[HirkEukvic]

So my buddy and I took advantage of the quarantine starting to wind down by meeting up to check out each other's head-fi setups. I just bought a lovely stack of equipment and he'd purchased some HD 800s.

Long story short, we also had a Jotunheim 4490 and a multibit on hand between our two collections and took the time to A/B test them.

The setup was as follows:
Audirvana/Tidal FLAC and 24 bit local files > Jotunheims > HD 800s (balanced and unbalanced) and T60RP (balanced and unbalanced).

Neither of us could hear any difference between the DACs with any of the setups. I should note both of us could detect significant differences when we went to my higher-end DAC/amp stack, so it's difficult to blame our hearing.

My takeaway is that if you're buying Schiit, don't bother paying the extra for the multibit card, at least not on their lower-end DACs and for heaven's sake don't pay the $250 to upgrade.

 

[selvakumar]

good review ill stick with 4490 itself thanks

 

[bifcake]

Thanks for that. I was just searching for impressions as to the whether the differences between multibit and sigma delta were audible.

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

Thanks for that. I was just searching for impressions as to the whether the differences between multibit and sigma delta were audible.

I definitely noticed a big difference in the individual DACs when I went from a Modi 3 to a Modi multibit. I'm a Schiithead and have owned a Modi 3, Modi multibit, Bifrost multibit, and Bifrost 4490. I'm currently using a Modius and really like it. But I certainly can't speak about the DAC boards in amps.

 

[bifcake]

I definitely noticed a big difference in the individual DACs when I went from a Modi 3 to a Modi multibit. I'm a Schiithead and have owned a Modi 3, Modi multibit, Bifrost multibit, and Bifrost 4490. I'm currently using a Modius and really like it. But I certainly can't speak about the DAC boards in amps.

Could you describe the difference and quantify "big"? Thanks

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

Could you describe the difference and quantify "big"? Thanks

The multibit drew me into the music more. With the Modi 3 I was in the audience and the multibit put me on the stage. To my ears, this is purely subjective, the multibit had a much better bass response and the mids and highs were just more present than the Modi 3. Like a veil had been lifted. The multibit was more dynamic but not in a forced or artificial way. I eventually went with the Modius because I wanted to go balanced way so I bought a Rupert Neve headphone amp which I no longer have, really didn't care for it after I used it for a while. So now I'm using the Modius with a used Asgard 2 that I picked up cheap. I still like the Modius a lot but thinking about an Asgard 3.

 

[bifcake]

Thank you for your impressions. It gives me something to ponder...