[dufferdan]

Had the Modius/Magnius bundle for the last month and loving it. USB out to Modius, balanced connection to Magnius headphone amp. Computer recognizes the USB Audio Codex out to Modius. All good.

I ordered a Lokius which arrived today. Hooked it into the system, and nothing. Silence. Dead silence. tried checking all switches, nothing. re-booted my Mac with correct audio out selected and Modius remaining on. Nothing. Tried balanced and unbalanced headphones. Still nothing.

So went back to the original Modius/Magnius hookup pattern and still nothing. So now nothing was working.

I am awaiting a reply from Schiit, but wondering if anyone here has similar experience and ideas for a fix? I’d prefer not to send it all back for a re-check. It really is awesome into all my different balanced and unbalanced cans.

 

[msing539]

Are you running through a dongle of some sort? Want to post a pic of your cabling?

 

[dufferdan]

No dongle. Pretty straight ahead. USB out of computer to USB audio in to DAC.

 

[dufferdan]

A little more info and testing results:

1. Using a late 2015 iMac, 40GB RAM, Apple Music app streaming
2. USB out direct to Modius. I reconnected directly to the Magnius HP Amp which has been working since I received it as a very nice combo.
3.a. Balanced output to Modius, no sound whatsoever, (i triple checked inputs, etc) with balanced headphone out
3.b. Unbalanced HP out, no sound
4. A hooked Magnius up to Modius via RCA unbalanced output. Balanced HP connection, no sound
4 b. UNbalanced HP out, no sound either.

5. Optical digital out to Schiit Bifrost 1 DAC, RCA from Bifrost to Valhalla 2 HP amp : Good volume, works fully as expected.

6. Repeated all above using VLC as the audio player. Streaming ripped CDs from external hard drive in lossless ALAC. There is no alternative in VLC to control the audio output on my Mac, it is all done in the MAcs sound preferences. I specified Optical Digital out to the Bifrost, works as expected. No sound from either balanced connections/balanced HP out, OR thru unbalanced connections with the Magnius/Modius combo. .

the last tests I need to run is the Lokius fed from the Bifrost (unbalanced as it is a Bifrost 1) to the Valhalla, but note , the Modius DAC stopped working then the Lokius was introduced into the chain. I may or may not get to this tonight as it requires re-jiggging a lot of wires and plugs, but it seems to me like the Magnius DAC is Dead.

Or, something is missing.

In the MACs Audio out in Sound Preferences, with the Modius connected, would it show up as USB Audio CODEC or as Modius? I am choosing USB Audio CODEC, noting in my Audio Out shows a Modius selection. In this case, it may be the USB connection. Mine is direct from the computer to the Modius.

 

[dufferdan]

So more testing last night. Using Optical Digital out from late 2015 iMac to Modius, I am getting full sound oit of the Magnius, so the CAD works , just not the USB interface. Had the USB plugged into the data port of the Modius and could switch back and forth on the Mac from Optical out to USB, optical worked, no USB sound.

Checked the MIDI interface app and while the Modius is getting power from USB, I don’t think the Mac is now recognizing the Modius as an Audio interface. I will pick up another USB A to USB C cable today and try more tonight. .

 

[dufferdan]

OK, fixed! After a lot of back and forth with Schiit, finally it came down to them suggesting I first plug the wall wart into power and hooking USB up to the power USB input (closest to outside edge), THEN hooking USB from computer to the Modius data port. I now have full operational excellence with audio from all outputs.

In my defence, reading their online troubleshooting, it isn't explicit that you would hook up the power port AND hook up the USB data port at the same time. While they do say power comes from USB, it sounds like the USB power is only used if you want to use one of the other inputs NOT USB. Apparently, when plugging into the power USB port, it disables the power feed on the data USB port. Now I see this: