NITSCH Sound Pietus Maximus Optimus Prime Review - The Touch

Alright, I did a quick A-B for you.
TLDR is not much.

A: Roon Ethernet-> EtherRegen-> Atomic Bob’s Noise Nuke-> Pi2AES -> AES into SFD-1 Mkii -> Pietus Maximus -> Utopia

B: Roon Wi-Fi-> Pi4 USB -> ESS 9028 card Pietus Maximus-> Utopia

Test tracks from Sam Fribush Organ Trio Vol 2 The Root via Qobuz. This is a very well-recorded kick ass organ trio with Charlie Hunter. Check out both volumes, highly recommended!

A-B test:
It is embarrassingly close. SFD-1 has more space and layering, and better midrange delineation that allows the mid and bass of the organ to stand out. We are talking that last 7.3% that if I wasn’t A-B doesn’t really matter.
It is mind boggling that the ESS card sounds way closer to my reference than the MB card but that is what I’m hearing.

 

Does the USB DAC card provide galvanic isolation? I’m planning to use it with Caldigit Hub on desk for USB input as my laptop is far away.

 

Your question got me curious as to unison's approach to isolation.
It's not mentioned on the product page for the DAC card but I did find this post here on SBAF:

However there are no transformers visible on the ES9028 card. So probably not.

 

The DAC cards are not isolated. AFAIK modi multibit isn’t isolated either? Bifrost 2 and up are.

 

The Pietus is great. It should cost at least double the price for the level of performance it provides. A sane person would get this and not think about upgrades.

 

How would you say it compared to the Vali 1.0 for being a lively and reckless amp? I haven't ever gotten ears on one of those, but I did feel like the baby Piety sounded like a SS version of how I understood the OG Vali to be described. Wondering how the bigger sibling fares against the Vali.

Also, I know that the Pietus and Piety are pretty upfront and slightly wall-of-sound with respect to staging, but I wonder how it fares compared to some other amps you've gotten to try in that respect?

 

The Pietus made the Vali 1 sound lo-fi to me. But that’s a matter of resolution, not energy. Both are higher energy amps, with lively presentations. Because the Pietus is warmer and denser, with less strident treble, it may come across as more relaxed although I don’t think it is.

Staging sounds pretty close to the head with Pietus. To be fair I find most amps in the $500 range stage close to the head. Exceptions would be something like the Valhalla 2. I’ve got an OG Auteur coming to try out, that’s supposed to have a good headstage so I’ll be sure to test it with the Pietus.

 

I would be curious to hear those Auteur impressions. Wondering if anyone has experience with Pietus vs SW51+?

 

So, I've owned the Pietus Maximus for....nearly a month now. However, because of life and only owning a Maxwell, I didn't have any headphones to use with it until my Focal Clears came in (that I bought with what was left after the car fiasco. I'm still coming for that Atrium, Zach!)

Pietus fixes a lot of the small nitpicks and issues I have had with the original Piety. Mostly, there's a bit of glare with it (which is kind of a Magni staple tbh,) and the bass was more boomy than I'd like.

Now, I should preface this with a "Focal Clear is one of my favorite headphones next to the Auteur and I've used it with a shitton of amps." I've heard it on the BW2, the BHA-1, the Inspire IHA-1, Stratus, dac1541, Jot 2, Asgard 3, ect.

The closest two amps I could say that the Pietus is a significant upgrade from is the Asgard 3 and (obviously) the Piety. As such, it follows a lot of the same principles: there's a bit of bloom in the bass (not nearly as much as the Piety,) it's a bit more romantic, and sounds a bit tubey. But it also has some of the issues: It's a bit more "closed-in" than something like a tube amp or the BW2...or the BHA-1. It's also doesn't slam as hard as the BHA-1 does with the Focal Clear. But, my god, it resolves really well and it does not hold back the Modius E in that department (like I feel the Jot 2 does.) Which, to me, is a sign it will scale like the HD6xx does to the f'ing moon.

Here's the thing: It's super minor in scope. Unlike the Jot 2, where I would immediately think "eh, I'll upgrade to something better eventually, like the BHA-1," I don't have that same drive with the Pietus. And, in a way, that makes sense. What's on the market for a good solid-state between the Asgard 3/Jot 2/Piety/Rebel Amp and BHA-1/Mjolnir 3/Ragnarok? f**k all, really.

The other thing that really surprised me is how well it balances out the main fault of the Clear: The metallic timbre. It's still there, but it's not as "in your face" as it can be with some amps with the Clear.

But yah, so far, this amp is a winner and hits quite a bit harder than its price tag suggests. Which means, most likely, Amir at ASR will hate it with a passion.

 

Mjolnir 3 you mean?

 

Yah, I'm just a goober.

 

weirdly enough a thread on espresso grinders led me to deciding to buy this as an upgrade for my HD650 (was using an atom dac+>IEMagni setup but i gave it away before i moved recently, just using laptop headphone jack atm). fwiw this is an older HD650.

do the more experienced ears here think the modius e (se output only) is worth getting instead of the ess card? cost doesnt matter to me. @RestoredSparda youre my only hope to help me save $250.

that being said, my only dac right now is a jds atom dac+ so maybe picking up a modius e wouldnt be so bad.

 

I’ve been listening to the Pietus with the Auteur (Blackwood, OG) with an Yggdrasil GS as a source. I would say the soundstage is the most obvious area where you can tell the Pietus is not a $1k+ amp. It feels closed in, even left to right, very in my head. Probably the most wide I can get it to sound is with my IE600s, which is weird because they’re IEMs, but they have this seemingly impossible big open sound. Even those feel fairly close to the head with the Pietus.

Headstage isn’t the most important thing for me at this price point so I’m not worried about it but it’s worth noting.

 

Has anyone been able to try to pair the Pietus with a Gungnir? While I love the Pietus, I do find myself missing a little bit of the punch/slam. I was just wondering (short of going to a Mjolnir 3 for this), does the Gungnir lend to a little more slam if paired with the Pietus?

 

I can try it, haven't yet. I have an A2 I feed Bnc from PI2AES. Been rocking Pietus with ess card and BF2 OG so far. I'd think BF2 would slam more but gungnir might help with staging. I don't find any lack of slam really myself the amp is very dynamic sounding to me but a bit closed off. Really only becomes apparent when you go back to tubes !

 

Caught the FOMO.

Was on the lookout for a Jot 2 to dust off my HD650 that’s been stored away for years. Balanced output aside the PM seems to tick all the boxes. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.

 

@purr1n How’s the RS2X from the PieMax?

 

What is the general character of OG Bifrost 2 and where does it sit among Schiit DACs? The menagerie is pretty packed now. What makes it a bad match for Pietus?

Edit: Oops I meant to say "what makes it a good match for Pietus?"

 

What headphones are in your rotation?