Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[Mumbles06]

https://www.amazon.com/Cubilux-TOSLINK-Converter-Compatible-Computer/dp/B0B2DBGKL3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=USB+to+Optical+Audio+Adapter&qid=1700004026&sr=8-1&th=1

plug this into work laptop - then use input switch on Hel ......

...Or do this. That's a cheap and quick solution. This board rocks!

 

[filthy mechanical]

Yeah, that's a real sticking point here. If there were 2 USB inputs on the Hel, this problem is solved, but one USB and one optical mean I'd need to find a nice DAC with optical out, I think Creative Labs makes something like that, but then I'd be double DACing(?) and without trying it, it seems like that can't be great for audio quality. My wife is super jazzed about her new ZMFs, so I don't want her to lose that buzz because I can't build her a good system to deliver the tunes. She spent time at my desk using my Gumby into Lyr 3 and loved it. But then my desk disappears for me, so that needs a solution. Plus she really wants to listen to music while working which won't happen from my desk. I feel like I'm getting closer.

Optical is still a digital out? You only need an optical out source? Example Pi Hat https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-digiplus-standard-version/ or the USB to optical works as well.

 

[Mumbles06]

Optical is still a digital out? You only need an optical out source? Example Pi Hat https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-digiplus-standard-version/ or the USB to optical works as well.

Yeah, I was a bit confused looking at an old Creative Labs all in one desktop audio box thing that had multiple inputs to include optical, and a dac, and a 100 wpc class D speaker amp, but also had an optical out for sending signal to a receiver. Digital in, digital out, made my head spin a little. But yeah, optical is digital, goes into dac, comes out analog wavy.

So I just bought the usb-A to optical cable, and a short toslink cable on amazon. I'll run her work computer into the optical input of Hel, and I'll let her hook up her Surface or phone to the usb input of Hel and she can switch sources at her leisure. The upgrade path will be to get a usb free standing microphone which will free me from Hel (ha) and allow me to get her a bifrost for her music input, and then I can give her my Lyr 3 with multibit card, and run her work computer into the multibit card. She can just switch inputs on Lyr and go between music and work with the flip of a switch, plus she'll have a nice tube amp and multibit dac for her ZMF Auteur's, which should make them sing. Then I'll be stuck deciding between the Valhalla 3 or the new LTA Velo. It's a win for everyone!

 

[JamminVMI]

Thanks! Damn, now I have to save for four Tyrs (two for each system)... Well that doesn't help. LOL.

We all understand.

 

[sixergixer]

You meant pages. Your post was already number 130,494 in this thread!

It's been that kind of day. Haha

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

DigiKey gets us.

 

[artur9]

Bit of an update: the small DAC in my stack does have coax and optical in (what is this "manual" that people speak of, or even looking at the back of the unit?)

Ah! Now you have lots of possibilities.

• Urd/Yggdrasil after you buy a new car and teach your dog what food is.
• soon: Any cost-effective transport with either form of S/PDIF

 

[adias]

Loki Mini+ for SALE.

Withdrawn - not for sale.

 

[Moondog55]

Loki Mini+ for SALE.

Upgrading? What's your impressions/expressions on the EQ?

 

[adias]

Upgrading? What's your impressions/expressions on the EQ?

Yeah interested in a balanced pathway, so Lokius.

Loki Mini+ - excellent, easy to use with just 4 bands, right in the useful locations. Easy to use as loudness control cranking up the 20Hz left pot and just a bit of the right 8 kHz pot. Great product.

 

[jonathan c]

A couple of days ago, it was a recording of frogs that was the hot topic. OK, I see your frogs and raise...

An RSD find from a few years back IIRC.
Remains unplayed, oddly enough...

…. not heard at TEO concert: “The elephants in the room are …” …

 

[562955]

I would agree that you get a spatial sense to the music with phones with height and width but I feel that depth is more or less missing. And I agree that the resonances are also a really important part of music for me.

Hi Jan - I know what you mean - its a bit like having a band playing in your closet with the doors open! I do find that a lot of modern highly compressed recordings are very lacking in depth , some of my old vintage 1971/3 original Genesis Lp's have really good depth through headphones though . Its good to chat about these observations and differences in the way we perceive and enjoy music reproduction and proves that there is no right way or wrong way to achieve a totally absorbing musical experience .

 

[AstronomerXI]

Ah! Now you have lots of possibilities.

• Urd/Yggdrasil after you buy a new car and teach your dog what food is.
• soon: Any cost-effective transport with either form of S/PDIF

I found a deal last evening on a recently serviced Tascam CD-401 MK II (1993) with S/PDIF (RCA type), RCA, and XLR outputs. I can connect via XLR or RCA to the Freya, or S/PDIF to the DAC and see which connection gives me the best sound.

A Yggy or similar is at the top of my list for the next audio upgrade after the car, not to mention headphones a tier up from my current stable.

Border collies; smart, obsessive, driven, and can get into the dumbest situations. Our current lads, imaged by me in my basement studio:

 

[Whoopknacker]

Yggy MIB is great. Upgrade from Mytek Brooklyn. There’s a part-time audiophile interview with Mike where he describes digital as akin to a window fan. That stuck with me, my first impression is that I am no longer listening through a window fan and all the information is there. So more vivid and present, less washed out and ethereal. First hour break-in was not bad, a little reedy and threadbare. 3 hours in settled good. There’s lots of chatter on this unit’s horrid break-in, but I’ve broken in cables that were much worse. Going to let it play a 100 hours and see what happens. Dynamics feel like an order of magnitude greater. Enjoying the dac.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Yggy MIB is great. Upgrade from Mytek Brooklyn. There’s a part-time audiophile interview with Mike where he describes digital as akin to a window fan. That stuck with me, my first impression is that I am no longer listening through a window fan and all the information is there. So more vivid and present, less washed out and ethereal. First hour break-in was not bad, a little reedy and threadbare. 3 hours in settled good. There’s lots of chatter on this unit’s horrid break-in, but I’ve broken in cables that were much worse. Going to let it play a 100 hours and see what happens. Dynamics feel like an order of magnitude greater. Enjoying the dac.

Welcome to the thread, @Whoopknacker. Keep us posted on how your new MIB performs over those 100 hours.


JC