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Schiit Gungnir DAC
May 15, 2015 at 12:09 PM Post #1,906 of 7,058
Hey all,
 
Gungnir owner here, and looking for some help getting an iPad mini (v1) working through USB with the Gen2 board. I get the 'too much power' message whenever I connect via the Apple Camera Adapter to either the Gungnir directly or through the Wyrd. Ditto on my iPhone 5s.
 
Looking for recommendations on a powered USB Hub that will allow me to use the iPad for streaming music, but also have enough power to charge it while in use.
 
I have a Gen1 802.11n Airport Express (A1264) that I've setup on it's own 5GHz network, and although it streams rock solid without dropouts, I get the "Buy Better Gear" light come on within 30s-2m after starting up a stream.
 
Thanks!
 
May 15, 2015 at 2:22 PM Post #1,908 of 7,058
khragon said:
  How's the XLR -> RCA cable been working out for you.  So far so good for me.   My problem now is I want to get a balanced SS amp to complement my WA5, and I'm not sure how I am going to use one XLR output to feed two amps.  Any ideas?
Click to expand...

The cables have worked out great! Sound really doesn't seem to have been affected but I just plain like them better than the rca's I had. they just feel higher quality to me.  ive actually been looking at upgrading to mjolinir and having my T1's reterminated to XLR but really, I just don't need it yet lol. no idea how youd go about feeding two amps, id have to assume theres an xlr splitter or switchbox available that would do the trick.
 
May 15, 2015 at 2:25 PM Post #1,909 of 7,058
bflat said:
 
I was going to ask how warm should the chassis get on a Gungnir, but at 20 watts, that answers my question. It should be normal to be pretty warm but not uncomfortably hot.
Click to expand...


my gungnir gets a little warm but not remotely what id consider hot.  half the time I think the warmth is more caused by the Valhalla sitting on top of it. Now THAT gets HOT alright lol
 
May 15, 2015 at 2:53 PM Post #1,910 of 7,058
hifimckinney said:
  Not sure if this would help but I bought http://www.ebay.com/itm/291272047369?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and is connected to Gungnir via Toslink and I use AirPLay.
Click to expand...

That's actually a great little box - thanks for the link! Do you know if the USB is an output and actually carries signal?
 
I was also considering the Airenabler (http://airenabler.qnology.com/Home) which is the same thing, but works exclusively over USB. Not sure if this is an advantage or not (airplay is limited to 16/44.1 afterall), but it could be interesting as I can route the signal through my Wyrd to potentially remove some additional jitter, and reviews are pretty good.
 
May 17, 2015 at 12:41 AM Post #1,912 of 7,058
I picked up a used Gungnir from a HF member the other day and have been using it in my listening room. It replaces a Loki (using JRiver upconverting all to DSD) and while it's a clear winner over the Loki, I did feel like it lacked a little life. It's very resolving, I'm hearing "deeper" into the music as they say. Soundstage is deeper and instrument separation is improved. So I've liked it all along but had been wondering about SPDIF inputs. I was running USB straight from my motherboard to the USB in on the Gung. I just went and grabbed an optical cable from the parts bin and tossed it in and so far, I like what I'm hearing! It's not a night and day difference but it does feel a bit more musical, if that makes any sense. I'd still like to try either an Uptone Regen or a Musiland USB/SPDIF converter at some point. Any suggestions as to what would be the better route? I've also thought of going with a decent PCIe sound card and using the SPDIF out of that but it seems you have to spend a great deal of money to get a card that clocks better than, say, the Musiland USD3. I am not using cans to listen, but rather a 2.1 conventional loudspeaker setup.
 
May 17, 2015 at 1:56 AM Post #1,913 of 7,058
toddrhodes said:
  I picked up a used Gungnir from a HF member the other day and have been using it in my listening room. It replaces a Loki (using JRiver upconverting all to DSD) and while it's a clear winner over the Loki, I did feel like it lacked a little life. It's very resolving, I'm hearing "deeper" into the music as they say. Soundstage is deeper and instrument separation is improved. So I've liked it all along but had been wondering about SPDIF inputs. I was running USB straight from my motherboard to the USB in on the Gung. I just went and grabbed an optical cable from the parts bin and tossed it in and so far, I like what I'm hearing! It's not a night and day difference but it does feel a bit more musical, if that makes any sense. I'd still like to try either an Uptone Regen or a Musiland USB/SPDIF converter at some point. Any suggestions as to what would be the better route? I've also thought of going with a decent PCIe sound card and using the SPDIF out of that but it seems you have to spend a great deal of money to get a card that clocks better than, say, the Musiland USD3. I am not using cans to listen, but rather a 2.1 conventional loudspeaker setup.
Click to expand...


What USB version of Gungnir are you running? Purrin on the the infamous DAC thread mentioned a major improvement going from Gen 1 to 2. If you have 1, you can upgrade through Schiit, although they are likely to release Gen 3 at some point since it's already on the Yggy. If you decide to go all optical then you won't have to deal with USB and that must be just as good since Schiit sells with and without USB.
 
May 17, 2015 at 6:19 AM Post #1,914 of 7,058
toddrhodes said:
  Any suggestions as to what would be the better route?
Click to expand...

 
It's important to know what can change when you go from one digital input to another.  Long story short... jitter and noise.  Jitter sounds fuzzy, a reduction in stage and instrument focus.  Also attack from things being slightly out of sync.  It's a subtle thing.  Noise is noise.  Optical of course has no noise.
 
Now if what you want is more focus, more attack, less fuzz then make sure you have the Gen 2 USB and get a Wyred or as you said snag a better toslink capable soundcard like an ESI.  
 
The other thing you can do is remove the noise your pc puts out by plugging it into a ground loop breaker like a HumX.  No tweak I've ever done did as much as that little thing.  Now all my computers that connect to audio whether it be the stereo or tv get one and the noise floor just drops off.
 
May 17, 2015 at 8:13 AM Post #1,915 of 7,058
I have the Gen2. In an ideal world I'd like for USB to sound like the optical input does, the only reason I say that is apparently the optical input is incapable of reading 88.2k sample rates so I have to downsample those (would rather downsample to an even multiple as opposed to upsample to 96k, but this is still probably pretty minor). 
 
It's my understanding that while Wyrd and Regen do similar things, the Regen actually improves the USB stream, rather than just cleaning up the 5v power lead which is my understanding of the main use case for Wyrd. Since Gungnir is not powered by USB, would Wyrd really help much? I ask due to ignorance, so any insight is helpful. I have searched but my head's a bit full of computer-audio nomenclature right now :)
 
solude said:
   
It's important to know what can change when you go from one digital input to another.  Long story short... jitter and noise.  Jitter sounds fuzzy, a reduction in stage and instrument focus.  Also attack from things being slightly out of sync.  It's a subtle thing.  Noise is noise.  Optical of course has no noise.
 
Now if what you want is more focus, more attack, less fuzz then make sure you have the Gen 2 USB and get a Wyred or as you said snag a better toslink capable soundcard like an ESI.  
 
The other thing you can do is remove the noise your pc puts out by plugging it into a ground loop breaker like a HumX.  No tweak I've ever done did as much as that little thing.  Now all my computers that connect to audio whether it be the stereo or tv get one and the noise floor just drops off.
Click to expand...

 
 
I will check out the sound cards you mentioned Solude, I'm not familiar with ESI, nor am I familiar with HumX. At this point I need to figure out how to kill the noise from my lights in the room, I quieted the PC down completely but I can hear the light bulbs. This is truly first world problems, I know.
 
Thank you!!

 
May 17, 2015 at 8:43 AM Post #1,916 of 7,058
The toslink input can absolutely take 88 and 176 assuming the sender can send it cleanly.
 
Wyred is also a reclocker as are all usb hubs.  The Gungnir USB is powered by the cable not the internal power supply.
 
Can't overstate how awesome the HumX is.  Not subtle at all and if you have iems you can easily hear the difference it makes by just listening to silence or what should be with and without it in place.
 
May 17, 2015 at 9:01 AM Post #1,917 of 7,058
solude said:
The toslink input can absolutely take 88 and 176 assuming the sender can send it cleanly.

Wyred is also a reclocker as are all usb hubs.  The Gungnir USB is powered by the cable not the internal power supply.

Can't overstate how awesome the HumX is.  Not subtle at all and if you have iems you can easily hear the difference it makes by just listening to silence or what should be with and without it in place.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the clarification! The 88k issue must be due to the onboard realtek output then, not the Gungnir. I admittedly was scratching my head on that last night.
 
May 18, 2015 at 1:59 AM Post #1,918 of 7,058
Anyone try installing a USB board into  the gungnir? How hard is it?
 
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