Schiit Modi Multibit 2 DAC

[HWB3]

The MM2 with Vali 3 make a great small headphone system.

Yes, it does.

 

[hottyson]

First Schiit dropped the Asgard 3 now the Modi Multibit 2. I have both of these and love them. Time marches on but it's sad to see these products go. I don't know if I need a Mimir and you need Forkbeard to get NOS mode. Anxious to see what the impressions of it will be.

Oh, I had no idea that the Asgard 3 had been discontinued. I own it as well, but it is one of the worst performing amplifiers for the money I have ever purchased. What a dull turd it turned out to be. It should have been priced at half or less of what Schiit had been asking for it.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Oh, I had no idea that the Asgard 3 had been discontinued. I own it as well, but it is one of the worst performing amplifiers for the money I have ever purchased. What a dull turd it turned out to be. It should have been priced at half or less of what Schiit had been asking for it.

The Asgard 3 has been a well liked amp by a lot of folks out there, but it never hit my sweet spot either. I've always preferred the Schiit Magnius that I picked up to replace it.

 

[HWB3]

Everyone's ears are different as are their opinions. Lol.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Everyone's ears are different as are their opinions. Lol.

Absolutely! The great thing about that is that having so many different opinions and preferences is what allows us to have such a wide array of options available for any given piece of gear. It makes for a fun journey through the gear side of the hobby.

 

[twigfarm]

Oh, I had no idea that the Asgard 3 had been discontinued. I own it as well, but it is one of the worst performing amplifiers for the money I have ever purchased. What a dull turd it turned out to be. It should have been priced at half or less of what Schiit had been asking for it.

I've been happily using the Asgard 3 for a while now and the last thing I'd call it is a "dull turd". It actually fits my sound "preferences" and the music I listen to pretty nicely and works well with the headphones I currently have/use. And for the price I got it at it was a no-brainer.

 

[Hyde00]

I've been happily using the Asgard 3 for a while now and the last thing I'd call it is a "dull turd". It actually fits my sound "preferences" and the music I listen to pretty nicely and works well with the headphones I currently have/use. And for the price I got it at it was a no-brainer.

Yeah I think I wouldn't call it a "dull turd" but I did find it puzzling that people find it warm. I found it lean and bright, and somewhat neutral.

Maybe I was expecting it to be bassy. So it turned out to be the opposite of what I'd expect a class A amp would sound like. Granted Asgard 3 is not really class A anymore unlike the Asgard 2.

But I also agree that maybe there's different synergy with different DAC and different headphone, so many one of the combination out there makes it warm???

 

[VintageAudio]

I haven't been on for a while so to some personal issues, but I did do some comparative listening between the MMB1 with the upgraded ROM and and op amp upgrade to an OPA1656 which is how I purchased the unit used and was all the rage for mods on the Mimby for a while. I also acquired an Airist (for the second time) to make sure my comparison from memory that I posted earlier in the thread was reasonably accurate. I figured I would post some basic thoughts after a few side by side sessions between the MMB2, Airist, and the modded/updated MMB1.

First to the easier of the two comparisons, the Artist. The Airist was my first and only "budget" R2R DAC and it showed me enough of the potential of R2R/Multibit that it sparked a decades long love affair with the tech so it will always hold a place in my heart. That said, the Airist always had some easily noticeable (IMO) flaws including fuzzy/blurred separation, a lack of low level detail and what was there was often somewhat opaque or unclear. I also felt that as music got busier, the Airist often struggled with congestion and dynamics. That said, it had wonderful tonality and when music was in it's wheelhouse it could be a truly enjoyable DAC.

In comparison to the MMB2, I found the Artist to me inferior and clearly outmatched in basically every way possible. The MMB2 was clearer and more tonally/timbrally correct without any of the blurring or loss of low level detail. Dynamics, soundstage, separation, detail, and dynamics were leaps and bounds ahead on the MMB2. I don't want to just turn this into a bash the Airist paragraph so I'll leave it at that. If you have any specific questions though, just ask and I'll be happy to answer.

The upgraded Mimby was a much closer comparison, though I still found the MMB2 to be the better DAC by a comfortable margin though I can see why some folks love the Mimby and I intend to keep mine. First, the Mimby has a significantly warmer, borderline syrupy presentation which can sometimes be detrimental to clarity and even overwhelming depending on the music it's being fed. It's USB implementation is useless so I used a Wiim Mini on both the Mimby and the MMB2 to take advantage of bit perfect playback over the optical ports which increased the Mimby's sonic performance noticeably over USB. The MMB2 has better micro detail retrieval, better micro and macro dynamics, greater tonal and timbral accuracy and clarity. The 8x oversampling SuperComboBurrito filter on the MMB2 also seemed to provide a noticeably more balanced and refined experience than the 4x oversampling Combo Burrito filter on the Mimby. Lastly, I found the warmth and laid back presentation on the Mimby to be very hit and miss with music, while the clear, but still very musical and detailed presentation on the MMB2 matches well with everything I've ever thrown at it.

These impressions were just some of the more obvious and easy ones that stuck out to me. If you folks are interested in something more in depth or have specific questions you'd like answered don't hesitate to let me know.

I hope this was helpful and useful. All listing was done through my Schiit Lyr with a switch box that allowed for push button switching between the DACs. I listened using Hifiman HE6seV1, HE560, HE500, DCA Aeon Closed and Open X, Audeze MM-500, Sennheiser HD800S, AKG K872/K812, and ZMF VC. Though, for a short time I rotated in my Magni 3+ and ran IEMs through the rig including, Audio 64 A12t, SoftEars Twilight, ThieAudio Prestige, Orioles Szalayis, Dunu EST112, Penon Serial, and Campfire Supermoons.

For MMB1, is the OPA1656 the only option? Or does Burson, Sparkos, Virtual Hifi opamps work too?

 

[JAnonymous5150]

For MMB1, is the OPA1656 the only option? Or does Burson, Sparkos, Virtual Hifi opamps work too?

You can use any dual op amp you want that will fit. I know people tried others. The OPA1656 just got a reputation online as being a great match that you could readily find for affordable prices. Mine came already switched over so I never looked inside to see what kind of room I was dealing with. I was going to crack it open and solder in a socket so I could roll op amps, but I actually ended up gifting it to a buddy. I prefer the MMB2 by quite a bit and have two of them so the MMB1 just wasn't getting any use with me and I felt like it deserved to be so off it went.

Sorry I can't be of more help. If I'm remembering correctly from when I was looking around for info on the MMB1, there's a thread on the Super Best Audio Friends forum that discusses various mods including some alternative op amp choices that had been tried and the owner's impressions of how they sounded. I'm pretty sure it was at SBAF at least.