Schiit Modius Balanced DAC Review

[Theriverlethe]

certainly for formats for people to be able to hear, but even considering the noise floor of most recording environments, especially if recording analog instruments. Do you really need to hear more of the hum in the coils of the electric guitar?

I edited my post to say "consumer formats."

 

[Theriverlethe]

Well, I have a library of DSD files I have purchased that I like to play natively. Roon can convert them to PCM but sucks my Core i5 CPU dry doing so. And it shifts the level in the process.

I seem to recall live transcoding DSD to to PCM with Jriver on a Core 2 Duo without issues. I don't remember if it was 128, 256 or 512. I'll have to buy some DSD now to experiment...

 

[Neutron]

certainly for formats for people to be able to hear, but even considering the noise floor of most recording environments, especially if recording analog instruments. Do you really need to hear more of the hum in the coils of the electric guitar?

But it would be nice to support more formats for convenience. People's music library is often mixed with all formats.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

24/96 is overkill for all consumer formats meant to be enjoyed by humans, but I might be in the wrong forum again.

Exactly. It is a perfect format for recording, as it provides the required wiggle room for all the processing that might be desired between microphone and eventual consumer listener. But once mastered, a 16/44.1 product is at the ragged edge of human perception.

 

[AudioTodd]

Yes, just to clarify, can I listen to chosen songs multiple times knowing which one is playing and then go for the blind test after familiarizing myself with the sound and songs?

Because I'll tell you right now if I just go into it with a random song and no critical listening beforehand I'll fail 100%, no doubts about that, waste of time.

By the way, I have the Benchmark LA4 that is your HP4 minus the headphone amp and it is a great tool to do comparisons since you can level match very closely. It has been invaluable in honing my ability to hear - and acknowledge when I can’t hear - differences (the latter is far more common). It’s easy to set up and very instructive!!

 

[Racheski]

Well, I have a library of DSD files I have purchased that I like to play natively. Roon can convert them to PCM but sucks my Core i5 CPU dry doing so. And it shifts the level in the process.

I imagined you having a threadripper or a 3rd gen ryzen cpu. Seriously questioning all your measuresments now.

 

[AudioTodd]

I believe Jason has mentioned in the past about playing around with a bigger Loki with more goodies. No dates as of yet but I would imagine that is something coming down the pipeline.

I would love an affordable high quality low distortion parametric EQ with several bands just in case Jason is unsure which direction to go!!!

 

[Dana reed]

I’m going to likely get one of these, if only to compare with two more expensive DACs I have that are not nearly as well measuring. The Yggdrasil and the Codex. I have a balanced preamp with 2 balanced inputs I can use to A/B them. I guess the easiest way to level match them would be to set them up in Roon and dial back the output of the loudest ones to match.
how would be the best way to measure the level matching if I don’t have an audio analyzer or oscilloscope?
Could I just have them output a 60Hz sine wave and measure the output with a voltmeter set to AC to get accurate enough level matching?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

24/96 is overkill for all consumer formats meant to be enjoyed by humans, but I might be in the wrong forum again.

Unless, of course, you start DSPing stuff. Then you might need some extra bits you can throw away.

 

[Theriverlethe]

Unless, of course, you start DSPing stuff. Then you might need some extra bits you can throw away.

The VST’s I’m using process in 64-bit mode, so that should be adequate.

 

[Angsty]

I’m newly returning to the digital scene after several years with the same DAC. I thought I’d trip over to Super Best Audio Friends to see what they had to say about this new Schiit. Jeez! If I were from LA, I’d thought I’d worn red to a Crips party! (An American gang reference for our global friends)

They have major beef with Amir, even though he recommended the Modius. I get the whole objective vs. subjective thing, but can’t we all just get along? The Modius measures great, (likely) sounds clean, and is well-priced. What is there not to celebrate?

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Unless, of course, you start DSPing stuff. Then you might need some extra bits you can throw away.

This is a really important point. It isn't so much that you can throw them away, but that you don't lose precision. In the digital world truncation gets you bad things that you wouldn't intuitively expect. 24 bit, or floating point keeps you away from the edges, which is vital. You can take 16 bit into DSP, but you need to be very careful how it is handled, and get it into 24 bit or float before you do anything at all. There is devil in the details.

 

[Dana reed]

This is a really important point. It isn't so much that you can throw them away, but that you don't lose precision. In the digital world truncation gets you bad things that you wouldn't intuitively expect. 24 bit, or floating point keeps you away from the edges, which is vital. You can take 16 bit into DSP, but you need to be very careful how it is handled, and get it into 24 bit or float before you do anything at all. There is devil in the details.

I'm trusting that Roon does this right. At least it looks so in their signal chain analyzer. They also have a clipping indicator, so you can adjust headroom to avoid clipping.

 

[YSC]

Pretty amazing as I remember not long ago Schiit is measuring pretty junk for the price, not to audio gd level but I won’t consider though

 

[Ilkless]

What is there not to celebrate?

The threat evidence-based engineering brings to the cult of DAC personality. You see, these people, very sadly, anchor their enjoyment on anti-intellectual denialism and gear fetishisation.

 

[Tks]

Pretty amazing as I remember not long ago Schiit is measuring pretty junk for the price, not to audio gd level but I won’t consider though

audio gd are basically scams (or one standard deviation from it). They explicitly advertise false specifications (and not like 1-2db or things of that minutia).

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will never EVER understand how that company can afford to exist. Their device logo first off looks like early 2000's people trying to make website fonts. Their devices themselves are uninspired design wise (I literally don't find anything aesthetically appealing). And those prices simply make no sense at all.

In a world where more than three audio companies exist for example. I will never understand how anyone could find them appealing in any sense at all.

 

[mslim]

Is that a licensing requirement for MQA?

No AKM chip DAC has MQA. It is a licensing issue wrt to ESS if I recall right.

 

[Tks]

No AKM chip DAC has MQA. It is a licensing issue wrt to ESS if I recall right.

Topping D90, running AKM 4499 has it >_>

 

[YSC]

audio gd are basically scams (or one standard deviation from it). They explicitly advertise false specifications (and not like 1-2db or things of that minutia).

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will never EVER understand how that company can afford to exist. Their device logo first off looks like early 2000's people trying to make website fonts. Their devices themselves are uninspired design wise (I literally don't find anything aesthetically appealing). And those prices simply make no sense at all.

In a world where more than three audio companies exist for example. I will never understand how anyone could find them appealing in any sense at all.

That’s likely because psychological effects and that our ears can’t be detail enough to know it’s that wrong and adapt to it quickly, especially given so many praising reviews and their own good measurements

 

[Herbert]

Schiit hates software, they stated that several times on their thread/book, so I doubt that very much. Would be cool though. Maybe a position like "it is there to connect to Pis but we won't support it at all, good luck", but I still doubt that.

Didn´t know their book which makes them likeable. I smiled when I read the chapter about the problems they had with their casings:
"And when your metal guys start telling you what’s cosmetically acceptable (and you don’t agree), run. Fast."
Which I did several times and I will probably start my own aluminium - finishing business in autumn as a result of experiencing a dozen
german companies who were not able to do a "consumer finish" and did not care as well as I had only small quantities to offer...