Schiit Modius Balanced DAC Review

[Morla]

Ah, I agree that could be useful. In any case the AES input is fully compatible with normal S/PDIF, any proper DAC would have no problem handling that if you'd wish to do so.

May I ask.. would i have to adapt the 110ohm of the AES to the 75ohm of the rca?

I have a tc electronic clarity with a 75ohm (?) bnc connector which does not like to work with the AES out of my streaming device. Already played with a converter piece but the clarity unfortunately does not get a "lock".

If that's too off topic just ignore me

 

[Veri]

May I ask.. would i have to adapt the 110ohm of the AES to the 75ohm of the rca?

I have a tc electronic clarity with a 75ohm (?) bnc connector which does not like to work with the AES out of my streaming device. Already played with a converter piece but the clarity unfortunately does not get a "lock".

You mean the other direction right, AES out to a 75ohm BNC connector? When you are tapping off a 150ohm AES output you will likely need a purpose-built adapter, Neutrik and Canare make these. For example: https://www.canford.co.uk/CANARE-IMPEDANCE-CONVERTERS-AES-EBU as you can see there are some variants. Hard to say if you need it but some older gear might not accept the higher AES voltage and need the 10dB pad. The cheaper one will work in most cases..

In the other direction, using the XLR(AES) input with an RCA or BNC to XLR cable, the input should be sensitive enough to receive the s/pdif signal. Can't imagine why this wouldn't work have done this before with no issues, myself.

 

[Morla]

You mean the other direction right, AES out to a 75ohm BNC connector? When you are tapping off a 150ohm AES output you will likely need a purpose-built adapter, Neutrik and Canare make these. For example: https://www.canford.co.uk/CANARE-IMPEDANCE-CONVERTERS-AES-EBU as you can see there are some variants. Hard to say if you need it but some older gear might not accept the higher AES voltage and need the 10dB pad. The cheaper one will work in most cases..

In tried the adapters in the photo without luck

AES XLR to BNC

 

[Veri]

In tried the adapters in the photo without luck

AES XLR to BNC

Ouch. I think you might need this really specific one, then!
https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/...ER-Inline-AES-EBU-XLRF-to-BNC-socket-10dB-pad

Have you looked up online for anyone else using the same tc electronic clarity? You might find someone who had the same problem. Heck, if I were you I'd e-mail the manufacturer for support

 

[ElNino]

After further reading, it seems I am not alone in my take on the AKM 4499 chip and I am sure it's the reason for the D90's SQ, or sound signature, not anything done by Topping, who I really like. Bryston uses the 4499 in their top flagship DAC and it hasn't taken off but I haven't heard it. Established reviewers who seem more like cheerleaders sometimes based on the brand they are evaluating chose their words and phases very carefully describing the sound of the BDA-3 with caveats galore. That should have been a red flag about the 4499.

I know this guy is probably a troll, but I just wanted to point out that the Bryston BDA-3 uses a dual AKM 4490 not the AKM 4499, i.e., a chip that's a few generations behind (4490->4493->4497->4499). Nothing wrong with the AKM 4490, but it would be wrong to draw conclusions about the 4499, which is based on a whole new architecture, from the AKM 4490. This isn't intended as a criticism of Bryston either; they seem to prefer to design with old chips; Amir measured the BDA-2, which squeezed pretty good performance out of a couple generations old Cirrus chip.

 

[Morla]

Ouch. I think you might need this really specific one, then!
https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/...ER-Inline-AES-EBU-XLRF-to-BNC-socket-10dB-pad

Have you looked up online for anyone else using the same tc electronic clarity? You might find someone who had the same problem. Heck, if I were you I'd e-mail the manufacturer for support

At this point I think buying those other two adapters were already expensive enough. But thanks to you I learned there is even a third kind of adapter (with 10dB attenntuation pad) which costs even more than the others

The clarity m came with the silver neutrik adapter.

I think it's time to stick to its toslink input.

 

[Veri]

The clarity m came with the silver neutrik adapter.

I think it's time to stick to its toslink input.

Pretty disappointing the included adapter doesn't work, then. Perhaps there's something faulty with the input in the first place

 

[Morla]

Pretty disappointing the included adapter doesn't work, then. Perhaps there's something faulty with the input in the first place

Yes if it was the only input to use I would have returned it right away. Toslink works tho. And.. I think it's pretty

 

[Shazb0t]

I recently ordered one of these for an early Christmas present. I'm looking forward to switching my headphone chain over to balanced. Thanks for putting in the effort for this review.

 

[threni]

EDIT: By the way, this kind of makes me public enemy number one in both camps...SBAF thinks I am a traitor and ASR thinks I am deluded for thinking that the Asgard 3 makes my HD800s sound better

Not any longer!
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-asgard-3-headphone-amp-dac.14393/

 

[Degru]

Has anyone tried replace the opamps on a Schiit product? I am curious about trying to replace the OPA1662 here with something better, to bring the performance of the SE out more in line with the balanced. I was thinking maybe OPA1656 could work as a drop-in replacement. I've never really messed with this kinda thing or really even soldering before tho, so wondering if I can look anywhere for guidance.

 

[Veri]

Has anyone tried replace the opamps on a Schiit product? I am curious about trying to replace the OPA1662 here with something better, to bring the performance of the SE out more in line with the balanced.

You.. realise they are almost identical, already, right? The loss in SINAD is due to XLR being the better standard, RCA allowing more noise to seep in. The distortion characteristic is 99.99% the same, already. You would be wasting your time and possibly ruining the circuitry if you are not already proficient in soldering electronics and/or DIY.

 

[Helicopter]

Maybe thinking of Magnius. If so, getting a Heresy for SE makes more sense than hacking the Magnius. Modius has both sets of outputs on all the time so you can just plug into whichever headphone amp you want to use.

 

[Jmudrick]

I just picked up the Modius from a member here, the prime motivation for me in addition to the balanced output is the two simultaneous output capability. Easy connect to the Crown amp via XLR and the Infinity sub via RCA. DX3 Pro to the guest room.

 

[Veri]

Maybe thinking of Magnius. If so, getting a Heresy for SE makes more sense than hacking the Magnius. Modius has both sets of outputs on all the time so you can just plug into whichever headphone amp you want to use.

View attachment 96615

Wow that's a lot of.. stuff

 

[Degru]

You.. realise they are almost identical, already, right? The loss in SINAD is due to XLR being the better standard, RCA allowing more noise to seep in. The distortion characteristic is 99.99% the same, already. You would be wasting your time and possibly ruining the circuitry if you are not already proficient in soldering electronics and/or DIY.

SINAD isn't everything; it only evaluates how a piece of gear performs when reproducing a 1khz sine wave, which music is definitely not. I think the balanced out has noticeably more depth and body, and a friend of mine prefers it as well. Tho I guess this isn't the best place to say things like that

I'm mostly looking for technical advice to see if this is a feasible thing to attempt doing, or if it will freak out with a different opamp dropped in there. Otherwise I'd have to spend $160+ building a converter box for balanced to RCA :|

 

[ElNino]

SINAD isn't everything; it only evaluates how a piece of gear performs when reproducing a 1khz sine wave, which music is definitely not. I think the balanced out has noticeably more depth and body, and a friend of mine prefers it as well. Tho I guess this isn't the best place to say things like that

I'm mostly looking for technical advice to see if this is a feasible thing to attempt doing, or if it will freak out with a different opamp dropped in there. Otherwise I'd have to spend $160+ building a converter box for balanced to RCA :|

Your best bet would probably be asking Schiit about that. The op-amps aren't socketed, so you'd have to be comfortable desoldering and resoldering SOIC-8 packages.

 

[Degru]

Your best bet would probably be asking Schiit about that. The op-amps aren't socketed, so you'd have to be comfortable desoldering and resoldering SOIC-8 packages.

Yep. Most likely I'd end up asking a more experienced friend to do it; I've never successfully soldered a thing in my life But, doesn't look too tricky with the fairly spread out board layout.

 

[Ellie]

SINAD isn't everything; it only evaluates how a piece of gear performs when reproducing a 1khz sine wave, which music is definitely not. I think the balanced out has noticeably more depth and body, and a friend of mine prefers it as well. Tho I guess this isn't the best place to say things like that

I'm mostly looking for technical advice to see if this is a feasible thing to attempt doing, or if it will freak out with a different opamp dropped in there. Otherwise I'd have to spend $160+ building a converter box for balanced to RCA :|

There's no audible difference between balanced and single-ended, other than less distortion if you're leaving the cables next to power lines or something.

What you're hearing is likely a lack of level matching, or placebo due to the idea that balanced is 'better.' If you did it level-matched and completely blind, not knowing which is which, you would hear no difference at all, guaranteed.

 

[Degru]

There's no audible difference between balanced and single-ended, other than less distortion if you're leaving the cables next to power lines or something.

What you're hearing is likely a lack of level matching, or placebo due to the idea that balanced is 'better.' If you did it level-matched and completely blind, not knowing which is which, you would hear no difference at all, guaranteed.

There is a noticeable difference, but it's useless arguing that here I suppose. As I said, SINAD for a 1khz tone doesn't correlate to performance for actual music. You can see this for yourself with a good enough ADC; if you record the same music file output from the same DAC twice, the difference between the two will be somewhere roughly close to the SINAD of said DAC. But if you take two different DACs with a similar SINAD and do the same, the difference between the two recordings will be much higher. Of course, in this case it is the same DAC with two different output stages, but as they say, it's all about the implementation.