On the modi end of things. And not even multibit
No, the Modius is a balanced Modi. It uses the AKM AK4493 chip, so it is an upgrade over the AK4490 chip the Modi uses. The Bitfrost is more than 3x the price of the Modius and is a multibit DAC.
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I don’t know the Schiit lineup, had this bias against them.
But at $700 the Bifrost would not fit the impulse buy category, runs up against competition.
One thing I did learn is that Schiit has a new homegrown USB receiver that dramatically improves jitter rejection. The Modi does not have it, the current Bifrost does but I got an impression that an earlier Bifrost did not and this was behind it’s terrible measurements. Not sure about that.
But the Modius measured well, cost little and fit the Jotunheim.
If it turns out on further acquaintance that it is not up to expectations or the SR1a level, I can replace it without grief.
Not sure if this new USB implementation (one that Schiit has patented I believe) is supported got the likes of ROCK/Nucleus and Ropieee etc. Anyone tried on these platforms if its out in the wild already?
Their non-destructive filter really does sound very good.
The Modius has the new USB receiver and it works direct from Nucleus.
I can try Ropiee and MicroRendu later.
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Schiit only does PCM, so no issues with USB in any OS. You only need kernel whitelisting for native DSD mode recognition.
So I just noticed…and they say it should work with any USB audio
And it comes with Unison USB?
Correct. Modius includes our own, proprietary USB interface (that is, not based on C-Media or XMOS, it was developed by us with about 2 person-years of R&D).
What’s so special about Unison USB?
It’s a very good USB interface designed to do a single thing well: to interface seamlessly with modern UAC2-compliant devices. There’s no stuff in it for DSD or MQA. It doesn’t have drivers for now-obsolete Windows platforms. It’s really just for getting PCM audio (still over 99% of all files) from your streamer or computer to this DAC.
Trying to get hold off any budget headamps in the UK is so hard at the moment. I want to get Schiit Heresy or JDS Labs Atom but can’t find any in stock. Even the Topping A50 has a wait of about a month not that I want this one.
They are out to, already looked. They must have closed down production as so much is out of stock. Or there has been a massive sales up turn.
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i’m considering a new amp/dac to go with a pair of Meze 99 Classics, and Beyer DT880s. both easy to drive, so it needn’t be anything too esoteric. current amp is a Schiit Jotenheim, which i like a lot, and i have the USB dac card installed.
Problem is i don’t want to use USB. my source is a Squeezebox Touch, and i find the EDO-to-Jotenheim USB connection to be flakey, sometimes requiring multiple reboots before a handshake occurs, and I want something simpler. Touch has Coax out as well, so that’s the preferred route.
i could add the new Modius Dac, but that’s another box, plus cables, and this is a small setup on my nightstand.
not a requirement, but MQA would be nice. i don’t have an MQA dac in the house, and would like to experiment a bit. can MQA be passed over Coax to a dac for full HW decode, or is it USB only?
This varies by DAC implementation. So yes, it can be done, but you need to check the specs first to confirm if the specific DAC you are considering will support it. Many only support MQA over USB as they use the XMOS USB chip to do the MQA decoding.
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does the pro-ject prebox support MQA over coax?
No idea, sorry. While I have a PreBox, I don’t have any MQA content to test it with (and never will). Perhaps someone else can confirm.
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Pretty sure it doesn’t.
Edit: confirmed: see the FAQs on https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/pre-box-s2-digital/
here’s the answer:
I have the RME -ADI-2 paired with Meze 99’s sounds amazing. Spdif, optical or USB all sound great. No MQ.A, but handle anything to 768/24
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i’m sure it does. a bit out of my budget for this particular system.
Ok, then I would look at a Topping then they generally offer a few differnet inputs and are cheap and are rated highly by some.