Review and Measurements of Schiit Sys Passive Pre-amp/Switcher

[amirm]

...and another thing...
You can always copy the question here, in it's own thread.
Answer it however you wish. The question will be answered and only you will have control of the answer.
Any more pleas for "answers" could easily follow the same format.
I'd vote for that.

That's a good suggestion. Will do that from here on.

 

[dat yeti]

Thanks for the offer. Do you want to see how much it costs to mail it each way? The box is not very expensive and hate to pay almost that much in shipping to send it back and forth.

If you buy a jds labs ol switcher and test it, and it measures about the same or better than this schiit sys, I'll gladly buy it off you!

 

[Emdub]

For a couple of years, I’ve had a Sys between my Squeezebox Touch and amp. Ironically one of the first things that I did with it was to compare the analog output to the digital through a Bifrost ‘Uber ‘. I’ll be the first to admit it was a totally subjective a/b listening test. Hearing no discernible differences, I sold the Bifrost.

 

[amirm]

For a couple of years, I’ve had a Sys between my Squeezebox Touch and amp. Ironically one of the first things that I did with it was to compare the analog output to the digital through a Bifrost ‘Uber ‘. I’ll be the first to admit it was a totally subjective a/b listening test. Hearing no discernible differences, I sold the Bifrost.

Ah, that is a good use for it!

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

 

[amirm]

If you buy a jds labs ol switcher and test it, and it measures about the same or better than this schiit sys, I'll gladly buy it off you!

Hey wait! You are saying if it doesn't measure good I am stuck with it???

OK, I ordered it.

 

[dat yeti]

Hey wait! You are saying if it doesn't measure good I am stuck with it???

OK, I ordered it.

Yep! I have confidence in JDS. I have no doubts it will be fine. Curious how it measures though. Thanks for ordering, no rush on review!

 

[gvl]

Can't help but notice that measuring performance of a passive potentiometer-based volume control, which is what SYS really is, in isolation is pretty pointless. Probably the only meaningful test results here are the channel/input separation and channel imbalance at low volume settings. The performance of such a device heavily depends on the output and input impedance and capacitance of upstream and downstream gear. What you actually measured was how SYS influenced the signal with your particular test equipment and as such the results are not exactly useful in a general case as it can perform completely differently in any other given real world setup.

 

[bboris77]

I have a few specific questions about the output impedance of this switcher and how it integrates in my particular system. I have a Modi 3, Magni 3 and a Sys.

The Modi has an output impedance of 75 ohms, the Magni has an input impedance of 25K ohms, and the Sys has a maximum output impedance of 5K ohms. I always keep my Sys on maximum volume. In addition, I am splitting the output coming out from Sys using a Y-splitter between my Magni 3 and my Yamaha receiver which has an input impedance of 47K ohms.

Am I losing any performance due to impedance mismatch? Should I just get rid of the y-splitter and go directly from Magni 3's preamp out to my Yamaha receiver?

Thank you for your input.

EDIT: Keep in mind that I am never running the headphone amp and the Yamaha receiver at the same time.

 

[gvl]

It is not all that clear why you need the Sys at all given you always keep it at max volume. I'd say ditch it, a passive pre may affect the sound so if you don't have a real need for it why have it in the chain at all?

 

[amirm]

Am I losing any performance due to impedance mismatch?

In audio you actually want maximum mismatch! Matching is only done in RF/radio applications, not audio.

Here, we want to have the lowest output impedance to the highest input. I think this is what you mean by your question.

The 75 ohm there disappears relative to 5K of system. So you have 5K output driving 47k input. For absolute inaudibility I like to see 20:1 but 10:1 that you have is fine too. I would not worry about it but as noted, if you are not using the level control, just get a switcher.

 

[bboris77]

It is not all that clear why you need the Sys at all given you always keep it at max volume. I'd say ditch it, a passive pre may affect the sound so if you don't have a real need for it why have it in the chain at all?

The reason why I am using a SYS is because I have a turntable coming in on one of the channels. I guess that a switcher would do as I never use the volume on the SYS, but I simply did not know which switcher to buy. At least with the Sys, Amir measured it to be transparent.

Perhaps we could have for a RCA audio switcher roundup with all the measurements etc

 

[amirm]

Perhaps we could have for a RCA audio switcher roundup with all the measurements etc

I can test them if someone makes the suggestion of which ones to get. Agree that some switchers may have poor separation, etc.

 

[bboris77]

I can test them if someone makes the suggestion of which ones to get. Agree that some switchers may have poor separation, etc.

These are the ones I was looking at, besides the SYS, of course. They are all reasonably priced for what they are.

Beresford TC-7240
Sescom SES-AUDIO-AB
Rolls SS32

It would be interesting to know whether using one of these would bring in any improvements to using a potentiometer-based unit such as the SYS or the OL Switcher.

 

[gvl]

These are the ones I was looking at, besides the SYS, of course. They are all reasonably priced for what they are.

Beresford TC-7240
Sescom SES-AUDIO-AB
Rolls SS32

It would be interesting to know whether using one of these would bring in any improvements to using a potentiometer-based unit such as the SYS or the OL Switcher.

If you have basic soldering skills you can easily mod the SYS to bypass the pot.

 

[Veri]

Hey wait! You are saying if it doesn't measure good I am stuck with it???

OK, I ordered it.

Did the OL switcher ever get tested by the way? Just wondering if it's better or worse than the SYS

 

[amirm]

Did the OL switcher ever get tested by the way? Just wondering if it's better or worse than the SYS

No, it is still sitting in the box....

 

[bothandneither33]

My dad has one of these and I'm lazy so I've been trying to figure out how to put a mini motor on top or near it so I can use a remote to change the volume. I've been googling for a while and the best I could find was an ALPS volume attenuator but I don't want to have to open up the shiit sys and mess with the insides. Does anyone know of any solutions?

edit: I found a picture of what I was thinking. Would I have to worry about any electrical noise leaking out? What would be the easiest way to do this?

 

[amirm]

What would be the easiest way to do this?

Buy a remote controlled audio switcher: https://www.amazon.com/Video-Source-Selector-Remote-Control/dp/B00J4RJ9P2

 

[bothandneither33]

Buy a remote controlled audio switcher: https://www.amazon.com/Video-Source-Selector-Remote-Control/dp/B00J4RJ9P2

I prob shoulda mentioned it was hooked up to a LKS DH-004, A Gustard U16 and a pair of EP 2.8's so keeping the chain as clean as possible is important.

No amp though he just makes me peddle a stationary bike reallly fast

We're using a custom built pc with a AMD 1950x 16-core CPU with HQplayer upsampling to DSD512 ( and poly-sinc-xtr-mp if you're familiar with hqplayer ) and its pretty freakin incredible.

My mom taught me the idiom pennywise pound foolish

 

[Willem]

I am a happy user of the now discontinued Emotiva Control Freak volume control (rca version) in my desktop system. Desktop PC as source, into an ODAC usb DAC, into the Control Freak, into a pair of inline atenuators into a Quad 405-2 power amplifier into a pair of Harbeth P3ESRs. I added the inline attenuators because the ODAC's output voltage of 2.0V is a bit much for the Quad's 0.5V input sensitivity. Without attenuators there was a real risk of accidental damage to the speakers, and with the attenuators I also avoid potential channel imbalance at low volume settings of the Control Freak. Of course I have no way to measure, but the result sounds fine to me.