[RickB]

One remark about the Gadget stuck with me. It is said to put you IN the music.
Considering my recent upgrade, if there was a way to feel surrounded by music even more, that...would...be...awesome!
But than there is the caveat that it has to be regular banjo/instrumental-music to benefit. So now I am confused again.
Because why would it only work with regular instruments? Ambient (well made ambient I mean) really improves with a better DAC, maybe just as much as classical.
So what is the difference? And why is(the sound of) old wood mentioned so often by Baldr? I know musicians prefer old instruments for their timbre.
No idea how that would relate to ones and zeros though.

Anyway...not really looking to spend even more right now. So I`m not in a hurry.
Just really, really curious.

Baldr doesn't like electronic music, but I can definitely say with music like F..k Buttons that Modi Multibit definitely enhances the 3D imaging.

 

[webstaa]

Have we learned why The Gadget isn't going to be built into DACs in the future? Does Mike just really love separate boxes?

Reading between the lines on the few posts about MP, it looks like there's a couple good reasons it's a stand-alone. One is the processing power required - the support circuitry for whatever package, and that package's power requirements mean it might not be a simple add-in, even in the larger DAC chassis sizes. Another reason is business related - why increment every product in the line with this new tech (costing a lot of money in design time and retooling those changed products) when you can have a cheaper stand-alone. Especially when you'll need 6-12 weeks of lead-time for each new product from metal suppliers and PCB assemblers. As a new and "unproven" tech, it's also unknown how people will react to it - will "classical" genre fans rejoice while EDM fans decry it? Generally rolling brand new "unproven" tech or gambling on rather drastic changes is only something you do if you've got a closed ecosystem or a fairly cornered market and don't mind the hit it could cause (think of Apple's "bravery" here.) There is also the "separate boxes" thing going into it as well - it's easier to customize your "chain" if you can add or subtract or even upgrade a separate box from it instead of rolling everything into one closed box.

There's no reason it could be rolled into DAC is in the future, but that specific future is probably a year or three after the MP hits the market. All that leaves us in anticipation. Schiit is usually pretty transparent about their new devices (it's their marketing strategy after all.)

 

[Sarvasaha]

A little insomnia led me to read more about temperament and in the end, I can't imagine what this device could do to improve the music. It has already been recorded with the instruments being tuned, songs sung, using whatever temperament. It's not like a dac or lp is forcing another tuning, changing notes. So what gives?

The instruments will have been tuned, but the tuning is imperfect note to note. Before equal temperament a D note in the key of D was at a slightly different pitch to say a D note in the key of G. So a piano or guitar would only work well for one key.

Equal temperament made each note consistent in pitch for all keys. ie almost always "slightly out of tune". Plus there are compromises in instrument design that add to this. There are guitars and basses around now where the frets splay outwards so that this aspect is removed. (and allowed chordal music)

In theory this could be corrected so that if you could work out what the root is of the current chords all of the slightly out of tune-ness could be removed for the non root notes across all of the harmonics.. In practice this would almost certainly sound like ass as it would change the timbre of instruments and try to fix deliberate slurs (like OTT autotune) and would probably screw up the percussive aspects of the sound.

It would definitely require a bucket-load of processing power.
This was my favourite possibility for the MP for a while, followed by correcting for the group delay introduced by all of the filters that the music has been exposed to (Mixing desk eq, ADC filtering for a start)

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

If it's correcting for equal temperament then it's presumably improving upon live sound -- indeed improving upon what composers exposed only to equal temperament believed they were writing.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

That could be thru but then you'd have to have some reference cadre. How can one obtain that?
If this is all possible I would buy the MP sans vu.

 

[mervinb]

This ("correction" of temperament) was my favourite possibility for the MP for a while, followed by correcting for the group delay introduced by all of the filters that the music has been exposed to (Mixing desk eq, ADC filtering for a start)

I really hope it's the latter (done form of phase correction) rather than any adjustment of pitch. I detest autotune, and in classical performances especially, the fine adjustment of tuning by tempering chords is a very important quality for me. A filter that is able to dial out recording artefacts (delays, phase distortion) is most intriguing.

 

[HumanFly]

Yes I added i2s, the jumpers take the USB out of circuit [http://bit.ly/2rCRGZ8] and allows direct i2s into the Modi's DSP.

Cool, the kali/piano is nice sounding! Here's the Modi with the Kali i2s:

Theres more detail out on the web about it–

I just realised where I saw your deskmat before. Almost everywhere where there is pi
Thank you for the info and really informative pictures and youtubes!
I already enjoy my Schiitpi as is.(pi-usb-wyrd-gungnir) But since I cannot leave things be, I got the kali and it seems there is a difference in usb output if I put it on there and feed the pi through kali. Is this just the difference between going in through mini-usb or going through the kali and feed the pi from the pins?

So if I got a nice PSU and feed Kali with it and than still go pi-usb-wyrd-gungnir, would this be better or worse than taking the same PSU and power a digi+ pro with it, that powers the pi and than use optical and a ifi spdifcleaner into gungnir?

In general the usb vs optical debate confuses me btw. Some say usb is bad and others claim optical is jitter-ridden.
Anybody here with strong opinions leaning one way or the other?

 

[wout31]

I just realised where I saw your deskmat before. Almost everywhere where there is pi
Thank you for the info and really informative pictures and youtubes!
I already enjoy my Schiitpi as is.(pi-usb-wyrd-gungnir) But since I cannot leave things be, I got the kali and it seems there is a difference in usb output if I put it on there and feed the pi through kali. Is this just the difference between going in through mini-usb or going through the kali and feed the pi from the pins?

So if I got a nice PSU and feed Kali with it and than still go pi-usb-wyrd-gungnir, would this be better or worse than taking the same PSU and power a digi+ pro with it, that powers the pi and than use optical and a ifi spdifcleaner into gungnir?

In general the usb vs optical debate confuses me btw. Some say usb is bad and others claim optical is jitter-ridden.
Anybody here with strong opinions leaning one way or the other?

I have an opnion on both, but not leaning to one way or the other, but to use neither.
Use SP/DIF or AES/EBU instead.

 

[HumanFly]

I have an opnion on both, but not leaning to one way or the other, but to use neither.
Use SP/DIF or AES/EBU instead.

Sp/dif over toslink would be optical...no, thats what I always thought anyways.? So the Hifiberry digi+ does that and offers an option for BNC (another blank I have to fill in).
And there is no AES on the gungnir. Not aware of any pi-hat/board offering aes anyway.

Why cant we agree on whats best people...just agree and put it to rest...this will drive me mad
Or worse...poor.

 

[RCBinTN]

I think we are going to need a couple Allman Brothers albums on the island...

Agree. I have Eat A Peach on my list.

 

[RCBinTN]

Well I'm listening to Poor Man's Whiskey "Dark Side Of The Moonshine".
It's great and really hard not to smile all the way to the end.
They are ruthless and very good musicians.

Well then check out the band that inspired Mike - and who he hung out with at the guitar shop in California...

A great project between the NGDB and
the legends of the music.

 

[Pandahead]

Sp/dif over toslink would be optical...no, thats what I always thought anyways.? So the Hifiberry digi+ does that and offers an option for BNC (another blank I have to fill in).
And there is no AES on the gungnir. Not aware of any pi-hat/board offering aes anyway.

Why cant we agree on whats best people...just agree and put it to rest...this will drive me mad
Or worse...poor.

The thing about this hobby if you like to tinker is to enjoy tinkering with it as much as your wallet will allow. Every avenue has it's tweaks. I think Eitr will be worth the wait. When better sound stops being fun you'll know it.

 

[HumanFly]

The thing about this hobby if you like to tinker is to enjoy tinkering with it as much as your wallet will allow. Every avenue has it's tweaks. I think Eitr will be worth the wait. When better sound stops being fun you'll know it.

Sounds true enough

let`s dig up the soldering iron then and order that digi+pro thingy and hope I don`t melt a hole in it!
(Raising funds by selling everything in sight that wasn`t used for a year or more.)

 

[MOFOfunk]

Thanks for the hifiberry digi+ pro w. bnc option tip. That should go well with the Gungnir. Know any resellers in EU with that package?

 

[HumanFly]

Thanks for the hifiberry digi+ pro w. bnc option tip. That should go well with the Gungnir. Know any resellers in EU with that package?

Nope, not yet. You can get the BNC-out seperately and you have to solder it on yourself but this is all I know so far. The shops I usually get raspberry stuff from dont seem to carry the BNC out either.