Schiit EITR

[Lebouwsky]

10 hours ago, Charente said:

@OldBigEars Thank-you for your comments. After a few tests that I have done, I would agree that the EITR can be affected (positively or negatively) by what one might place in front of it. My own tests, which I repeated a few times, revealed that a microRendu and the UpTone USPCB both make small but worthwhile SQ improvements ... most noticeable to me is that these additions incrementally produce a clearer soundstage depth ... instruments at the back, like cymbals, shimmer or splash more intricately and ambient echoes decay with satisfying realism. 

Rack space won't allow me to connect the sms200 to the eitr by the uspcb. Does it make sence to connect a female to female usb adapter to the uspcb, so I can use my usb cable to connect in to the eitr?

[Charente]

Hi @Lebouwsky Mmm ... I see your issue ... presumably, the SMS200 is too long to fit behind your DAC ... but I'm not sure you would get all the benefits of the USPCB that way ... might depend on your USB cable to the EITR ... I haven't tried that so perhaps someone else who's tried that might weigh in ?

[Lebouwsky]

23 minutes ago, Charente said:

Hi @Lebouwsky Mmm ... I see your issue ... presumably, the SMS200 is too long to fit behind your DAC ... but I'm not sure you would get all the benefits of the USPCB that way ... might depend on your USB cable to the EITR ... I haven't tried that so perhaps someone else who's tried that might weigh in ?

@Charente I've asked uptone what's their opinion. My compliments for the way you repond to this topic. Based on that I've ordered the eitr. As soon as I'm back home next friday I will test it. Really looking forward to it and will report back my findings.

[Charente]

@Lebouwsky Good idea !! I hope you won't hold me wholly responsible !!   Do let us know what they say and your own experience with the EITR ... good or not so good ... irrespective of what I may think !

[Ralf11]

you know, a poll would be useful

 

and the thread text could contain equipment lists; type of listening, comparisons, etc.

[Charente]

@Ralf11 I agree that when people give their impressions on CA one doesn't always know under what circumstances they are making their assessments. I'll have a think about that ... perhaps PM me with your criteria thoughts in more detail. All acknowledgements to your good-self, of course.

[Lebouwsky]

Words from uptone about the uspcb in combination with usb cable and female to female adapter in line:

 

The USPCB is simply a stripline impedance controlled 4-layer printed circuit board.  It works (as in sounds better than any cable) because it is more ideal than a cable.  There is no magic or circuitry to it (well there is a silly switch and transistor to allow turning off of VBUS power but that does not affect sound).  So if you can not use it as a cable eliminator, then there is no point to using it.  Adding gender-changing adapters to allow the USPCB to be in line will only make things worse.

[Charente]

@Lebouwsky Thank-you for sharing ... that's unequivocal then !

[EMMM]

After a full week of running in, I must say my Eitr + Amber Regen combo sounds fantastic.  Listening to Eric Clapton's Unplugged CD, the atmosphere of the studio was palpable, with vocals and notes conveyed with remarkable clarity and focus.  Imaging was rock solid.  For their respective prices, I would say they are bargains.

 

[Charente]

@EMMM That's one superb album ... one of Clapton's best IMO ! Presumably you also tried the EITR WITHOUT the Regen in front of it ? 

[EMMM]

@Charente, yes I did try the Eitr without the Amber Regen initially.  It certainly made an improvement in sound quality compared to when there was nothing in the chain and when there as just the Amber Regen.  Putting the two of them together makes it a great combination in my system.

[Charente]

@EMMM Thank-you for your comments ... and I note from your setup that you also use the UpTone USPCB connector.

[EMMM]

8 minutes ago, Charente said:

@EMMM Thank-you for your comments ... and I note from your setup that you also use the UpTone USPCB connector.

Yes, it's what I would consider another audiophile bargain.  With the USPCB, I can stop worrying about whether my USB cable is the bottleneck or not and save tons of cash instead of constantly upgrading USB cables.  I'm considering ordering another 90degree one from Uptone to replace my existing Supra cable.

[Lebouwsky]

22 minutes ago, EMMM said:

Yes, it's what I would consider another audiophile bargain.  With the USPCB, I can stop worrying about whether my USB cable is the bottleneck or not and save tons of cash instead of constantly upgrading USB cables.  I'm considering ordering another 90degree one from Uptone to replace my existing Supra cable.

Exactly what I was thinking, guess I'll have to be creative with my rack space. Would the Supra 75ohm cable be a good choise?

[OldBigEars]

2 hours ago, EMMM said:

@Charente, yes I did try the Eitr without the Amber Regen initially.  It certainly made an improvement in sound quality compared to when there was nothing in the chain and when there as just the Amber Regen.  Putting the two of them together makes it a great combination in my system.

 

I feel like a bit of a plonker for selling my W4S Recovery before my Eitr even arrived.  (It sold quicker than expected).  Don't get me wrong, the Eitr is miles better than the Recovery,  but it would have been interesting to hear them together.  I bought into the story that upstream equipment doesn't influence the SQ, but my experience with the Curious USB cable and your experience with the Regen say otherwise.

[EMMM]

2 hours ago, Lebouwsky said:

Exactly what I was thinking, guess I'll have to be creative with my rack space. Would the Supra 75ohm cable be a good choise?

@Lebouwsky, I'm sorry, I don't really have any experience with Supra cables apart from my Supra USB cable.  I'm using an old Audioquest digital coaxial cable that I had lying around and it sounds fine.  I also compared it to a much newer Belden 1694F (which was 4m long and wasn't burned it fully) and preferred the Audioquest for its clarity, though I felt I got a bit more dynamics and deeper bass with the Belden.  I might get around to trying a shorter length Belden 1694F, but I'm not in a rush

 

@OldBigEars, I guess this is what makes this hobby so fun (and at times so downright frustrating).  I too was under the assumption that nothing upstream before the Eitr matters but my personal experience shows otherwise.  I also experimented with using my Mac Mini Late-2012 as a source instead of the SOtM SMS-200 but that was a non-starter.  It was plainly obvious that the SMS-200 is a far superior source.  I love the Eitr for what it does, but I guess it pays to try out a few alternate USB cables and decrapifiers.  I'm still trying to figure out if adding the Amber Regen to my chain is taking away any detail, but at this moment, I don't think so.

[Lebouwsky]

34 minutes ago, EMMM said:

@Lebouwsky, I'm sorry, I don't really have any experience with Supra cables apart from my Supra USB cable.  I'm using an old Audioquest digital coaxial cable that I had lying around and it sounds fine.  I also compared it to a much newer Belden 1694F (which was 4m long and wasn't burned it fully) and preferred the Audioquest for its clarity, though I felt I got a bit more dynamics and deeper bass with the Belden.  I might get around to trying a shorter length Belden 1694F, but I'm not in a rush

 

@OldBigEars, I guess this is what makes this hobby so fun (and at times so downright frustrating).  I too was under the assumption that nothing upstream before the Eitr matters but my personal experience shows otherwise.  I also experimented with using my Mac Mini Late-2012 as a source instead of the SOtM SMS-200 but that was a non-starter.  It was plainly obvious that the SMS-200 is a far superior source.  I love the Eitr for what it does, but I guess it pays to try out a few alternate USB cables and decrapifiers.  I'm still trying to figure out if adding the Amber Regen to my chain is taking away any detail, but at this moment, I don't think so.

When I looked at your profile this morning I was quite surpised your sms200 was in your bedroom setup. Nice to read you discovered the quality of it.

 

thanks for the advice btw

[cfisher]

Added a Gen. 5 USB input to my Yggy, which allowed me to compare:

 

A: Ultrarendu>Eitr>Yggy>Freya>ARC VS 55>Spatial M3 Turbo S

B: Microrendu (hw: 1.3/sw: 2.5)>Yggy>Freya>ARC VS 55>Spatial M3 Turbo S

 

I do think the Ultrarendu sounds better (more detail, density, presence, I dunno). In my opinion, the Gen. 5 USB does close the gap between the Ultrarendu and Microrendu significantly. I had to listen closely for the differences and they were more noticeable on some tracks than others. The differences were also more apparent when I was going A>B than when I was going B>A. When I listened to the track first on the Microrendu, I just enjoyed the music and did not hear anything deficient. I should have done this blind but I didn't, so I imagine there is some expectation bias in all of this.

 

Both the Ultrarendu and Microrendu were powered by LPS-1s. The coaxial from the Eitr was from monoprice. USB cables were Shunyata and Cardas.

[Charente]

@cfisher Interesting observations ... I have an mR version like yours and was thinking about upgrading the board to 1.4. But, if the difference between uR and mR into Gen 5 USB is not great, then this upgrade might not be worthwhile ... since 1.4 doesn't quite give you the quality of the uR ... if that makes sense.

[OldBigEars]

6 hours ago, EMMM said:

 

@OldBigEars, I guess this is what makes this hobby so fun (and at times so downright frustrating).  I too was under the assumption that nothing upstream before the Eitr matters but my personal experience shows otherwise.  I also experimented with using my Mac Mini Late-2012 as a source instead of the SOtM SMS-200 but that was a non-starter.  It was plainly obvious that the SMS-200 is a far superior source.  I love the Eitr for what it does, but I guess it pays to try out a few alternate USB cables and decrapifiers.  I'm still trying to figure out if adding the Amber Regen to my chain is taking away any detail, but at this moment, I don't think so.

 

Interesting what you say about the improvement going from MacMini to the SOtM SMS200.  Sounds like a night/day difference....  Which is obviously a lot clearer and more definitive than Charente's experience using mR or even uR.  May I clarify with both of you - are you using upgraded power supplies with your mR / SMS?  Schiit's website propaganda states there should be no benefit, but then they also recommend using their BullSchiit USB 

[Charente]

@OldBigEars My mR is powered by an UpTone LPS-1. It's probably my own oldish ears that aren't hearing the same 'night/day' differences as @EMMM or it may just be my own perception ... as I mentioned before, they are worthwhile differences to me. I would say that as things have settled down over the last 3 weeks or so, and I have repeated the test recently for my own curiosity (sanity ?), ... the differences between MacMini > Audirvana > EITR versus MacMini > Audirvana > mR > USPCB > EITR seem more 'obvious' than I recall during the first couple of days or so. The practical fact is I am now more enthralled by the music through my setup than I was before ... there is no question about that. I am particularly impressed by the clarity of the soundstage depth and the precise way in which instruments and voices are presented. It sounds more 'convincing' to me.

 

[George Hincapie]

Out of curiosity, other than a Pi type product, is there another end point that will take ethernet as the source and output to SPDIF with no USB anywhere in the chain? Imagine an Eitr or mR/uR with ethernet basically. Does it exist?

[rickca]

14 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

Out of curiosity, other than a Pi type product, is there another end point that will take ethernet as the source and output to SPDIF with no USB anywhere in the chain? Imagine an Eitr or mR/uR with ethernet basically. Does it exist?

DCS Network Bridge, Sonore Signature Series Rendu (discontinued, but limited availability from Sonore).

[George Hincapie]

Are those the only options?

[George Hincapie]

D'oh! Of course the Aries Mini I already have in my headphone station is another possibility. Also £3000 less than the dCS bridge.

 

Basically I want ethernet from my bridged VortexBox into a super high SQ end point with SPDIF out to my DAC. I'll have to try the Aries in that chain; I have an LPSU for it already. Shame it's not 75 Ohm BNC; can't have everything though I suppose.