the saga s is really rather great. It is transparent and allows the greatness of the connected Bimby shine through. It is the best sounding preamp I’ve heard. I have owned a couple of parasound preamps (p5 and zpre) and a few integrated amps by Yamaha. Yes, preamps matter, like everything...

Just received the Eitr yesterday. Using it with a Mac mini -> Gumby -> MJ2 -> HE-560. I also have the Singxer F-1 and Wyred4sound uLink. I have not done any back and forth so far so my impressions are based on my memory of the F-1 and uLink the same system. Early impressions after a few hours of...

I noticed the Gumby change over a period of weeks. Granted, the most dramatic changes happen at the beginning and then become more subtle.

Hooked my Gumby up to my new Mjolnir 2. It really is a wonderful combination. Had been using a Bimby. This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, the Gumby really is a great DAC. It has an ease and naturalness that the Bimby can lack. And it seems to be less picky of source material.

I'm on iOS 10.3.1. Which camera adapter are you using? If it is the unpowered camera adapter version then it does not provide enough power to run the fulla 2. You'll need to connect a dedicated power supply to the fulla 2 power port.

Yes, with usb 3 camera adapter you need at least one power source. But it is a big improvement from a power perspective compared with the unpowered camera adapter. The one power source (lightning into the adapter) will supply both the phone and the fulla 2. The adapter's usb port supplies...

The fulla 2 works great with the iPhone 6. I use this combo every day. You'll need a lightning to camera adapter. I use the lightning to USB 3 camera adapter...

I think the answer is I need to build a dedicated 2-channel room in the basement.

I agree schiit is totally within its rights to never implement HT passthru and that they have to do what makes sense for their business. I don't agree it falls into the "power switch up front" category. It is a real barrier to ownership for those with non enthusiast family members who don't have...

+1 for HT passthru.

  I should add that, wrt sound, I think this combo (the Fulla 2 and RE-400) is quite good. For me "quite good" means that while I'm listening to it I'm enjoying the music and not thinking about how much better it would sound on my other headphones or speakers. Occasionally, I actually like the...

On my Fulla 2 the pot starts at about 6:45. I'm usually listening around 8:15-8:30 with the RE-400. It helps that the volume knob is large (compared the magni or vali) and is relatively good at small adjustments.   Based on my experience using the Fulla 2 with a particular IEM (the RE-400), I...

Perhaps this goes without saying, but some IEMs are more sensitive than others.   I get adequate range with the hifiman RE-400. By adequate, I mean I can control the volume to my tastes and not blow my ears out (I think I have pretty sensitive ears).     BTW, don't have the channel...

I think "less" == less significant bits == bits farther to the right. So in this case he's saying bits >20-22 are of very questionable significance.

I think the filter operates in 24 or 32 bits. I'm not mimby's designer but with calculations you generally want to avoid rounding until the end (if the goal is to minimize error) Mimby rounds to 16 bits at the end because mimby uses a 16 bit dac.

A fixed upsampling to 24/96 or 24/192 is not a good idea. I wouldn't upsample in your music player at all. If the file is 16/44 - send 16/44 to your mimby. Let the mimby's burrito filter do its work.

You're probably going to hear the biggest benefit with 16/44.

Here is a brief, fairly straightforward overview of usb audio, including how audio transfers differ from other usb data transfers: https://source.android.com/devices/audio/usb.html#isochronous    From the section titled Isochronous transfer mode:   "USB includes many other device classes...

My understanding is that the digital audio protocols (i.e. the protocols used between source components and DACs), including usb audio, do not do re-transmission.

  Pretty sure the PCI-E bus uses some sort of error detection / re-transmission. And I'd be surprised if there's a special PCI-E protocol for audio data.

  The data transmitted over your USB cable or ethernet cable or via Wi-FI is not perfect - there are errors. It's just that the non-audio data transfer protocols automatically recognize errors (checksums etc) and retransmit when necessary. So for the non-audio data transfers buying a better...

Yes, but in digital audio timing is also important - is not quite as black and white as either getting a "proper" signal or not. You can be somewhere in between.   1. Variations in the timing of those 1s and 0s can be audible (jitter). 2. If an error occurs - say the signal for a set of 1s...

Both of you guys have a point - neither is completely wrong. At a high level / consumer level digital and analog signals are "completely" different. But from a computer or electrical engineering perspective - once the digital signal hits the transmission medium (air, copper, optical fiber...

Yes, I think the balanced out sounds a bit better (I've only used the jot with the SE input). I assume it is because of the increase in available output power.

This is not correct - I was off by a few of pages. The ad is on page 76 and the Yggy recommendation is on page 83. It is in the same section, but not on the same page. With all the talk about Stereophile and Schiit my brain must have put the two together in my memory.