Schiit Loki Mini EQ Released

Discussion in 'Preamps' started by neogeosnk, Sep 26, 2017.

  1. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    I've had a Loki now for a couple of weeks. I'd been meaning to try one and jumped when Schiit had some B-stocks available.

    I use it at work on a simple Magni 3 / Modi 2 system running Spotify mostly from an Android phone.

    A couple of months ago I picked up a pair of Bose quiet comfort 25 noise cancelling headphones on closeout for air travel. I try to avoid Bose, but 15 hour flights suck and I can't wear IEMs for that long. So I caved and bought the Bose fully expecting they would just sit in their case until it was time to fly. I started testing them at work and liked the comfort and their ability to isolate from the office chatter, Air Conditioning noises, or anything else that can distract. But in normal Bose style they don't sound very good. The midbass usually sounds too fat and the highs and upper midrange are really rolled off.

    With the Loki I set the controls to Bass=flat / MidBass= flat (or 11 O'clock) and then both the Midrange and Treble controls are usually around the 2 O'clock mark. This seems to balance the tone out a little and make the Bose a closer to a normal sounding headphone.

    I can confirm that the Loki has the ability to almost polish a turd. Not to a high gloss, but to a subtle, matte finish.

    Some day I'll bring it home to see if it can nudge the Koss ESP-950 in the right direction for me.
     
  2. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2016
    Likes Received:
    8,802
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tejas
    I didn't pay much attention to Loki before but now I'd kinda like to have one in the chain with my Audioengine A2+
     
  3. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    A few B-stocks still available....
     
  4. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    I just discovered another benefit of the Loki... I use it at work with a Magni 3, and typically listen at very low volume while working. As many of you may have noticed, the channel balance of the Magni 3 is off until you get somewhere between that 7 O'clock/ 8 O'clock range. Even on the low gain setting of the amp I can get into the too loud range for my office listening when I get to the range where the channels would normally balance out. My first inclination with the Loki was to add or subtract from the midpoint on the dials as many of you probably do. But if I pretend that the midpoint is more like in the range of 10 O'clock for neutral, and adjust each dial up or down from there, I essentially have a little more attenuation where I can bring the volume up to balance the channels and still have very low volume.

    Not rocket science here, but thought this may be useful to someone not so familiar with how to use EQ.
     
  5. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2015
    Likes Received:
    305
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Hillsborough, NJ
    Loki has been doing a good job in cutting down the 8KHz peak of the 1266 Phi in my chain for me to tailor the sound of many pop/rock tracks.

    I am pretty sure that I am willing to pay $1-1.5K for a full sized 10+ bands EQ from Schiit or another brand. For headphone listening, we need more foused adjustments for 100, 1K, 3-4K, 5-6.5K, 10K, 13-15K Hz, other than what is available with the Mini Loki.
     
  6. Jerry

    Jerry Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,042
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Asia
    Balance input/output please :)
     
  7. Ringingears

    Ringingears Honorary BFF

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,659
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northern Californium Valley
    @crazychile Just curious what you are using as your source at work.
     
  8. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    Lately it's just been an android phone running Spotify. In the past I've also used an iPad.
     
  9. Ringingears

    Ringingears Honorary BFF

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,659
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northern Californium Valley
    I’ve been using my desktop at work, streaming only, but I may give the iPad/Loki a try when I get back from break.

    BTW @atomicbob ’s suggestion lowering the source output by 3 to 6 dB works for getting more range on the vol pot, with no noticeable loss of sound quality.
     
  10. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    I should have been more clear on this, but I run my phone out to Wyrd, to DAC to Loki to amp. So my phone volume is locked at max in this configuration.
     
  11. Lautreamont

    Lautreamont New

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2017
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    California
    Just got my b stock Loki and am enjoying it. What Loki setting are people finding they like for the HD650 and the HE560.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2018
  12. klyrish

    klyrish Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    May 4, 2018
    Likes Received:
    167
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Nowhere
    It all depends on what I'm listening to. I change the settings constantly, almost always from album to album and sometimes even song to song (if it's a bootleg).
     
  13. highflyin9

    highflyin9 Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    151
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    DC/MD/VA Area
    Home Page:
    I'm very pleased with mine, it's in a secondary system where I swap in/out smaller full range speakers on a Dynaco ST35 and it does a great job balancing things out. I usually just play with the bass setting for certain songs that need a little more bottom end.
     
  14. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2020
    Likes Received:
    12,237
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Home Page:
    Old thread but it’s still for sale by Schiit and I just got one and f'ing love it!

    I’m using it with my Andromeda 2020 and THX 789 amp. I’ve finally got my Andromeda’s sounding fairly neutral! Very exciting. The improved FR also seems to increase apparent detail, soundstage and basically everything else. It seems to work very well with the Andromeda 2020 because it doesn’t have any peaks it’s pretty broadly bassy and upper FR recessed so it doesn’t need super fine adjustment. But we’ll see as I listen more. I never thought I would ever EQ up the upper mids of a headphone but the Andromeda 2020 needs it.

    just want to clarify one thing: the switch on the front turns off the EQ settings and makes it a passive pass through? Schiiit mentions this but doesn’t clarify much. If so this is truly awesome and very well thought out. My og Solaris doesn’t need EQ and certainly not the same EQ so this would mean I can just switch it off when using the Solaris with my 789.
     
  15. jnak00

    jnak00 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2017
    Likes Received:
    606
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Canada
    Yes, that's how it works. If I recall correctly, it will also pass through sound even when turned off, so another way to bypass the eq.
     
  16. edd

    edd Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2015
    Likes Received:
    463
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    california
    I leave mine turned on all the time, so I don’t know how much of an issue this is: from the manual:
    “Note: when Loki is turned off it is technically
    bypassed, but the unpowered input may cause distortion in some systems. Best to turn it on and switch it to bypass the tone controls.”
    https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/Loki_Mini_Manual_1_1(1).pdf
     
  17. farbinator

    farbinator Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2020
    Likes Received:
    93
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    United States
    My chain: Pi2AES -> OG Bifrost (SPDIF) -> Loki -> Eddie Current ZDT Jr. -> HD6XXs

    On my HD6XXs, I tend to find myself boosting the two higher frequency knobs more than anything else. With the chain above I find it can be a bit muffled (veiled?) in the upper frequencies and the Loki helps knudge the sound profile in the right direction. With that said, I tend to experiment and adjust every single track I play.

    I absolutely love the Loki, it's simplicity makes it a joy to play with.
     
  18. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2020
    Likes Received:
    12,237
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Home Page:
    Oh no the unit I bought has a low pitch buzz that it adds to the signal and which goes away when I flip the switch to turn off EQ and pass through. :( I’m not sure I can go back to stock Andromeda sound signature now!
     

Share This Page