THIS ISSUE: Ken Micallef listens to the Mola Mola Tambaqui D/A processor, and Jim Austin trades out one Pass Laboratories preamplifier for another.
MOLA MOLA TAMBAQUI D/A PROCESSOR
When Herb Reichert reviewed the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC ($13,400) in his December 2021 Gramophone Dreams column,1 his praise for the Bruno Putzeys–designed processor was effusive. “Mola Mola’s Tambaqui did not whisper—it declares loudly: ‘See! The truth is more beautiful than you thought it would be!’” “The Tambaqui seemed to expose the core, or body, of recorded sound in a way that upped the intensity of my listening experience.” “Transparency, detail, and purity were off the charts.” “I heard—and saw—previously invisible molecules of live, reverberant energy.”
John Atkinson’s measurements of the Tambaqui were also impressive. “The Tambaqui offers
