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Schiit Modius E DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 2.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 50 21.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 139 60.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 35 15.3%

  • Total voters
    229

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Modius E balanced USB DAC. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $229.
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax review.jpg

The "E" edition swaps the AKM DAC chip for ESS ES9028. See my review of the normal Schiit Modius here. This is a stripped down DAC with no display or remote. It doesn't even have a power button! Speaking of power, you can either self-power it through USB or using a supplied, external 5 volt adapter:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax back panel review.jpg


For some reason, the USB class for Schiit DACs confuses ASIO emulator I use so most of the tests you are about to see use coax S/PDIF input. This should not impact operation of the unit unless you use ASIO.

Schiit Modius E Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard with either XLR or RCA:

Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax measurement.png

Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax RCA measurement.png


Kind of strange to see XLR output not bettering RCA. As is, we have slipped about 3 to 4 dB wroth of SINAD compared to last generation. This lands the Modius E in "excellent" category but way below many of its competitors:

Best balanced dac USB stereo review 2023.png


Noise performance presents the same somewhat odd results:

Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax DNR measurement.png


While this achieves transparency, again, we are still short a few dB vs what the competitors are doing.

IMD distortion vs level unfortunately shows some sign of increased distortion at mid levels -- something the competitors have resolved for some 2+ years:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax IMD measurement.png


Edit: forgot multitone:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac USB Multitone measurement.png


Linearity is good:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax Linearity measurement.png


The last generation had some issues with jitter. This generation is better but still not as clean as it should be:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax USB Jitter measurement.png


DAC filter is good as far as attenuation it provides:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax filter measurement.png


Resulting in very good wideband THD+N vs frequency:
Schiit Modius E Balanced stereo audio dac coax THD+N vs Frequency measurement.png


Conclusions
I gave the last generation Modius my highest award back in 2020. Alas, time has gone by and competitors have squeezed more performance out of similar silicon. Meanwhile Modius E takes a step back in performance. All in all, performance remains good enough to provide transparency but short of engineering excellence we like to see in a sea of strong competitors.

While I won't purchase the Schiit Modius E myself, if you like the company, its brand and look with other Schiit gear you may have, then this is a fine option.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:

Matias

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Disappointing to see it go back. This should make the AKM version more valuable in the used market.

PS: for those that don't know, it is not the DAC chip fault, but rather the implementation, as shown below with the RME ADI-2 DAC.

 

Ziroz

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What is the chip in this DAC, ES9028PRO or ES9028Q2M?
 

JSmith

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Last edited:

Bow_Wazoo

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I'm a Schiit fanboy

(If someone drinks alcohol in all YT videos, I find that very likeable.
Moreover, I can identify well with such a person.
As soon as Schiit makes a competitor product to the G5, the topping ends up on eBay.)
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I was looking forward to purchase their gear but Reddit users criticize their customer support is trash(EU) - regardless, thank you for your review Amir. :)
I cannot confirm this.
I have now bought three devices from Schiit Europe, and am satisfied with the support.
Behind Schiit Europe is a Dutch company. These people are aloof and reserved by nature.
You can always turn to Schiit USA.
They are also happy to help. I have only positive things to report from there.
 

usern

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I have now bought three devices from Schiit Europe, and am satisfied with the support.
Behind Schiit Europe is a Dutch company.
Is Schiit Europe a new thing? When I was looking for an amp few years ago, Schiit availability in Europe was non existent. Had to import if you wanted one.
 
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Veri

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Is Schiit Europe a new thing? When I was looking for an amp few years ago, Schiit availability in Europe was non existent. Had to import if you wanted one.
Not that new. Site looks a bit different from some years ago though. Also stock isn't always all that big, especially so on new Schiit products.
 
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PeteL

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Is this the most affordable currently selling transparent balanced DAC with North-American support on the market?
 

usern

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Is this the most affordable currently selling transparent balanced DAC with North-American support on the market?
Some audio interfaces could challenge that
 

PeteL

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Some audio interfaces could challenge that
Good Point, They may not be transparent by Amir Standards but probably are for most of us in real life. I personally use an Audient ID14, first gen, at my desk for all my uses and I have no way to know for sure that there are no audible artefacts beside the fact that I do not have audible (by me) background noise. I doubt that my speakers and headphones would sound significantly different but I don't know. And this thing is 8 year old with no sort of issues whatsoever, but I am fully aware that it wouldn't be "competitive". Now... Should I care?
 

ThatGuyYouKnow

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Nice. They are getting better and better. I feel as though Schiit could currently make a really impressive DAC that is priced somewhere between the Modius E and the Bifrost 2/64.
 
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