Schiit EITR

[Speed Racer]

1 hour ago, cfisher said:

I have had an Eitr for a few days and it is great. I ran my microrendu into it and compared that to my ultrarendu and I have to say the differences were negligible. The only problem I have encountered is that while the Eitr works great with a micro/ultra-rendu feeding it, direct connection using "exclusive mode" in Roon is not currently working. It would be an amazing product at many multiples of its $179 price. I want to see what happens when I power it with an LPS-1.  

 

You can't power the Eitr with an LPS-1. It takes 6VAC.

[Speed Racer]

Charente,

 

If I were you and had a microRendu, I would upgrade Gumpy with the new Gen 5 USB interface and run USB from the microRendu straight into Gumby.

[Speed Racer]

1 hour ago, Charente said:

Yes, I have thought about that. It's the insured shipping cost from France>UK to get that done is a consideration for me ... could easily be another €100 couriered. That, coupled with the fact that I heard such an improvement (to my ears) thru GMB's S/PDIF input (over its USB) is keeping me on that path. I've not really heard a consensus that Gen 5 USB is better now than S/PDIF ... Perhaps there is no difference.... I'm not sure.

 

If you more on SBAF, you will see that it is said that using Eitr to the S/PDIF input of Gumby is the same as going USB to Gumby with Gen 5 USB. The Gen 5 USB card for the DAC is the same implementation is Eitr. It just out the middle man and gets rid of another box and cable.

[Speed Racer]

47 minutes ago, Panelhead said:

  What coax cable is included with the eitr?

None. 

[Speed Racer]

2 hours ago, Lesailes said:

@dave, have you ever compared between eitr and singxer F1 or mutec. I've intention to upgrade from F1 to eitr, so this is really a valuable information for me and others also. Thanks Dave.

 

I am not @dave.....but I have an opinion..

 

I have been listening (on a near filed setup that I am quite familiar with) back and forth between Singxer F-1/Yggdrasil and Eitr/Yggdrasil combo. There are five test songs that I used on my nearfield setup to compare tubes in both my headphone amp and my preamp. I know very well how these songs sound on different setups. These songs are:

 

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Susie Q - CCR

Roundabout - Yes

The Pink Panther Theme - Henry Mancini (1993)

Come Together - Beatles

 

The Eitr is better than the F-1. With Eitr, the background is quieter. Instrument and voice separation are more distinct. The overall sound stage is better. The timbre of voices and instruments have more resolution, more detail. Bass is much more visceral but with improved clarity. Instead of being just a deep thud or single noise, you can pick out the vibration of the drum or strings. This is not all that surprising considering Eitr offers full galvanic isolation.

 

It's been a while since I listened to the LPS-1 powered ISO Regen/USPCB/Singxer F-1 combination. But, based on the improvements I remember that combo had over an F-1 by itself, I would say the Eitr is every bit as good as the LPS-1 powered ISO Regen/USPCB/Singxer F-1 combination. I do recall the soundstage improvements being better with the LPS-1 powered ISO Regen/USPCB/Singxer F-1 combination. I remember there being more laser-like focus on sound locations within the soundstage. But, I believe the bass performance of the Eitr is a bit better actually. There is the same clarity and detail with the bass but with more fullness and depth.

 

The Eitr is not quite as good in one area and is marginally better in another. Neither difference is what I would call significant. Both setups offer incredible soundstage and bass performance improvements over the Singxer F-12 alone.

 

When you consider the cost of each solution the Eitr is a steal!

The Eitr works wonders with my Mimby too!

[Speed Racer]

4 minutes ago, OldBigEars said:

My new Eitr arrives tomorrow - looking forward to it as you can imagine, considering all the positive reviews.  

 

I have a spare IFI low noise power supply 9V 2.0 amps.  Can someone tell me if this would be  safe or unsafe to try with the Eitr? (it's supplied with a 9VA 6VAC wall-wart). I obviously would hate to damage anything.

 

I'll let you all know how it sounds between my MBP and Hegel HD25 DAC.

  

 

The iFi iPower provides DC, not AC......the Eitr has a linear power supply built in.

[Speed Racer]

With my nearfield setup with a balanced power setup using a Topaz isolation transformer, I found that my Mimby sounds just as good with the Eitr as it it did with the ISO Regen/LPS-1 combination. Both sound quite a bit better than plain USB.

[Speed Racer]

36 minutes ago, feelingears said:

So as someone has already suggested, if you're buying Schiit DACs then wait for Gen 5 USB. Others, well, buyer beware as I've thought the Holo would have decent USB. But I'm posting here only because the discussion is about Eitr and thus the external USB to S/PDIF conversion Alex feels is a "major compromise." The fact that for many DACs these USB decrapifiers work is I suppose, telling of both USB input board quality AND USB's inherent audio quality. That said I am reading about at least two people who have gone back to straight USB after AoIP. This appeals to my KISS approach and the fact it means fewer boxes/power supplies/cables (which may equal less money as well). And I'm talking Redbook files mainly, not hi-res files. 

 

All Schiit DACs from Bifrost on up have been shipping with Gen 5 USB only since USB Gen 5 and Eitr were announced.

 

Most DACs don't have "decent" USB so often a DDC that allows you to bypass the DAC's USB port and go in through S/PDIF, AES3, or I2S can be an improvement. No matter what I tried with my Yggdrasil DAC, using a Singxer F-1 to feed the Yggdrasil's S/PDIF RCA port was better than using USB. Eitr worked better than the Singxer F-1 in my testing. Heck, Eitr, by itself, worked as well as the ISO Regen/LPS-1/Singxer F-1 combination.

[Speed Racer]

19 minutes ago, Charente said:

I had thought that a DC Blocker was simply a solution for fixing hum issues, but your suggestion that it also provides SQ benefits is of interest. What might we expect in terms of sound by adding this component ?

 

A DC Blocker is only going to affect SQ if your isolation transformer is saturated by DC offset.

[Speed Racer]

2 minutes ago, Charente said:

@Speed Racer Presumably ... to be clear in my (non EE) mind ... if it is saturated by DC offset then that manifests itself as audible hum ... which I don't experience.

 

I've never had enough DC offset on the AC line to saturate my Topaz so I don't know what it would sound like in regards to transformer noise. The Topaz can't pass DC offset so the only SQ issues would be loss of power, leakage flux, flux distortion, and associated secondary voltage harmonics.

[Speed Racer]

@Charente

 

Yes, but none of that information contradicts what I wrote. Toroidal transformers are much more affected by DC offset than other iron core types. So you have more to be concerned with tan I do using a Topaz. I don't think that toroidal is the best choice for an isolation transformer.

[Speed Racer]

Funny, I found that an Eitr in my setup replaced the ISO Regen/LPS1/Singer F-1 combo with no loss of sound quality. That’s an over $800 solution replaced by a $179 solution. Of course I do have an isolation transformer with balanced power in place and no SMPS bricks plug into the power strip plugged into the transformer. 

[Speed Racer]

48 minutes ago, Abtr said:

 

The Singxer F-1 is a USB to S/PDIF converter. Did you try Iso Regen connected directly to a DAC's USB input?

 

Yes. The ISO Regen/LPS-1/USPCB/Singxer F-1 combo going to the SPDIF RCA coax of Yggdrasil sounded better (cleaner and better soundstage) than the ISO Regen/LPS-1/USPCB combo to the USB port. 

[Speed Racer]

12 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

Was the singxer connected by a BNC or rca coax to your dac?

 

RCA since the cable I had was RCA -> RCA. At the length I was using, 1.5 meters, using BNC would little to no difference.

[Speed Racer]

13 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

Did you try a BNC? It is said rca doesn't meet the 75 ohm spec, which might influence the data integrity. 

 

Maybe worth a try?

 

The Singxer F-1 is RCA out so it really doesn't matter...again, especially at 1.5 meters. I am using the exact same cable with Eitr....

[Speed Racer]

22 minutes ago, Charente said:

I'm not sure what it is about the iFi that creates this negative effect on the sound... I had previously heard this was a quality PS. Clearly, it is indeed the 'bad boy' in my set-up.

 

The iFi iPower puts out nice quiet DC power...but the SMPS puts a lot of noise back into the AC mains. Depending on the ground situation, you might want the iPower plugged into the same power strip as everything else. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to try it in another outlet. The LPS -1 puts out clean power regardless. The Eitr gets power for its LPS from it's SMPS, so having it plugged into the power strip plugged into the BPS make sense.

[Speed Racer]

17 minutes ago, Charente said:

@George Hincapie I guess my thought of a micro or ultraRendu (or SoTM) > EITR may be 'too long' for you ... altho' that does include a good quality Roon EP. 

 

I have no idea why you would want to buy a Roon endpoint that was Ethernet in and USB out and then use the Eitr. USB is the enemy.

[Speed Racer]

I'd much rather have a Auralic Aries....

[Speed Racer]

I was thinking the standard version.....

[Speed Racer]

1 hour ago, Lebouwsky said:

http://www.basshead.club/spdif-battle-mutec-singxer-lynx-rednet-et-al/

 

That review is spot on. I found the Eitr by itself to be as good or better than the LPS1/ISO Regen/Singxer F-1 combination. That’s $179 versus ~$800. 

[Speed Racer]

32 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

Did you notice an improvement when adding a lps1/iso regen or the singxer to the eitr?

 

In my system the eitr made a huge step forward too. Adding the regen made it a bit better, more air and sparkle.  Thinking about upgrading the regen to the iso regen/lps1

 

There is no way I am going to get into the decrapifier for the decrapifier game. It's not worth the cost or complexity.

[Speed Racer]

You would not need the ifi SPDIF iPurifier unless the Eitr puts puts out a crappy signal. You are adding another SMPS to the system which is not likely necessary.

[Speed Racer]

9 minutes ago, pas said:

I notice the Modi MB and Gungnir MB have the same SPDIF input receiver, the AKM 4113.

 

The same as Yggdrasil.

[Speed Racer]

9 minutes ago, Charente said:

Part of the point of this thread was to prove (or dis-prove) the claim that nothing in front of the EITR makes any difference. I previously reported that the microRendu provided a small but worthwhile difference, particularly in soundstage depth in my setup, although I use it for other reasons as well. @pas's own impression with the ISO Regen is equally interesting. My conclusion was that there may to be something relating to the integrity of the USB signal fed into the EITR, since the power issues 'should' be well catered for in the EITR. I guess the same argument applies equally to Gen5 upgraded Schiit DACs.

 

I did consider including the ISO Regen but I am somewhat loath to put yet another box and its accompanying, potentially noise inducing, SMPS in the chain ... hence I focused instead on improving the mains supply to all the units. I argue that mains 'before' the EITR has a significant affect. More to follow about that !

 

The road to Hell is paved with decrapifiers being decrapified by other decrapifiers! 

[Speed Racer]

But, as you have found out, DC output in not the whole ball game!