Eitr USB-SPDIF Converter

Audio Gear Talk
1

Anyone else try this converter from Schiit?

When I can get a stream to it, it works great. However, I’m having some trouble doing this.

Through a Rpi bridge Redbook works fine, but anything above that fails immediately.

When plugged directly into my mac it initially worked through the OS mixer. But switching to exclusive mode failed (the tracks looked like the were ready to play, but hung at 0:00 for a few moments before they were skipped). When I tried switching back to the OS mixer, the tracks failed to play exactly like they failed in exclusive mode.

The same thing happened with the other usb ports on the mac.

Any ideas on what’s happening? Thank you for any you can share.

Setup:

Roon Ver. 1.3 (Build 242) stable (64bit)
macOS Sierra Ver. 10.12.6
Mac mini (Late 2014) 2.6 Ghz Intel Core i5 w/8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Mac --USB–> Schiit Eitr USB/SPDIF Converter --Coax–> Schiit Modi Multibit

(Edit: Added Setup)

2

http://schiit.com/products/eitr

Must be a newer product. Hadn’t seen it before your mention of it…I posted a link above.

Certainly a handy product if it can work to effectively convert USB to SPDIF…hopefully it’s just a setting or something…

3

Thanks for posting the link. Hope you’re right about it just being a setting.

The Eitr works fine with Roon Bridge on Linux, which makes me pretty sure there’s nothing wrong with it.

I’m more worried about the usb ports on the mac.

Appreciated your thoughts. Thanks, again.

4

One has to wonder why no BNC and AES/EBU outputs.

1 Like
5

You weren’t the only one to wonder. Someone asked Jason about it over at head-fi.

He talked about it in his thread there. You’d have to dig a little to find his exact quote, but if I remember correctly (and often that’s a big if) they chose coax only to keep the cost and size down.

6

Through Roon’s Audio Setup for this device, have you tried setting the maximum PCM rate to 192kHz and bit depth to 24-bit?

-Adam

7

Thanks for the idea. I’ll give that a try tomorrow (switched the converter back to the Pi for tonight).

Not doubting, but curious about why those settings might make a difference (I hope they do).

8

Thanks, again, for the idea. Unfortunately, the settings produced the same result. I do appreciate the effort. Any other thoughts?

9

Jeffrey:

No, I’m out of ideas. You should probably send an email to Schiit for their assistance with this.

10

Already have. I’ll let you know what they say. Thank you for your assistance!

11

I am also not able to get the EITR to work under “exclusive mode” in direct connection. I created a zone with my ultrarendu to compare and the EITR direct connection has a “high quality” signal path while the ultrarendu has “lossless.” Nonetheless, I have to say the EITR sounds awesome.

12

Thanks for the note. Agree with you on Eitr’s performance and looking forward to getting it working optimally with Roon.

To that end, do you mind me asking what you running Roon on?

My issues have been with a direct USB connection to a Mac mini core. When Eitr is connected to a Raspberry Pi (DietPi) Roon Bridge endpoint it works fine up to redbook quality (which is a different issue I’m hoping to solve with an Odroid-C2).

Others have reported something similar. Here is a link to their findings: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/schiit-yggdrasil-gen-5-using-exclusive-mode/28751 (@moderators if this thread should be combined with that one, please move it there. Thank you!)

I dropped a notification for @support there (and now here). They’re the best…

Setup:

Roon Ver. 1.3 (Build 242) stable (64bit)
macOS Sierra Ver. 10.12.6
Mac mini (Late 2014) 2.6 Ghz Intel Core i5 w/8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Mac --USB–> Schiit Eitr USB/SPDIF Converter --Coax–> Schiit Modi Multibit

13

Thanks for the link. My problem belongs in the other thread. I’m running Roon (ver. 1.3 build 242 64 bit) on a Windows 10 desktop. I agree about Roon support and I’m sure Schiit will be attentive to the issue as well. Good luck.

14

Hi Jeffrey.

My Roon Server is as follows:

Mac Mini Server (Mid 2011) 2Ghz Core i7 4Gig ram
OS macOS Sierra (10.12.5)
Music is stored on one of the two HD on the MacMini
My collection is 3,800+ songs.

I have ordered a Sonore microRendu which I hope will resolve this issue for me in that the Mac USB ports are bypassed. When the microRendu shows up, I’ll let you know.

Jim Murphy

15

HI Jeffrey.
Your statement that “The Eitr works fine with Roon Bridge on Linux”, is that using exclusive mode?

Thanks!
Jim Murphy

16

Hi Jim,

Thank you!

It is exclusive mode. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t see an option for the OS mixer on this endpoint.

Enjoy that microRendu!

17

I have the same skipping problem as @jeffrey using Eitr on both:

  • Rock on i5 NUC, and
  • Mac Mini late 2012 2.3 i7 (el capitan) running roon bridge

However, running Audirvana exclusive with integer mode works well for up to 24/96 which is the highest my dac can do.

Thanks

18

Hello Bastian,

Thank you for posting here.

Your experience is in line with what @James_Murphy and I (and others) have experienced. There appears to be some kind of conflict when Roon and Schiit’s Gen 5 USB get together. Support has reached out to Jim at his thread here.

I set up an Odroid Roon Bridge endpoint last night, but had the same problem I had with the Raspberry Pi. Redbook quality files played with no problem. Anything above 16 bit failed.

Then I tried something that should have been done first.

When I plugged the Odroid directly into the Modi’s Gen 2 USB input, the problems went away and everything up to the 192/24 limit of the DAC played relatively fine. (There were some cracks and pops, but at least they played.)

Something is going on with the Gen 5 USB. I have a support request in to Schiit and Roon’s support team is on it from their end. I’m confident it will be working as expected soon.

19

Hi Jeffrey,

Thank you for the update.
I have been using musical fidelity vlink without problems too.

I tried connecting the Eitr straight to the rock with the same result.

What’s funny is that when I bought the vlink, it came with audioquest forest USB cable which the Eitr cannot connect both on the Mac and rock.

Bastian

20

Hi Jeffrey.

I also had a support request with Schiit. I was sent an email by Schiit asking me to return the Yggdrasil, Is this what Schiit is telling you about your Eitr?

Thanks!
Jim Murphy