NITSCH Sound Pietus Maximus Optimus Prime Review - The Touch

the solution is to move.

 

turning listening time to the Pietus Maximus (with MMB card) with Meze 109Pro and Meze Elite and suffice to say, it's really good on both so far, more time before impressions get written down.
searching for reviews, found a guy I don't know (because I don't watch audio reviews on YT) who explains some of the great traits of Pietus:

 

f**k it. Selling a couple pairs of sneakers and picking this up. Need to build a new transformer interface for this but I can’t resist.

 

Will write a thing on both cards in a bit.

 

Pietus Maximus w/ Unison ESS Universal DAC Card

The built-in ESS is a fantastic match with the DAC. @CEE TEE mentioned a few things to me about this and TBH, I wasn't quite convinced, that is until I heard it myself. Once thing I've noticed about the delta-sigma DAC cards in the medium chassis Schiit gear of past is how good they were compared to the small external models (Modi). I'd chalk it up to maybe a more direct feed into the inputs of the amp despite not having all of the real-estate to do more stuff.

This case is no different, I prefer the built-in ESS card to the external Modi+. External Modi+ is brighter and thinner sounding, not but much, the "digititus" rears its head a little bit here. Note so with the built-in ESS card, which sounds like like a Modius E lite. Meaning smooth, graceful, resolving, damped and solid - just a notch of the dial behind a full blown Modius E.

Being curious (suspicious) myself, I looked up on the Schiit site: The built-in card is the ES9028 based like the Modius E. The Modi+ is ES9018. Makes total sense now.


Pietus Maximus w/ Unison Multibit DAC Card

The Multibit card likes like something between an MMB1 and MMB2. There's sort of a BF2/64 thing going on, not to that extent, but maybe halfway there. By this I mean organic lows with a edge in the highs. The edge is more lower highs than middle/upper highs. The bass is more pounding, but can be bloated and blobby sometimes. There's way more of an expansive sense of space in all directions, especially in depth. Ability to pick up plankton isn't as good as the ESS.

The Build-In DAC Solutions With a Few Headphones

I generally felt the same way about both DACs using LCD-R, JAR600 and Bokeh. Personally, I an partial toward the ESS solution. Never thought I'd say in a million years I would say this. While I really enjoyed the Multibit card for its expansive headstage, the cohesiveness and evenness from lows to highs with the ESS solution make it the winner. I also found the ESS less grainy. I thought with the LCD-R and Bokeh, I would prefer the Multibit card more, the these headphones' laid-back nature and Multibit card's edge would cancel each other out, but this wasn't the case. (the LCD-R also amplified the Multibit card's bit of graininess). Also, the Multibit card's lack of resolution felt like it was holding the Pietus back, almost doing it a disservice.

 

In a nutshell:

If this was 10-15 years ago, I'd shit in my pants. There's a ton of good shit out there. Heck, I'd still have to admit that the Topping L50 ain't bad, like a well implemented version of Sennheiser HDVD600/800 amps. But we are not talking entry level here. As I said to similar effect earlier, the Pietus Maximus sounds too good.* Take Nitsch's Magni Piety, add grace, smoothness, clarity, ease, and control, and viola, we get the Pietus Maximus.

Nitsch Sound x Schiit is basically destroying "no-mans" land, the range of products between $500-$2000. This is the range just past entry-level that is often loaded with craptastic gear that only slightly better than entry level at best. SBAFers have often advised, skip this range and go past $2000 or $2200 because this is the point when you will get real gains. Not so anymore. It's just scary how good solid-state is becoming with proper tube amp sensibilities, not with respect to the distortion and bloat, but with respect to emotional involvement.

Those looking for a mid/hi range headamp should grab a Pietus Maximus ASAP and the ESS card as an easy no fuss All-In-One solution. The ideal external DAC would be a Modius E because of form factor and sonic synergy, but the ESS card isn't far behind.

*WTF, I just checked the price. This should NOT be $499. It should be $899 for a proper SBAF value standpoint, and it this weren't a direct sale item, it should be $1799, taking inflation into account.

 

The MMB2 or Modi Multibit 2 is an external DAC. The Multibit card is not the same as the Modi Multbit 2. This is the same Multibit card that goes into Rag, Lyr, Assgard, etc. FWIW, while I know the Multibit card has undergone revisions and enhancements, I never cared for it, and I still don't. However, I know lots of people enjoy its sound, so don't let me stand in the way. i think it's great if you prefer a more classic R2R presentation with expanded headstage spaciousness.