Schiit Modius DAC Review and Measurements

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Jun 3, 2020.

  1. Alcophone

    Alcophone Acquaintance

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    Not saying it's needed, but there are micro USB cables from "audiophile" vendors, at least Wireworld (up to 3m) and Audioquest (up to 5m).
     
  2. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    [​IMG]

    SE out sucks. Weird indistinct bass quality. Bass doesn't hit at the same pace as rest of the spectrum. Some instruments sound blunt/fat/lacking microdynamics.
    SE out manages to sound fat (upper bass and lower mids) shouty (midrange) and thin (treble) all at the same time. Its a bad lifeless DAC from SE out. You are better off the enog pro dac that uses same DAC chip but sounds quite a bit better from it's SE outs. Enog has it's own set of problems though (somewhat u shaped, soft bass and built in depth effect that sounds tad artificial at times ), yet overall presentation is good with better resolution than modius SE out

    Bal out from Modius is good. It still has some bass issues (somewhat one note similar to the 4490 akm), the treble is tad thin at times and there is some dryness midrange onwards. It's strengths are good heft, very nice resolution, realistic/proportionate staging, no center hole, very clean blackground. While the resolution is good it's still not as continuous/complete sounding as the multibit dacs. There is still some emptiness where the multibit dacs would have information resolved.
    Oh and its vastly better than the Bifrost Multibit 1

    PS: Hadn't expected this, but AES>> Coax. AES sounds beefier , deeper and even finer grain\microdynamics
    Both Coax and AES were tested using same pci card
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2020
  3. rendyG

    rendyG Acquaintance

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    Anyone experienced any trouble running Modius on win 8.1 via usb?
    I tried my laptop, old desktop and even prehistoric laptop with win 7 on it. Unison Modius only appears in Device manager as unknown device. It just doesn´t appear as a playback device (no, it´s not just hidden). Already tried running it from a single usb as well as with external power. I even ran to a shop for a new microusb cable thinking that could be a problem, it wasn´t..

    So far I´m able to run signal through usb only from my android phone via short otg cable, sounds great but I´d appreciate more convenience :D
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2020
  4. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Dude, Unison only supports Windows 10 (for windows based machines).

    It’s right in the FAQs: https://www.schiit.com/products/modius
     
  5. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    Unison requires Windows 10. From Schiit's Modius site: "Windows 10 is plug and play with our DACs. We do not provide drivers for earlier versions of Windows."
     
  6. rendyG

    rendyG Acquaintance

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    OMG, I´m an idiot..
    Ehm, will consider swapping to win10 then lol.
    Or do you think there is any chance drivers for older windows will be available?

    Until then, running via tosling feeding THX789 sounds pretty sweet :)
    Noticeably more detail than from my D50S.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2020
  7. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Win 8.1 pro - It shows as Schiit Unison Modius in dev manager. However it's unable to find the drivers. With win10 it was plug and play
     
  8. farbinator

    farbinator Facebook Friend

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    Nope not gonna happen, atleast from Schiit direct they've been very clear on that.
     
  9. redrich2000

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    Got my Modius in yesterday. Spent the arvo ABing with my Eitr>Modi Multibit stack. I don't have heaps to add to what others have said, the differences are exactly as reported. You lose a touch of that MB magic (depth/realism/3D etc.) but in return you get better resolution and clarity. The Modius is also a little less dark than the Modi Multibit, although maybe that's an effect of the clarity?

    The one thing I will add is that I was expecting that I'd prefer the the Modi Multibit. I preferred the MB DAC module in the Jot to the Modi 3, depsite it's limitations, because of that MB magic. But I actually definitely preferred the Modius. The resolution/clarity more than makes up for what you lose IMO. There's obviously a subjective element to that but IMO Modi Multibit users should consider Modius as a potential upgrade if they don't have the budget to jump higher up the scale.
     
  10. Johnny Opps

    Johnny Opps Facebook Friend

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    Absolutely loving my modius. Enjoying over and over again. This is my first real dac (after the Fulla 2, which I don't think really counts) and I love it. Wonder how long it'll stay in my system or if I've gotten hooked. Running through an Emotiva A-100 for now...
     
  11. redrich2000

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    Some of you will laugh, but I suspect (hope) I'm not the only one bugged by stuff like this... There's something wrong wrong with the formatting of the Modius namining in Windows 10. See below how there's a huge space before the close bracket. It's not the device name, which is editable. It's in the controller information and I can't see anywhere to edit that. Does anyone know how to edit it?

    upload_2020-12-1_10-34-11.png
     
  12. Degru

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    Anybody have success swapping opamps on Schiit gear before? I'm thinking maybe swapping the SE chip with the OPA1656 that Geshelli stuff uses could improve its sound.. or something else if anyone knows better.
     
  13. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    I too am interested in swapping the opamps. Geshelli Enog def is a step up from modius SE.
    Esp bass quality needs an improvement on the modius which isn't great from Bal out too. Still a gem of a dac for the price
     
  14. jelly

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    Couple of B-stocks on the website
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Not fun having to desolder and solder surface mount parts.
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Was thinking about getting a JNOG in, but low or zero quantities of AKM4493 for the foreseeable future may make such a review pointless. Would be looking forward to an ESS version.
     
  17. Raimei Templar

    Raimei Templar Friend

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    I have been spending a lot of time comparing Modius and JNOG, planning on doing a more in depth review with its own thread. The short version is the JNOG RCA is in every way better than Modius RCA IMO.

    I think I mentioned in my thoughts on Modius before that I found the RCA outs had a kind of airy sheen over it, it added a nice kind of effortless feeling that I liked at the time. Then comes the JNOG which does that effortless sound without having any of that somewhat artificial sheen at all which I didn't think would be possible. The JNOG sounds less "diffuse", vocals have better depth, guitars are more exciting and everything a hint of gorgeous sweetness over it. I have never described a DAC as sounding gorgeous but for me that is the word that comes to mind with JNOG. At the same time it also sounds more exciting than Modius, guitars and drums have some real bite and snap to them without sounding fatiguing or annoying.

    Like I just compared Tool's Invincible using the Asgard 3 just now for both with the DCA Aeon Open RT. Maynard sounds like he has some kind of funky airy reverb on using the Modius, the bassline (which I love) is sort of lacking weight, again I think this is due to that sheen. Everything for the most part sounds quite "correct" outside of that sheen, its a very enjoyable listen overall. I never at any point scream this SCHIIT SOUNDS LIKE SHIT.

    But then I connect the JNOG and, immediately I think DAMN THAT GUITAR SOUNDS PRETTY, wow was that metronome esque sound in the back there before, it was but I didnt really notice it. Hey that reverb on Maynard is gone, and my goodness the bass has gotten thicker, weightier and has more impact. Most songs go like that. I think they sound great on the Modius, then I try the JNOG and I am like damn that is better, every time. Usually I would try to be more balanced, but there is really nothing about the Modius RCA I think is better than the JNOG, JNOG sounds more pleasant, more exciting and more detailed to me all at the same time.

    I think Modius has slightly higher output that the JNOG even over RCA, it seems "louder", which according to SCIENCE means I should prefer it...but I dont. Even without moving the volume knob and JNOG seemingly slightly quieter it sounds better to me. I could be interpreting extra depth and space as being quieter, or it could actually be louder.

    Also worth noting I do all my listening with USB, so some of this may be the Amerano USB versus Unison. Both dacs are my only experience with their respective USB implementations.

    The XLR outputs are also a different story as there I think it will likely come down to preference, I cant strictly say the JNOG is better than the Modius there, for me the Modius XLR is significantly better than its RCA. Jnog is also better over XLR but gap is much smaller.
     
  18. Baten

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    Sure you can't audition a JNOG? :D
     
  19. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    I think many of us would be interested in what you think of the Jong SE vs Modius Bal. Not being able to use Modius SE out (subpar, not broken) limits the choice of amps. If the jnog SE can do Modius Bal dynamics while retaining the 4493 sweetness , it should make a great SE dac. 4493 dacs have sounded quite varying in presentation, the tad soft bass and vibrant,deep ,non fatiguing sound remain.
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Currently out of stock, will supposedly return in Jan 25.

    The thing is that I have a bunch of requests from Patreon. @ChaChaRealSmooth and I are pursuing all angles. It's a matter of seeing who will bite (hoping to land an Abyss Diana V2). Of course any of one of you could go out individually and contact Geshelli to ask for a loaner for SBAF.

    I am curious myself. Modius SE is too phat - I'd need a headphone like the ATH-AD2000 for it. Modius Bal is very good, but has strong emphasis in bass - this doesn't work in some systems and is also at time when neutral sounding DACs seem to be trending.
     

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