[alpovs]

I'd recommend something along the lines of a $95 Shunyata Venom 14 power cord (no affiliation) for your DAC. You will be very pleasantly suprised at the improvement it will bring. I was skeptical but bought two Shunyata Copperhead PCs on sale for the price of one and did a controlled experiment some years back and was "gobsmacked" at the improvement. I then did a demo experiment for an audio buddy who was as very skeptical, and his mouth literally dropped open at the improvement from installing *one* power cord.

Here's an example: Here's an AC probe showing electromagnetic radiation (aka "noise") leaking out from a HD TV power cord with the TV turned OFF. All this radiation is picked up by the red thin speaker wire (which literally acts like an antenna) you see to the right and can be fed back into the AVR amplifier as noise, adding grunge and hash to the sound presentation.

Here is a Shunyata power cord driving a Conrad-Johnson tube power amp pulling major current driving loudspeakers to a fairly loud volume: no leakage of AC EM radiation whatsoever. There's no noise in the form of RF and EM radiation leaking out of this cord, nor is there any getting into it while pulling current.

OMG, you should have held the probe next to the speaker wire in the first picture and see if it picked up the "noise". What are you going to do about the unshielded wiring in your house, your neighbors' houses, street wires? You can't replace them all with Shunyata cords and they all emit "noise" that can be picked up by your speaker wire. Wouldn't it be better to replace the speaker wires by shielded cables?

 

[Puma Cat]

OMG, you should have held the probe next to the speaker wire in the first picture and see if it picked up the "noise". What are you going to do about the unshielded wiring in your house, your neighbors' houses, street wires? You can't replace them all with Shunyata cords and they all emit "noise" that can be picked up by your speaker wire. Wouldn't it be better to replace the speaker wires by shielded cables?

Sure, but those are the speaker cables for the home theatre, and I don't really care in that application. The TV and Oppo do have a Shunyata Venom cable powering them, though, as does the sub, and all are plugged into a Shunyata Hydra 8 distributor. Plus, regarding all the other wiring, the inverse square law helps out there.

 

[Brooko]

[Moderator comment]
I got a couple of flags regarding all of the off topic derailment in terms of cable discussion. The topic of the thread is:
Schiit Eitr impression and USB-SPDIF converters discussion

For those wanting to talk specifically about the merits of cable - can you please start your own thread, and take future discussion elsewhere.

Thanks

 

[jodokus]

Hi guys, question for the Eitr owners. My setup is the following: HTPC (Jriver 23 with Fidelizer Pro) with a JCat usb card (powered by an external linear supply) and some Elfidelity filters (sata, pcie). My Yellowtec PUC2 converter is connected to the JCat card and leads (silver usb cable) to my Audio-gd DAC1.38 dac (build in Amanero Combo384 which is too mellow sounding for my taste). Finally it delivers the signal via XLR to my Mimetism 15.2 amp. Do you think the Schiit Eitr (or Singxer SU-1) will be a step up from the Yellowtec PUC2 in this situation? Hope to hear from you, would be great!

 

[jseymour]

Hi guys, question for the Eitr owners. My setup is the following: HTPC (Jriver 23 with Fidelizer Pro) with a JCat usb card (powered by an external linear supply) and some Elfidelity filters (sata, pcie). My Yellowtec PUC2 converter is connected to the JCat card and leads (silver usb cable) to my Audio-gd DAC1.38 dac (build in Amanero Combo384 which is too mellow sounding for my taste). Finally it delivers the signal via XLR to my Mimetism 15.2 amp. Do you think the Schiit Eitr (or Singxer SU-1) will be a step up from the Yellowtec PUC2 in this situation? Hope to hear from you, would be great![/QUOT

I upgraded from the Yellowtec PUC2 to the Eitr and the Eitr is better. Better immediately, but even better after a couple of days of break in. Like my Yggy and Vidars, it is always on.

 

[Dalgas]

I have upgraded from Yellowtec PUC2 lite to Gen 5 (in my Gumby). The Gen 5 (Eitr) is a much better match in my system. The stereoimage is about the same as Yellowtec. But Yellowtec is not as resolved as Gen 5. The bass is more detailed, fast and deep on Gen 5.

Sold my Yellowtec - which paid for the upgrade

 

[jodokus]

Good to hear, thank you for responding! Is the Schiit ASIO driver working properly in JRiver? And would you describe the Eitr as warmer or cooler sounding than the PUC2?

 

[Dalgas]

I am using foobar2000 so wouldn´t know about JRiver. I did have to use the alternative driver though. The Eitr/Gen 5 is a bit warmer sounding than the PUC2 and quite a bit more resolved (kind on the ears)

 

[Dalgas]

Anyone using Sonore MicroRendu or SOtM sMS-200 in combination with Eitr/Gen. 5?

I have just borrowed a MicroRendu from a friend - but it sounds awful. Well perhaps not awful - a lot has improved, but mids are suddenly very Cold and hard. Not so when I play directly from my labtop to my dac (a two year old Gumby with Gen. 5). But I Only has 20 hours or so on the Gen. 5 - can that be my problem?

 

[Puma Cat]

Anyone using Sonore MicroRendu or SOtM sMS-200 in combination with Eitr/Gen. 5?

I have just borrowed a MicroRendu from a friend - but it sounds awful. Well perhaps not awful - a lot has improved, but mids are suddenly very Cold and hard. Not so when I play directly from my labtop to my dac (a two year old Gumby with Gen. 5). But I Only has 20 hours or so on the Gen. 5 - can that be my problem?

Yes, quite likely. Might need 60-70 hours.

 

[Dalgas]

Thanks Puma Cat!

That is probably the case. I tested again with my labtop and the same "harshness" is there but it is less pronounced. The Mrendu is very revealing.

Will give the Gen. 5 some more time to burn in - and report back my findings

 

[Puma Cat]

Thanks Puma Cat!

That is probably the case. I tested again with my labtop and the same "harshness" is there but it is less pronounced. The Mrendu is very revealing.

Will give the Gen. 5 some more time to burn in - and report back my findings

Yes, the mR is very revealing. The other thing you want to do is the give microRendu some time to burn in, too. When I got my version 1.4 hardware upgrade back it took 3-4 days to fully come "on song". It's absolutely not harsh, bright, edgy, or glare-y, though. I'm running mine on a pretty high-end Conrad Johnson all tube loudspeaker system, and the mR sounds sweet, musical and gorgeous. Very natural and analog-sounding.

 

[wilflare]

finally got my Eitr today to go along with my Mimby and Magni3.
for those with a similar stack, do you guys stack the Eitr at the bottom or inbetween? (for consistency due to the different stands being used)

now to get a good RCA/coax cable to go along (are most getting from Blue Jeans or Ghentaudio)?

 

[RickB]

finally got my Eitr today to go along with my Mimby and Magni3.
for those with a similar stack, do you guys stack the Eitr at the bottom or inbetween? (for consistency due to the different stands being used)

now to get a good RCA/coax cable to go along (are most getting from Blue Jeans or Ghentaudio)?

I have my Eitr on the bottom, Mimby in the middle and Magni 3 on top.

 

[wilflare]

I have my Eitr on the bottom, Mimby in the middle and Magni 3 on top.

do you notice that the gap between the Eitr and Mimby is more than the Mimby and Magni? don't think it makes a difference but I guess it's (OCD) of sorts :/