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Schiit Modius Balanced DAC Review

Helicopter

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I have seen a fair share of ppl claim that se output sounds way worse
It is worse, and being less loud will make it sound worse. Using an adapter on the XLR won't get better performance than using the SE out. If you want the performance of the XLRs, you need to go into a balanced amp or preamp with the XLR outputs.
 

lochaves

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Here, the sound quality using USB in/RCA Out is much worse than Coaxial In/RCA Out.
With USB in/RCA Out the sound is slightly off and without the punch presented with Coax In/RCA Out connections.
It makes no difference if I use Windows 10 or iOS. I´ve tested it with several USB cables.
Is it normal in Schiit Modius?
 

EchoChamber

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Here, the sound quality using USB in/RCA Out is much worse than Coaxial In/RCA Out.
With USB in/RCA Out the sound is slightly off and without the punch presented with Coax In/RCA Out connections.
It makes no difference if I use Windows 10 or iOS. I´ve tested it with several USB cables.
Is it normal in Schiit Modius?
I do prefer my Modius fed AES from the X-SPDIF 2, but differences are very, very subtle, to the point that I don’t even bother and I am happy with USB... It sounds a hair more transparent and “liquid”, this is of course very subjective and my personal perception, I’m sure variations in measured jitter would be minimal. Analog out is balanced though.

The S/PDIF sonic differences you are perceiving could be due to higher levels of jitter from S/PDIF. IME, distortion can sound “better” at first subjectively more punchy, but not as transparent... (the whole hi-fi industry craves on pleasant, “sounds good” distortion) Eventually, you will likely be craving details the distortion is masking.
 

lochaves

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I do prefer my Modius fed AES from the X-SPDIF 2, but differences are very, very subtle, to the point that I don’t even bother and I am happy with USB... It sounds a hair more transparent and “liquid”, this is of course very subjective and my personal perception, I’m sure variations in measured jitter would be minimal. Analog out is balanced though.

The difference I have here is not subtle and if that were the case, I wouldn't mind it either.
In my case, the difference is very noticeable. With USB In/RCA Out the sound is lower and much less detailed.
At first I thought it was just a matter of volume, but even increasing the volume in Asgard 3 the level of detail gets considerably worse.
I did the test by playing a song on CD at the coaxial input and playing the same song on the Tidal with the USB input, being able to do the simultaneous comparison by the Modius input selector button.
Could an upgrade to Tidal Hi-Fi (FLAC) lend a hand with this issue?
 
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EchoChamber

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The difference I have here is not subtle and if that were the case, I wouldn't mind it either.
In my case, the difference is very noticeable. With USB In/RCA Out the sound is lower and much less detailed.
At first I thought it was just a matter of volume, but even increasing the volume in Asgard 3 the level of detail gets considerably worse.
I did the test by playing a song on CD at the coaxial input and playing the same song on the Tidal with the USB input, being able to do the simultaneous comparison by the Modius input selector button.
Could an upgrade to Tidal Hi-Fi (FLAC) lend a hand with this issue?
What is your equipment chain? Have you tried different sources? If you think your unit is malfunctioning, I’d contact Schiit customer support.
 

Shazb0t

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The difference I have here is not subtle and if that were the case, I wouldn't mind it either.
In my case, the difference is very noticeable. With USB In/RCA Out the sound is lower and much less detailed.
At first I thought it was just a matter of volume, but even increasing the volume in Asgard 3 the level of detail gets considerably worse.
I did the test by playing a song on CD at the coaxial input and playing the same song on the Tidal with the USB input, being able to do the simultaneous comparison by the Modius input selector button.
Could an upgrade to Tidal Hi-Fi (FLAC) lend a hand with this issue?
There is either something wrong with your Modius/source device or you're hearing these differences in your head.
 

lochaves

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What is your equipment chain? Have you tried different sources? If you think your unit is malfunctioning, I’d contact Schiit customer support.

The low volume issue has been resolved. I left the volume of the notebook at maximum but I did not notice that the Tidal also has volume control, which was low. :facepalm:
Dell Notebook Windows 10/Modius (USB)/Asgard 3 (RCA).
Next weekend I'm going to do a test with a friend's Modi 3+.
Thanks
 

armyjazzer

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Schiit should hire Triumph the insult comic dog to do some marketing commercials, it would be hilarious!

1618845848611.png Buy some Schiit or I'll poop on you........oh what the heck......I'll poop on you anyhow! :)

I've bought a lot of Schiit gear and I've been happy with all of it! Great company!
 

CRKebschull

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I have been waiting for... months... more than.. for the European Schiit store to sell Modius, but sadly, nothing in stock and also no indication when it'll be in stock. On the US Schiit page it however states a 4-week rolling backorder, and they'll evidently take my order (and my money) if I wanted to buy it now.

It's $40 shipping to Germany, then there's 19% tax and what... 10% import duty... and boy it got expensive. Well... the currency conversion to Euro is favourable right now... that saves about 15% I guess...

Then again, I see no other decent modern XLR DAC to replace my HifiBerry DAC+ XLR HAT to hook up to my Hypex NC400 monoblocks.
 

EchoChamber

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I have been waiting for... months... more than.. for the European Schiit store to sell Modius, but sadly, nothing in stock and also no indication when it'll be in stock. On the US Schiit page it however states a 4-week rolling backorder, and they'll evidently take my order (and my money) if I wanted to buy it now.

It's $40 shipping to Germany, then there's 19% tax and what... 10% import duty... and boy it got expensive. Well... the currency conversion to Euro is favourable right now... that saves about 15% I guess...

Then again, I see no other decent modern XLR DAC to replace my HifiBerry DAC+ XLR HAT to hook up to my Hypex NC400 monoblocks.
Topping balanced DAC offerings are very good too IMO and IME. Amir tested a few and they all have high SINAD. Subjectively, long term, I preferred the Modius over my D90...

I think if you really want the Modius, pre order now with Schiit. It will get to you eventually in a month or two. The 4 weeks time frame probably means “no sooner than 4 weeks”... I believe Schiit will refund you in full if you cancel before they ship.
 

CRKebschull

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Topping balanced DAC offerings are very good too IMO and IME. Amir tested a few and they all have high SINAD. Subjectively, long term, I preferred the Modius over my D90...

I think if you really want the Modius, pre order now with Schiit. It will get to you eventually in a month or two. The 4 weeks time frame probably means “no sooner than 4 weeks”... I believe Schiit will refund you in full if you cancel before they ship.

I think you've got it right - in the HiFi world, there's quite a bit of fragementation as to what products are available where on the globe. So, if you want something and you live in Eruope, then often you got to import yourself.

Most recently I was looking at the Boss2 Streamer from Allo - available in Europe (French company!). Excellent reviews here. SINAD almost as good as the Mobius. Right, so I though, yeah, get the Boss2, I have good RCA to XLR cables I made myself from a previous setup... and... no, no, I actually just want a Mobius, balanced top to bottom, hook it up to the Pi and the NC400s to it, and have Roon bliss....

Meaning just order the darn thing! ;)
 

Steve Dallas

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Thanks for the excellent objective review. I purchased 2 of these this week based on these results (and my previous experience with the Modi 3).
 

Descartes

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Very nice review, still not better than the OPPO UHD-205! of course a lot cheaper :)
 

EchoChamber

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Very nice review, still not better than the OPPO UHD-205! of course a lot cheaper :)

If you rip your CDs, your computer will be the best transport ever. Pair it with a high SINAD USB DAC and you should be golden... Wow, that Oppo is going for crazy money right now... How much did it cost when new?
 

imac

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I got my Modius this weekend, to replace a Modi MB. My main gripe with the Modi MB was that I could practically cook an egg on it. Now here's the interesting thing, in listening to both back to back, I can hear what I think is clipping (or maybe just some popping noise) with the Modius, but not with the Modi MB. Does that make any sense? I switched to outlet power for the Modius which helped a bit, but it's still there. I'm using Birth of Kjie (flac) and Glamdring (first track from the Two Towers in whatever bit rate MP3 I ripped it at) as test tracks. Goes from DAC to Magni 2U to powered speakers - just using RCA. Thoughts on what's happening?
 

EchoChamber

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I got my Modius this weekend, to replace a Modi MB. My main gripe with the Modi MB was that I could practically cook an egg on it. Now here's the interesting thing, in listening to both back to back, I can hear what I think is clipping (or maybe just some popping noise) with the Modius, but not with the Modi MB. Does that make any sense? I switched to outlet power for the Modius which helped a bit, but it's still there. I'm using Birth of Kjie (flac) and Glamdring (first track from the Two Towers in whatever bit rate MP3 I ripped it at) as test tracks. Goes from DAC to Magni 2U to powered speakers - just using RCA. Thoughts on what's happening?
I never had any issues with my Modius, but I also never used it with a single end amp… Does the Magni has different gain levels? Maybe using less gain…
 
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