NITSCH Sound Pietus Maximus Optimus Prime Review - The Touch

is not the same things as

That’s basically just the chip and the filter/DSP. What @purr1n is saying is that there’s way more to a DAC “card” than just that.

 

Makes sense to get the ESS card with this. I'm treating it like a "bring this to whatever room I wanna listen to HD650 in amp". Having an all in one solution just makes sense. Power, USB cable -> phone...done. Or, if it's gonna sit somewhere permanently just pick up a rasberry pi -> usb out, and you've got a really nice streaming solution.

 

I really wish Schiit could squeeze coax input onto their DAC cards...

 

Would a Zen Dac V1 suffice as a good enough DAC for this? Getting the one with built in ESS card is a bit of a stretch for me money-wise. Mainly I’d be using a HD800 SDR or the LCD-X with this.

 

Excuse me for the noobish question, but is the ESS card in the box bypassing the gimpiness that the Modius E SE output has, and therefore would sound better than Pietus + Modius (external)?

 

Wasn't trying to argue that distinction, the person I was replying to asked about the card specifically, which i was probably conflating with the chip. Apologies.

 

I will say, I thought I was losing my marbles until I stumbled in here regarding prickly upper end with Piety/mm2, that I had chalked up to the neutral cans (Auteur Classic, neutral at least as ZMF goes). I had previously put in and then removed the 2/64 card in my BF2 for same issue in an office setup. Perhaps it's my tinnitus but I chase warmth and tubes in my main setup (Folkvangr, Yggdrasil LIM, etc) and still use members of the Loki family to dial down the higher frequencies . So I have a Modius E sitting in my TV audio chain I can swap for the mm2, and will compare with BF2 OG when I receive the Maximus. Not sure if it is worth trying with the original Piety first or not.

 

This makes me believe more than MMB2 is better for me than Modius. May I ask which amp you were using?

 

I am using the monoprice Liquid Platinum and Liquid Gold amps both XLR and single ended in / always balanced out to headphone and an older high end amb M cubed( M^3) single ended input and output. I use monoprice M1070/ 1070c and Senn HD 58x headphones.

Like you I am treble sensitive and make my own treble filters to reduce the overall level of treble in the planars (paper towel cut to size and as many plys as I need). The M1070c needs the least amount of filtering and with some ear pads I do not use any filtering = the alternate velour pads and a thinner stiff foam Chinese replacement pad I tried that worked great.

I did find the Modius E single ended into the Liquid Gold outputting XLR to M1070c was very, very good just last night. The E did not sound that good using the XLR out in to the monprice amps compared to my Liquid Platinum DAC. The E sounds horrible with the Senn HD 58x XLR on any amp I have being dark, closed in and bloated. The MMB2 in NOS mode is also excellent on the Liquid Gold and M^3 and at least very good on my other amps with the planar headphones. Sounds OK with the HD 58x. HD58x is best used with the MMB2 single ended with M^3 or 1217 Sunrise 3 avoiding the monoprice XLR amps for my taste.

 

I've got a Pietus without a DAC card coming whenever UPS gets around to delivering it. Is it worth it to grab a Modius E, or should I just try for synergy with the DACs I have on hand first? I've got MMB2, Zen DAC V2, Zen One Signature, dac1421, and Mojo2 on hand, and a Modi+ that I can swap something else for at the office. Ideally I'll be using this with the HE6se V2 which will highlight any prickliness in the treble, so MMB2 and Zen One are probably out of consideration. I don't mind picking up the Modius if the synergy is really special, and I'd generally prefer to have a separate DAC rather than a card.

 

Try what you have first. The MMB2 is not prickly in NOS mode. I think NOS mode MMB2 sounds better than Modius E single ended into multiple amps I use and my planar headphones in all (several) but one combination .... and that combination is very close.

 

So, I log in today and see that video linked earlier in the thread and I remember seeing ceetee’s interview during canjam. There was a smirk when he was asked about an upgrade to piety and lo and behold!

as an owner of piety and a fan of Schiit I jumped on it, especially after wifey said hey it’s your birthday. Just don’t spend over $500. Well $499 was the perfect excuse! Ordered and patiently waiting. This will probably replace an old headroom ultra on my main desktop setup. Going to pair with MMB2 in NOS. Can’t wait!