OP
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Review and Measurements of Schiit Modi 3 DAC
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Jimster480
Major Contributor
Weird, maybe your unit is faulty?
Its rare in your reviews to see such difference in channels...
As the father of two twenty-somethings I resemble that remark...Being sure requires me being 20 years younger.But yes, in this case it is Modi 3 and I updated the graph.
Jimster480
Major Contributor
He did talk about how this was teh case and that his asio4all was truncating it... and when he wasn't using that (WASAPI) it didn't have these problems.Do you use the latest ASIO4ALL version 2.14? This is an updated version that includes a "Workaround for a bug in Windows 10 Creators Update: USB audio capture would not work any more (red exclamation mark, distorted sound, ...)". Maybe this also applies for USB audio render.
Besides, could you show a picture of your ASIO4ALL configuration like this one? Does the "WDM Device List" state "24Bits" for "Out"?
If I am not mistaken you did not install any device specific WDM driver. So, which driver does Windows really use? Its own internal Microsoft/Thesycon USB 2.0 driver (usbaudio2.sys)? Or the correct device specific Schiit driver (which seems to be this one) that Windows may have installed from Windows Update? Or a previously installed (and now incorrect) driver? I think there is a chance that ASIO4ALL on your system somehow does not use the driver that WASAPI uses.
It may also be that you have unveiled a yet undiscovered bug in ASIO4ALL. In that case the developer Michael Tippach would certainly help.
Also, in the introduction of Schiit's test report they write "If you still have significantly different results, please contact [email protected] with a copy of your results so we can bring back your product and check it against our standard." It would be interesting to know which ASIO driver they actually used. I think they would tell you if you showed them your results with the same 28k$ audio analyzer.
Overall I think it is worth seeking for the reason of this discrepancy (and finding a solution for it) as this device seems to be the first seriously engineered DAC from Schiit.
By the way, the 100 Hz spikes and its overtones are certainly the result of truncation from 24 to 16 bits (as you already mentioned). This is the spectrum of an undithered 24-bit full scale 1 kHz sine:
View attachment 16066
Here is the result of converting that signal to 16 bits with simple truncation, that is, no dither and no noise shaping:
View attachment 16067
This looks like the spectrum you recorded with your APx.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #105
I was using 2.13. But just upgraded to 2.14 and there is no difference. It still truncates. Here is UI for ASIO4ALL:
So still truncating.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #106
I can't capture that tooltip but yes, it says it supports up to 192 Khz at 32 bits.
Jimster480
Major Contributor
Do you think that we should be using Asio4All with something like Spotify vs Wasapi?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #108
No, it is using the UAC2 Microsoft class driver. Schiit no longer provides any drivers.
I use the same class driver with countless other DACs without problems. Indeed all the comparisons I showed with other DACs in this thread were measured that way. As I noted, I also tried it on my laptop to same effect.
Here is the tooltip:
OP
- Thread Starter
- #109
No. If WASAPI interface is supported in the app, you should use that. Less layers of software the better.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #110
That is the message I sent them on Saturday. The response was automated saying basically they don't work on weekends. Let's see what they say now that the work week has started.
Jimster480
Major Contributor
Alright, just checking.
I am using WASAPI with my Equalify.
Sadly, it is not. You can use a beta-quality 3P app, but a beta-quality 3P app is a beta-quality 3P app...
If you click on that wrench the sesame will open and you'll have access to additional options. I don't remember which ones, it's been a while since I had a need to use ASIO4ALL.
OP
Those are the additional options. If you click on the wrench, the settings on the right vanish:
View attachment 16091
You guys know I used this wrapper every day of the week and twice on Sunday, yes?
Ok then, I just remember seeing more than 3 checkboxes. It is possible I was drunk and everything doubled
OP
Likely a Schiit issue. Technically ASIO is there, there is no generic driver available from C-Media, the itegrator (Schiit) must provide a customized driver. It is possible they have a development build that they use internally, hence their AP results.
Another thought is that ASIO is only available on W7, and this is what Schiit uses for validation.
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I always thought ASIO4ALL used the older WDM kernel-streaming under the hood and not WASAPI, that may well have changed in the recent versions, but given the same binary works on W98 and W10, maybe not?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #120
They used to have an ASIO driver so that is the most obvious explanation.
Roon can operate either way. I have tried that option to no avail. It would have been very odd for it to be the cause of this issue anyway. That is just the buffer management/communication with the driver.
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