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

[theveterans]

been listening to those all evening. A few takeaways

1. they are finicky about cables. I have a 6" patch cable and that didn't work, no ethernet traffic. a meter long cable worked just fine.
2. with them connected my ethernet LEDs are always light up on the switch, even when there's no ethernet traffic (boo!)
3. i have the sense that I can hear out into the room being played in a bit better (album used shown below).
4. after listening for an hour+, no tinnitus flare up, which is pretty nice.
5. maybe caused my Linn to lock up after a few hours

These are sub'd in for Brutech B.E.M. ISAD10E ethernet isolator (for which there are no good webpages).

Listened to this album on my Main Headphones setup in the sig.

Nice pretty affordable Ethernet filter right there. I think your Ethernet nervosa is pretty cured already. I went overkill on mine with the eno2 filter + fiber + now iFi silentpower Omni LAN on a loaner which still has subtle effect even with all the Ethernet filters and fiber optic that I already have in place

 

[LobalWarming]

I want a tUrd so bad!

Wait... what I meant was...

Me too! Sure hope the schiit stream isn't hit with constipation from the supply chain.

 

[sixergixer]

As a much-needed reminder to myself that original mastering matters even more than bitrates or compression levels in digital audio, Spotify brought up this really good King Buffalo track. It sounded less than half as good as the tracks that had been playing before, which was saying something! I decided to switch to a lossless Qobuz stream and wow! The sound was still total ass. I don't know why some grunge bands seem to dig crushed dynamics in their mastering -- I'm really looking at you, Uncle Acid; I haven't been able to listen to your albums in a long time because they're so compressed -- but this track is particularly egregious.

 

[Middle Earth]

Codename: tUrd (tiny Urd)

Is it not Codename Minimalistic Urd Design ?
Or as I think of it MUD
Could be and it might be just like what I posted up there somewhere

 

[jsabini1]

Today I said goodbye to my sweet Stella. This was one of our last moments together. She passed peacefully and painlessly while we listened to some of our favorite music together. My heart hurts but I'm so thankful for having her in my life, and even more thankful that she's at peace now.

I'm so sorry, I know how hard it is when your beloved friend passes to the other side...

 

[Ripper2860]

been listening to those all evening. A few takeaways

1. they are finicky about cables. I have a 6" patch cable and that didn't work, no ethernet traffic. a meter long cable worked just fine.
2. with them connected my ethernet LEDs are always light up on the switch, even when there's no ethernet traffic (boo!)
3. i have the sense that I can hear out into the room being played in a bit better (album used shown below).
4. after listening for an hour+, no tinnitus flare up, which is pretty nice.
5. maybe caused my Linn to lock up after a few hours

These are sub'd in for Brutech B.E.M. ISAD10E ethernet isolator (for which there are no good webpages).

Listened to this album on my Main Headphones setup in the sig.

Well, #5 seems like a potential deal breaker to me.

 

[JamminVMI]

@theeclone - sorry to hear about Stella. A good life well lived, because of you. I know how much that hurts.

 

[Timster]

Yep: heard it… heard it very quickly (alas) on the main rig (Apogees with the ribbon MT’s). Couldn’t go beyond -11dB (with or without any EQ) without hearing “glare”(?)) there. Hence the at that time queries… but, pushed on (and on)…. Couldn’t get to where I wanted before distortions ruined it. And, since goal there was FM style adjusting… I just moved it upstairs. Far more forgiving. Way different use-case. Smaller room, NOT Apogees, near-field, usw.

It was mostly intellectual curiosity, having done this since forever…. (I’m pretty damned sure that -12dB is the limit (from my listening - and “measured” by the FB interface)…. On proper classical, other music with far less total dynamic range may not be an issue). But, last I checked -12dB is two freaking bits of resolution; and that off of 16 bit max originals…. Limit - for me - I’m mostly a classical guy on the big rig. Hearable on anything with ribbons (my Apogees and my Koss ESP’s)… almost like VTA set horribly wrong coupled with too small a tracking force… <yikes> (yes, I exaggerate, but for effect).

All said, for near-field, with decent or better point source(y/ish) monitors nearfield… it is triumphant; a total keeper. I forgot how much I *love* a proper Fletcher-Munson curve applies to the music. My first amp (integrated) was my dad’s old HK Integrated, that had knobs for different phono EQ curves (this is pre RIAA wins days), and Loudness (in addition to bass, treble, balance). T’was mono, and fully tube. THAT was my exposure to FM curved low-level sound (very young… 11 or 12). Mimir in my office rig did that again (alas, distractingly at times) today.

TL;DR

Mimir is an excellent DAC (standalone), not quite (for me) Yggy level (usual disclaimers, yada yada).

IF one wants to use pEQ and/or Loudness… you can only do so to the extent which you reduce your digital resolution “headroom”. This is a pretty decent range, but it is not huge. It will depend on what your musical (and source) preferences are. It is FUN to mess with - and not expensive -, and can be extremely rewarding. In my desktop system? Boom! Win. Selling Sys and Modi. Mimir rules there. Everyone should have one as the new “reference” unit. (At straight-through 0dB, no EQ, on the *real* power supply, etc,)

We probably won't get the details on the Mimir digital volume math (Schiit IP etc), and that's fine.
I'd be surprised if at -12db you start to lose bit depth, because they are probably using higher bit depth math so that dropping the volume by 40db or more is fine (using 24bit math) before going under 16bit resolution.

Of course getting into the "weeds" on either sample rate or bit depth is noticeable as a subjective and objective measure.

This is an interesting view/explanation : https://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeControl.htm

Not in any way suggesting you're not hearing it .... And, of course, I may be completely off-base

 

[theeclone]

We probably won't get the details on the Mimir digital volume math (Schiit IP etc), and that's fine.
I'd be surprised if at -12db you start to lose bit depth, because they are probably using higher bit depth math so that dropping the volume by 40db or more is fine (using 24bit math) before going under 16bit resolution.

Of course getting into the "weeds" on either sample rate or bit depth is noticeable as a subjective and objective measure.

This is an interesting view/explanation : https://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/VolumeControl.htm

And, of course, I may be completely off-base

The Mimir looks to have about 20 effective bits based on the SNR spec and APx report. Even if the math is 32 bits internally, I would think the whole thing would have to bottom out in effective bits.

Since effective bits are around 6dB of SNR per bit, then going down 12dB would have to represent a loss of about 2 bits of resolution, presumably out of the 20 effective bits, meaning you've gone to 18 effective bits at that point. I wouldn't be surprised if @Bowmoreman could hear that on his nice 2ch rig, but yeah for most people maybe not.

 

[Timster]

I wouldn't be surprised if @Bowmoreman could hear that on his nice 2ch rig, but yeah for most people maybe not.

Yup, nice gear indeed!

 

[theeclone]

@theeclone - sorry to hear about Stella. A good life well lived, because of you. I know how much that hurts.

Thank you and thanks to everyone for the kind words. It helps.

 

[Lavcat]

Listened to this album on my Main Headphones setup in the sig.

Thanks, and thanks to Qobuz I listened to the album over dinner.

 

[JohnnyOps]

On a whim this afternoon, I decided to dive into my neglected 4385-track Liked Songs playlist I built up over many years before I grew wise to lossless streaming and better artist payouts.

Thanks for the reminder, Ripper. Others have recommended this, and I'll tackle it someday. Knowing my eclectic tastes in music, I am pretty sure that 20-30% of the tracks won't survive the transition

I’ll second the recommendation for Soundiiz. If you have enough stuff queued up (like your big playlist) I think there’s a trial period where you can do it for free, and the interface is easier than you think it’ll be. I hear you on eclectic music, but I’d recommend giving it a shot - between Tidal and Qobuz I get nearly everything I want. And I kept a Spotify playlist of “things that didn’t make it”. I know it’s a to-do-list item you need to eventually get to, but I’d advocate giving it a shot sooner rather than later. Life is too short for lossy music!

 

[Syan25]

Chilling to this on my Kara F.
Anything that came out by Creed Taylor during this period is awesome. It's a quality of the production, the all star ensemble, the arrangements that effortless flow into the soloing. Just awesome.

Oh, and then, there's Cobham on drums...Benson on guitar...

 

[rkw]

Codename: tUrd (tiny Urd)

Speaking of which, I have a suggestion for Forkbeard and the next Urd. I wouldn't be surprised if you've already given some thought to this.

After a disc is loaded, how about fetching metadata for the album from the web – information such as album and track titles, artist name, and album cover image. Some music player software on Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi do this. There are even some standalone CD players that are internet connected and have this capability. It would be an immense benefit for a user to see a track displayed as "Waltz for Debby" or "Bohemian Rhapsody", rather than "Track 2" and "Track 11".

The implementation would be in the Forkbeard app. On the Urd side, the only requirement is that it must provide a way for the Forkbeard app to retrieve the CD's TOC (table of contents). The TOC is used to look up the album at an online music database that has metadata. You can look at how it's done in the MusicBrainz Picard app, which is open source (note the Lookup CD feature in the app).