Schiit Eitr Preview Thread

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Rotijon, Jul 17, 2017.

  1. Yeskey

    Yeskey Friend

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    Mine seems to turn off when there's no usb signal coming in. Like when I turn my computer off for the night. Otherwise it's on all the time.
     
  2. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    yeah it's weird, not a "on" light per se, only stays on when you plug it into your computer or whatever you're using. ZX2 won't work but that's the fault of the ZX2, since you can only use it as a standalone thing, but i might not have understood the dap issue.

    edit: nm thanks @Grahad2 totally missed that discussion!
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2017
  3. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    You'd need the WM dock cradle for ZX2 to work.
     
  4. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    It's a minor thing. Noticed my Bifrost Multibit would switch relays multiple times when Windows starts (really this is most likely a Windows problem as drivers are initialized at boot). That had gone away when I got the Yggdrasil and upgraded to the Gen 3 driver, but with the Eitr I hear those relays switch many times during boot. Again a minor thing. The relays are likely rated for millions of cycles so no worries. I have not had any problems with the relays switching while playing music via Spotify, iTunes, or Power DVD. Haven't tried Foobar2000 yet.

    Yea I also notice that through Eitr the sound has a slightly sweeter, less dry, character. It's a pleasant change. Hey and this costs less than other USB idolator solutions like the Intona I was using. Definitely recommended.
     
  5. AukePauke

    AukePauke Acquaintance

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    Hello, I am Auke from the Netherlands. Lurking this site from more than a year now. Today i registered and introduces my self.

    I am very interested in the Schiit Eitr. I have read this thread and think it would be a great benefit for my Modi Multibit.
    I use my Modi Multibit with a NUC computer. normal powersuply, with external harddisks containing my music, playing with Jriver. I have done al lot to optimise windows10.

    A few months ago i did get a Aune XS5s sdkaart player. Why? simple, no Ethernet, no external disk, pure music play. Whit a 6v battery it does play beautiful. Nice playing, more natural, more depth, but a little less wide sounding.

    My question now. With the Eitr. does the NUC playing, with all the external harddisks en no special powersuply, Ethernet, play as good as a special audiocomputer where all the powersuply and stuff have been optimised? It really sounds to good to be true.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2017
  6. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    @AukePauke

    It depends on how well you optimized the computer for music playing.

    It will be better than most, but not as good as some.

    The Eitr is special because it's almost as good as the best solutions but is pretty inexpensive for the performance improvement you get.
     
  7. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    And as long as you have it ... Intona to Eitr: better, worse, placebo? Way back when, at @drfindley 's, we found that (a) chaining devices could produce desirable results sometimes but not always, and (b) incidentally the speaker rig was much more revealing of changes than headphone rigs.
     
  8. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Placebo is possible too; Eitr gets the upper hand in yesterday's listening tests. Both are definitely better than straight USB (no isolation). Haven't tried chaining yet.

    --

    Okay the chain works fine, but I'll need a couple days of switching back and forth to form any impressions. Certainly doesn't sound any worse with the Intona first, followed by Eitr.
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2017
  9. Sniperpr5

    Sniperpr5 Acquaintance

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    I didn't really notice any difference when putting the Intona in front of the Eitr... no benefits that I could hear.
     
  10. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Yea, so far, not hearing any benefit (or harm). About the only reason I can even ponder to keep the Intona box would be for one of it's original purposes, voltage spike protection, though I certainly wouldn't run out to buy one for that reason. Had the Eitr been available I'd have just gotten it enjoyed the cost savings too.
     
  11. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Most iOS/CCK failures are down to:
    • Not having the latest software on the iOS device - fix this first or you're wasting your time, and everyone else.
    • Not running an official CCK cable. Note that there are some from various vendors that claim, look, and are packaged as if they were actually from Apple but are counterfeit nonetheless (I've run into this in my own testing of other things).
    • Not having the CCK updated (it seems not all CCK cables are updatable; if your'e on the latest iOS and yours is, you'll get prompted to update it).
    • Other cables in the chain.
    • Using third-party player software. Test it via the native "Music" app first.
    • CCK authentication failure (when this happens, you'll need to do a device reset ... i.e. a hard-reboot, not just a power on/off cycle, and sometimes a restore).
    The 44.1 vs. 48 KHz issue is a giveaway of other issues beyond anything with the target device. Airplay runs at 16/48 KHz ... if that's what your output is showing, then your output device is being seen as an Airplay device and not a direct audio output. This is almost always due to one of the other issues, above, often the CCK authentication failure (in which case it'll appear to play, but you'll get silent output).

    For macOS/OS X ... while I'm running pre-production versions of Eitr and USB Gen 5, I'm not having issues with any of:
    • iPhone 7 (iOS 10.3.3)
    • iPad Pro 10.5" (iOS 10.3.3)
    • iPad Pro 12.9" (Original version, not the latest unit; iOS 10.3.3)
    • iPad Mini 4 (iOS 10.3.3)
    • Mac Pro (Late 2013, macOS 10.12.6)
    • MacBook Pro (Model 14,3, macOS 10.12.6)
    • MacBook (Model 9,1, macOS 10.12.6)
     
  12. hifimckinney

    hifimckinney New

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    @Torq, I am just curious when all your devices are working, how did you produce so many negative cases and have solutions for all of them?
     
  13. hifimckinney

    hifimckinney New

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    Also, please note that all my iOS devices work perfectly fine as is with Yggdrasil when connected directly but not via Eitr.
     
  14. FredM

    FredM New

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    Besides comparisons with the Intona USB (*), I'm curious how the Eitr performs in comparison with the Singxer F1. The Singxer F1 is also an USB-> SPDIF converter and sits in the same price range as the Eitr.

    Perhaps someone did this actual comparison ??

    * which actually is an USB-> USB convertor, so when connected with a Schiit DAC this means the older gen USB input of the DAC is still used.
     
  15. winders

    winders boomer

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    I loathe adding clutter this thread....but:

    Next time, just edit you last post and add this text. There is zero reason to create a new post just for this. Don't make frivolous posts and don't unnecessarily repeat yourself.

    And, that post to Torq was useless....
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2017
  16. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    I had a Singxer F1 and it was worse than other converters that the Eitr is better than. Literally no other USB -> S/PDIF converter even makes sense now that the Schiit Eitr exists. If you want to stick with USB, the Eitr is the answer. If you want to get something better, you have to at least jump up to Lynx E22/AES16e or Rednet 3 territory.
     
  17. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    Thanks for the answers.

    The light turns on when plugging in the Galaxy Tab S2.
    USB Audio Player Pro detects a USB DAC, but as soon as I start playing, an error message pops up stating in cannot initialize the audio engine. Annoying.
     
  18. Fafner

    Fafner New

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    Eitr works great with my late 2012 Mac Mini. 16/44.1, 24/48, and the rest of the way to 24/192. I'm using an exotic old Emotiva 18" interconnect between the Eitr and the Yggdrasil. Sounds fantastic, perhaps a bit more refinement (or sweeter, as earlier posters have said) than the direct connect from Mini.
     
  19. mervinb

    mervinb New

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    Thanks, that's useful input. I currently have a Breeze Xmos USB-spdif converter between an Intel nuc running Linux and my Gungnir Multibit. The converter does give smoother, more composed sound, but a diy gen 5 upgrade will not come a day too soon for me!

    USB audio is tricky. Even with moderate Linux understanding I could not get glitch-free usb audio on a Raspberry pi 2, and it took a lot of trial and error to get good audio from a Pogo and several other embedded boards. In contrast the Intel nuc and Asus Chromebox I use don't need special buffer settings for very good USB audio.

    IMHO, it's well worth most USB audiophile's time to explore deeper into their computer os settings that their music players are really using the optimal driver settings (generally no sample rate conversion, no transcoding, no data truncation, no software volume control, no USB audio 1.1, no pulseaudio on Linux, etc, etc). Otherwise any thought of spending on even a Eitr, let alone audiophile usb cables doesn't really make sense.
     
  20. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Years of doing iOS software and hardware development, coupled with using literally dozens of devices, including DACs, cameras, audio interfaces, card readers and so on with iOS devices via all versions of the CCK and/or Lightning to USB adapters/cables.

    These issues are not unique nor specific to Eitr, nor am I suggesting that they have been issues with it. They are general issues with iOS, the CCK and various devices. Though I also had a good while to run these configurations with Eitr and the USB Gen 5 interfaces as well.
     

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