Schiit EITR

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@jaaptina I asked the same question recently on one of the Sonore threads and a member there suggested he felt there was a difference, although no details of what the difference was. 

 

My own tests described earlier in this thread, suggested the EITR had the greatest impact in my chain.

 

 

Adding the mR before it brought further small but worthwhile improvement but I wasn't suggesting that people rushed out and bought one. However, since you already have an mR, my gut feel, based on what I hear, would be to go for the EITR, connected by an UpTone USPCB to the mR.

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46 minutes ago, nbpf said:

Now you also have the possibility of adding the new Sonore ultraDigital to the microRendu. It is more expensive than the Schiit Eitr but at least it is not out of stock! 

 

There does not appear to be much detail about the ultraDigital to make any 'technical' comparisons with the EITR ... for the price difference, including a decent PS, it would have to 'go some' !

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Maybe my understanding is incorrect (I'm not a Roon user) ... but one would still need something like a xxxRendu or SoTM to act as the endpoint with both EITR and ultraDigital.... they are both purely DDC's.

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1 minute ago, George Hincapie said:

 

There is a thread on the Roon forums discussing it's use as an end point...

 

Out of curiosity I'll take a look ... would be interesting to learn how they achieve that ... altho' I thought end-points had to be a network device ... again, I could be wrong.

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10 minutes ago, nbpf said:

True but we (I) do not have much details about the Eitr as well. Anyway, the driver manual published on the Sonore site suggests that the ultraDigital could be just a repackaging of a Singxer device. This would be a bit disappointing. But let's wait and see what comes out, I guess next week we will have the first pictures of what is under the hood.

 

There's been a certain amount of description of the EITR's design on Schiit's blogs on 'the other forum' that I've picked up previously. A 'repackaging' (or cut-down) of the SU-1 might bring it closer to a F1. From my earlier tests, an F1 needed an outboard PS like the LPS-1 to get close to the EITR ... it fell considerably short using vBus power. But, lets see what transpires.

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Aahh, I see .... via USB direct. That would mean the Roon server would need to be fairly close to the audio equipment. Not ideal in my setup.

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18 minutes ago, nbpf said:

Nothing like that runs on a USB to SPDIF bridge as far as I understand, included the Schiit Eitr. I might be mistaken, of course.

 

There is no Roon friendly client software on the EITR that I am aware of and I'm unsure how the Roon client-server relationship works. Following on from that, if this client is not strictly required then IMO it makes a nonsense of Roon certified devices, if one can just connect any DDC direct to the server and is recognised as such.

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Thank-you all for clarifying. 

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@nbpf ... my reason for having the mR in the chain is mainly because the MacMini and NAS sit some way from from the audio equipment. I did some SQ tests with and without the mR and there was a worthwhile improvement (to me) via mR versus a direct USB connection to the EITR, particularly in regard to the quality of the soundstage depth. That may also be due to the fact that the signal is sent across Ethernet rather than USB. 

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@nbpf ... The xRendu and SoTM units do provide a low-power, audio optimised, clean output alternative to a regular consumer grade PC/MAC USB connection ... so, IMO, it's not really surprising that there should be a resulting benefit. Granted, that with a quality power supply (like an UpTone LPS-1) it does get pricey, although there are reasonably priced used mR's appearing now as people upgrade to uR or SMS200 Ultra.

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@nbpf ... I did flirt with the idea of a Mutec, before I got the EITR ... I heard some negative debate about it's power supply at the time (my knowledge may be out of date) and some people were resorting to making internal mods to improve things .. apart from voiding warranty, that's well beyond my competence levels  ! It is possible that Schiit will bring out a big brother to the EITR with more output options (incl BNC) but I suspect (speculate) that will be a few months down the road ... it may incorporate the new USB firmware design that Mike Moffat is working on. Other than that, as you suggest, it will be interesting to see how the ultraDigital fares.

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@nbpf If I understand you correctly ... I'm not sure how advisable it would be to run your own Debian setup on ANY of these devices ... they use cut-down (optimised) versions of Linux to suit the hardware. Even if you could get it working, would it invalidate warranty and hardware support ?

 

I'm not sure how 'modular' or 'upgradeable' the bigger EITR might be ... maybe just the USB input as with their DACs.

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@nbpf ... the only titbit of information I read was on Mike Moffat's blog, where he said ...

 

Quote

Ivana for now is working on the translation of UAC2 audio (USB2) into a microprocessor. This will be a project of some duration. The reason for the moment is not to build a Gen V USB killer, but more for us to have a better low-cost solution. Most DACs which would glue to common USB solutions (XMOS, Cmedia, etc.) are I2S Sigma Delta types, which exhibit relatively high levels of sonic asstivity. Since we have a DSP processor in our entire upgardable line, we can configure much higher quality DACs, an ability which can be realized at the under $200 market when we have the USB running in our own micro. We will no longer be constrained by "audio" DACs.

 

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In considering whether the new Sonore ultraDigital is a viable alternative to the EITR, Sonore have clarified that the ultraDigital is intended as an add-on for xRendu owners 'only'. So, reading between the lines, that implies (to me) that the uD does require a 'clean' USB signal for optimum SQ. 

 

It would be interesting to hear if any xRendu owners have compared EITR to ultraDigital.

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Indeed Scott ... that is the preferable 'clean' solution for upgradeable Schiit DACs, although some (including myself) will have other DACs, as with your Modi. BTW, how does the Modi sound with the EITR ... is it a significant improvement ? I was considering one to replace in my current transportable system together with a Magni 3.

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13 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

 

Yes, Eitr makes a big difference with the Modi Multibit. Mimby's SPDIF RCA input is really quite good while the USB implementation is only fair. I really can't believe how phenomenal my nearfield setup sounds now with the new Vali 2, Mimby, and Eitr.

 

By the way, I think:

 

ultraRendu --> Yggdrasil (Gen 5 USB) 

 

Sounds better than:

 

ultraRendu --> Eitr --> Yggdrasil

 

There is no reason to believe the same won't be true with Gumby.

 

I LOVE how simple my chain is now!!!

 

Thank-you for your thoughts ... yes, the GMB Gen5 upgrade is on my to-do list but getting new headphones won first ! 

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@Mshenay .. Welcome !  Most of us here would agree that EITR is an impressive unit, especially at the price.

 

The outboard PS is simply an AC step-down transformer feeding 6VAC into the EITR, inside which is the linear power circuitry ... I'm unsure why you feel it is lack-lustre. I imagine the on-board Gen5 has similar circuitry ... I'm not sure ... maybe someone could clarify. 

 

I have an original microRendu feeding the EITR and yes, it does make a worthwhile difference IME ... whether it's worth $875 for an ultraRendu + LPS, I haven't tried but @Speed Racer clearly suggests it does.

 

I suspect a s/hand Yggdrasil might be difficult to find ... that seems to be a rare event ! If a new one is a stretch, perhaps also consider a new Gungnir MultiBit (also with Gen5) ... it's pretty close to a Yggdrasil, maybe a bit less resolving ... but very satisfying nonetheless.

 

I also found significant overall improvement with a Balanced Power Supply, feeding mains to the EITR, DAC & AMP (only) and isolating from any other units (especially SMPS's) ... something else to consider !

 

What DAC are you currently using with the EITR ?

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Good news @OldBigEars ! I agree with @Abtr on the approach of isolating mains supply to audio gear from absolutely ANYTHING else, particularly SMPS's. His recommendation earlier in this thread persuaded me to go down that route and I was surprised at the positive difference in sound quality this achieved. It's probably my tweak of the year !

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@jaaptina ... Yes, IMO a LPS is a mandatory recommendation for the xRendus. Do you still intend to pair up with an EITR ? I am running an original mR v1.3 into EITR and altho' some suggest the 1.4 upgrade (or even an ultraRendu) is an improvement in that setup, I am not yet persuaded that the difference will be worthwhile. So long as the EITR gets a good quality signal, it does the rest to produce good SQ. So, the question is, how much better quality signal does it have to be to make a worthwhile difference through the EITR ? ... and why ?

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@OldBigEars ... let us know your thoughts when you get the mR upgrade done.

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5 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

An LPS made a noticeable improvement with my ultraRendu.  I went with a Teddy Pardo 7vdc unit. I really would have liked to go with the UpTone Audio UltraCap LPS-1 as I think the use of capacitors is a great idea. But, the fact that it needs another energizing supply (which really needs to be an LPS so the AC mains are not contaminated) and that it puts out only 1 amp stopped me.

 

@Speed Racer ... I presume the Teddy Pardo unit is this one ... https://www.teddypardo.com/powersupplies/teddy7-2.html ... looks remarkable value compared to the LPS-1 ... I wonder what the difference in SQ is. The iFi iPower energiser for the LPS-1 on my setup is outside the Balanced Power Supply and I noticed that made a difference when I did some swap-out tests a while ago. The sound I get is very clear now and low level detail is remarkable. Difficult to see how it could get much better ... but who knows !

 

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41 minutes ago, Abtr said:

I'm interested in any experience with the AQ Niagara which, according to AudioQuest, might be a game changer. Yet I'm skeptical it could outperform an audio-grade (low capacitance) mains IT..

 

Me too ! For the price difference between an Airlink Transformer and Niagara, it would have to unequivocally trounce the Airlink ! I worry that it's a 'conditioner' having previously been advised against this for audio.

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58 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Look at it from an investment perspective, a  $235 upgrade keeps your microRendu  current, improves the sound and makes it easier to resell later if you move on. Where else will that $235 get you better bang for the buck?

 

Thank-you for your thoughts @davide256 ... although I have never looked at any audio equipment purchase as an 'investment' ! It would have to be a worthwhile improvement to justify shipping and re-importing to France. 

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58 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Back to the Audioquest Niagra - it sells for $7,000 -    ~~15x the cost of a Topaz...

 

I saw a price of $995 ... still high tho' compared to what I spent on the Airlink Transformer unit.

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Great news @davide256 ... Yes, some burn-in does help settling down ... I keep the EITR (& DAC) on 24/7.