[PatrickT]

Apologies for the potentially dumb question, but I'm a bit confused.
 
iPhone 5 --> Lightning to USB adapter --> Schiit Modi --> Schiit Valhalla 
 
Does the Modi act as the DAC in this setup? Or is there a DAC in the Lightning to USB adapter? I've been hearing potentially conflicting information.
 
Does it make more sense to just do this? iPhone 5 --> PC --> Modi
 
Thanks!

 

[PatrickT]

Anyone?

 

[imzjnzjn]

The iphone+ lightning connector with dac is so waste your money and the sound not better than the classic setup,i think that. I advise you to take the iphone with portable amp, pc - modi - valhalla.
Ps i need to buy modi dac in us, plssl pm me if you have. Thank you.

 

[spykez]

The Modi is a DAC only, so you're going to need an amp after it to make it usefull.
 
Your thought on a setup is quite a mess haha.
 
Your phone is the source (your DAC), in othe words, your phone is doing what the Modi (DAC) is doing. Ending your chain in the Modi doesn't get you anywhere as it's not an amp. You'll need to end it in either Active speakers or an amp of some sort.
 
So it would be your Phone's headphone out with a spitter to get your L/R signals then input that into the back of your Schiit Valhalla.
 
In order for your Modi to work as a source on your phone you'd need drivers for your phone to recognize an external usb sound card and it just doesn't work like that
 
Your phone will only have a "decent" DAC though, if you're going to get into serious audio I would look into something like a FiiO or an iBasso digital audio player. They both offer ones around 200
 

  Apologies for the potentially dumb question, but I'm a bit confused.
 
iPhone 5 --> Lightning to USB adapter --> Schiit Modi --> Schiit Valhalla 
 
Does the Modi act as the DAC in this setup? Or is there a DAC in the Lightning to USB adapter? I've been hearing potentially conflicting information.
 
Does it make more sense to just do this? iPhone 5 --> PC --> Modi
 
Thanks!

 

[haywood]

  In order for your Modi to work as a source on your phone you'd need drivers for your phone to recognize an external usb sound card and it just doesn't work like that

 
It does work like that actually. More or less. You need the Apple Camera Connection Kit (a $40ish dongle terminated in a female usb socket) and then IIRC a male USB type a -> male USB type b cable to go into your DAC. Or possibly a powered hub also connected to your DAC because of power draw restrictions. I'm not sure why exactly the CCK is needed rather than a straight cable, probably so they could save a few cents per unit, c'est la vie.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
iPhone 5 --> Lightning to USB adapter --> Schiit Modi --> Schiit Valhalla 
 
Does the Modi act as the DAC in this setup? Or is there a DAC in the Lightning to USB adapter? I've been hearing potentially conflicting information.

 
The Modi is a Digital to Analogue Converter. If that set-up was using a Digital to Analogue Converter in the USB adapter, then what Digital signal is still going into the Modi to be Converted into Analogue?
 
Besides, the analogue signal isn't going to come out of a USB port - it will come out of a 3.5mm aux port. Isn't it the dock that has a DAC chip inline within the wiring? The problem with that set-up is that as much as some designs would omit the analogue output stage after the DAC to prevent a badly designed analogue stage from coloring the sound, it's not a simple matter of just removing it entirely especially when the DAC chip is just in the wiring.
 

 
Does it make more sense to just do this? iPhone 5 --> PC --> Modi

 
It makes less sense - why would you have two sources? Why run a digital signal from the smartphone through a PC when either of them can just feed the signal into the DAC? Well, make sure the iPhone can - I think the Modi 2 with the external power supply can do that, but I'm not sure if that's just the Uber or also the base Modi2. 

 

[haywood]

   
The Modi is a Digital to Analogue Converter. If that set-up was using a Digital to Analogue Converter in the USB adapter, then what Digital signal is still going into the Modi to be Converted into Analogue?
 

 
I don't get the disconnect here, the signal is digital the entire path from the lightning port to the Modi with no conversion happening prior to that. It's unfortunate that a dongle is required but it's from one digital connector to another.
 
Maybe it'd help if I posted a picture of the adaptor, that's a female usb port on the other end:
 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

   
I don't get the disconnect here, the signal is digital the entire path from the lightning port to the Modi with no conversion happening prior to that. It's unfortunate that a dongle is required but it's from one digital connector to another.

 

Don't just read my post, read what I quoted and was replying to (this is like the nth time this happened and I just have to repeat myself) - he was asking what about the DAC in the Lightning adapter. Whether or not there is one in it, why would Analogue audio Converted from Digital leave that adapter through the USB port which is the only one on the other end of that adapter and go into another Digital to Analogue Converter? My point precisely was what you posted - that it will send a digital signal into the Modi.

 

[Behemoth27]

Just use the PC for simplicity. That way you know where the conversion is occurring.

 

[haywood]

   

Don't just read my post, read what I quoted and was replying to (this is like the nth time this happened and I just have to repeat myself) - he was asking what about the DAC in the Lightning adapter. Whether or not there is one in it, why would Analogue audio Converted from Digital leave that adapter through the USB port which is the only one on the other end of that adapter and go into another Digital to Analogue Converter? My point precisely was what you posted - that it will send a digital signal into the Modi.

Sorry, my bad.
 
A computer is of course a better source than a phone as far as storage for lossless files but the point is you can use either and depending on your computer you might not want to deal with the heat and noise.