Schiit Modi and Magni comparison to Bifrost and Asgard - Page 7

 

In jest or not, if these don't end up sold at the Charlotte meet then I may start passing them around to anyone else who'd like to hear them.

 

Oh absolutely, part of this is definitely subjective, and I can fully confirm that to some extent I like the B&A more just because it was my first good setup and I think it looks better (I don't have an aluminum fetish, I swear!).

 

I keep trying to write detailed explanations but end up bogged down, so let's try this again in a more casual manner.

 

Since I wasn't able to instantly switch between stacks and have full control of the music I think the blind test ultimately was at least as much a test of my auditory memory (which is horrible) as it was an actual test of the stacks. I think it was useful in that it demonstrated that they are at least quite similar (no huge glaring issues that made one or the other easily identifiable), but since it required me to try and memorize 30+ seconds of music and then listen for differences after a few second delay I would never claim that it's absolute proof that they are identical, just that they are close enough that my memory is the weak point.

 

But ultimately though, what it eventually came down to was that during this past week I just found myself not enjoying my music (and using headphones in general) as much. There were a couple songs in my test tracks (incidentally, my test tracks for the most part are songs that I really like and that also happen to be a good example of something I want to test, not just chosen for some sonic trait) that I started skipping because I wasn't finding them as engaging, and one that was actually sounding a bit disjoint (sounded a little like a bunch of separate instruments instead of a song at times). I also found that when watching a couple YouTube channels that I frequent that I was now finding them a little sibilant where (as far as I can recall) I had never felt that way previously.

 

It's certainly possible that all or part of this is expectation bias, but ultimately for me it's all about enjoying the music, hence my decision.

 

 

Oh, and don't think this is negative for the M&M either, taken on their own they sound remarkably good and I would definitely recommend them, I just enjoy the B&A a little bit more, and that's more or less what this hobby is all about.

 

Exactly. I did what I could with the equipment I had, and I think it provided some interesting information and a fun anecdote. However, it certainly wasn't perfect.

I see no reason not to leave your computer in 24 bit mode all the time. However, some people prefer to have it set to the same sample rate as their music (so for me 24/44.1) so that Windows isn't resampling everything I play. Would I be able to tell? Probably not. But is it doing extra processing that could theoretically affect how things sound? Yes. Please note that again, this only applies to the sample rate, not the bit depth.

As answered above, it's steel and looks quite nice.

The Schiit PYST cables are good. Monoprice also sells good cables at silly prices (and apparently it's what Schiit uses when testing their amps).

 

Glad you enjoyed it. I also fully agree that there's something nice about DAC and amp having the same form factor, and they do look good stacked :)

 

From what I've heard on here and my experience with the LCD-2s I expect you'll enjoy the combo a lot with the HE-400s but may need to digitally attenuate a bit for a truly useful volume range.