[BS5711]

I wanted to provide an update on my latest interactions with NITSCH and @CEE TEE.

As I had indicated in a few posts last week, my Piety arrived DoA in the first week of December. It would turn on and emit sound; however, there was no white LED. An email to Christian was met with a quick response...like within the hour quick. After a few exchanges, including a brief video, we determined it was best to send it back to NITSCH for a repair. I paid for UPS ground shipping and dropped it off the next day.

I get a notification that the item was delivered to Christian on Monday, December 12. Christian sends me a follow up note same day indicating that the amp was received and repairs were made. On Monday evening (I am located on the east coast), I get a shipment notification that I will be expecting a package on Wednesday. Christian not only fixed the amp quickly...he shipped it back to me via 2-day shipping. Not what I was expecting at all but a very nice touch!

All in all, I could not have asked for a smoother RMA process. Hats off to Christian for being a top-notch guy and stepping in to help me out. Really starts NITSCH off on a good foot as a brand. Thanks, NITSCH!

edit: CT was kind enough to mod white LED to amber per my request. Going to spend the next couple of days burning in my new amp.

edit 2: Despite all the hype about the Modi Multibit 2, I definitely prefer the RME over my OG Bifrost 2 as a DAC pairing. I imagine a Modi 3+/3E/+ will work just as well with the Piety. Just my 2 cents.

Glad to read your thoughts on the Modi + being a good choice with all the fervor around the Multibit 2, I have a Modi + due here tomorrow.

My initial thoughts were that back and forth shipping and the cost and time involved was a lot of bother to have an LED but what the heck, if it matters to you fair enough, and as a bonus you get a one of a kind with an amber light, one out of only a small run overall ....... a collectors item.

 

[eswng679]

Glad to read your thoughts on the Modi + being a good choice with all the fervor around the Multibit 2, I have a Modi + due here tomorrow.

My initial thoughts were that back and forth shipping and the cost and time involved was a lot of bother to have an LED but what the heck, if it matters to you fair enough, and as a bonus you get a one of a kind with an amber light, one out of only a small run overall ....... a collectors item.

To be clear - it was not just an LED. Christian was the one who advised that something must have shorted and its better to replace the PCB to be safe. I had the same thoughts as you...a lot of work for just an LED. Objectively speaking, it is probably better to get everything addressed now and make sure all is working the way it should be...especially given the limited parts for this amp.

 

[Zer0.p0int.Zer0]

Glad to read your thoughts on the Modi + being a good choice with all the fervor around the Multibit 2, I have a Modi + due here tomorrow.

My initial thoughts were that back and forth shipping and the cost and time involved was a lot of bother to have an LED but what the heck, if it matters to you fair enough, and as a bonus you get a one of a kind with an amber light, one out of only a small run overall ....... a collectors item.

I think LED may serve an actual purpose beyond providing a nice ambient light if it is used for biasing the circuit

 

[BS5711]

To be clear - it was not just an LED. Christian was the one who advised that something must have shorted and its better to replace the PCB to be safe. I had the same thoughts as you...a lot of work for just an LED. Objectively speaking, it is probably better to get everything addressed now and make sure all is working the way it should be...especially given the limited parts for this amp.

Sounds eminently sensible, I assumed that it had been confirmed as just an LED out because it was a dud LED, if that was more likely the result of another problem that makes absolute sense.

I think LED may serve an actual purpose beyond providing a nice ambient light if it is used for biasing the circuit

Thank you, I don't know anything about the workings of amplifier circuitry, I am about to Google "biasing amplifier"

 

[eswng679]

Sounds eminently sensible, I assumed that it had been confirmed as just an LED out because it was a dud LED, if that was more likely the result of another problem that makes absolute sense.



Thank you, I don't know anything about the workings of amplifier circuitry, I am about to Google "biasing amplifier"

For us newbs, Christian's exact response was..."if there is no light, it means no one is home". I imagine @Zer0.p0int.Zer0 is on to something with the LED having something to do with the circuit bias.

 

[BS5711]

For us newbs, Christian's exact response was..."if there is no light, it means no one is home". I imagine @Zer0.p0int.Zer0 is on to something with the LED having something to do with the circuit bias.

I spent 5 minutes reading about biasing transistor amplification and was none the wiser so I gave up !

I am sure I would understand it if I went through it properly but I am happy to keep this hobby kind of straightforward and just enjoy what the gear does not concern myself with how it works at the more technical level.

I get that to many understanding the technicalities is important, I have done that with another hobby and being of an engineering background my default position is usually to immerse myself in the minutiae of things that interest me so in this hobby I am intentionally refraining from that !

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

Any DAC recommendations for the piety?

Im using with a Modi+ sounds great.

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

- Modi Multibit 2 Update -

Posted on Dec. 14

Postponed!

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

I wanted to provide an update on my latest interactions with NITSCH and @CEE TEE.

As I had indicated in a few posts last week, my Piety arrived DoA in the first week of December. It would turn on and emit sound; however, there was no white LED. An email to Christian was met with a quick response...like within the hour quick. After a few exchanges, including a brief video, we determined it probably a short in the board and it was best to send it back to NITSCH for a repair. I paid for UPS ground shipping and dropped it off the next day.

I get a notification that the item was delivered to Christian on Monday, December 12. Christian sends me a follow up note same day indicating that the amp was received and repairs were made. On Monday evening (I am located on the east coast), I get a shipment notification that I will be expecting a package on Wednesday. Christian not only fixed the amp quickly...he shipped it back to me via 2-day shipping. Not what I was expecting at all but a very nice touch!

All in all, I could not have asked for a smoother RMA process. Hats off to Christian for being a top-notch guy and stepping in to help me out. Really starts NITSCH off on a good foot as a brand. Thanks, NITSCH!

edit: CT was kind enough to tape mod the white LED to amber per my request. Going to spend the next couple of days burning in my new amp.

edit 2: Despite all the hype about the Modi Multibit 2, I definitely prefer the RME over my OG Bifrost 2 as a DAC pairing. I imagine a Modi 3+/3E/+ will work just as well with the Piety. Just my 2 cents.

Oh that orange led does look cool, touch of tube aesthetic to match the tube like sound.

Can you give more detail on why you prefer the RME with it compared to Bifrost?

 

[AstronomerXI]

I placed my Piety in my stack with my tubed Dilvpoetry DT-1 DAC (sold by the same parent company as Topping), new Freya N, and Lokius. The Freya and its tube stage add another factor of "wow" to the music - more on that in a moment. I tried both the Sundara and HD650 headphones and I still prefer the 650's with the Piety. The Sundaras are my preferred phones with the Asgard. The Dilvpoetry Dac has the capability to bypass the tubes, a pair of GE 5-star 5670's from the mid 1950's. The Freya currently has its stock tubes in place while I wait for a couple orders of NOS tubes to arrive, hopefully before or during my 2 weeks off over the holidays.

I listen to many genres of music with a heavy tilt towards live music and/or music played by humans. Electronica leaves me mostly cold. 2 of my go-to test pieces of music for tubes fall under the jam-band category: Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Ramada Inn" and The Allman Brothers Band "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" from Live at the Fillmore East (1971). Both songs clock in at 16+ and 13+ minutes respectively. I love the sound of the little MagPie. I originally had it connected to my iFi ZenDac 2 and Loki Mini+ stack and I loved the way rock and jazz sounded in it, much more so than in my Magni 3+ and even the Vali 2++. Connecting it to the the Freya and other bits in my other stack added even more richness to the sound, widened the sound stage in the 650's, and reduced the noted "3-blob" soundstage of the 650's to the point where it wasn't a thing that stood out. I don't have the audiophile language to describe the difference, but the mids and treble just sounded even better, the music more 3D. Live music sounded "live". Interestingly, with the Freya's stock tubes, the low end was there, but not as defined as I prefer. I had the first knob in the Lokius at about the 2:00 position, and the second one at 1:30. The 5th one was also at about 1:30. All others were at 12:00.Turning on the tube stage in the DAC brought the bass parts into focus very nicely. The Piety will stay in the Freya stack, and I'll alternate between it and the Asgard with a Sys.

I also listened to Miles Davis and John Coltrane's "'Trane's Blues". It sounded fantastic in this setup. I finished off with an eclectic playlist and the familiar music sounded very fresh. The Piety is a keeper for me.

I haven't tried the differential buffer mode with the Freya yet. I'm enjoying what the tubes do to the sound in both amps too much. I will give it a go with the Piety, though, just to compare.

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

Never heard of that Dilvpoetry DAC, makes me wish we had more affordable well designed tube DACs.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Go to YouTube and search on "Dilvpoetry DT-1". The reviews have been positive (there's a review on Head-fi as well), Z's review sealed it for me and I took a chance. It's a quirky-looking beast, and you can only turn the tube stage on or off with the remote - there's no corresponding button on the unit, and the tubes stay on regardless if they're engaged or not. It really is a great sounding little unit. It's a keeper.

 

[Baten]

I placed my Piety in my stack with my tubed Dilvpoetry DT-1 DAC (sold by the same parent company as Topping)

You mean Aoshida? They are just a big retailer.

 

[AstronomerXI]

You mean Aoshida? They are just a big retailer.

Yup, that’s the one. I honestly don’t know a lot about them. This DAC is branded with their name and has really good parts inside.

 

[BS5711]

My Modi + arrived today.

Temporarily set up with the Piety using my Fiio M11 Plus LTD providing streaming of Apple Music and Tidal to the Modi +.

It sounds as good to my ear as any of the previous DACs that I tried with the Piety including the DAC in the ifi Diablo that gets high praise in some circles.

HD600 with Forza Audio Works Claire cable, high gain, 10 o'clock, Bill Frisell "Unspeakable" album off Tidal, HD600 sound clean, precise and airy and from memory easily as good as on a Woo WA6 tube amp that I recently sold. The Piety isn't magic but the HD600 sound more open and wider than usual with better separation between individual sounds, less "3 Blob" than typical for HD600.

Very happy with my little Schiit/Nitsch budget set up and in my opinion I think the clean, well measuring nature of the Modi + complements the slightly coloured sound of the Piety very well. I believe you would have to be very fussy or looking for a very specific sound to not be happy with the Modi + into the Piety. I am pleased I didn't wait and spend more on the upcoming Modi Multibit 2.