After researching and reading and watching a lot of reviews, I visited the Schiiter this morning and had the chance to try out the Modi 3, Modi 3 Multibit, Magni 3 and Vali 2 stacks and compare them to the Fulla 2 using my new Grado GW100s in wired mode. I first tried using the SurfacePads with the beta streaming Euro service but it took awhile to navigate and get some songs on both stacks that were the same so I could compare and contrast each stack. I wound up using The Beatles Norwegian Wood, Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser from the streaming service, and finally, from my own MacBook Pro, about five of my recordings of my son’s Jazz drum kit conservatory audition videos recorded in stereo HD. He’s a Jazz Drumkit performance major at CalPoly SLO, so I know these really well and the audio is uncompressed MOV 16bit/192.
The first stack I setup was the Modi 3 and Magni 3 and I was super impressed. It was really a lot better than the Fulla 2. Full and very bright and airy with the Grado GW100s. But then I setup the Modi 3 Multibit and Vali 2 and was shocked at how different it really sounded. Even with the same headphones, same recordings, and same volume levels, it was like I was listening to color TV instead of black and white. Especially on the Jazz audition videos, I could not believe what I was hearing. I could actually hear the slide and finger work on the standup bass, the actual percussion of the fingers on the piano, and the distinctly different techniques of my son’s sticks in the different pieces. It was like I was live in our garage, not listening to a video recording. These are well recorded stereo recordings in 16/192 and uncompressed. I could place the piano, bass and drums from left to right in the stereo field. I never could hear that before in these recordings, but now they just popped out. It’s a very different experience.
After about 35 minutes of listening back and forth, I was sold. I purchased the Modi 3 Multibit and Vali 2 combo with some patch cables.
I do have some comments on the Schiiter and demo room. First, the layout is really nice and I love that they had each station setup in the most appropriate way. However, the SurfacePads are not the most user friendly or stable devices. Each time they are started up, you have to fiddle with the audio source, at least in the beta steaming software for the Euro service they are working on.
Second, the idea of using the streaming service with HD versions of songs is really great! But there were problems playing back some of the songs and the switching from one song to another was pretty slow. The service or the app crashed multiple times. I had much better results using my own MacBook Pro connected to the demo station equipment. And also I was more familiar with what I thought to be the quality and source material. That helped a LOT during the back and forth between the two stacks.
Third, the coffee was pretty good. I have a Jura E9, which is very similar to the machine in the Schiiter. I usually have a medium roast but the dark roast they provided is tasty too! I took mine for the road.
Fourth, the folks were really helpful and friendly and they did their best to answer a lot of questions and did not try to sell me anything. That is a great user experience when trying to figure out if and what to buy.
So far, a great product and well worth the effort to learn about the systems. Next up, learning about tubes-- there are several good threads here so I will be busy for awhile, and listening to the music.