Written by｜Bomb Dance
Everything started from an occasional thought in 2004
Earlier, I came across an interview with Bruno Putzeys, one of the founders of Mola Mola, in SoundStage! Ultra from 2014, which detailed the Mola Mola DAC that had not yet been officially launched at that time. Bruno mentioned that everything should start from 2004 when he was invited as an engineer at Philips to participate in an internal DSP exchange meeting. Initially, he just wanted to go through the motions and spent about half an hour designing a digital PWM (pulse-width modulator), only to find that its performance was superior to other algorithms from the past 20 years. As a result, he not only presented this PWM at the internal meeting but also published this achievement at AES in 2006.
Bruno discovered that in the mainstream PCM to PWM conversion algorithms at that time, the upsampler’s sampling frequency was fixed, while the sampling timing of the counter changed according to the signal content, leading to unnecessary phase modulation and high-frequency distortion. This nonlinear distortion also affected the high-frequency noise after shaping, with some entering the signal band after demodulation, thereby degrading the signal-to-noise ratio. Under Bruno’s new architecture, not only was the sampling frequency of the upsampler and counter unified, but the feedback signal was cleverly altered to solve the aforementioned problems. Through Bruno’s simulations, the DAC using this PWM achieved a THD+N close to -135dB within a 20kHz bandwidth, far exceeding similar products on the market at that time, while maintaining a circuit complexity level comparable to mainstream PWM designs with about 3000 logic gates, making the realization of this design feasible at that technological level.
Let’s realize the idea
That said, Bruno’s main work at the time was Class D amplifiers, and he had always opposed fully digital amplifier designs. Therefore, this digital pulse-width modulator had little use in amplifiers. However, he knew that this design could perform excellently in DACs, which are low-current output devices, and he needed a reason to realize this design — “to create a DAC that would not become outdated in 10 to 15 years,” which was the reason for the birth of the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC/headphone amplifier.
Of course, PWM is just one part of Tambaqui. After the signal goes through PWM, it also passes through a 32-level FIR DAC and a 4th-order I/V converter, resulting in a final signal-to-noise ratio close to 130dB and a dynamic range of 22 bits. As for the jitter, which is highly valued by audiophiles, Tambaqui not only uses a laboratory-grade 100MHz SC-cut crystal oscillator but also employs an asynchronous upsampling algorithm, allowing the stability of the input signal frequency to be determined by the internal crystal oscillator, effectively reducing the impact of the source.
Pure and Transparent
The story and technical details of Tambaqui are quite appealing to me, but regardless of how grand the background is, the most important thing is the sound performance. This time, I focused on the sound performance of Tambaqui’s direct headphone output, and coincidentally, the HIFIMAN SUSVARA UNVEILED flagship planar magnetic headphones were also at the magazine, making them a perfect match.
First, I used the Network input, playing TIDAL streaming of “Turandot” with Roon. The SUSVARA UNVEILED is a pair of headphones with very strong analytical power, and any roughness or lack of detail in the source cannot escape its scrutiny. Of course, Tambaqui is no slouch either; its sound base is very clean, with strong dynamic contrast, and I did not feel any grit during the music playback. Who says switching power supplies must have noise? Tambaqui’s quiet performance is enough to break some audiophiles’ prejudices against switching power supplies. On the other hand, its low-frequency scale is strong, clean, and responsive, without any sense of muddiness. Additionally, during the explosive parts of the music, Tambaqui showed no signs of being overwhelmed or out of control, demonstrating excellent control.
Besides the Network input, I also wanted to understand its performance when paired with a CD player. I then paired it with the Accuphase DP-770 SACD/CD player, connecting via S/PDIF to Tambaqui. I chose Teresa Teng’s “I Only Care About You,” and the music sounded very ethereal, with the female voice silky smooth, fully showcasing its charm. The open design of the SUSVARA UNVEILED, combined with Tambaqui’s pure sound orientation, made the tail end sound very natural while preserving the charm of the original recording.
Finally, I found the track “Pure White Story ~ Main Theme” from the soundtrack of “I Just Want to Tell You,” composed by S.E.N.S., which I believe many audiophiles are familiar with. This pure electronic music sounds particularly transparent through Tambaqui’s clean sound base, faithfully conveying the youthful essence of the piece to the audience. At the same time, Tambaqui’s driving power is quite impressive, allowing the SUSVARA UNVEILED to create the necessary sense of immersion and density, enabling users to further engage with the music.
Conclusion:
The Tortoise and the Hare of the Audio World
I believe everyone has heard of the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, right? The Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC/headphone amplifier is like the Tortoise and the Hare in reality, but the difference is that Tambaqui’s performance is truly outstanding. Even after nearly 10 years since its launch, it remains rare to find a DAC that can output such tranquility. One can only say that Bruno is indeed a genius. Its sound is like pure distilled water — clean, pure, transparent, and silky smooth, with sound detail performance reaching Hi-end levels, making it truly worthy of attention from audiophiles.
Specifications:
■ PCM Support: 384kHz/32bit ■ DSD Support: Dop and Native DSD 4X ■ Bandwidth: 80kHz ■ Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 130dB ■ Dimensions: 200x110x320mm ■ Weight: 5.2kg
■ General Agent: Long Jun Audio. 23981280
※ This article is excerpted from 【Audio Technology】 January 2025 Issue No. 520 ※
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