New Schiit Modius AK4493 DAC announced

[Veri]

New DAC unveiled. 'Unison' USB, AKM AK4493. Modi's bigger brother. Measurements look "good". Only oddity is two separate output stages, one for balanced output (LME47924-based), one for single-ended output (OPA1662-based). SE one is performing better through the AP.

https://www.schiit.com/products/modius available in silver finish and black finish also note the several digital inputs including AES.

In-house AP report:
https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/Schiit DAC APx555 Standard Test Suite_ Modius.pdf

BAL:

SE:

 

[Jimbob54]

So , presumably they are saying this (like most of their previous DACs) may not measure the best but they added some special sauce in there. Because they clearly arent keen on joining the measurement / SoA war there, are they?

EDIT- Or am I/ we expecting too much. Missed that only $200 so maybe I take it all back. I dunno.

EDIT 2- Measured better than specs posted up there. Looks pretty bang on the money tbh.

 

[solderdude]

Looks nice and interesting.
For me it is missing a display telling me bitrates/depths and filter-options (if it had any).
A version between Modi and Bifrost with bigger dimensions than the very small Modi.

 

[bboris77]

Negatives:
1. No built in power supply - relies on the switching power supply
2. It is using micro-usb connectors
3. It is half thick, so it only kind of matches the Asgard/Jotunheim
4. Relies on op-amps for the output stage - I was hoping they were going to cook up some in-house discrete stage

Positives:
1. Unison (galvanic isolation) - this is a big plus because galvanic isolators cost hundreds of dollars
2. Properly engineered (I assume) delta-sigma DAC option made in USA
3. Balanced (even though I don't use it, it is basically 2 active outputs)

Overall, it is looking promising. The $100 premium over the Modi 3 is worth it considering galvanic isolation and an extra balanced output. The Modi 3 is still insane value though.

I am a bit confused by the measurement report because it appears that the SE output measures better than the balanced. Any insights on why this appears to be the case? Is it because they appear to be using different op-amps for each?

 

[solderdude]

Negatives:
1. No built in power supply - relies on the switching power supply
2. It is using micro-usb connectors
3. It is half thick, so it only kind of matches the Asgard/Jotunheim
4. Relies on op-amps for the output stage - I was hoping they were going to cook up some in-house discrete stage

Positives:
1. Unison (galvanic isolation) - this is a big plus because galvanic isolators cost hundreds of dollars
2. Properly engineered (I assume) delta-sigma DAC option made in USA
3. Balanced (even though I don't use it, it is basically 2 active outputs)

Overall, it is looking promising. The $100 premium over the Modi 3 is worth it considering galvanic isolation and an extra balanced output. The Modi 3 is still insane value though.

I am a bit confused by the measurement report because it appears that the SE output measures better than the balanced. Any insights on why this appears to be the case? Is it because they appear to be using different op-amps for each?

I don't see any galvanic isolation in there nor is it mentioned on the product page. Where did you see the galvanic isolation part ?
Most devices use SMPS, in fact they can be better than linear regs.
in-house discrete output stages will never be able to perform as well as opamps, at least not in this price range.

 

[Eetu]

I'm surprised they can keep the price even lower than the M200 & M300. No screen, remote or volume control though.

 

[bboris77]

Here is what Jason said in his announcement:

"This means you get the same unique, super-high-performance UAC2 USB input we’ve been shipping in Bifrost 2, Gungnir, and Yggdrasil for a while now—in a $199 DA".

Their proprietary Unison is galvanically isolated by default. Unless they found a way of removing it. If that is the case, they should not be saying it is the same like in Bifrost 2.

 

[bboris77]

I don't see any galvanic isolation in there nor is it mentioned on the product page. Where did you see the galvanic isolation part ?
Most devices use SMPS, in fact they can be better than linear regs.
in-house discrete output stages will never be able to perform as well as opamps, at least not in this price range.

I agree with what you are saying about SMPS and op-amps, but this is what made Schiit stand out compared to other manufacturers regardless whether it made their products measure worse. If they just go pure op-amp designs, they are the same as everyone else and they turn their back on their fan base. It's kind of like Topping arguing that absolute polarity does not matter with the E30 when they made their reputation by appealing to people that swear by measurements. And if absolute polarity measures differently, therefore it must sound different. But I digress

 

[solderdude]

I don't see any components that provide galvanic isolation. Also the DAC can be used on 1 USB connection and does not need the second power supply. So it is highly unlikely it is isolated. The fact that they add an isolator in the expensive ones is another matter. It isn't related to Unison.

The modi also has opamps in the output path as well as the bifrost. There really is nothing wrong with opamps and they know it.

Absolute polarity doesn't change measurements, only the needle pulse goes the wrong way.
There are also headphones around that have the phase wired 'incorrectly'. I assume this is easy to solve with firmware.

 

[bboris77]

I don't see any components that provide galvanic isolation. Also the DAC can be used on 1 USB connection and does not need the second power supply. So it is highly unlikely it is isolated. The fact that they add an isolator in the expensive ones is another matter. It isn't related to Unison.

The modi also has opamps in the output path as well as the bifrost. There really is nothing wrong with opamps and they know it.

Absolute polarity doesn't change measurements, only the needle pulse goes the wrong way.
There are also headphones around that have the phase wired 'incorrectly'. I assume this is easy to solve with firmware.

If the USB is not galvanically isolated, then the value proposition is not that great compared to the Modi 3 unless one needs a balanced output or AES input.

 

[dfuller]

For $200 the specs they're showing in their test report are so far as I can tell decent if nothing special. AES and balanced outs are a nice touch indeed at the price point, IMO.

Consistently, though, I'm wishing that these devices could do better than 4V RMS at the outputs as that's a paltry +14dBu. It's a bit sad to me that even cheap bus powered audio interfaces like a Motu M2 manage +16dBu. I know that's kind of a non-issue for most, but...

 

[bboris77]

Confirmed, the USB input is not isolated.

 

[dfuller]

Confirmed, the USB input is not isolated.

That's a bummer, and it means that any power input from a PC may end up contributing packet noise. Hopefully the power supply provided is a low noise part, if one wants to run it standalone via S/PDIF or AES.

 

[Theriverlethe]

Negatives:
1. No built in power supply - relies on the switching power supply
2. It is using micro-usb connectors
3. It is half thick, so it only kind of matches the Asgard/Jotunheim
4. Relies on op-amps for the output stage - I was hoping they were going to cook up some in-house discrete stage

Positives:
1. Unison (galvanic isolation) - this is a big plus because galvanic isolators cost hundreds of dollars
2. Properly engineered (I assume) delta-sigma DAC option made in USA
3. Balanced (even though I don't use it, it is basically 2 active outputs)

Overall, it is looking promising. The $100 premium over the Modi 3 is worth it considering galvanic isolation and an extra balanced output. The Modi 3 is still insane value though.

I am a bit confused by the measurement report because it appears that the SE output measures better than the balanced. Any insights on why this appears to be the case? Is it because they appear to be using different op-amps for each?

I use an Olimex USB-ISO with my ODAC and I think it cost less than $20. It may be more expensive for UAC2 devices (that probably have no reason to exist for general consumer use).

Edit: Whoops, $35 from US suppliers.

 

[bboris77]

I use an Olimex USB-ISO with my ODAC and I think it cost less than $20. It may be more expensive for UAC2 devices (that probably have no reason to exist for general consumer use).

Edit: Whoops, $35 from US suppliers.

That is a good price. The only issue with this one is that isolator is that goes only up to 24/96 - USB Audio Class 1.

 

[Theriverlethe]

That is a good price. The only issue with this one is that isolator is that goes only up to 24/96 - USB Audio Class 1.

Yes, it goes up to 24/96kHz - hence my assertion that UAC2 has no reason to exist for general consumer use, and I'm hedging on the potential that it might have some use for pro audio.

 

[solderdude]

In a LOT of cases having a non-isolated USB connection is no problem at all. It could solve groundloop issues. when you have groundloop issues you will hear weird sounds that should not be there. Generally it will not result in 'reduced sound quality'.

 

[Theriverlethe]

In a LOT of cases having a non-isolated USB connection is no problem at all. It could solve groundloop issues. when you have groundloop issues you will hear weird sounds that should not be there. Generally it will not result in 'reduced sound quality'.

At least ground loop issues and weird sounds are real problems.

 

[solderdude]

problems that can be solved ... mostly

 

[gvl]

Bifrost 2 is multibit-only @$699. "Bifrost 2 is nothing less than a complete re-thinking of what an affordable DAC should be.". I guess affordability is a relative term.