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Schiit Lokius Review (Equalizer)
- Thread starter amirm
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- Dec 9, 2020
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Reminds me that I have a Rane GE60 which I could test. I got it as 'payment' for a 3 hour job once upon a time
I'll agree that this is of limited use and Parametric or high band count Graphic EQ is really the way to go. But once you said that and have decided that on the task at hand for a cheap price you'd do a tone control with 5 fixed bands, an no Q control, well a low Q as implemented is really the only smart way to go. Having narrow band at these conditions would be completely useless and low Q will much more audibly natural. It is what it is, you want more vocal presence, you bring up the presence region and you do it with as little phase shift and as little abrupt change in the frequency response. Same with Sub bass or any of those bands. Or maybe for some that are loosing much of their Hi Freq acuity, well this is there to help you recover some. It is what it is. I disagree with the using a Jack hammer for a screwdriver job analogy. If you can't choose your center frequency, do it like that. It's tone control, to adjust the general tonality to taste not to fix specific problems because trying to fix specific frequencies with just a choice of 5, well the odds of falling on the right ones are close to none... So agree with not being so useful, but what it does, it does it the right way.
“Boosting one control to max takes another bite out of its performance…” I don’t quite understand how the 1kHz went down in that test: isn’t the 3rd control—centered at 500 Hz—supposed to increase the 1KHz signal by a few dB if set at max.? Isn’t also expected to increase any upstream THD+Noise in its freq. range? A misunderstanding on my part?
Zensō
Major Contributor
Such an odd product. It reminds me of some of Schiit’s other pseudo-retro products like their hybrid tube amps. Sort of the worst of two worlds.
Zensō
Major Contributor
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MakeMineVinyl
Major Contributor
I think the conclusions of the review miss the point - this is intended to be a tone control, and as such it just has to be as good as, or a bit more flexible than the standard bass and treble controls on a preamp. Precision adjustment is not the point. A software based parametric EQ is useless in a completely analog context, and this unit is obviously made for that use. Aside from potentially limited headroom, the performance seems reasonable for its intended use.
I do think that they should have at least used knobs with some texture to help gripping them, and apparently the designers of the face panel can't spell, or don't want to spell. Just looking at it, I'd have a hard time figuring it out with all the stupid hieroglyphics.
I do think that they should have at least used knobs with some texture to help gripping them, and apparently the designers of the face panel can't spell, or don't want to spell. Just looking at it, I'd have a hard time figuring it out with all the stupid hieroglyphics.
I see no evidence of that, Which band did you set to max? As mentioned, they are wideband, isn't it just what you are asking the device to do? Boosting some harmonics present? Yes you add some distortion by engaging the circuitry, but after that of course boosting frequency will change Sinad. It's not a bite in performance when it's what it's suppose to do.
I do not see evidence of that neither. The Noise floor is at the same level on the SINAD graph with one control up and at center detent. Harmonics yes but The noise floor stays put and this is quite impressive actually.
I get that you didn't like the over all experience, I think I'd lose interest fast with such device too. But objectively at this price and considering the nature of such circuitry, this looks to me like excellent performance. The flat frequency response at center detent is astonishing for analog pots like that.
I believe Schiit said somewhere this product was "inspired by" the Cello Palette Preamp. The intent is definitely not speaker or room EQ; rather it's to be able to make rapid changes to compensate for poor tonal balance in source material -- i.e., as a flexible tone control (as @MakeMineVinyl noted).
That said, the Cello had silky smooth knobs, well separated and easy to use. I used one for a while, and it served its purpose really well.
The Stereophile measurements of the Cello are given in the review. The operation of its tone controls differs from the Lokius:
That said, the Cello had silky smooth knobs, well separated and easy to use. I used one for a while, and it served its purpose really well.
The Stereophile measurements of the Cello are given in the review. The operation of its tone controls differs from the Lokius:
OP
- Thread Starter
- #31
Changing that control changes the distortion level of that amplifier stage.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #32
Huh? That would only be the case if the harmonics were in the source, not as a result of the circuit generating it.
But once it's there, how could the control itself could possibly discriminate and boost only the harmonics that where from the source. What I mean, this is not a flaw. We can say that the circuitry adds harmonic, maybe too much of them but no analog EQ in the world will be able to boost only wanted signal and not distortion products!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #34
This makes no sense. I already explained why but you keep repeating it.
The caption on that graph says "2 volts in", so it is actually showing a few dB of gain at 1kHz. The input level was adjusted down presumably to prevent clipping.
Basically, what I mean, If instead of Boosting a control to the max, you turn it down to the max. Does the distortion is reduced or is it increased. If by turning down it decrease, The control is not degrading performance, it's doing it's job. Can you still try that? That would be the evidence i am looking for.
I have a Lokius and am very pleased with it. The frequencies are right where I need them to dial down a bit of the midbass hump in my Revel M16s and address the deficiencies in my headphones that include Dan Clark Aeon RTs.
Signal chain is LG V30/G8 --> E50 via USB (both balanced and SE out) --> Lokius (both balanced and SE) --> THX 789 or Emotiva A100 --> headphones or Revels. Everything sounds fantastic to me, and I like the Lokius much better than the assorted Android EQs I tried.
Signal chain is LG V30/G8 --> E50 via USB (both balanced and SE out) --> Lokius (both balanced and SE) --> THX 789 or Emotiva A100 --> headphones or Revels. Everything sounds fantastic to me, and I like the Lokius much better than the assorted Android EQs I tried.
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
Bear in mind the actual "noise floor" is not what you are seeing in the FFT. You are seeing the distortion products after averaging pushes random noise out of the picture.
Look up FFT gain.
Thanks yes. What I said is we have no evidence that it would increase noise floor but that it could maybe.
By my reading, the test tone was boosted by 5.3dB relative to flat. The 3rd control is centered at 500Hz, so it adds less gain at the harmonics than at the test tone. However, the 3rd harmonic went up relative to the test tone by about 28dB. It's generating distortion, not just amplifying what was there.
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