Schiit Modi+ DAC Review

[pseudoid]

"MFG in USA" and it's that 'good'!

 

[KR500]

Thanks for reviewing and testing this for us Amir

Hopefully at some time the Schmitt Modi 3e DAC will get the test here

After purchasing one and listening I am pleased with it and feel it is a noticeable improvement over the previous Schmitt model. Maybe a 20% or so sound upgrade.

I spent a really long time with the Topping D30 and found it’s detail fantastic, ….. but over time tiring.
I gifted it to our close friends grown son along with a Magni which is a big improvement over his pc sound card.

 

[kchap]

Yeah, talking rubbish. It's always safer having a volume control between the amp section and the source(DAC). To say otherwise is foolish and risky.

I take the risk; this has been discussed in other threads. I use a D10B with a RPI streamer. I do try and match the output of the DAC to the amp and speakers. If I could overdrive the amp by more than 3 or 4 dB, I would consider inline attenuators.

I've had a couple of incidents when updating or trying alternative SW. The speakers have survived so far, fingers crossed.

Edit: I tried inserting a fingers crossed emoji, It didn't work.

 

[jam]

Fine. Considering the many good DACs out there, it would be great to see balanced outputs and a HPA "on board", but probably impossible at this price level.

Thanks for the review Amir. Well there's the Topping D10 presently selling on amazon.com for $118 USD that has balanced outputs through TRS jacks but no HPA. Oh, and it only has a USB input, no S/PDIF coax or Toslink inputs. That's asking quite a lot at that price level but who knows perhaps some day...

 

[jam]

Wait, people actually care about DSD?

Well some people have DSD files or rips that they would like to play through their DAC. Not that I believe that DSD is intrinsically superior technology to PCM but many recordings have been remastered from the original analog master tapes to DSD with more care put into the process to offer a better balanced result than their CD/PCM counterparts.

 

[confucius_zero]

is schiit still relevant in today's post-chifi market?

 

[Steven Holt]

I see strange things happening on one of them:

I see this, and I believe this, but there is just no way in hell that anyone's going to hear this. I take it that difference, and not the audible, was the purpose of the post?

 

[Doodski]

is schiit still relevant in today's post-chifi market?

Schiit is still relevant and it seems some peeps are wiseing up to the substandard and horrible customer service that is provided for Topping after sale support.

 

[PeteL]

is schiit still relevant in today's post-chifi market?

The question should be more: -Is now Schiit the last and only North-American audio electronics manufacturer that sucessfully managed to stay relevant?

 

[SYJ]

No DSD ???

 

[Sokel]

I see this, and I believe this, but there is just no way in hell that anyone's going to hear this. I take it that difference, and not the audible, was the purpose of the post?

If it was only about the audibility we wouldn't need to measure any dac anymore,it would only need to take a look on the outside to see if it is broken or something.
But is nice to observe stuff.

For example the measurement you see is about a dac that has 109db SINAD at 1Khz but rapidly goes to 85db going up the freqs according to Amir's measurement.
And this because of that grass you see down there.Is that audible?
See the thread I posted right after to see what I'm talking about.

 

[Robbo99999]

Schiit is still relevant and it seems some peeps are wising up to the substandard and horrible customer service that is provided for Topping after sale support.

I think for electronic goods like DACS I'd take my chances with a better measuring more feature rich product at a cheaper price - I can't remember the last time any electronic goods failed on me.....well there was my mobile GPU in my laptop that failed after 3yrs of being overclocked to twice it's default clockspeed, but beyond that I've never had a failure of a product. So I just don't think customer service & after sales support is a big factor in these types of purchases. At least in my opinion, it's a low risk worth taking.

 

[Frank Sol]

is schiit still relevant in today's post-chifi market?

Made me chuckle

 

[hmt]

Dont know if it was already mentioned but this is a nice DAC to uhse for an Altitude 16 to use the additional 4 channels. It has coax and spdif in, is cheap, has a small footprint and is better than the DAC in the Altitude 16.

 

[noel_fs]

it makes me happy seeing a brand improve from actual criticism

 

[dtaylo1066]

Being relatively inexpensive, the components—certainly not made in USA—represent a significant part of the final cost and disqualify the Modi+ from a “Made in USA” tag. Schiit would have to increase the price considerably in order to label it “Made in USA”…

I would think it near impossible to build a low cost audio product -- or one at virtually any cost -- with 100% of its resistors, caps, DAC chips, etc, that were all made in the USA.

 

[respice finem]

I would think it near impossible to build a low cost audio product -- or one at virtually any cost -- with 100% of its resistors, caps, DAC chips, etc, that were all made in the USA.

I doubt it would be possible at any cost ATM. Globalization, the country with the lowest cost gets the factory...

 

[T.M.Noble]

In regards to the production of our units in the USA and "Made in USA" vs "Assembled in USA":

All of the constituent parts of our units are sourced from American companies whenever possible. Our board houses and metal vendors are located in the US which constitutes a large portion of the cost of the unit. However, since the Trump administration, the regulations on using the term "Made in USA" was redefined as strictly as possible. Not only did you need to source your products from American companies, but those companies needed to source the raw materials from the USA as well. Generally speaking, you will very rarely nowadays see a product as complicated as our amps and DAC's that have the Made in USA label. However, we set a particular price point we want to hit for a product. We then price it out with as many USA components we can, and look elsewhere when we must. Still designed in the USA, still assembled in the USA by employees with healthcare, life insurance, PTO, paid holidays, etc.

We hit our target price because we make a point to do it. We don't simply seek out the cheapest possible market to build our product. It's our choice to do it here. That's how you make a cheap product in the US, you just do it.

 

[Kevinfc]

American made, not quite the value of their Chinese counterparts, but close enough.

 

[T.M.Noble]

American made, not quite the value of their Chinese counterparts, but close enough.

It all depends on what is valuable to you. The benefit of choice. We are lucky there are many options and people can find the right product tailored for what they value.