Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

[timb5881]

Is there a dis- or agreement? All I was saying a reclocker is likely going to help with a vintage Adcom DAC, sounds like you say the same? As for a DDC, one that also have a I2S output can be more future proof than the Eitr.

No, just remebering I had the DTI units to reduce jitter. And Yes, one with I2S would be better in the long run.

 

[bradbort]

I’m having an odd issue with the Modi Multibit. I wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing it.

I have it connected, via toslink from a sonos connect into a rogue integrated. It works well...except once every week or two the input on the Modi shifts to coax from toslink. Nothing has touched it. Power cycling does not reproduce it. I sent it back to Schiit to check on it, but the tech merely turned it on, saw that it worked, and sent it back.

Anyone have any ideas about what could be going on?

 

[Tuneslover]

I’m having an odd issue with the Modi Multibit. I wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing it.

I have it connected, via toslink from a sonos connect into a rogue integrated. It works well...except once every week or two the input on the Modi shifts to coax from toslink. Nothing has touched it. Power cycling does not reproduce it. I sent it back to Schiit to check on it, but the tech merely turned it on, saw that it worked, and sent it back.

Anyone have any ideas about what could be going on?

Thats unusual. Try unplugging the the toslink then turn off the Modi, wait a minute, plug the toslink back in and turn the Modi back on. If that doesnt correct the problem try a different toslink cable if you have another one. If that doesn't work I guess you will just have to switch it back to the correct input manually.

 

[bradbort]

Thats unusual. Try unplugging the the toslink then turn off the Modi, wait a minute, plug the toslink back in and turn the Modi back on. If that doesnt correct the problem try a different toslink cable if you have another one. If that doesn't work I guess you will just have to switch it back to the correct input manually.

I’m kinda thinking its a firmware bug, and the modi wants to be on coax. Yes, manually shifting it back to toslink works. If I unplug and power cycle, its going to come back to the last input, which would be coax since it moved.

At this point, I’m considering giving up and just using coax. If it does not hop inputs for a couple of weeks, I’ll move onto other life events.

 

[mcole]

fter reading thru the majority of posts in this thread, I ordered a Mimby - and I don't know why. Forums are evil I had cobbled together a modest desktop system consisting of a Win10 PC with an i7 CPU, dual mirrored SSDs and no video or sound cards - everything comes from the motherboard. This feeds an HRT Music Streamer DAC (the original from 1996 that only does 16/44.1) and then onto a Rega Brio-R. I have a Magni3 for the Meze 99 Classics headphones and a pair of Orb Audio speaker balls for speaker listening with the Brio. So far, this sounds pretty damn good to my ears with headphones producing the better sound, but if the Mimby makes it even better, I will be a really happy camper. My main system uses a Squeezebox Touch feeding a Metrum Quad DAC, so I am no stranger to multibit (but I am kinda curious about NOS vs OS). The rest of the system is my LP12 and a Croft Phono integrated amp feeding Harbeth P3ESRs. I thought it would be interesting comparing the Mimby to both of these DACs. Luckily, the Mimby has both USB and SPDIF inputs, so that should make it easier.

So I got the Mimby a couple of days ago. Out of the box it sounded hard and thin, kinda like a skeleton. The music was also kind of non-cohesive - maybe due to the amount of detail it got distracting, things seemed to start and stop at the wrong time. I checked in every now and then for a minute or two and saw that it was starting to fill out, getting some meat on the bones. I turned it on yesterday at noon when I came home for lunch and at 9pm, I did some longer term listening. It was sounding rather good by now. The tonality had improved and the soundstage had filled in. I see what people mean by the amount of clarity it has. The HRT Music Streamer is not a bad DAC at all, but the Mimby did a lot more stuff better than the HRT. Soundstage was more filled in and the amount of detail far greater. On some recordings you can hear a very indiviualized intepretation of the the music - very tasty. The HRT is more homogenized, kinda generic, in that respect. However, had I not heard the Mimby, I would have been satisfied with the more workmanlike musical presentation of the HRT. However, I *did* hear the Mimby, so the HRT will be retired.

I next slid the Mimby into my main rig. This was a much more interesting comparison. I've had my Metrum Quad since 2011, so I was very familiar with it. The Mimby did have more detail than the Metrum, but it also seemed to present it more in your face than the Metrum. The tonal balance of the Mimby seems to be oriented more towards the upper midrange, whereas the Metrum was tad bit more towards the lower midrange. I felt that the Metrum gave a greater tonal range than the Mimby. The Metrum seemed to have more tone saturation and color - or maybe the tonal balance was just more appealing to me. The tonal range of the Mimby seemed a tiny bit squashed in comparison to the Metrum. Even though the soundstage for both DACs remained centered between the speakers, the Mimby seemed more expansive. In my head it was like there was a box between the speakers for the Metrum, but there was a bubble for the Mimby. I also noticed that the Mimby had a thicker, more solid sound than the Metrum. Both DACs had a good sense of musical flow, but the Metrum seemed looser with the music than the Mimby. I think the thickness of the sound with the Mimby made it seem slightly buttoned up in comparison. In artist terms, the Mimby was like the precision and detail of Dali and the musical flow was built from hearing each and every instrument working together in unison. The Metrum was more like maybe the impressionistic pastels of Degas where the musical flow was not built, but just came about with the instruments playing as whole and in the moment. I thought the Metrum presented voices with a more human touch making them seem more real to me. The Mimby voices were maybe not more human sounding, but it gave each voice such an individualized treatment making them sound very unique. With voices that I thought I was familiar with, there was a newer fresher take on the singing.

Anyway, those are my impressions, however amorphous or unintelligible my descriptions may have been. Bottom line is that I could live *very* happily with either DAC - they are both equally great, just different presentations. I am glad I have both. Although I think the Mimby is a no brainer buy for 250 bucks, just remember that the DAC is only a part of your total system and it is the DACs synergy with your entire playback chain that will make all the difference in whether it floats your boat or not.

 

[timb5881]

fter reading thru the majority of posts in this thread, I ordered a Mimby - and I don't know why. Forums are evil I had cobbled together a modest desktop system consisting of a Win10 PC with an i7 CPU, dual mirrored SSDs and no video or sound cards - everything comes from the motherboard. This feeds an HRT Music Streamer DAC (the original from 1996 that only does 16/44.1) and then onto a Rega Brio-R. I have a Magni3 for the Meze 99 Classics headphones and a pair of Orb Audio speaker balls for speaker listening with the Brio. So far, this sounds pretty damn good to my ears with headphones producing the better sound, but if the Mimby makes it even better, I will be a really happy camper. My main system uses a Squeezebox Touch feeding a Metrum Quad DAC, so I am no stranger to multibit (but I am kinda curious about NOS vs OS). The rest of the system is my LP12 and a Croft Phono integrated amp feeding Harbeth P3ESRs. I thought it would be interesting comparing the Mimby to both of these DACs. Luckily, the Mimby has both USB and SPDIF inputs, so that should make it easier.

So I got the Mimby a couple of days ago. Out of the box it sounded hard and thin, kinda like a skeleton. The music was also kind of non-cohesive - maybe due to the amount of detail it got distracting, things seemed to start and stop at the wrong time. I checked in every now and then for a minute or two and saw that it was starting to fill out, getting some meat on the bones. I turned it on yesterday at noon when I came home for lunch and at 9pm, I did some longer term listening. It was sounding rather good by now. The tonality had improved and the soundstage had filled in. I see what people mean by the amount of clarity it has. The HRT Music Streamer is not a bad DAC at all, but the Mimby did a lot more stuff better than the HRT. Soundstage was more filled in and the amount of detail far greater. On some recordings you can hear a very indiviualized intepretation of the the music - very tasty. The HRT is more homogenized, kinda generic, in that respect. However, had I not heard the Mimby, I would have been satisfied with the more workmanlike musical presentation of the HRT. However, I *did* hear the Mimby, so the HRT will be retired.

I next slid the Mimby into my main rig. This was a much more interesting comparison. I've had my Metrum Quad since 2011, so I was very familiar with it. The Mimby did have more detail than the Metrum, but it also seemed to present it more in your face than the Metrum. The tonal balance of the Mimby seems to be oriented more towards the upper midrange, whereas the Metrum was tad bit more towards the lower midrange. I felt that the Metrum gave a greater tonal range than the Mimby. The Metrum seemed to have more tone saturation and color - or maybe the tonal balance was just more appealing to me. The tonal range of the Mimby seemed a tiny bit squashed in comparison to the Metrum. Even though the soundstage for both DACs remained centered between the speakers, the Mimby seemed more expansive. In my head it was like there was a box between the speakers for the Metrum, but there was a bubble for the Mimby. I also noticed that the Mimby had a thicker, more solid sound than the Metrum. Both DACs had a good sense of musical flow, but the Metrum seemed looser with the music than the Mimby. I think the thickness of the sound with the Mimby made it seem slightly buttoned up in comparison. In artist terms, the Mimby was like the precision and detail of Dali and the musical flow was built from hearing each and every instrument working together in unison. The Metrum was more like maybe the impressionistic pastels of Degas where the musical flow was not built, but just came about with the instruments playing as whole and in the moment. I thought the Metrum presented voices with a more human touch making them seem more real to me. The Mimby voices were maybe not more human sounding, but it gave each voice such an individualized treatment making them sound very unique. With voices that I thought I was familiar with, there was a newer fresher take on the singing.



Anyway, those are my impressions, however amorphous or unintelligible my descriptions may have been. Bottom line is that I could live *very* happily with either DAC - they are both equally great, just different presentations. I am glad I have both. Although I think the Mimby is a no brainer buy for 250 bucks, just remember that the DAC is only a part of your total system and it is the DACs synergy with your entire playback chain that will make all the difference in whether it floats your boat or not.

I agree, a DAC is only part of the final equation.

 

[boblauer]

fter reading thru the majority of posts in this thread, I ordered a Mimby - and I don't know why. Forums are evil I had cobbled together a modest desktop system consisting of a Win10 PC with an i7 CPU, dual mirrored SSDs and no video or sound cards - everything comes from the motherboard. This feeds an HRT Music Streamer DAC (the original from 1996 that only does 16/44.1) and then onto a Rega Brio-R. I have a Magni3 for the Meze 99 Classics headphones and a pair of Orb Audio speaker balls for speaker listening with the Brio. So far, this sounds pretty damn good to my ears with headphones producing the better sound, but if the Mimby makes it even better, I will be a really happy camper. My main system uses a Squeezebox Touch feeding a Metrum Quad DAC, so I am no stranger to multibit (but I am kinda curious about NOS vs OS). The rest of the system is my LP12 and a Croft Phono integrated amp feeding Harbeth P3ESRs. I thought it would be interesting comparing the Mimby to both of these DACs. Luckily, the Mimby has both USB and SPDIF inputs, so that should make it easier.

So I got the Mimby a couple of days ago. Out of the box it sounded hard and thin, kinda like a skeleton. The music was also kind of non-cohesive - maybe due to the amount of detail it got distracting, things seemed to start and stop at the wrong time. I checked in every now and then for a minute or two and saw that it was starting to fill out, getting some meat on the bones. I turned it on yesterday at noon when I came home for lunch and at 9pm, I did some longer term listening. It was sounding rather good by now. The tonality had improved and the soundstage had filled in. I see what people mean by the amount of clarity it has. The HRT Music Streamer is not a bad DAC at all, but the Mimby did a lot more stuff better than the HRT. Soundstage was more filled in and the amount of detail far greater. On some recordings you can hear a very indiviualized intepretation of the the music - very tasty. The HRT is more homogenized, kinda generic, in that respect. However, had I not heard the Mimby, I would have been satisfied with the more workmanlike musical presentation of the HRT. However, I *did* hear the Mimby, so the HRT will be retired.

I next slid the Mimby into my main rig. This was a much more interesting comparison. I've had my Metrum Quad since 2011, so I was very familiar with it. The Mimby did have more detail than the Metrum, but it also seemed to present it more in your face than the Metrum. The tonal balance of the Mimby seems to be oriented more towards the upper midrange, whereas the Metrum was tad bit more towards the lower midrange. I felt that the Metrum gave a greater tonal range than the Mimby. The Metrum seemed to have more tone saturation and color - or maybe the tonal balance was just more appealing to me. The tonal range of the Mimby seemed a tiny bit squashed in comparison to the Metrum. Even though the soundstage for both DACs remained centered between the speakers, the Mimby seemed more expansive. In my head it was like there was a box between the speakers for the Metrum, but there was a bubble for the Mimby. I also noticed that the Mimby had a thicker, more solid sound than the Metrum. Both DACs had a good sense of musical flow, but the Metrum seemed looser with the music than the Mimby. I think the thickness of the sound with the Mimby made it seem slightly buttoned up in comparison. In artist terms, the Mimby was like the precision and detail of Dali and the musical flow was built from hearing each and every instrument working together in unison. The Metrum was more like maybe the impressionistic pastels of Degas where the musical flow was not built, but just came about with the instruments playing as whole and in the moment. I thought the Metrum presented voices with a more human touch making them seem more real to me. The Mimby voices were maybe not more human sounding, but it gave each voice such an individualized treatment making them sound very unique. With voices that I thought I was familiar with, there was a newer fresher take on the singing.

Anyway, those are my impressions, however amorphous or unintelligible my descriptions may have been. Bottom line is that I could live *very* happily with either DAC - they are both equally great, just different presentations. I am glad I have both. Although I think the Mimby is a no brainer buy for 250 bucks, just remember that the DAC is only a part of your total system and it is the DACs synergy with your entire playback chain that will make all the difference in whether it floats your boat or not.

May I ask are You using the Mimby via sub on your desktop rig and if so your impressions of the sub implementation? That's the only question mark that's holding me back from this purchase. It would replace my iF I nano dad I'm using as my dad.

 

[limelake]

Any one here tried a HDMI to Coax converter ? I have been looking at a Monoprice Converter. What I am looking to do specifically is...My Oppo universal player will output SACD's to PCM 88.2 24bit over HDMI, and I would like to listen to them with other than the built dac over rca. I would prefer to just use my Schiit DACs (mimby & bimby) rather then running another set of cords just for my SACD's (which some of sound great). Please no DSD or SACD vs PCM debates here, I just have some great music that is on SACD's>

 

[gvl2016]

Won't the Oppo send SACD as PCM to optical/coax as well?

 

[limelake]

Won't the Oppo send SACD as PCM to optical/coax as well?

I thought it would. I can't get anything even changing settings to sacd>pcm, hdmi off, etc.

 

[gvl2016]

Interesting, I'm curious if this is due to copy protection and if it means you can't strip PCM from HDMI as well as its encrypted , well, at least with legit devices.

 

[mcole]

May I ask are You using the Mimby via sub on your desktop rig and if so your impressions of the sub implementation? That's the only question mark that's holding me back from this purchase. It would replace my iF I nano dad I'm using as my dad.

Sorry, I am not using a sub on my desktop rig. I am using one on my main rig and I did not hear any problems.

 

[limelake]

Interesting, I'm curious if this is due to copy protection and if it means you can't strip PCM from HDMI as well as its encrypted , well, at least with legit devices.

Ahh...i just read my manual more thoroughly and I will put pcm into hdmi not optical or coax. So I do need a stripper. Any recommendations ?

 

[gvl2016]

Ahh...i just read my manual more thoroughly and I will put pcm into hdmi not optical or coax. So I do need a stripper. Any recommendations ?

There is a link in this post which is said to work: https://forum.psaudio.com/t/getting-oppo-dsd-output-to-the-direct-stream-dac/2744/51

What's more interesting 2 posts down in that discussion there is a report of a board that can strip DSD from HDMI out to SPDIF/DoP . If it can do DSD it can probably do PCM as well.

 

[Metrops]

So I've had my Modi Multibit for about a year now, however I'm thinking of getting the BiFrost, I'm using the Valhalla 2 and HD 800S, the smaller Modi Multi size annoys me as I want to stack them and I'm wondering how much difference in terms of sound is between them and if it's worth an extra £350, I know this has been said many times, however what are your opinions on it?