Schiit Unison USB

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by gaspasser, Aug 31, 2019.

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  1. Orkney

    Orkney Acquaintance

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    Hi Jason,

    Thanks for checking in. I really don't want to throw anyone under the bus, and this rep was unfailingly helpful, courteous and prompt in reply, but here's the convo excerpt. For context, my question was regarding whether I could order the GS with Unison card installed, or in the box to install myself:

    Hi,

    The new GS already have Unison installed, sorry I forgot to mention that.


    Best,

    [I ask where the option is on the website/drop-down so I can order online, or via this email exchange, and how I can specify that I would prefer this new version of the GS with U installed, etc.]

    Hi,

    No, the GS is a limited run product - it's sold as-is. Silver, Unison USB. There is only a limited number of GS so we don't really have any options, sorry.


    Best,

     
  2. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    Jason would never run over an employee with a bus.
    he's simply point out an error was made, and wish to prevent it from being communicated incorrectly to other customers in the future.
    maybe send Jason a PM here.
     
  3. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    Yes, let me know who it is. They are not reading the site, which clearly states:

    If you decide to get an Yggdrasil GS, you get:

    1. Two Analog 1 cards in an otherwise complete new-production Yggdrasil.
    2. New firmware that makes the Yggdrasil GS measure almost the same as Yggdrasil (see the APx555 reports for both products). Yes, we still think the Analog 2 sounds better. Yes, we're weird.
    3. A full 3 year warranty (a couple years less than Yggdrasil).
    4. The older Gen 5 USB card rather than Unison USB. This may be a plus if you are using an ancient version of Windows, since Unison USB does not support any Windows OS prior to Windows 10.
     
  4. Orkney

    Orkney Acquaintance

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    Thanks for clarifying, Jason. PM sent.
     
  5. Dzerh

    Dzerh Friend

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    it would be funny if Manufacturing was not reading the site either and GS indeed has Unison :)
     
  6. Lheop

    Lheop New

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    Nobody told me about this upgrade! My intel NUC using roon is compatible with it?

    I just saw a video of a guy doing the upgrade. If I can build a pc, can I do the upgrade?

    I dont want to pay 330 just for shipping + a 150 upgrade

    thank you!
     
  7. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Schiit sent out an email about it and it is all over forums. Which DAC do you have? If it is Gungnir then you must send it in, otherwise you can do the self install option. It is very straightforward and as long as you use the same electrostatic precautions like PC building, you should be fine.
     
  8. Lheop

    Lheop New

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    hello, its an yggdrasil
     
  9. Lheop

    Lheop New

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    I just ordered the unison card. Wish me luck.
     
  10. jcn3

    jcn3 New

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    you won't need it -- installation is a piece of cake.
     
  11. Lheop

    Lheop New

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    Thank you, I did it easily!

    First impression, It's not a subtle change. More detail and more treble (¿?)
    I'm sorry I can't speak with fancy words. But I'm happy.
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    So, Unison installed in YggyA2, but haven't touched USB in several months. Now, Mac OSX Catalina 10.15.4 recognizes the dac but won't pass signal? What am I doing wrong? Trying to run REW, and got a Java error. Not gonna lie, I'm a clueless idiot about this stuff.
     
  13. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    I figured I would revisit the Unison upgrade once the warranty expired on my Gungnir, but having recently installed a streamer in my chain, I cannot imagine a use-case where it would be relevant anymore. I was pretty happy with gen5 anyway, but it just doesn't matter anymore for me, if it ever did.
     
  14. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

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    Installed Unison in my Yggdrasil today. First impressions
    - More depth (easier to hear distance from the listener to the instruments)
    - More accurate imaging (easier to pick relative position of the instruments)
    - Better dynamics
    - Soundstage seems to extend further past the speakers

    Not a night and day difference but definitely there. Worth the money for people using their computers or usb streamers as source.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2020
  15. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Just passing through this thread and noticed your post. Can't speak to the DAC issue, but REW is very particular about its Java runtime environment. It only works with version 8 (Oracle) or 1.8 (openJDK). It pains me greatly to say the Oracle one works better for me on Linux, but that may just be a lack of effort. It looks like the current Mac download comes with a JRE, but your OS looks newer than the build is for so hopefully someone else can chime in.
     
  16. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Thanks for the input. I haven't gone back to fiddle with this since I only use Unison as an input when doing REW, and since I think I've had one OSX update auto install since. I'll try to make a point to do some more USB trouble shooting tomorrow. In the mean time, I just exported the convolution filters to text and manually applied them in Roon, then ran pink noise and RTA to double check, and adjusted by ear to taste using music.

    Edit: too lazy to adjust dB scale, but not bad for manual EQ from 20-200Hz. I left in that little hump @ 36Hz 'cause closet basshead.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2020
  17. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    This has inspired me to get into doing this with my speakers as well.

    Did you follow this guy’s guide? And did you EQ each speaker separately or as a pair (I realize it makes more sense to do separely).

    https://community.roonlabs.com/t/a-guide-how-to-do-room-correction-and-use-it-in-roon/23800

    Actually looking forward to trying this - I tried some targeted EQ in Roon just to tame some of the peaks I can see doing some basic measurements in REW and it seemed to help quite a bit, in subjective listening at least. Some resonance in the mids were reduced and the bass was tightened.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2020
  18. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

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    I let my friend borrow my USbridge Sig and power supplies and switched the Yggdrasil over to rpi+wall wart combo. To be honest, sound better than I anticipated. Soundstage got smaller and imaging and depth are less precise but it's much better than Gen5 plugged straight into a stock pi (dynamics aren't squashed and there is much less distortion in the highs). Tested this with B-52s first album, Pale Emperor and Songs from The Woods (same three albums I did initial Unison comparison with)
    Good job Schiit, still not source-proof but you're getting there.
     
  19. Scott Kramer

    Scott Kramer Friend

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    See the UNISON beta thread, I explored using a raw pi for USB, and <still> run a pi3A+ on batteries or good LPS, with RAM buffer / stripped down tuned piCore*. It's neck & neck with digiONEsig and some ways better/different/worse, mostly have to deal with bass-- pull speakers forward a foot haha. 502DAC aes is etched for me, and sitting out Pi2AES for now. USB's the only non-spdif way in, want to go forward with that.

    Agree, UNISON gets you there by default, but you can irk more out of it-- ie not immune to source. (in my case, the pi3A+ with wall wort, and blind moode/piCore install it's not nearly as good, I purposely tried to make it as scuzzy as possible, and you hear it)

    *this config is easy to do
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2020
  20. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

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    I haven't tried it on a regular usb source yet (like a stock desktop/laptop), my only two sources so far have been the lps-powered usbridge sig (not totl but definitely competent) and wall-wart powered rpi (terrible). Maybe the true value of unison is that once you plug it into a desktop it doesn't need anything more to sound its best.
     

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