Schiit EITR

[Charente]

@Speed Racer No contradiction intended ... merely for information (and confirmation). I take your point about transformer types, but with my almost non-existent EE knowledge it's difficult to delve into some of the more challenging issues that seem evident with such PS as the Topaz (for example). It's why the Airlink off-the-shelf, readily available solution, appealed and has brought worthwhile benefits to me ... they may not be top-notch perfect, but for the moment I'm more than happy to accept.

[Abtr]

1 hour ago, sbenyo said:

@Abtr,  can you describe which DC-blocker is installed and how you installed it. I am interesting in the BPS solution and if it works great including DC-Blocker I may go for it.

In addition, are you using anything else on the USB chain? Does it help or is the Airlink briniging the most significant improvement?

 

 

Hi sbenyo.  It's a Rod Elliott DC-blocker: http://sound.whsites.net/articles/xfmr-dc.htm (figure 8 in the link). I used a 400V 25A bridge rectifier with a hole in the center (to bolt it to the chassis), plus two 10000μF 10V (low ESR) Panasonic FC series capacitors. The capacitors are connected to AC phase and to each other with screw connectors. Connections on the bridge rectifier are made with solid copper wire and spade plugs. The whole thing is quite rigid.

 

IME, if you connect your DAC, preamp and poweramp(s) to the Airlink and anything else to regular wall power (or another isolation transformer), then all that matters is galvanic isolation of the USB chain from the DAC. In my system, with balanced power, Intona and/or Iso Regen sound better over USB than Schiit Eitr over S/PDIF (with or without Intona or IR). With regular noisy single phase power it's a different story..

[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. 

[Abtr]

18 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

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. 

 

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

[Lebouwsky]

19 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

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. 

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

[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.

[Lebouwsky]

6 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

 

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.

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?

[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....

[Solid-State]

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/75ohmrca.htm

[Lebouwsky]

36 minutes ago, TubeMan said:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/75ohmrca.htm

This is the plug I'm going for in combination with the silver neotech nevd-2001 silver cable.... unless the rumour is true that schiit comes out with an Eitr V2 with a BNC output.

[Charente]

I've been keenly listening to the new Airlink Balanced Power Supply (BPS) for the last few days and following on from comments made by @Abtr & @Speed Racer I experimented with placement of the two SMPS I use (an iFi for the LPS-1>microRendu and the other the Schiit PS for the EITR).

 

At first I had put everything, including both SMPS, into the same power strip connected to the BPS and the results were as I described in an earlier impressions post.

 

However, putting both SMPS into a separate strip outside of the BPS revealed (to me) what sounded like a compressed soundstage, particularly in regard to the depth ... although all the detail was still there. It is also as if I was sitting much closer to the musicians. The stage did not seem 'natural' or 'realistic' to me.

 

I wondered whether the real culprit here is the iFi, so I put the EITR SMPS back into the strip attached to the BPS, with all the other components, leaving the iFi out on its own. This restored the soundstage depth but additionally brought a refinement to the sound that I had not heard before. The difference is certainly noticeable to my ears.

 

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.

 

I will play through a few more albums to verify what I'm hearing but this is now by far the best setup with the BPS in my opinion. 

[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.

[Charente]

@Speed Racer Thank-you ... for me the iFi iPower is definitely better off on its own in a separate outlet OUTSIDE of the BPS. The iPower seemed to be affecting the EITR power when it was sharing the same strip.

[Abtr]

14 hours ago, Charente said:

@Speed Racer Thank-you ... for me the iFi iPower is definitely better off on its own in a separate outlet OUTSIDE of the BPS. The iPower seemed to be affecting the EITR power when it was sharing the same strip.

 

I can't find the link but there is a blog on the audiosciencereview forum showing that the original Meanwell SMPS of the LPS-1/Regen is (much) quieter than the Ifi iPower in terms of noise put back into AC mains. I use the Meanwell (outside the BPS) to power the LPS-1.

[89reksal]

This thread (link below) described a simple way to deal with leakage currents from smps. Not sure if it would help with the iFi Power but it's an interesting idea.

I believe grounding is a huge area to be explored.  I've gone all in on the "extreme grounding" concept, which involves connecting component chassis' together with heavy gauge (0 gauge) wire in a star ground configuration. I only have about 3 days in so far, where about 200 hours has been suggested as the time needed for the system to settle, but the change/improvement so far is not subtle at all imo.

 

@RogerD is the one who brought this to my attention in a thread on the General Forum about Chassis Grouding. He also has quite the thread here:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?1769-My-2-channel-experiment/page21

 

[Abtr]

20 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

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. 

 

Possibly the S/PDIF input of the Yggdrasil is better than the S/PDIF input of my Schiit Modi Multibit DAC and/or the USB input of the MM is better than the Yggdrasil's. I assume you know that there's a Gen 5 USB upgrade available from Schiit for the Yggdrasil. The Eitr proves that Gen 5 USB works. I suspect that it will beat Eitr + S/PDIF in your system..

[sahmen]

There is an issue with the Eitr/Yggdrasil combo--erratic clicking and sound dropouts--which has not been properly addressed as yet by Schiit audio...  Oddly though, The Eitr plays much much nicer with a Metrum Acoustics Hex with which I replaced the Yggrasil (which is now off to Schiit Audio for the USB 5 upgrade)..in the same chain...

 

Quoting my own post from another site:

" the Eitr was making the Yggy click like crazy, during playback, as well as in idle mode, several times a day. With the Eitr/Hex combo, conversely, I have just noticed something happen on just two occasions: I called that "something" a click, but it is nothing like those I used to hear on the Yggy... Both times, it was more like an ever-so-soft and ever-so-brief "blip" of a sound accompanied by a mild blink of the blue light on the Hex, and that was all., Whatever it is, it has been nowhere near as obnoxious, and frankly, as worrisome as the Eitr/Yggy combo was becoming to me. It has been 11 days now since the Yggy left here and was replaced by Hex, and I haven't seen or heard a single click or drop on the hex during music playback, and I find that to be relatively pleasing considering the alternative...

That said, all things being equal, and with all "clicks" taken out of the picture, I would rather have the Yggy installed in this particular system, and that is why I am hoping there shall be no clicking on the USB5 equipped Yggy, when it gets back."

 

The clicking reportedly goes away with the Gen 5 USB installation, but some people are reporting compatibility issues between the Gen 5 USB and Micro/Ultrarendu's serving as Roon endpoints...  Has anyone experienced such issues?

[Charente]

I do get the occasional click from the Gungnir MB as well but I have traced this specifically to fluorescent lighting starters and the relays in the lighting system in my house lighting system as lights are turned off or on. This has previously been explained by Mike Moffat ....

... but your clicking problem sounds more acute !

[OldBigEars]

4 hours ago, sahmen said:

There is an issue with the Eitr/Yggdrasil combo--erratic clicking and sound dropouts--which has not been properly addressed as yet by Schiit audio...  Oddly though, The Eitr plays much much nicer with a Metrum Acoustics Hex with which I replaced the Yggrasil (which is now off to Schiit Audio for the USB 5 upgrade)..in the same chain...

 

Quoting my own post from another site:

" the Eitr was making the Yggy click like crazy, during playback, as well as in idle mode, several times a day. With the Eitr/Hex combo, conversely, I have just noticed something happen on just two occasions: I called that "something" a click, but it is nothing like those I used to hear on the Yggy... Both times, it was more like an ever-so-soft and ever-so-brief "blip" of a sound accompanied by a mild blink of the blue light on the Hex, and that was all., Whatever it is, it has been nowhere near as obnoxious, and frankly, as worrisome as the Eitr/Yggy combo was becoming to me. It has been 11 days now since the Yggy left here and was replaced by Hex, and I haven't seen or heard a single click or drop on the hex during music playback, and I find that to be relatively pleasing considering the alternative...

That said, all things being equal, and with all "clicks" taken out of the picture, I would rather have the Yggy installed in this particular system, and that is why I am hoping there shall be no clicking on the USB5 equipped Yggy, when it gets back."

 

The clicking reportedly goes away with the Gen 5 USB installation, but some people are reporting compatibility issues between the Gen 5 USB and Micro/Ultrarendu's serving as Roon endpoints...  Has anyone experienced such issues?

 

I initially had random, occasional pops after installing Eitr.  I increased the memory buffer and the problem went away.  

 

Try that if you can....hope it helps 

[sahmen]

Yes, I read Mike's explanation about capacitance and inductances, sending pulses that can "cause a tic or a few millisecond interruption in the Eitr."  I think the effect was particularly severe on my Yggy probably because my living room, in which it was located, also has an adjoining kitchen with many non-audio appliances that were emitting the offensive pulses.  That said, I am still left wondering why the Eitr plays so nicely with the Metrum Hex, which has replaced the Yggy in the same chain, and in the same listening area. The Eitr/Hex combo is extremely well-behaved, and very composed, as compared to the Eitr/Yggy combo.  It's a good thing the Eitr is going to stay with the Hex in another system when the Yggy comes back with the USB 5 upgrade.

[sahmen]

 I initially had random, occasional pops after installing Eitr.  I increased the memory buffer and the problem went away.  

Try that if you can....hope it helps 

**************

 

That is good to know.  Thanks for the tip.

[Charente]

@sahmen I'm not familiar with the Metrum Hex (more's the pity), but just a thought .... does it have a relay like on the Gungnir & Ygdrassil for switching between resolutions ? I'm wondering whether this relay makes the resulting effect you describe more pronounced ?

[sahmen]

8 minutes ago, Charente said:

@sahmen I'm not familiar with the Metrum Hex (more's the pity), but just a thought .... does it have a relay like on the Gungnir & Ygdrassil for switching between resolutions ? I'm wondering whether this relay makes the resulting effect you describe more pronounced ?

I am not sure about this.  Will have to verify and let you know.

[Abtr]

1 hour ago, sahmen said:

Yes, I read Mike's explanation about capacitance and inductances, sending pulses that can "cause a tic or a few millisecond interruption in the Eitr." ...

 

I can't find that on the Schiit website..