I heard the DISTINCT difference between the DS-Gungnir (which had probably 700 + hours on it) and the new multibit (brand-new right out of the box) on the very first note to the very first song I played through it. That was actually Jean Michelle Jarr and it was Oxygene 7 part 1. The first note had a much more palpable and extended treble that was much more cohesive and started from back behind the plane of the speakers, to decaying back behind the listening position to the far left. The DS Gungnir did NOT do that. I WAS HOOKED! So yes, you SHOULD be able to hear a difference right away.
I am also using the new multibit Gungnir on the tweeters only for now, until I get the other Gungnir D-S DACs upgraded. So I suspect I am in for a real treat. I use an all-active digital crossover, MiniDSP Nano-Digi 2x8 feeding four other Gungnirs. The signal path is as follows: PC (using JPlay with a dual-PC setup) -USB-Wyrd 1-WYRD 2-WYRD 3- Peachtree USB/SPDF 24/192 converter -Behringer SRC 24/96 (used as a digital input patch bay because it accepts three digital inputs via AES/EBU, SPDIF, and TOSLINK), MiniDSP 2x8 - Gungnir Multibit 1 from 1kHz and up, Gungnir 2 D/S from 900Hz to 544 Hz, Gungnir 3 D/S from 544Hz to 100 Hz, Gungnir 4 D/S from 100Hz to 40Hz, then a Behringer DCX 24/96 feeding sealed stereo subs from 40Hz down (and I actually am getting some room gain and a spike at 16Hz because of room gain.) My room is not very big though, so that really cool 16Hz wave does not even have a chance to fully crest, so you really don't "feel" it, but it shows up in Room EQ Wizard when I do measurements with the Dayton Audio UMM 6 measurement microphone at the listening position.
Yes, it's a LOT of work, but I enjoy it. On a side note, I was seduced into listening to music yesterday when I was doing a few things online and the system was playing in the background. I was listening to some Patrick O'Hearn and 3rd Force, and there was some really cool high frequency details and harmonics that were just GORGEOUS coming through that I hadn't so easily and readily noticed before, so I had to stop what I was doing and listen to music for about 30 minutes. I was IMMERSED in a 3-dimensional soundscape that was just addicting. Nuances of music were POPPING out to the side of the listening position and it seems ( now I'm at about the 175 hour mark for the Gungnir multibit burn-in) that it is opening up a bit more. I suspect there is still more room for improvement. You have to consider that being new, the multibit has all those capacitors, resistors, regulators, the transformers, the DAC chips, etc. All of that needs burned-in so I suspect the upgraded units I will be getting will have less burn-in time because the motherboard components will have already been burned-in, and the only thing needed to be burned in would be the actual upgrade multibit board itself.
Aint this hobby FUN!!??
Cheers!
-Randy
P.S. My setup is entirely open-baffle, except for the sealed stereo subs. It is all DIY by me. I cannot listen to box speakers anymore. They all seem to sound closed-in. I really like the simplicity and openness of open-baffle speakers. Together with all active line-level crossovers in the digital domain, you can have a VERY revealing system without all the phase-shift that power-robbing passive crossover parts bring with it. I had a lot of inspiration from my friend Monte. His website is www.mfk-projects.com . And of course to speaker designer Siegfried Linkwitz of linkwitzlab.com for his Orion open baffle design. Monte has a home theater with custom full reclining leather chairs, AND all active digital crossovers, with 12, YES 12, 15" woofers PER SIDE in open-baffle configuration. So that's 24 15" woofers in open-baffle in a stereo configuration fro his home theater. I have never heard (felt) such amazing bone-ratlling low frequency, yet it doesn't hurt your ears.
