Schiit Modi USB DAC
Mar 22, 2014 at 1:48 PM Post #421 of 870
New Magni/Modi Owner. PYST USB Cables (and PYST 6" RCA coming in the mail). Currently using an old pair of Tara Labs RCA cables which are passing through a sound more sumptuous than I ever thought possible at this price level.
 
Source is a new 27" iMac ported through a powered USB hub. I had USB power management issues, so the powered USB hub was recommended rightly by a Schiit customer service fellow.
 
Player is Foobar.
 
Ran about 100 hours of noise through them before critical listening to break in just for fun.
 
I'm listening to the MM stack using Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Labs RS1i, Westone W4, but honestly i might as well weld the HD 650 to the stack. it's pure butter.
 
Much love and respect to the Schiit crew for making sound like this possible in the $200 price range with such elegance and beauty. The casework is exquisite. Looks like a million bucks next to the iMac.
 
A few shots of my little rig.
 

 

 


 
Mar 22, 2014 at 3:11 PM Post #423 of 870
Just upgraded my amp to a Lyr and I was going to get a Bifrost, but this Modi is hanging right in there. Incredibly good sound and when I consider the price it seems impossible, but here it is and it sounds great. I have heard a Bifrost Uber and this is real close to what I remember hearing on the Bifrost.
 
Mar 22, 2014 at 3:24 PM Post #424 of 870
  Just upgraded my amp to a Lyr and I was going to get a Bifrost, but this Modi is hanging right in there. Incredibly good sound and when I consider the price it seems impossible, but here it is and it sounds great. I have heard a Bifrost Uber and this is real close to what I remember hearing on the Bifrost.

I did the same thing you did. I got a Lyr too and went on to get a Bifrost to use with my Lyr. The biggest thing that got me interested was the optical/coaxial inputs which I use with two different source inputs. As far as sound quality is concerned, I couldn't tell much difference. The higher frequencies seemed to be more accentuated compared to when I was using my Modi. 
 
Mar 22, 2014 at 7:02 PM Post #425 of 870
^^ If you still have your Modi with you, try doing an A-B test with the Modi and the Bifrost using the Lyr as your amp. With my Beyer DT880, there was an obvious improvement with a larger sound stage, a better separation of instruments, and greater detail in the music that I didn't notice before using the Modi.
 
Mar 22, 2014 at 7:16 PM Post #426 of 870
^^ If you still have your Modi with you, try doing an A-B test with the Modi and the Bifrost using the Lyr as your amp. With my Beyer DT880, there was an obvious improvement with a larger sound stage, a better separation of instruments, and greater detail in the music that I didn't notice before using the Modi.
I'll try that out when I get home to see if I can tell a difference.
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 8:43 AM Post #427 of 870
Guys, I have a really weird problem. It goes like this:
 
I noticed that when I put my finger on top of the modi, there's a very pronounced fluttering of the sound. Extremely strangely, if I lift my finger off, everything goes back to normal.
 
What's totally strange is that if I lift my finger off really quickly, the sound actually cuts off momentarily.
 
This actually happens if I touch the Modi at all. Regardless of where I touch it, as long as it is the metal enclosure. It does not happen if I touch the metal body of the RCA plugs and neither does it happen when I touch the amplifier (Lehmann Linear). Only when I touch the Modi.
 
Do you know what might be the problem? I don't really need to touch my modi when I listen to music, but it's just weird. It's all solid state stuff inside and everything is grounded properly, I think. I tried it with by macbook plugged in and unplugged. Same thing. Does this happen to anyone else?
 
Thanks guys and gals.
 
C
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 9:47 AM Post #429 of 870
Funny you mention that because my newly purchased Modi acts like that on occasion. Just the brief cut out that is.

Maybe it's time to contact Schiit.


I just did :)
A quick update: it doesn't happen if i sit in my chair holding my feet off the ground. With my feet touching the ground, the whole fluttering/cutting out comes back. Weird. I wonder what they'd recommend.

I'm not too bothered by it, just worried that something might be broken or something?
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 11:37 AM Post #431 of 870
If you have a multimeter do a voltage check on the chassis to ground.

I had an old iMac that had a damaged ground in the cord and I found out the computers ground, including the USB ground was floating around 50V.

It's also possible that a static shock is disrupting the USB data stream.
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 5:56 PM Post #433 of 870
So, I've read that in 24-bit mode Windows volume shouldn't affect anything. I disagree. Both Windows volume and Foobar2000 volume affect the overall volume.
 
At the moment I keep Win & FB at 100% and control volume with the Magni.
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 6:01 PM Post #434 of 870
  So, I've read that in 24-bit mode Windows volume shouldn't affect anything. I disagree. Both Windows volume and Foobar2000 volume affect the overall volume.
 
At the moment I keep Win & FB at 100% and control volume with the Magni.

The bit depth doesn't affect the volume control of windows or any program. Windows' Directsound is a software mixer that allows you to change the volume from within the OS. However the only time you wouldn't be able to use Windows' volume control is if you by-pass Directsound altogether using ASIO or WASAPI with Foobar2K.
 
Mar 25, 2014 at 6:15 PM Post #435 of 870
  The bit depth doesn't affect the volume control of windows or any program. Windows' Directsound is a software mixer that allows you to change the volume from within the OS. However the only time you wouldn't be able to use Windows' volume control is if you by-pass Directsound altogether using ASIO or WASAPI with Foobar2K.

Thank you, is there any benefit to using ASIO or WASAPI? I'm still brand new to Foobar and haven't even figured out the EQ yet.
 

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