SBAF DAC Talk II

Not even close. Modi Multibit has a weird dark tonality to it that the rest of the Schiit DACs do not exhibit. Additionally the 4490 in the Modi 3 lacks the slam of the 4399 in the Gungnir DS, so again you would have a fairly different timbre there as well.

 

Just curious if you are referring to a recent Modi Multibit? I haven’t listened to mine as extensively as my other Schiit DACs, but I haven’t noticed significant dark tonality in mine (which is less than a year old). There have been running changes within the last year or so that have improved things, which is why I ask.

Yes it’s lower resolution and a bit more rolled off than the higher Schiit DACs, but it’s carries a very familiar Schiit Multibit sound to my ears. Sounds like a slightly lower resolution, slightly softer, slightly noisier, Gungnir Multibit A1 to me.

 

One thing not mentioned about PS Audio is their shitty power supplies (or FPGA). Their DACs put out tons of noise. The DS Junior is especially bad and and PS Audio totally fessed up and admitted it when I confronted them. But even the DirectStream Sr. is noisy and only good with speakers, IMHO. They certainly cannot be used with high gain amplifiers connected to headphones.

I’d also say it seems like the “field upgradeability” is already reaching its end point. The size of the FPGA is limited and at this time it seems their firmware releases are trading off attack, timbre, and bass. I doubt it’s upgradable to a point where they’ll ever get them all right.

FWIW, I still own a DS Sr for my speaker system. It’s nice to listen to for jazz and classical. My thoughts on Redcloud: Timbre isn’t great, but it’s OK. Nicely warm, lots of body. Attack is softish. Staging is better than all op-amp DACs I’ve heard. Definitely better than Bemchmark. It’s pleasant in its way. Not for metal heads. Gungnir Multibit, by comparison, seems to me to be faster in attack with better in stage and is better on timbre, but also less easy to listen to, more etched and less warmth and bass.

 

It was @Joshvar's unit, which I think he said was early version. I'm always open to listening to things again, but what I heard was noticeably darker than the Gungnir Multibit A1.

 

Reviews of the Lavry DA11 vary a lot but a few mention the AES sound by far best. Is this still competetive today as a pure DAC compared to the Dangerous Music Source or even cheap options like the SDAC or Modi 3? It's pretty old. The old SBAF DAC chart places it on the level of the Bifrost Uber.

 

Haters gonna hate.....

 

If it makes you feel any better, Winders, I'm still using the DirectStream as my primary DAC until I manage to sort out the dry/tipped-up tonality problem I'm experiencing with Gungnir Multibit A1.

 

What/how are you feeding it?

 

I'm using USB Gen5 from MacMini at the moment. I have plans for an I2S retrofit via RPi, but I'm under the impression that the other inputs are not any warmer, just more open/detailed.

Current plan is to swap out the capacitors in my B1 volume control. I currently have Intertechnik Audyn MKP plus (the big white ones) in there, which are very detailed but Marv reports they are also too bright. Will try the Jantzen Alumen-Z at Troel's suggestion. Praying that will help—but I admit I'm skeptical.

 

The SPDIF is warmer and less etched/tipped in the highs IME. Especially if you’re taking about feeding Gen 5 directly from computer USB. There’s a reason Mike is working on new USB - Gen 5 doesn’t fix everything.

Have you tried the Digi+ feeding SPDIF? Have never heard one of these to know how it sounds...

 

I'm coming from a RME ADI 2 DAC which I sold, @Psalm summed this up quite nicely. What bugged me most was that the RME didn't manage to make a connection between the musicians in a band, it always sounds like individual instruments hanging in the air. I liked the soundstage though.

I'm looking for a DAC that makes a dumkit sound like a drumkit and not some percussion instruments hovering in front of me. I've had a Corda Daccord with the Wolfson chips which managed to do that, it had some other problems though.

I'm also looking for a DAC with a variable output, the 4Vrms from a Gungnir Multibit balanced result in too much volume for my listening habits.

The Crane Song Solaris reviews look good, great soundstage, stepped attentuators variable gain etc. But something cheaper wouldn't hurt.

 

Here here! I wish he'd stop contaminating YouTube with "educational" videos full of marketing babel speak. The guy really knows very little. His IRS V in a cramped little room is a tip-off his company more to do with ego than sound.

 

Not at all. Gungnir MB is clear as a bell. All the Schiit dacs have their own sound.

 

That's hopeful. Do others agree?

I haven't tried it yet. Others seem to like it. There's a thread on this.

 

Call me a skeptic but I really don't know if changing an input is going to make you all the sudden like a dac. Stranger things have happened though.

DS is certainly not perfect, but for me does many things right and is loaded with features that just work. I can appreciate where others are coming from and their frustrations, while also acknowledging their biases.

 

Never said that - it’s definitely a tweak. But sometimes a tweak can be the difference between annoyance and acceptance, at least for me. Not like going between two totally different DACs.

@skem if you have the Digi+ why not just try it and see what you think? Likely not going to move to loving Gungnir Multibit compared to the DS, but can’t hurt to try.

 

It really depends what you're looking for. I've seen some dacs with shitty usb go from mediocre to much less sucky, especially with old USB implementations from back in the days. There's a reason why converters got so popular. In a lot of cases, each dac is gonna have a preferred input, for whatever reason (dac design, designer's own belief, available parts and technology). It isn't hard to think that aes/spdif has/had more than a leg up over usb in designers' work experience/know-how.

In any case, it is always a lot more helpful when one knows and acknowledges the strong and weak points of gear. Because let's face it, we all accept some compromises with our gear. Knowing personal bias, and avoiding the epeen effect is key, but again not many people actually know what they want. Trying to correct one piece of gear's with another piece of gear's characteristic for instance, is IMO an exercise in futility (bright hp or amp with bassy hp or amp comes to mind). And yet that's exactly what the majority of people does, which leads to the midfi purgatory, because playing the weaknesses is like opening the proverbial can of worms.