[Ripper2860]

A reasonably priced True Mutilbit AQ Dragonfly alternative (USB powered) for cellphones could be considered bold!! I'd ditch my DAP and use my phone if they had one!!

Desktop DACs are a dime a dozen, but Schiit has managed to differentiate themselves in that space.

 

[tincanear]

A reasonably priced True Mutilbit AQ Dragonfly alternative (USB powered) for cellphones could be considered bold!! I'd ditch my DAP and use my phone if they had one!!

Desktop DACs are a dime a dozen, but Schiit has managed to differentiate themselves in that space.

Not all USB sources are equal. Just look at all the posts on this thread re Pi-based and dedicated internet or ethernet / wi-fi connected implementation and their associated problems. If you have the suitable USB-connection-kit for your cell phone, try connecting that via USB to your Bifrost 2 vs your PC server / Pi source and see if the cell phone is good enough to start with.

Multibit is a power-hungry solution (if you want high performance and low noise, and Schiit's comboburrito filter) and not suitable for cell-phone-powered USB. D/S dacs are better in that respect. development of custom mixed-signal low-power IC's to implement R2R DACs along with the digital filters would be in the $MM range.


@Jason Stoddard I would rather see the mega-combo-burrito (8X) filter feeding a D/S DAC (bypass D/S chips scaler) ...and make a module for Bifrost gen 1 owners, or a $499 Bifrost 2 D/S that bests Bifrost 2 Multibit

 

[Ripper2860]

Dream crusher. Next you'll be saying there's no Santa cause it's impossible to deliver so many packages around the world in one night. Well maybe, but Digital Santa is real and his name is Mike Moffat (aka @Baldr ) and he can work miracles!!

 

[GiullianSN]

How is that bold?
Those are well populated areas with well established products and plenty of copycats.

Exactly, a lot of copycats. No uniqueness. There are a lot of copycats on the range where Schiit plays, as mentioned many times here, even though the company has its own way o do things. Why not on the portable world?

 

[tincanear]

Dream crusher. Next you'll be saying there's no Santa cause it's impossible to deliver so many packages around the world in one night. Well maybe, but Digital Santa is real and his name is Mike Moffat (aka @Baldr ) and he can work miracles!!

just being realistic, sorry.

easy to wish list, harder to actually make stuff, even harder to make stuff that works

 

[Ripper2860]

IMHO, all great inventions started with an outlandish wish or a dream. Thankfully countless engineers, scientists, and inventors didn't let the fact that it is hard or seemingly impossible stop them!!

 

[ScubaMan2017]

This is a problem I've been having with a borrowed pair of Ether 2s in trying to define how they sound. Sometimes they seem excellent, better than other headphones, yet sometimes they don't. What I listen to first or second can really affect my impressions of them.

Re: perception burn-in. I’m all kitted out with different amplifiers (see my ridiculous image below). My first impression of my new Beyers was, yep, they’re comfortable to wear... they’re as airy sounding as my HD650-clones... but, meh... not a mind-blowing improvement.
And yet.
After several days of leaving them plugged into my Asgard 2 (powered on)... dammit. The ‘phones sounded different to me! What!?
My gut’s telling me I cooled down my expectations (instead of burn-in). And yes, enjoy the music. Pshhh... I still get excited plugging my cans into the different jacks (mid song) like a 20th Century switchboard operator.

{{{edit - my repurposed IKEA wine rack functions as a Schiit-Stacker... @Jason Stoddard ... sir, I’d still be interested in purpose-built furniture for 2020. Or, your company teams up with a local woodworker. My 2 cents...}}}}}

 

[ev666il]

Black Bifrost / Asgard 2 stack looks really good!

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Black Bifrost / Asgard 2 stack looks really good!

10-4, @ev666il I was initially waffling about the purchase (was I going to regret getting the BifrostMB instead of the saving up and buying a sexy GungnirMB mid-year?... was the Asgard 2 an anemic amp, compared to the A3?). Honestly, I re-read earlier posts (and Mr. Stoddard’s chapters) to gain perspective. The black stack does look good, eh.

 

[erics75]

I just want a statement OTL amp to compete with the Glenns, Decwares, Ampsandsounds, and Woos of the world....

 

[Odin412]

I just want a statement OTL amp to compete with the Glenns, Decwares, Ampsandsounds, and Woos of the world....

Now that would be a very interesting product indeed!

 

[G0rt]

And, on the subject of VU meters...

Fiddling about with my new Pi4 music server, added Peppymeter/peppyalsa so to have some. Currently one, synthetic mono, monitoring USB outputs from mpd.

I've never liked USB for anything, least of all audio (I've had to write, professionally, more than a little driver code, and I know how the sausage is made), but at least the Pi4's doesn't glitch with the slightest network load, since everybody and their grandmothers no longer share the same damned BUS.

Bifrost 4490 w/Gen5 is what's currently cabled, and it doesn't sound half bad, from a Valhalla 2.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

And, on the subject of VU meters...

Fiddling about with my new Pi4 music server, added Peppymeter/peppyalsa so to have some. Currently one, synthetic mono, monitoring USB outputs from mpd.

I've never liked USB for anything, least of all audio (I've had to write, professionally, more than a little driver code, and I know how the sausage is made), but at least the Pi4's doesn't glitch with the slightest network load, since everybody and their grandmothers no longer share the same damned BUS.

Bifrost 4490 w/Gen5 is what's currently cabled, and it doesn't sound half bad, from a Valhalla 2.

My brain knows I don't need analog VU meters in my listening nook... On anything. However,.... If it was, perhaps sold by a Schiit Associate? ... ... ...
I looked behind my DIY rack, and saw the following... Yep. Yep. Yep...

Not shown: on the floor, under the white cable tubes, is a hard-working Cthulhu floor wart chugging away.

 

[G0rt]

My brain knows I don't need analog VU meters in my listening nook... On anything. However,.... If it was, perhaps sold by a Schiit Associate? ... ... ...
I looked behind my DIY rack, and saw the following... Yep. Yep. Yep...

Not shown: on the floor, under the white cable tubes, is a hard-working Cthulhu floor wart chugging away.

If you've got hardware in place already, virtual VU meters, and virtual wiring is cheap and fun.

I'll be putting my Hifiberry S/PDIF hat on the Pi4 soon, and hook my virtual meter(s) to that stream.

What I IMAGINE having, is a virtual push button matrix on my touchscreen that lets me meter anything I want, but I will likely have to mod the peppyalsa plugin to get that done, since that's where the meter T's off, and the slave PCM appears singular, at least as I understand asound.conf, but ALSA may have applicable subtleties.

Buttons, switches, knobs, dials and lights are where IT is at for techy control freaks.

 

[scottbrown5271]

2019, Chapter 19
Lucky 13?

• `How do we up-size Loki Mini?

Jason,

It has been a few days since your latest (hopefully) annual report. Great stuff!!

The question about Loki didn't get many comments, so here goes: Loki Mini is clean and refined. Other than the convolutions of the physical filter, there is no distortion of the original waveform. This differs dramatically from pro audio where the various distortions of transformers, tubes, intentional dynamic changes, etc., are highly valued, and are a big part of what we have come to know as high quality recorded music. I think that an expanded Loki should continue with the least amount of distortion possible, but there are a couple of cues from the pro side that should be considered. A good pro channel strip will have three or four eq controls, usually constant q, variable frequency for the lows and highs (shelf or peak), and one or two fully sweepable (q and frequency) mid eqs. That would be a total of ten knobs and two switches on the front of the box for four eq channels. The added distortions mean that pro gear is probably not appropriate for listening, and $5k for a really good single channel eq is not out of the ordinary in the pro world. On the other hand, the pro eq gives you a LOT of control, whereas Loki Mini is optimized to give effects that sound good without a lot of fiddling. Maybe that is the way to differentiate the two products, new Loki, lots of control, Loki Mini, easy to use... Maybe I should stay away from marketing...

My big problem with Loki, et al, is this: Where do you put it in the chain? After a DAC and before a preamp? Between the preamp and a power amp? Is there a disadvantage to running Loki at less than full scale input? How do you deal with balanced versus single ended connections? The best place to put an effects processor is in an effects loop and to run the effects processor single ended, at least if you look at the way the pros work. I assure you that virtually all pro gear is single ended internally. I don't know how you deal with the fallout from people who want full differential circuitry, especially when you ask them to stick this atrocious single-ended circuit right in the middle of their chain of pristine differential equipment... You seem to be big on Heresy these days, maybe there is a way to explain this one away?? Maybe a full set of schematics for a Rupert Neve channel strip to prove the point that parts of our most beloved music probably ran through hundreds of opamps and bounced back and forth through as many transformers between se and balanced hundreds or thousands of times before it was mastered and released.