This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Modius Balanced USB DAC. It was kindly sent to me by the company for testing. The Modius costs just US $199 which is quite cheap for a balanced DAC from a western company.
The design language is Schiit all the way (sorry, could not resist
), which I tend to like in wider form factor:
I am not a fan of symbols for input selection but I guess if you don't switch DACs all the time like I do, it is fine. There is no other input here so you can't change filters and such. No power switch either.
The back panel is as you expect except USB and power connections:
A micro-USB jack is used both for USB connection and independent power input. A phone charger adapter comes which I used for all of my testing. But reading the manual after the fact, seems like this is optional and the unit works from USB port alone if there is sufficient power.
I was hampered a bit in my testing of Modius. My Audio Precision software only supports ASIO interface in talking to DACs on Windows. I usually use ASIO4ALL wrapper which normally works fine but in a few instances, mostly with Schiit DACs, it truncates samples to 16 bits. That happened here. As a work-around, I used my Roon player to send the static tones to Modius. For dynamic measurements, I resorted to using Toslink and Coax.
DAC Audio Measurements
Let's start with my favorite connection, balanced XLR output:
Very nice! Distortion is below threshold of audibility in both channels at around -120 dB. Noise is higher than it, setting SINAD to slightly lower value resulting in very good ranking especially for price:
Here is a zoomed version:
Here is the same using RCA outputs:
Jitter using USB is excellent:
Switching to either Coax or Toslink optical degrades performance a fair bit objectively:
But with levels near -120 dB, definitely not something you will hear.
Dynamic range is very good:
Intermodulation+noise versus level is in the same category:
Linearity is nailed:
Here is our 32-tone test signal:
There is a bit of weakness at lower frequencies where noise floor goes up. We see the same in THD+N versus frequency:
There is only one filter and that is the default in the DAC chip:
Conclusions
Just a year ago we could not imagine a balanced DAC at $199 let alone from a western company. But here we are with Schiit Modius. Company shows that when it focuses on excellent engineering together with great value, it can deliver.
As a big fan of balanced XLR outputs (to reduce chances of nasty ground loops due to connection to PCs), I am happy to recommend the Schiit Modius.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Was going to go and plant more seedlings in the garden but here I am, doing another review. This has to make you feel guilty enough to donate some money using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The design language is Schiit all the way (sorry, could not resist
), which I tend to like in wider form factor:I am not a fan of symbols for input selection but I guess if you don't switch DACs all the time like I do, it is fine. There is no other input here so you can't change filters and such. No power switch either.
The back panel is as you expect except USB and power connections:
A micro-USB jack is used both for USB connection and independent power input. A phone charger adapter comes which I used for all of my testing. But reading the manual after the fact, seems like this is optional and the unit works from USB port alone if there is sufficient power.
I was hampered a bit in my testing of Modius. My Audio Precision software only supports ASIO interface in talking to DACs on Windows. I usually use ASIO4ALL wrapper which normally works fine but in a few instances, mostly with Schiit DACs, it truncates samples to 16 bits. That happened here. As a work-around, I used my Roon player to send the static tones to Modius. For dynamic measurements, I resorted to using Toslink and Coax.
DAC Audio Measurements
Let's start with my favorite connection, balanced XLR output:
Very nice! Distortion is below threshold of audibility in both channels at around -120 dB. Noise is higher than it, setting SINAD to slightly lower value resulting in very good ranking especially for price:
Here is a zoomed version:
Here is the same using RCA outputs:
Jitter using USB is excellent:
Switching to either Coax or Toslink optical degrades performance a fair bit objectively:
But with levels near -120 dB, definitely not something you will hear.
Dynamic range is very good:
Intermodulation+noise versus level is in the same category:
Linearity is nailed:
Here is our 32-tone test signal:
There is a bit of weakness at lower frequencies where noise floor goes up. We see the same in THD+N versus frequency:
There is only one filter and that is the default in the DAC chip:
Conclusions
Just a year ago we could not imagine a balanced DAC at $199 let alone from a western company. But here we are with Schiit Modius. Company shows that when it focuses on excellent engineering together with great value, it can deliver.
As a big fan of balanced XLR outputs (to reduce chances of nasty ground loops due to connection to PCs), I am happy to recommend the Schiit Modius.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Was going to go and plant more seedlings in the garden but here I am, doing another review. This has to make you feel guilty enough to donate some money using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
