Schiit Gungnir DAC

[Zyklonius]

I am contemplating upgrading my delta-sigma Gungnir to multibit, but was wondering whether it would make that big of a difference and be advisable since I mainly listen to extreme metal (black, death, doom, grind, crust) which comes with idiosyncrasies such as oft-brickwalled production and low dynamic range (that said, I do prefer well-produced metal and try to avoid albums with lo-fi production)?
 
I imagine the benefits of multibit reported here are genre-wise universal in nature and would thus improve the listening experience also with the aural chaos and distortion associated with metal, with extra clarity, detail, realism etc without diminishing the in-your-face factor of the genre or exacerbating the poor production.
 
Apart from DSG, other links in the chain are Burson Soloist (most likely to be replaced by Mjolnir 2) and Audeze LCD-2F (with Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable).

 

[DWbirdseye]

Just placed my order for the Gungnir Multi Bit to complement my Mjolnir hybrid. MJ is fully burned in so all sonic improvements will be attributed to the Gungnir -super pumped!

 

[US Blues]

  I imagine the benefits of multibit reported here are genre-wise universal in nature and would thus improve the listening experience also with the aural chaos and distortion associated with metal, with extra clarity, detail, realism etc without diminishing the in-your-face factor of the genre or exacerbating the poor production.
 

 
Your imagining of the benefits is accurate. Your music will sound better in every way, and it will not lose it's essence.

 

[RCBinTN]

Speaking from experience, when I upgraded my Gungnir to the MB technology, it was like purchasing a totally new DAC.  The SQ is vastly improved.  That upgrade cost me $500 plus shipping.  It was done in a week.  A bargain.
 
All my music sounds better.  My source is MacPro - JRMC21 - optical - GMB.  Much of my music is 16/44.1 FLAC or ALAC - it sounds great. Some of my music is 24/96 or higher - sounds simply exceptional.
 
I do not have experience with the SQ improvement when upgrading from the Bifrost to the Bimby, but have read on Head-Fi (there's a thread for it), I would expect the SQ improvement to be similar to what I've heard with my Gungnir.
 
The biggest difference in the two DAC's is that the GMB has balanced capability.  Again, I'm not sure that makes a big difference in SQ either.
 
Hope this helps -
RCB

 

[RCBinTN]

  I am contemplating upgrading my delta-sigma Gungnir to multibit, but was wondering whether it would make that big of a difference and be advisable since I mainly listen to extreme metal (black, death, doom, grind, crust) which comes with idiosyncrasies such as oft-brickwalled production and low dynamic range (that said, I do prefer well-produced metal and try to avoid albums with lo-fi production)?
 
I imagine the benefits of multibit reported here are genre-wise universal in nature and would thus improve the listening experience also with the aural chaos and distortion associated with metal, with extra clarity, detail, realism etc without diminishing the in-your-face factor of the genre or exacerbating the poor production.
 
Apart from DSG, other links in the chain are Burson Soloist (most likely to be replaced by Mjolnir 2) and Audeze LCD-2F (with Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable).

 
I'm not familiar with extreme metal, but if you suggest some links I will test it out and send back impressions...
My rig is GMB - Bryston BHA-1 - LCD-X or HD800.
I would be interested in how death metal sounds on the HD800 .

 

[RCBinTN]

  I am contemplating upgrading my delta-sigma Gungnir to multibit, but was wondering whether it would make that big of a difference and be advisable since I mainly listen to extreme metal (black, death, doom, grind, crust) which comes with idiosyncrasies such as oft-brickwalled production and low dynamic range (that said, I do prefer well-produced metal and try to avoid albums with lo-fi production)?
 
I imagine the benefits of multibit reported here are genre-wise universal in nature and would thus improve the listening experience also with the aural chaos and distortion associated with metal, with extra clarity, detail, realism etc without diminishing the in-your-face factor of the genre or exacerbating the poor production.
 
Apart from DSG, other links in the chain are Burson Soloist (most likely to be replaced by Mjolnir 2) and Audeze LCD-2F (with Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable).

 
Hello - I'm not familiar with the music, but if you send a link or two I will gladly evaluate it, and send my impressions -
Rig:  MacPro - optical - GMB - Bryston BHA-1 - LCD-X or HD800.  You can choose which headphones I use.
 
I'm interested to hear some extreme metal death, doom, or crust, with which I have no experience.  I'm open to all new music genre.  My guess (?) is the music will sound Great with the Gungnir MB DAC.
 
Thanks -
RCB

 

[disastermouse]

Hello - I'm not familiar with the music, but if you send a link or two I will gladly evaluate it, and send my impressions -
Rig:  MacPro - optical - GMB - Bryston BHA-1 - LCD-X or HD800.  You can choose which headphones I use.

I'm interested to hear some extreme metal death, doom, or crust, with which I have no experience.  I'm open to all new music genre.  My guess (?) is the music will sound Great with the Gungnir MB DAC.

Thanks -
RCB

Please do not listen to death metal with HD800s. I'm trying to prevent pain here. Please.

 

[Deftone]

  I am contemplating upgrading my delta-sigma Gungnir to multibit, but was wondering whether it would make that big of a difference and be advisable since I mainly listen to extreme metal (black, death, doom, grind, crust) which comes with idiosyncrasies such as oft-brickwalled production and low dynamic range (that said, I do prefer well-produced metal and try to avoid albums with lo-fi production)?

 
its a hard one for us metal heads, the drums are going that fast and the guitars are so fuzzy and distorted and then add the dynamic range compression and clipping.
 
my system only sounds average to great when im listening to metal (thrash,heavy,black,death) but if listen non metal, acoustic, live recorded or goups with small amount of instruments you can really hear the space, clarity, decay and timbre. its excellent.
 
there are exceptions though. i have 2 of opeths albums that i downmixed from 5.1 and the dynamic range meter clocks them in at 11/12 instead of the original 4/5 and they sound amazing. sadly 87% of my whole library is dynamicly crippled and dont come any where near their sound.
 
so i do i think its worth it? imho not really not for us. but the guys who like classical and jazz i envy you it must be a treat.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Please do not listen to death metal with HD800s. I'm trying to prevent pain here. Please.

 
 
#audeze

 

[Zyklonius]

   
Hello - I'm not familiar with the music, but if you send a link or two I will gladly evaluate it, and send my impressions -
Rig:  MacPro - optical - GMB - Bryston BHA-1 - LCD-X or HD800.  You can choose which headphones I use.
 
I'm interested to hear some extreme metal death, doom, or crust, with which I have no experience.  I'm open to all new music genre.  My guess (?) is the music will sound Great with the Gungnir MB DAC.
 
Thanks -
RCB

 
Sweet, I'll PM you some links of gateway bands and well-produced albums.
 
If you are curious to learn more, there's a vibrant thread discussing the actual music (http://www.head-fi.org/t/397407/lets-talk-metal) as well as headphones best suited for metal and its myriad sub-genres (http://www.head-fi.org/t/715478/headphones-for-metal-music-ultimate-solution).
 
 

   
its a hard one for us metal heads, the drums are going that fast and the guitars are so fuzzy and distorted and then add the dynamic range compression and clipping.
 
my system only sounds average to great when im listening to metal (thrash,heavy,black,death) but if listen non metal, acoustic, live recorded or goups with small amount of instruments you can really hear the space, clarity, decay and timbre. its excellent.
 
there are exceptions though. i have 2 of opeths albums that i downmixed from 5.1 and the dynamic range meter clocks them in at 11/12 instead of the original 4/5 and they sound amazing. sadly 87% of my whole library is dynamicly crippled and dont come any where near their sound.
 
so i do i think its worth it? imho not really not for us. but the guys who like classical and jazz i envy you it must be a treat.

 
Thanks, good to know. Indeed, the low dynamic range and insane brickwalling prevalent in metal is somewhat frustrating, but on the other hand, I've noticed that good production (e.g. clear instrument separation and sense of space despite heavily distorted strings and overall density) can salvage a lot despite low DR. I have some records with DR5-6 that sound absolutely fantastic from the point of view of musicality. And the other way round: some of the early 90s black metal is ridiculously lo-fi and sounds like it was recorded in a tin can but can nonetheless have DR10+.

 

[RCBinTN]

   
Sweet, I'll PM you some links of gateway bands and well-produced albums.
 
If you are curious to learn more, there's a vibrant thread discussing the actual music (http://www.head-fi.org/t/397407/lets-talk-metal) as well as headphones best suited for metal and its myriad sub-genres (http://www.head-fi.org/t/715478/headphones-for-metal-music-ultimate-solution).
 
 
 
Thanks, good to know. Indeed, the low dynamic range and insane brickwalling prevalent in metal is somewhat frustrating, but on the other hand, I've noticed that good production (e.g. clear instrument separation and sense of space despite heavily distorted strings and overall density) can salvage a lot despite low DR. I have some records with DR5-6 that sound absolutely fantastic from the point of view of musicality. And the other way round: some of the early 90s black metal is ridiculously lo-fi and sounds like it was recorded in a tin can but can nonetheless have DR10+.

 
Thanks, please do send the links, because even if I don't care for the genre my grandkids likely will LOL.
Just a thought but I believe the LCD-X can handle any genre of music - seems like this might be a good test of that statement!
 
Cheers -
RCB

 

[joeexp]

Hey guys -  My Gumby is playing up! For some reason - since yesterday - it doesn't play  files with 48Khz, 96Khz and 192Khz sample rates any longer.
Any other sample rate like 44.1, 88.2 and 176.3 is playing nicely. I have tried this with my iMac and MacBook Pro - same result.
Needless to say that this situation is annoying the Schiit out of me.
 
I have already contacted the Schiit Customer Service but they only suggested rebooting both Computer and the Gumby thus far.
Is there a way to completely resetting the Gumby??
 
Any other helpful suggestions are welcome!
 
Thank you ...
 
PS: Mac OSX El Capitan, Audirvana, Amarra > USB > Gumby

 

[NA Blur]

Try another USB port of you are using USB. I think older USB ports do not support higher bit rate files.
Also go into your sound manager, if you use one like the Realtek manager, and play around with the bit depths and bit rates. See if that helps.

 

[DougD]

  Hey guys -  My Gumby is playing up! For some reason - since yesterday - it doesn't play  files with 48Khz, 96Khz and 192Khz sample rates any longer.
Any other sample rate like 44.1, 88.2 and 176.3 is playing nicely. I have tried this with my iMac and MacBook Pro - same result.
Needless to say that this situation is annoying the Schiit out of me.
 
<< snip snip >>

 
I was getting some gawd-awful stuff out of my Bimby the other day. I was bouncing around, sampling a lot of stuff for a minute or two, and suddenly it was sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. if I cycled through the sources a few times, the Bimby would (eventually) get its groove back, so to speak. Very puzzling, had not encountered anything like it before, in the few months I've had the Bifrost MB. 
 
After a while, I realized this was being triggered whenever the "new [play immediately] tune" had a different sample rate than the previous tune. JRiver was doing a "smooth blend" transition ... which I think is its default. I changed the JRMC settings to force a 0.4 sec gap between songs, and that cured the problem for me. 
 
This may or may not have any bearing on your particular problem, of course. Good luck!

 

[RCBinTN]

   
I was getting some gawd-awful stuff out of my Bimby the other day. I was bouncing around, sampling a lot of stuff for a minute or two, and suddenly it was sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. if I cycled through the sources a few times, the Bimby would (eventually) get its groove back, so to speak. Very puzzling, had not encountered anything like it before, in the few months I've had the Bifros MB. 
 
After a while, I realized this was being triggered whenever the "new [play immediately] tune" had a different sample rate than the previous tune. JRiver was doing a "smooth blend" transition ... which I think is its default. I changed the JRMC settings to force a 0.4 sec gap between songs, and that cured the problem for me. 
 
This may or may not have any bearing on your particular problem, of course. Good luck!

 
Yeah, I've had some goofy moments with my GMB as well.  It usually happened when the computer was changing files to a different bitrate and the GMB couldn't keep up and got lost.  I would just power down the devices and start back up - this solved the issues.  I had many more issues while running USB.  Since going to the optical I've had no issues.  FYI, RCBinTN.