Modi Multibit: Multibit for the masses.

This is the big letdown for me. Exposition time:

I came from Gungnir Multibit > mjolnir 2; I sold for many reasons, which I won't go into again here. The existence of Modi Multibit/momby/moby/dikembe modimbo* was certainly one of the things that made me need to sell easier. I am now running modimbo into valhalla 2, with amperex orange globes. I previously had a valhalla 2 with gungnir, not MB, for a long time before upgrading to the Gungnir Multibit/mjolnir 2, so I am familiar with its sound. I also spent some time with go450 as my dac into the valhalla 2 and mjolnir 2 while the Gungnir Multibit was being upgraded.

Bottom line: I miss my Gungnir Multibit, but I am pretty sure I can get by.

The Gungnir Multibit is many many many things, and then a few more. I will not wax lyrical beyond that. I have had modimbo on for over a week, so no reason to think what I am hearing has anything to do with letting the dac get toasty. With headphones, things feel closer together, and I know I am missing that last bit of detail. With speakers, the spacing issue is less profound because, well, they play with more space and image better, even if its artificial / intrinsic to speakers vs headphones. With speakers, I can definitely tell I am missing that last bit of detail, but I already find myself not caring so much.

"But why, auf?" you ask. Because the tonality is spot f'ing on. This is the thing it nails from the Gungnir Multibit. The music sounds essentially the same. I get no glare, I get good extension, and I even get decent slam. Those are all things that I attribute more to the amp anyway, so long as the dac sufficient signal to build out. I do think that maybe the treble issues @brencho was talking about were more amp dependent. (It is possible I am partially deaf/immune to some treble stuff; I don't know, and I don't care to find out too much). The other thing is that the bulk of my listening is through coax into the modimbo, it may be that usb via wyrd is slightly worse; I guess I will have to find out? Regardless, for me, out of the valhalla 2 with orange globes, I really have no tonal complaints when comparing against the Gungnir Multibit > mjolnir2. THIS IS A BIG f'ing DEAL.

On some tracks (shittier recordings or older rips at shameful bitrates), with headphones, the closed in feeling is too evident and I have to skip. But most of my listening right now is out of lsr305s, and I have no complaints vis a vis the Gungnir Multibit, ESPECIALLY at 1/5 the price. I can load up, push play, and just listen with satisfaction. Pretty much as good as it gets. Now I am dangerously curious about seeing what a vali2 can do, and whether I could get by without vahalla2... Don't worry, I will wait for schiit show.



*SERIOUSLY! How did we not see this one before!? modi+mb = modimb ... o ... modimbo ... dikembe modimbo, the dac that smiles and wags its finger at most other dacs.

 

i found the regen to help matters since it has a tendency towards rounding / smoothing stuff. i should try with mutec, but the sad thing if it helps is that i'll want some kind of usb bypass for office Modi Multibit. i wonder what's out there that's cheaper than mutec 1.2/transient but still good. raspy?

 

I'm trying https://www.massdrop.com/buy/23684 and will report back asap.

I like a Raspberry Pi plus DIGI+ or SPD2 myself.

 

Yeah, I wasn't completely clear in my little stream of consciousness: I am not experiencing the "hard up top" issues described by others. I will spend some time with USB input and report back.

 

I've only used the USB input on both the Moby and Bifrost Multibit. De-crapification is provided by a W4S Recovery, which is a) unobtrusive and b) manages to not screw anything up. It's pretty hard to describe the benefit — warning! — but I feel like it provides a noticeable bump in transparency over going directly from my Mac's USB.

Bear in mind, all this wankery is relative. In absolute terms, the Moby is emphatically not a harsh DAC. Quite the opposite, really.

 

What did you run the HD600 from when you owned it originally? You might want to give it another try on the Val2/Modi Multibit setup.

 

Wow, I'm learning here. The ModiBit has better soundstage and spatial cues than my Duet DAC, also not as much sub-bass punch. Instruments are separated very clearly - beautiful stuff, very cool. My LCD's sound slightly more bass & treble driven with the Duet, V-shaped in a very minor way. Also there seems to be less volume with the Schiit (no problem there, just interesting).

I'm kind of missing the low-end punch, but the more refined presentation is great to hear. These are very, very early impressions still, though.

 

Yeah, that power issue could be it. But, the Duet (with measly Lightning power) punches great down low. With some serious subs in metal mixes the Duet gets my head bopping better. Guitars (mids) sound punchier with the Schiit.

Btw, I was ready and expecting to point out how minor the differences between DACs were, but you live and learn.

 

Running Wyrd ->Singxer F1-> Moby. Yes the F1 is cheap but damn what a difference it makes. Had mutec 1.2 and it wasn't as good and was double the price. If you wanna cheap out but wanna improve your sound with zero hype, get a Singxer F-1. Most people are dismissing it because it's so cheap but this is the only device since getting my first dac that gave me the first discovery "Ohhh Damn" moment since starting this hobby.

 

Thoughts on the Singxer + Moby (w/o Regen) would be appreciated, as well. I plan to get the F1 when the funds allow.

 

Spot on, here. The improved decay is especially obvious with, unsurprisingly, piano pieces. This might be the biggest difference from Moby that I noted, and it was apparent almost from the get go.

 

A couple of notes here:
I've tried the Modi Multibit with the HD580 w/ the Black Widow (1 & 2) Torpedo 3 (12AZ7 tubes) and the Vali 1. I also tried all those same amps later with my Enigmas. The first time was with a Uptone Regen and a fancy USB cable. I do wonder if a Mutec would help, but then at this point, we've defeated the purpose of the Modi Multibit, right? I wanted something smaller than my Gungnir Multibit for work that was good enough that I didn't worry about it.

I have thought about trying it with speakers, but that'll have to come later. I wonder if the upper register punch will be as noticeable..

And the new Radiohead album? I love it. I love all Radiohead albums and this one is no exception. I've already seen them live twice this tour and that was exceptional. I'd recommend going and watching a recent show on YouTube as well.

But Burn the Witch, first 20 seconds will show you what I don't like about the Modi Multibit in your setup. Or it might be pleasant and I need to follow your ideas.

 

fwiw, @Luckbad found the F1 to be similar to mutec 1.2 and transient, fwiw. might make a cost effective solution to Modi Multibit since it's at least priced roughly similar.

agreed! i'd love just using USB into Modi Multibit and calling it a day. i might well do that, but playing with regen and/or mutec just to see how discernible the difference is. at the office, aka Modi Multibit's home, i usually listen while doing stuff and the differences between these setups might go unnoticed.