Schiit Lokius Review (Equalizer)

[Maki]

The criticism of the two bass knobs is exactly correct, I bought one intending to use it as a quick way to add a decent bass boost without mucking around in software but it does fall short because of the bands' frequency picks. A 10hz knob and a 50hz knob for bass would make more sense, then a 200hz for cutting midbass humps.

 

[GWolfman]

It needs more bands to dial in the target areas better. I'd say the best can do is provide some "flavor" to the music, not make any corrections.

 

[Rja4000]

To see the effect of various controls, I increased each one by a quarter turn one by one and got this:

Suggestion to @amirm:

When measuring such a device, what would be interesting is to draw the curve for 5-7 "gain" settings, like +3, +6, +max, 0, -3, -6, -max, at one of the middle frequencies.

Then we could see if the EQ is variable Q (easier to build and most common) or constant Q, where the bandwidth that the EQ impacts is constant for every "gain".
(One may find a good explanation of this here)

Also, with this measurement, we would see what is the measured maximum and minimum "gain". (Sometimes, minimum is different than maximum, like +10dB but -6dB)

 

[solderdude]

You can compare to Schiit Lokius test report.
It looks like that one is measured with the pots at max.

Just like the Loki the bands are too wide to make a good EQ with.
It's a tone control. There could be cases where it actually improves the tone though.

The tilt or simple Baxandall would be preferable as tone control.

 

[Rja4000]

You can compare to Schiit Lokius test report.

My comment was meant to be generic, for the future, but thanks.

That's a serious test report !

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

Great review! I'm sure many of us here are fan of physical, boxy stuff like a tone control device.

Even though I mainly use DSP these days, I still have a soft spot for my JDS Lab EQ box (I forgot it's name). Thing is pretty neat and useful when you're listening to some songs and just want slight change to some aspects of that song. Hope you can measure it too if someone send it, although I doubt if we'll truly see a "SOTA" EQ box.

 

[AVKS]

Why is that hard to grasp? You can't turn the bloody things, they don't have indicators you can easily see, and are slippery to boot. This is a type of box you mess with a lot if it is for music equalization. So it better have good controls. I don't care how cheap it is. If it doesn't work for me, it doesn't work for me.

As an 'n of 1' counterpoint, I have larger hands and have no issues with either turning or seeing mine and it sits flat on my desk (not elevated) and back away at an off angle. Perhaps your unit doesn't function as intended, which would be a concern itself, but what you describe isn't my experience at all.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Guys, this is not an equ, this is a distorsion generator. EQ is done in digital domain, with accuracy.
This unit is 50 years in late.

 

[martijn86]

I have an idea, hear me out: What if, you'd have two control dials, one for bass and one for treble. The bass control dial, follows the "Equal Loudness Contour" <1kHz and the treble control dial follows the same contour >1kHz.

-100% would be off, in other words, flat as a pancake. Approaching 0%, or center position will be the recommend setting at 120db and +100% will be the recommended setting at 10dB.

This way you'd get stepless tone control based on perceived loudness. I'd love that on a pre-amp!

 

[Mart68]

Guys, this is not an equ, this is a distorsion generator. EQ is done in digital domain, with accuracy.
This unit is 50 years in late.

Added to which since pro EQ went digital you can pick up quality analogue EQ units for little money on the secondary market.
I got this Klark Teknik unit for £100, why would I pay 3 times that for the Schitt?

 

[restorer-john]

The old Quad pre-amp controls that introduced tilt always seemed more sensible than this sort of control for end users wanting a simplified interface.

With respect, the Quad "tilt" was a very limiting control (or pair of controls on the 34). You had no choice. Increase LF at the expense of HF or vice versa. I got rid of my 34 for various reasons, one of the reasons being the the tone control, which was never fully bypassed.

 

[solderdude]

The bass control dial, follows the "Equal Loudness Contour" <1kHz

That contour changes per average level.
From which average level would you say the tone correction relative to what other average levels is correct ?

 

[tketcham]

I'm not surprised to see so many negative comments regarding the Schiit Lokius since it's an analog tone control with limited applicability to many (most?) audiophiles, especially those who's music systems are fully digital. But for those of us who continue to use analog components and have a need to taylor the frequency response of our system to minimize minor anomalies in room acoustics or speakers/headphones or to help compensate for diminished hearing acuity, the Lokius is a very usefull device. I've been using a Lokius in my stereo system for two months now and find that with some effort, it can provide a cost effective way to tame bass modes when using active subwoofers and it enhances my ability to hear treble frequencies and fine detail. Definitely an improvement from the four-band Loki Tone Control which I had been using with some success.

Because Schiit tried to keep the costs down it certainly has some ergonomic disadvantages in comparison to a more expensive unit like the Cello Palette. But the specs for the Lokius aren't all that bad (quite good, actually) considering it's priced less than 5% of what the Palette cost ($6500 in 1992), and less than 3% if you consider inflation. Despite Amir's frustration with using the adjustment knobs and the comments from others about the graphics, I find that using the Lokius is straightforward and intuitive once you figure out how a six-band analog tone control can be used. It's not really useful to adjust for each album or correcting for multiple source components or multiple headphones. And it won't be useful for precision room and speaker/headphone corrections. It's an analog tone control after all. However, if you take your time and methodically experiment with a combination of settings, the Lokius can provide a dramatic improvement in tonal balance and help tame bass modes that are most obvious and annoying. The caveat? I think the Lokius is more useful for bass management if you use two or more active subwoofers so that you have some control over the lowest frequencies. And you should have already done some corrective work with acoustic treatments and speaker placement to get the most from tone controls. The Lokius cannot possibly fix a poor acoustical environment or major speaker/headphone shortcomings. As for enhancing diminished hearing acuity, all I can say is that I'm enjoying listening to music as much now as I ever have.

If anyone is interested in how I used the Lokius in my system I can post a summary of what I did. And I've been considering buying a USB measurement microphone and software to find out exactly what frequency changes I made using the Lokius as a tone control. I could post those as well.

Tom

 

[PeteL]

That contour changes per average level.
From which average level would you say the tone correction relative to what other average levels is correct ?

To answer that question we would need measurments at different gain. It is common to have higher Q at Higher gain. I think it's the basic Idea of equal loudness contour. We don't know what schiit is doing (or maybe we do I'd yet to bother looking at the web page but we don't know from this review).

Edit: After a quick eyeballing of Schiit AP report, yes it have higher Q at higher gain.

 

[Lambda]

Added to which since pro EQ went digital you can pick up quality analogue EQ units for little money on the secondary market.
I got this Klark Teknik unit for £100, why would I pay 3 times that for the Schitt?

Wold love to see a unit like this tested!
I suspect a lot of mid range PA stuff is way better then some esoteric HiFi.

 

[solderdude]

And I've been considering buying a USB measurement microphone and software to find out exactly what frequency changes I made using the Lokius as a tone control. I could post those as well.

No need for that plus it isn't really accurate.
You can simply measure the output signal of the Lokius.
You only need a sound card with in and output and a freeware program like REW.

 

[MRC01]

The purpose of a device like this is to make poorly mastered recordings easier to listen to, not to normalize the response of headphones or speakers. The former is subjective and broad, the latter is objective and precise. Yet toward that former purpose, the Lokius defeats itself with unnecessary complexity. Most poorly mastered recordings are too bright or too dark. To improve them, all you need is tone tilt. So there are a few recordings with midrange suckout or the opposite so you may need 2 tone controls. Not 6, or even 4.

The JDS Labs subjective 3 that I built a while back serves this purpose well enough.

 

[MRC01]

No need for that plus it isn't really accurate.
You can simply measure the output signal of the Lokius.
You only need a sound card with in and output and a freeware program like REW.

Yep. That's exactly what I did with the Subjective 3, mentioned above.

 

[beefkabob]

Added to which since pro EQ went digital you can pick up quality analogue EQ units for little money on the secondary market.
I got this Klark Teknik unit for £100, why would I pay 3 times that for the Schitt?

Wold love to see a unit like this tested!
I suspect a lot of mid range PA stuff is way better then some esoteric HiFi.

It probably measures pretty mediocre. Maybe they get some good and steep eq going, but then distortion is probably an issue. I'd not be surprised if it's worse than this Schitt product in some ways.

PA stuff is generally of poor quality by ASR measures. Probably durable, though.

 

[Lambda]

PA stuff is generally of poor quality by ASR measures

Is this so? what specific reviews give you this impression?
By my expectations even Behringer gear was ok for the price an they have the worst image in the industry.
Thinking about Motu or example they make excellent DACs for the Prosumer market (but its more studio and not PA)