Schiit Gungnir Multibit impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Bill-P, Oct 7, 2015.

  1. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I'm pretty sure by the sound alone that it's an A1. The A2 I had sounded dry and a bit cold to me. This one sounds normal tonally but just as resolving. I don't really care about the minute subtle improvements in DACs beyond that. Transducers do so much more. I still don't understand everyone's flowery language about differences in DAC's when they're using such colored, resonant, distorted headphones. Makes no sense. But the tonal difference between A1 and A2 is obvious to me and a big deal.
     
  2. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Couldn’t agree more. A2 Gungnir was not agreeable to me compared to A1 and too dry/square sounding. Like immediately as soon as I put it in my system I was hit by it.

    If the serial number starts with a C instead of a B, it’s likely an A1.

    Edit: I just looked back at the picture in your prior post. It’s an A1. Purr1n actually had a bit of an inside hint going on for a while when it first came out and he kept referring to it with a capital “B” in “GumB y” (space added by me so it won’t get autocorrected by the site) due to the serial number change. Most people didn’t pick up on it until a while later.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
  3. Woland

    Woland Friend

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    I'm curious to understand about reclocking on the Gungnir Multibit. It seems that when the product launched, clock analysis and reclocking was one of its main features, and praised by reviewers, and I've read quotes attributed to Schiit that source jitter should have no effect because of the reclocking.

    Reclocking seems to have less profile at Schiit these days, especiallly since Unison. Bifrost 2 had a lot of upgrades, but no reclocking.

    How did we get to the situation in 2021 that we're worrying about jitter in a Gungnir source? I do feel that my recent source upgrade has made a difference to the staging, and am curious about whether the Pi2AES will be another step up. But why would these changes make any difference at all when reclocking occurs?
     
  4. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

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    legit question: has anyone heard a new production Gungnir Multibit recently and can report back that it does not have the dry/square/bleached tonality of the early A2 models? I have reason to believe they did another silent revision between now and 2019.
     
  5. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Very intrigued. This is from the impressions of others I take it?
     
  6. Woland

    Woland Friend

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    Do you think tonality differences are due to the digital filter or something else? Maybe the silent revisions are just firmware differences.

    I feel much happier with my Gungnir after bypassing most of its digital filter with external upsampling.
     
  7. batriq

    batriq Probably has made you smarter

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    G A2 balanced out through XLR-SE transformers sounds like a different DAC from SE out. It’s so much better than I went from considering selling it to thinking about trying it in my main speaker system instead of the Y A2 (currently the G A2 feeds into Studio B).
     
  8. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

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    this and I noticed there was a price increase to $1300 along with the discontinuation of the DS model. my spider senses are tingling, I was just curious if anyone else could confirm.
     
  9. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    I've had two different A2 Gungnir Multibits in the same system. One sounded a hell of a lot like A1 (indistinguishable in an a/b but confirmed A2 when taking it apart and looking at the board), the other sounded like the "bleached" version you're talking about. Not sure about manufacture date on either, as they're no longer in my hands.
    Surely there was a silent revision.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
  10. Woland

    Woland Friend

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    Gungnir DS used AKM chips.. and they're no longer being made. It seems likely all of Schiit's AKM based DACs will disappear or be tweaked to other DS chips.
     
  11. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I suspect D/S Gungnir sales were a fraction of Gungnir MB sales as well.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Gungnir A2 from what I know is the same. If you heard a dry bleached sound with the associated components and setup used before, then any new ones will not be any different. There's been no difference between my very early A2 and a current one.

    However, I will admit that in the wrong setup, the Gungnir A2 could sound bleached because the unemphasized mid/upper bass and forward upper-mids. I prefer to use amps on the slightly organic sounding / mellow side. Still, the Gungnir A2 wasn't as bleached or dry as say the X-Sabre Pro or Solaris DAC. In comparison, it's rich sounding with smoother highs.

    There are also other factors such as source. USB Gen 5 was not good. I had always used a good CDP or Pi2AES with XLR outs with an XLR->BNC adapter. Another consideration is a bad or out of spec unit. Also as others have mentioned: warm-up, cables, outputs, etc.

    An external upsampler with the right parameters will change the headstage. One can push it out to be more spacious and open. This may or may not change the transients and smoothness of highs. However the overall tonality will not be affected all that much.

    If you like the sound of "vintage" R2R or warm, organic, or NOSy DACs, best to stay away from Gungnir A2, Soekris, Solaris, X-Sabre. And especially any ChiFi DAC. The better the SINAD, the worse. (It's true).

    As for the cost going up, anyone try to buy GPU lately or fill up their gas tank? Supply chain issues and inflation at work.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
  13. bobboxbody

    bobboxbody Friend

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    I had problems with my A1 analog board last fall and it was replaced with A2 09/2020. After 2 years of listening to A1 the switch didn't seem dry or bleached to me. I noticed better clarity and dynamics, nothing offensive IMO, nor anything as dramatic as has been described here and headfi by other people who switched.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
  14. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    I never found GA2 to sound dry or bleached and never understood those comments. It was organic and rich like typical Schiit multibit, just not as overtly warm as the A1 model. It was more even sounding. But also denser in timbre.
     
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  15. Melvillian

    Melvillian Friend

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    I tried an A2 Gungnir Multibit and I thought it sounded bleached or as I like to call it “minty fresh” in the mids. I don’t remember if mine was an early version or not.
     
  16. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Thank you. I always have some difficulty describing my preferred sound signature outside of pointing and saying "like that." Now I can say "minty fresh.":cool:
     
  17. Woland

    Woland Friend

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  18. Inoculator

    Inoculator Friend

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    @Merrick can probably elaborate more eloquently as this was a while ago for me and I did not approach it critically, but to me, the Gungnir (at this point it was the A2 I had upgraded, so mileage may vary with A1) with Unison just felt...dull after the upgrade. At that point I was primarily relying on USB (the pre Pi2AES days), and I just fell out of love with the gungnir after the upgrade to unison until I got a Pi2AES going. I wish I had better notes about what exactly changed, and I never got the chance to directly compare, I just know I did not like the change to Unison and overall regretted it. At the very least, I did not feel it was better in any immediately discernable way. Overall it was a bit shocking as I had enjoyed the BF2 via unison.

    Was an easy decision for me to just do the Gen 5 upgrade on the A1 as I rarely use USB now, and with the A2 Unison was far from revelatory for me.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Must be careful and precise, especially with regards to DAC, USB, and > or <. Context is huge. I also never said anything with respect to preferring it over Unison and my comment that Gen 5 sucked was in context with A2 Gungnir.

    Unison sounds more "tubey", bloomy than Gen 5 for most sources. I believe the post you referenced was referring to the A1 Gungnir, which is voiced warmer than A2 (what I have). I know both DACs well.

    Gungnir A2 did not have Unison for the longest time, or at least only had it available after Yggdrasil Unison upgrade, Bifrost 2, and maybe even Modius. With A1 Gungnir which is warmer, I would probably prefer Gen 5 over Unison. Even though Gen 5 tends to be hazy and prickly, it most certainly isn't warm and bloomy. However, I think Unison works wonders with the leaner more forward aggressive A2, although in general I still prefer the pi2AES over any USB.

    I have yet to try Unison from the Urd, which could be amazing.
    [​IMG]

    I've already heard reports of Unison being fantastic (not so bloomy) from specialized USB sources. There does seem to be a lot of potential here. That's the problem with USB. USB isn't only on one end - the receiving end. USB is also the source. The USB ports from a dedicated PCI card with its own power sounds better than the mobo USB ports on computer. I'm sure I could build some Linux box with a special USB card with LPS - but I don't have the time and the RPi solutions offer too much convenience.
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2021
  20. Woland

    Woland Friend

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    Thanks @purr1n ! I appreciate the careful and precise response!
     

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