Schiit Eitr Preview Thread

Thank you for the input. I have a Modi Multibit feeding Jotunheim, balanced to HD650.

 

I replaced my W4S Recovery with Eitr about 2 weeks ago. My system is MBP -> audirvana 3 -> Eitr -> Hegel HD25 DAC -> Belles Aria - > Kudos Super20's. It's a big upgrade in SQ over the Recovery, although I've read elsewhere that factors before the Eitr DO in fact make a difference, despite what some folks on here have reported. Maybe should have tried Recovery together with Eitr?...unfortunately I sold the Recovery too quickly for me to test and confirm. I'll probably try using with uR instead of MBP, if only to get my computer back from the audio shelf.

And now a problem to report... About 3 days ago I suddenly noticed 'popping' or static interference sounds every now and again. Massively annoying - like listening to a scratched record. Anyway, I changed to the USB from the Curious Cables to a cheap Schiit PYST. I 'think' the problems gone away but I'm gonna keep a close ear on it.

Question for other users...I've been using BJC 1 meter coax. Sounds good to me, but I'm going to replace it anyway with a 1.5 meter. I keep reading that 1.5 meter's is best for coax. Nervosis or real? I'll let you know if I hear a difference.

 

At those distances probably nervosis. EE's feel free to crap on my answer.

 

Popping generally has to do with too low of a buffer setting. In JRiver I can't run all buffers at their minimum with Eitr. I have to use 10ms hardware buffer.

 

Now that you mention it, I had to increase the buffer size on Foobar after I got the Eitr. Some tracks were dropping out with my old setting.

 

I have a question for those using Eitr while gaming; is there any problems with audio lag/delay or popping sounds?

 

I don't have a problem wirh pops or clicks but that depends on your buffer settings if you can adjust them. Wirh just WDM audio there are no pops or clicks at 44.1/24. For hyper sensitive people like myself, I do notice a smidge of delay but it's probably a non issue for 99% of the gamers out there.

 

I've done some more listening to USB cables with Gen 5 USB. The cheapy Deltaco cable has severe deficiencies. It is true that it is sharper and clearer than the Belkin cable, but it has a brittle, prickly characteristic that soon becomes both annoying and fatiguing. It does not sound natural and is unpleasant to listen to.

Today, my PYST USB cable arrived and I have compared it to my other two USB cables (Deltaco and Belkin). It does not have the deficiencies of the Deltaco cable, it sounds closer to the Belkin cable. It differs from the Belkin cable in its ability to delineate between the sounds / instruments, especially on busy parts of the music. The Belkin sounds a bit muddy in comparison and some of the instruments stick together, I believe this is the "greyness" that I described in my earlier post. I cannot hear anything negative about the PYST cable, it sounds nice and clear (unlike the Belkin cable) but without the brittleness of the Deltaco cable.

I used to own a Supra USB cable, but unfortunately sold it with my Audiolab MDAC. It would have been nice to add that to the comparison. I am surprised at how thin the PYST cable is, the Supra cable was quite thick.

 

Thank you. I got my Eitr today and could not detect any latency using this clip:



I also hopped into a PUBG match and didn't have any sync issues with gun shots.

The Eitr handily beats by motherboard S/PDIF header. the noise floor is ridiculously low, the soundstage has improved and separation/clarity is much better.

Chain is now as follows: Foobar2k > PYST USB > Eitr > BJC Coax > Modi Multibit > BJC RCA > Jotunheim > HD650 (Balanced) w/ Brainwavz Sheepskin Pads

 

Hi folks, I just joined today, but I thought I would put up my impressions after listening to Eitr for over a month now with two different Schiit DACs. Apologize in advance if this post is TL;DR, if so, just let me kow and I will pare it down.

In the spirit of Torq's review and to cut to the chase: Eitr is a WINNER.

I should at this point mention that I am using a loudspeaker system: Conrad-Johnson CT-5 preamp, Conrad-Johnson LP70S stereo power amp, Michell Gyro SE turntable with SME V arm and Koestu Urushi Vermilion cartridge, E.A.R. 324 phono stage, Shunyata Triton power distribution with compelete Shunyata power cords, Sonore microRendu USB streamer (V1.3 hardware at the time), Schiit Modi 2 Uber DAC and Schiit Eitr USB/SPDIF convertor as my interim digital setup while my Gungnir is away a the Schiit-shop getting upgraded. All Audioquest Columbia or Colorado interconnects, and Dynaudio Contour S3.4 with Dynaudio Esotar 2 tweeter upgrade.


I originally bought Eitr for use with my Gungnir while I waited in the queue to be able to send it in for a Gen 5 USB and Multibit upgrade. One of the reasons for the Gen 5 upgrade is that I had a USB port/controller failure on Gungnir after disconnecting and reconnecting my Sonore microRendu when I moved the Mac Mini out of the stereo rack and into the bedroom in the other part of the house (to get rid of all the high-bandwidth computer processor noise emanating from the Mac Mini).

After moving the Mac Mini out, the USB port on the Gungnir simply would not work anymore, at all. The DAC would not even show up when directy connected to a any computer USB port (I tried three). I attribute this mostly likely to a static electricity-charge induced failure. I've read that Schiit repairs quite a few USB failures from static charges, so I'm guessing this is what happened.

As I needed my USB functionality repaired, I placed an order for a Gen 5 USB and Multibit upgrade, pulled the Gungnir out of the rack, and I put my Modi 2 Uber into the system and it worked fine with the Sonore (as did Loki, God of DSD).

But, I wasn't that overly thrilled with the sound. Obviously, while the Modi 2 Uber is a good DAC, it does not sound as good as a Gungnir. It was acceptable; good, but certainly not great, it has a somewhat thin, dry & sterile presentation of the music compared to Gungnir, with a smaller soundstage (and nowhere near as good Loki, I might add, FWIW).

Then, Eitr got released. I figured, hmmm, I could use Eitr with it's Gen 5 USB/SPDIF conversion functionality and connect via the SPDIF input on Gungnir while I wait in queue. So, I ordered it, and when Eitr arrived, I hooked it up to the SPDIF input of Gungnir using a single Zu Wylde RCA interconnect.

My digital music chain at this point was: Mac Mini in the bedroom sending files from Roon via wi-fi > Airport Express in the stereo rack > Audioquest Cinnamon Ethenet Cat 5 > Sonore microRendu 1.3 > Eitr > Zu Wylde RCA "analog" interconnect cable > Gungnir SPDIF input > C-J amplification chain. Well, it sounded pretty darn good, and more importantly, my Gungnir was back in business while I waited in queue. Cool.

Meantime, I ordered an open-box Shunyata RCA terminated SPDIF 75 ohm digital cable. Once I got that, I replaced the Zu Wylde regular RCA analogue interconnect with the Shunyata 75 ohm digital coax SPDIF cable.

So now, my chain was essentially this: Mac Mini/Roon > Airport Express > Sonore microRendu > Eitr > Shunyata Venom 75 ohm SPDIF digital coax> Gungnir SPDIF input.

Another NOTABLE improvement: with the Shunyata 75-ohm digital cable the sound quality was demonstrably smoother, sweeter, more musical and dimensional and more full-sounding than with the Zu cable, and quite noticebly so. Soooo, now we're cookin' with gas...the system sounded VERY good and most importantly, my Gungnir was back in the system and performing to it's full potential. Here was the key takeway for me: using Eitr with a good SPDIF digital coax cable sounded notably better than the original Gen 2 USB input on Gungnir.

So, I used this confiuguration until I got the email this week from the folks at Schiit to send in my Gungnir for my upgrades, which I did Tuesday. I put my Modi 2 Uber back into the system, but this time I used it in conjunction with Eitr and the Shunyata digital cable, going into the SPDIF port on the Modi 2 Uber.

Okaayyy...using the SPDIF input on Modi 2 Uber in conjunction with Eitr takes this setup up quite a notch, IMHO. The musical presentation is now more natural, more full-bodied, sweeter-sounding, less sterile, and quieter than using the USB input only on Modi 2 Uber. NOT as good as Gungnir, but really quite good, impressively so when you consider what Eitr brings to the table for what it cost, and good enough that I can live with this easily until my Gungnir gets back from it's upgrades.

So, bottom line...Eitr is a WINNER. Either used with Gungnir in place the stock Gen 2 USB, or with Modi 2 Uber in place of USB (AFAIK, Modi 2 Uber does not utilize the Gen 5 USB implementation), Eitr brings a notable improvement in sound quality and a more enjoyable and engaging musical experience. BIG thumbs up from me.

Hope this mini-review is helpful to the community.

PS: Just added the Sonore with a 1.4 Hardware upgrade, another improvement; see discussion about that in a separate post.

Cheers,
Puma Cat

 

Yes.

AC probe showing electromagnetic radiation leaking out of a TV power cable with the TV turned off.


AC probe showing absolutely no electromagnetic rediation from a shielded Shunyata power cable into a powered-on Conrad-Johnson power amp pulling big current to drive loudspeakers at volume.

 

I've had a very good experience with a Shunyata Venom 75 ohm digital coax cable (I bought an open box unit with 60% discount). And it sounded considerably better than a Zu Wylde analog IC I was using until it arrived. In a high-resolving 2-channel loudspeaker system, it was quite a noticeble improvement.

 

Don't want to get into a whole USB cable thang here, given this thread is about Eitr, but I've observed consistent and notable differences in USB cables. I have to preface that I was originally very much in the "bits is bits" camp when it came to USB (or TOSLINK, HDMI) cables even though I've observed (sometimes considerable) differences in analog interconnects/power cables. I found out otherwise, though, after starting off with the same Belkin Gold cable (with purple ends) that you did.

Just to cut to the chase, here's what I've found sounds best with the cables I've used: Audioquest Diamond USB>Audioquest Coffee USB>>>Audioquest Carbon=Kimber Silver USB>>Belkin Gold cable. In wrapping up, I really didn't think there woudl be a difference between an AQ Carbon and Diamond, and, more to the point, I was hoping I wouldn't hear the magnitude of difference that I did, because of how expensive the Diamond cable was compared to the Carbon. But, there was no denying it. The Diamond was clearly superior to the Carbon. Dang. Stuff like conductor material/shielding/EM/RFI noise rejection capability really matters in digital cables, too.

Ended up buying a used AQ Diamond on Audiogon (and later, a used AQ Coffee USB for when I installed Wyrd into Gungnir) . If I were to make a recommendation if one is inclined, I would say pick up a used Coffee; it is 85% of the performance of the Diamond for about 60% of the price. Okay, end of USB cable input for me. Back to Eitr...

 

Hello Guys,
I'm new into this DAC and converters world and I found your posts very very useful.

I've bought an Audio-GD R2R-2 that's on the way and I'm thinking about buying a USB converter to improve the sound of the DAC.

I have a few questions that I would like to ask you:

1. ¿Do you really think the Eitr would improve the sound in a noticeable way? If so, ¿how is that? ¿just by lowering the jitter and the noise from the USB cable?

2. I mostly listen to music streaming Tidal, 44 Khz flac files and 88/96 Khz MQA master files (my DACs do not support MQA so the first unfolding its done by Tidal sofware). I also listen occasionally to downloaded DSD files using foobar with my PC. Will I be able to listen to the same music with the same bitrate?

3. Has anyone of you tried the Eitr with any Audio-GD DAC? Did they match ok?

4. Have anyone compared the Eitr with the "Gustard U12" or the "L.K.S. Audio USB-100"?

I would appreciate really honests answers from you because I live in Argentina and if I don't hear any noticeable improvement in sound with the Eitr or if it doesn't work with my DAC, I won't be able to send it back due to shipping costs. It's a blind bet!!!

Just to mention, the USB cable comes from a PC with Windows 10 and "I'm only looking for sound improvements, not technical data because I'm not a technician".

Thank you in advance!!!

 

Very likely - it has certainly been a benefit to every unit I've tried it with that uses either XMOS or Amanero USB input solutions (your DAC should be using the Amanero board).

USB-jitter is a red-herring for audio-purposes. USB Async 2.0 Audio has no audio-specific clock. In the case of Eitr, improvements it'll be down to having good clocks for S/PDIF but, mostly, the electrical isolation provided by the unit.

Eitr will isolate your DAC from the electrical noise coming from your PC. Very unlikely that it won't make an audible difference there as most PC USB ports are f'ing terrible, noise-wise. The USB cable, as long as it's to spec, is not a factor.

PCM content from 44.1 KHz to 192 KHz will be fine.

For DSD, it'll depend on what rate DSD you're using. DSD (or DSD64) should be fine, but will require you operate in DoP mode. This should be transparent to Eitr and be treated as straight PCM data. 2x DSD (DSD128) might work, but will be DAC-dependent. 4x DSD (DSD256) and above won't work at all.

Worked fine with the Audio-GD Singularity S19. Though it was not able to rescue the particular DAC from sounding like shit.

 

pssst as the guy in the Graduate told Hoffman....."ferrites"

 

Thank you Torq for the fast answer! It helps a lot!

On the other hand, have you tried any Audio-GD DAC that you've like?

 

Not enough to want to spend my own money on one.

The PCM-1704 based units, including the Master 7, were okay. Though I'm not a fan of the PCM-1704 on a good day, no matter how many of them you stick on your board. I'd still spend my money elsewhere though.

But, in general, they seem competent enough - the S19 is just a stinker.

 

My wife's reaction to Eitr: "Get the orchestra out of the living room, this is too much"

(Allo Bridge -> Eitr -> McIntosh MDA 1000 -> 2x Marantz MA-9S2 -> Piega C10 Ltd w/ Sub 1 Mk ii)

Compared to same chain out of trusty/rusty Logitech Transporter