[grapefarmer]

[QUOTE tincanear said:

@Jason Stoddard how about a short rundown of the last Schiitr-meet (including the proto being auditioned) ?
="Jason Stoddard, post: 15479321, member: 153898"]
There's a whole chapter on blind listening coming next week.
[/QUOTE]

Jason -- Is there a synopsis or executive summary about the last Schiitr-meet? I did not see it in the last Chapter.

 

[r2muchstuff]

B Stock/Closeout list updated

 

[White Noise]

On the pro vs. hi-fi audio scenes, I think the difference in attitude comes from the intended use and audience. An audio pro is by definition probably changing the sound of whatever they're working on to some degree. So if something isn't 100% accurate, or doesn't sound good, or only works when you're in a certain mood, that's fine because you're there to change things anyways and we can choose to compensate for that or not. Like, if you're an engineer and you're designing an amp, you know about all the different tradeoffs and compromises you can make in the design, you don't get so hung up on what exactly every component is rated for and what factory it's coming out of.

Meanwhile, on the hi-fi side, people just want good music. But some of them don't know how to go about making it very much, it at all, and probably don't know it from the technical perspective that an audio pro does. So they want their system to come in in an acceptable range for what their music tastes are, and any deviation from that is a problem, because they may not have any other tools at their disposal to bring the output of their system in line with their desired output sound. And so rather than learning audio mixing and putting some processing in their system, they try and tune it with different products. It would be like me trying to build an amp, I would need step by step instructions for how to do everything right down to any soldering (and yeah, a full parts list too, preferably with links to the exact parts on mouser). And if I didn't like the end result, I'd need to find a different amp design because I don't know how to tweak this one.

So, to me, the attitude stems from being attached to some very expensive stuff that has to perform in an all or nothing kinda way. Not much in pro audio gets put under that kind of pressure.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Oh, and BTW, I now have that inane song, Manfred Mann's Blinded By The Light in my head. Thanks for that. ...

Funny how the mind works. I had my appendix removed in early summer 1977. "Blinded By The Light" was playing on the hospital radio in the recovery room as I was waking up. Whenever I hear the song my mind immediately goes back to that day.

 

[hearditontheX]

Interesting, relevant and very timely article here: https://audiophilereview.com/audiop...olution-audio-facts-fiction-and-findings.html

With the gd challenge info here: http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6713

Cheers

I signed up for this and downloaded files before realizing my source could not play to the required resolution. Perhaps a future Schiit transport could solve this issue for me.

 

[valiant66]

I thought of signing up for it too, but then remembered that my own personal brick wall is at 10 K. I can’t hear a damn thing above it and based on the curves he published there’s not much point in participating unless you can actually hear the frequencies they are talking about.

Beyond that, a transport won’t make any difference. These are all digital files,designed to be played from your laptop to some kind of a digital box. They are not designed to be burned to a CD and listened to.

 

[yonson]

B Stock/Closeout list updated

Dammit, I just had to see that. There was 1 Classic Multibit Stack left and I had to grab it... Now I wish SOL would hurry up and re-release! I'm kicking myself daily for not getting one of the first ones, even with the issues...

 

[vladpetric]

@FLTWS is a great person to talk to about such things, he has probably forgotten more about classical music than I could ever know.

Well, if @FLTWS doesn't answer, I'd absolutely love your opinion as well . If you had for instance a Tidal/Spotify/Qobuz playlist, that would be much appreciated!

 

[tincanear]

Dammit, I just had to see that. There was 1 Classic Multibit Stack left and I had to grab it... Now I wish SOL would hurry up and re-release! I'm kicking myself daily for not getting one of the first ones, even with the issues...

surprised you didn't become one of the SOL beta users, price was only $499 (without cartridge) with Schiit shipping out upgraded parts for your trouble... at least you got a deal on that Classic Stack. many head-fi users on this thread have tons and tons of gear, with lots of side-grades bought along the way.

 

[johnjen]

2020, Chapter 3:
Lighted by the Blind
snippers…

Moffat’s Corollary​

​

Human hearing seems to be more integrative than differential, so those small differences between components may be magnified over time, and therefore seem larger and more important than during rapid switching.​

This is based on Mike’s 40+ years of experience in audio, and it coincides with my own experience, as well as countless anecdotal reports. Again, not AES-level stuff, but also again, it’s a guess, a hypothesis…

And heck, if it’s true, it pretty much completely blows up the “burn-in” thing. If this is true, there is likely no burn-in except brain burn-in; your brain simply adapted over much listening time to the small differences in your current components, so when you swap one out, the difference seems much bigger at first.
snipperitous

I can attest to the brain burn in aspect, or at least that is what it seems like.
I can have my tube amp turned on and playing my 800's for hours, so everything is well warmed up and stabilized.
Then I'll don my 800's and my subsequent experiences of the SQ I hear, follows a consistent and repeatable pattern.
Namely, it takes 15-20 minutes for me to hear the acoustic presentation 'open up', and then after ≈30-45 minutes another step up in SQ, and again in the 1.25 to 1.75hrs time frame yet again, the SQ steps up.
I attribute this progression to my auditory 'processing' kicking into Hi-Rez mode in 3 stages, but really that is just a WAG (Wild Assed Guess) because it's the only thing that makes any sense.

I have observed this pattern for years, and on a variety of different gear.

But that isn't to say that other patterns of SQ shifts also don't happen, and with repeatable patterns as well, all based upon system mods and tweaks and circuit refinements.
Most of these are much longer in time frames, like tens of hrs, and days and weeks required before peak SQ with stability settles in.
These longer term patterns have also been observed, repeatedly over years and with a variety of gear.

And yes there are variations in the specific time frames for SQ shifts and changes.
And some of these shifts and changes are not 'better' SQ but are decidedly worse, with some extremes described as a Toilet Dump (TD) experience, where the SQ sounds flat, 2-D, with no bass, and a SQ that decided sounds like your 60's car am radio playing.
Thankfully this TD experience doesn't last very long (≈ 15-30hrs max) but the first time it happened I was convinced something had died or was broken…
That's when the sage wisdom of 'DO NOT change the setup of the system when it sounds terrible' kicked in, and I waited, thankfully, because when the SQ stepped up again, it exceeded the previous peak levels of SQ and remarkably so.

JJ

 

[yonson]

surprised you didn't become one of the SOL beta users, price was only $499 (without cartridge) with Schiit shipping out upgraded parts for your trouble... at least you got a deal on that Classic Stack. many head-fi users on this thread have tons and tons of gear, with lots of side-grades bought along the way.

I didn't realize they were still accepting beta users until it was too late. I had been talking to Mike about doing beta stuff but I think all that got lost in the mix when his health issues happened. Ohh well I can wait, just like everyone else.

 

[DougD]

I couldn’t play an instrument if my life depended on it. I just enjoy good music and I’m here for the cat pics.

I've starting drinking coffee since joining this thread. (Wife won't agree to a cat.)

 

[tincanear]

Transducer, transducer, transducer. That says a lot about the importance of the transducers (mics / headphones / loudspeakers) when an audio electronics (turntable / DAC / preamp / power-amp) manufacturer (i.e. Jason S) says to focus on transducers and not the electronics first.

If the transducer makers provided the distortion and frequency response specs at say 100, 80 and 60dB SPL, then it would be easier to differentiate quality (fidelity) between devices (but alas, that portion of the audio industry would rather hide the poor 1 - 20% distortion specs).

 

[albanyco]

If you are concerned about cost to performance ratio, with cost being a major contributor I'd get the modi 3 and know that you are getting great sound for your 99 bucks.

If you are wondering what the fuss is about multibit, comfortably have the funds, have good enough ears & equipment to perceive and care about small changes, then I think modi multibit is a great choice.

I have both, modi 3 is easily excellent/good enough for most people. Modi multibit is better to me.

If the 250 is comfortable to you, I would recommend you consider the modi 3 and Loki mini. It allows you to tweak the sound to your taste. If you swap HPs or iems, or listen to a variety of recordings Loki is very fun and handy. I would argue that Loki/modi 3 is a strong competitive choice to modi multibit. Dollar to dollar and return on what you get.

I have both a Gungnir MB and a Modi 3. The Gumby is in my “listening room” while the Modi is in the “common area.” I usually don’t pay attention to the differences since the environments are so different, but every-so-often I notice a unique character out of the little Modi that honestly surprises me. They are different beasts, but don’t underestimate what a decent (especially for the price) D/S dac can do for you.

 

[roadcykler]

Interesting, but predictable, that even after the guy who builds the Schiit says that if there are audible differences, they are very minor yet people still insist they can hear big differences. Humans.