very much, but Tambaqui is always on my mind for my next setup, so it was a nice surprise you checked it out.Thanks

[Falcone-enwl]

Hans, your honesty and clarity is a rare exception among the hi-fi reviewers. Thanks

[GregLile]

Thanks for the review. It would be interesting to hear/read more about how/whether the Tambaqui benefits from the EtherRegen, Muon Pro networking systems.

[youtubiers]

Hi Hans, any chance you could review the Pi2aes raspberry pi digital output board? It seems to be getting very good feedback from users regarding price /performance ratio

[morespinach]

So Tambaqui can be connected directly to active speakers like dynaudio focus 10 and we are done? No need for separate streamer etc?

[joisloal]

Hello Hans, Great videos and very informative,
i Just Bought a Tambaqui im using it as roon end Point,
do you think is worth to buy one like auralic g2.1 or Aurender n200 ? i see yo mention roon end point sounds the same as with your auralic

[virgogreg]

Hans how would you compare Denifrips Aries 2 to the Tambaqui DAC sound Quality? ie scale 1 to 10 ?

[mystdeisanto]

Hei Hans, thanks for great review! I'm searching for main monitor DAC for my home mastering studio. I'm leaning toward hifi gear recently and getting attracted by FPGA tech that wasn't found in pro audio gear. Since you've been around studio in past, I have a question about latency. I have plan to hook this thing from my RME AIO PCIe card via AES/EBU or SPDIF. would I experience high round-trip-latency for monitoring while recording/overdubbing?

[ivoo]

Hi Hans, you say that MQA is irrelevant in FPGA DACs. Does this mean that FPGA DACs don't add time smearing to the signal, or does it mean that they do add time smearing to the signal? Either way, does this also apply to other FPGA DACs - like Chord Mojo for an example /which I happen to own/?

[joemehalic]

Hans,
Great channel!
Regarding the i2S connection . . . . isn't that the only way to read the DSD layer from an SACD player? Shouldn't I be able to use the I2S input with my universal players (Oppo 105) HDMI Out? I understand that the 12S and HDMI use the same pin connection and SHOULD be compatible, in order to send the DSD layer to the DAC. Is that correct? Thanks for the great work you do!

[presidentpotato]

On my short list .. this and Denafrips Terminator plus

[joseauger]

Hi. I am examining options for USB reclocking for my Wyred 4 Sound NS Music Server. I have seen the SOtM tx-USBUltra Special Edition, and the Denafrips Gaia. However it is important that the reclocker can pass through pure DSD as I have many DSD files up to 128. I do not know if there are other alternatives. I would appreciate your views on those you have alrrady reviewed. Many thanks in advance and keep up your excellent work.