Decision: Schitt Modi Multibit or Pro-Ject Pre Box S2

[davide256]

On 2/13/2018 at 5:49 PM, bigbob said:

 

Rocky, don't count me among those who are mad.

 

My review unit of the Schiit Multibit just arrived, and I am into my first listening-- of a 24/192 Linn recording of various artists for their 40th Anniversary Collection.

 

I heard an immediate difference between the Mimby and the iFi iOne I had been testing.

 

Again, the Schiit has an almost 'creamy' presentation in the way that a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream tastes better if you let it soften a little, as opposed the frozen hard. (I am not like most of the Audiophile Literati, maybe because I enjoy Great Food as much as I enjoy High Fidelity Stereo music)

 

My normal listening level on my receiver is -20dB. With the Mimby, I can go up to -15dB and a wealth of detail is revealed.

 

My catchphrase is becoming, "I am hearing this passage for The First Time, despite playing it hundreds of times before."  And it has never been truer than the third cut, through the Mimby.

 

If the Yggdrasil can better this sound, at ten times the cost, I cannot imagine what that would sound like. But, at $249, this is an impressive soundstage, which is both holographic and filled with subtle details.

I haven't heard the Mimby, but having heard the Gumby and Yggdrasil side by side at CAF, it would be very easy to live with the Gumby in a system costing less than $10K.

[bigbob]

50 minutes ago, davide256 said:

I haven't heard the Mimby, but having heard the Gumby and Yggdrasil side by side at CAF, it would be very easy to live with the Gumby in a system costing less than $10K.

My Audiophile friend was there, and he was impressed. His DAC is a discrete Mark Levinson that was upgraded to 24/96. I have not heard either the Gumby or Yggdrasil... But at 1/10th the cost, the Mimby must be a Recommended component for a entry level system.

[Rocky Bennett]

Hello All,

I received the little Mimby on Wednesday. I must say that that was fantastic service considering I ordered it on Monday. Wednesday I hooked it up and immediately dropped about 12 hours of 24 bit Grateful Dead into my playlist and just let the system run all night to burn the little Mimby in. 

 

On Thursday I was ready for some serious listening. In short, I really like this little DAC. It sounds very nice compared to my last DAC, a Music Streamer II +. This Mimby is detailed yet warm. That is the greatest feature in fact, the warmth. For a dude on a budget, I can not say enough positive things about this little DAC.

 

I am quite pleased with my decision and I thank everybody here for their insights and input. I have been a member here for about 8 years, I read a lot here but rarely post. I love this place.

 

Rocky Bennett

[bigbob]

3 hours ago, Rocky Bennett said:

 Wednesday I hooked it up and immediately dropped about 12 hours of 24 bit Grateful Dead into my playlist and just let the system run all night to burn the little Mimby in. 

 

 For a dude on a budget, I can not say enough positive things about this little DAC.

 

 

 

Rocky-- Your initial impressions mirror exactly what I am experiencing with the Mimby. Warmth, and very 'musical'. I am sure that 12 hours of 24-bit Grateful Dead assisted in the 'mellowness'. One thing I have noticed, and am interested if you experience it also.

With 24-bit Dead, when I am sitting in the 'sweet spot' and close my eyes, the soundstage imaging is so accurate, I can see Jerry, Bobby, and Phil in their places on stage.

As a fellow member of the Tribe, I would be interested if you can 'see'  Jerry step up for the lead.

[zackthedog]

On 2/11/2018 at 12:31 PM, oldson said:

i would consider the original micro idsd (not the newer "BL" model).

not sure if still available new but i've seen them go on ebay for a shade over £200.

i currently use one and have compared briefly to chord mojo, i kept the ifi.

come to mention it, a used mojo would also be an excellent choice though you obviously will need a mini jack to rca adapter.

 

FWIW, a very discerning audiophile friend told me that his audio guru says that the original iFi Micro DSD is one of the best DACs on the market.

[Sam Lord]

16 hours ago, Rocky Bennett said:

Hello All,

....Wednesday I hooked it up and immediately dropped about 12 hours of 24 bit Grateful Dead into my playlist and just let the system run all night to burn the little Mimby in... 

...I love this place.

 

Awesome!  Just remember to run the Mimby continuously, with a signal into a load, for (at least) a month.  I say that about all electronics, but these multibit components are said to especially need it.  It's trivial for DACs and preamps, but for speakers and amps that's obviously a PITA.  But even with those, low-volume pink noise will help.  I had a broken-in Bimby and loved it, but I have lots of DSD music.     

[Rocky Bennett]

On 2/16/2018 at 8:41 AM, bigbob said:

 

Rocky-- Your initial impressions mirror exactly what I am experiencing with the Mimby. Warmth, and very 'musical'. I am sure that 12 hours of 24-bit Grateful Dead assisted in the 'mellowness'. One thing I have noticed, and am interested if you experience it also.

With 24-bit Dead, when I am sitting in the 'sweet spot' and close my eyes, the soundstage imaging is so accurate, I can see Jerry, Bobby, and Phil in their places on stage.

As a fellow member of the Tribe, I would be interested if you can 'see'  Jerry step up for the lead.

 

 

Wow bigbob, I am so glad that you posted this. It is always so nice to communicate with a fellow (dare I say it) Dead Head. I have hundreds of concerts stored on my hard drive in 24 bit resolution, many of them transferred from the original sound board tape using the Plangent Process http://audiophilereview.com/analog/plangent---a-better-way-to-transfer-analog-tape.html

 

Yes, the sound stage of these concerts are phenomenal. You can definitely "feel" the placement of each and every musician. People can say what they want about Donna Godchaux, but in 24 bit even her vocals add depth to the sound stage.

 

My main thing is jazz and I listen to a lot of Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis, but Hendrix and AC/DC are also common on my system. This little Mimby DAC is very musical and a wonderful little "audiophile on the cheap" addition to my system.

 

Thanks to all here for their time and consideration on my little decision.

 

Rocky

[Rocky Bennett]

12 hours ago, zackthedog said:

 

FWIW, a very discerning audiophile friend told me that his audio guru says that the original iFi Micro DSD is one of the best DACs on the market.

 

 

It may be, and it was on my short list, but I tend to go for warmth over analytical in my listening. Thanks for your comment.

[bigbob]

3 hours ago, Rocky Bennett said:

 

 

 

My main thing is jazz and I listen to a lot of Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis, but Hendrix and AC/DC are also common on my system. This little Mimby DAC is very musical and a wonderful little "audiophile on the cheap" addition to my system.

 

Thanks to all here for their time and consideration on my little decision.

 

 

1

 

I have discovered in the realm of Audiophilia, there are no 'little decisions' and little things have a huge impact on the sound quality.

 

My audiophile friend was here for the first testing of the Mimby. We were doing a comparison with the iFi iOne. We both liked the sound, but we knew that the iFi unit had their Active Noise Cancellation technology built in. I own an iFi iPurifer2, so we included it on the Multibit, and in a 90 second cut from Thomas Dolby' "Aliens ate my Buick" there was a clear difference between the Mimby and the Mimby with iPurifier2.

 

In all fairness to Schiit, they sell a Wyrd which they call a USB "Decrapifier", which I didn't have. We really preferred the Mimby with the iPurifier2. And now on equal ANC ground, we could better compare the iOne and Mimby. From that comparison, we decided that the Mimby was 'warm' and the iOne was 'cool'.

 

I contacted my friends at Schiit and reported our non-scientific albeit subjective opinion, and they offered to send a Wyrd to try also. The noise which is carried in along with the Music on the USB connection was very obvious, when it was removed, and very apparent when it was not removed.

 

If I didn't have the iFi iPurifier2, there was not a whole lot of difference between the two DACs. I am anxious for the Wyrd to arrive to complete our testing. An iFi iPurifier2 sells for $109, and the Schiit Wyrd sells for $99.

 

This is all to say, stand by, until we can put the Wyrd to the test. If we can hear the 'lack of USB noise' as clearly as we did with the iPurifier, then I will recommend you add one. If you think the Mimby is great now--you really ought to hear it with Active Noise Cancellation.

[buonassi]

21 hours ago, Sam Lord said:

 

Awesome!  Just remember to run the Mimby continuously, with a signal into a load, for (at least) a month.  I say that about all electronics, but these multibit components are said to especially need it.  It's trivial for DACs and preamps, but for speakers and amps that's obviously a PITA.  But even with those, low-volume pink noise will help.  I had a broken-in Bimby and loved it, but I have lots of DSD music.     

Also, even after "burn in", I think it's par for the course to leave R2R dacs on all the time, as this seems to be the consensus and common practice, though it's more about temp stabilization, so you won't need to feed it any info.  

[beerandmusic]

On 2/11/2018 at 10:24 AM, Rocky Bennett said:

Hello All,

I have been a member here for several years, but I don't post often. I am in the market for a new USB DAC f

 

 

What model Marantz?  Does it have coax or toslink input?

if so, save your money and go with Allo with spdif output.

 

Basically DigiOne is a I2S to S/PDIF stream…then an isolator…then a re-clocker with buffered outputs.”

 

https://darko.audio/2017/08/allos-digione-pulls-five-star-sound-quality-from-the-raspberry-pi/

 

If you want to spend more money, i agree with others that suggest IFI...why limit your DSD capabilities unnecessarily!  Or better yet, if you can squeeze $500, buy a used teac NT503.

 

 

[Rocky Bennett]

6 hours ago, beerandmusic said:

 

What model Marantz?  Does it have coax or toslink input?

if so, save your money and go with Allo with spdif output.

 

Basically DigiOne is a I2S to S/PDIF stream…then an isolator…then a re-clocker with buffered outputs.”

 

https://darko.audio/2017/08/allos-digione-pulls-five-star-sound-quality-from-the-raspberry-pi/

 

If you want to spend more money, i agree with others that suggest IFI...why limit your DSD capabilities unnecessarily!  Or better yet, if you can squeeze $500, buy a used teac NT503.

 

 

 

 

I have a Marantz receiver that is all analog, model SR 4023. It was cheap and provides plenty of punch for a desktop computer based stereo system.

[Rocky Bennett]

12 hours ago, buonassi said:

Also, even after "burn in", I think it's par for the course to leave R2R dacs on all the time, as this seems to be the consensus and common practice, though it's more about temp stabilization, so you won't need to feed it any info.  

 

 

I leave all of my components on 24/7, including my amplifier. This has been a practice of mine since the late 1960s. Thanks for the advice.

[Timb5881]

If 90% of your music is Red Book 16/44 then you maybe want to stick with modi single bit, the multi bit actually only passes 16 bit, and discards the remaining bits.  Unless you have your heart set on the multi bit version, you actually get better bit depth with the single bit delta sigma dac.

One other point to consider is that even the best dac's only resolve about 19 bits, many even less.  Read some of Stereophiles reviews and check the measurements and see.  Now, many prefer a multi bit dac and feel they sound better.  I have some single bit dac's that sound very good, and a 25 year old multi bit dac that I keep because it sounds very good as well.

So, even if you increase your 24/96(192) collection, you will not see the full bit depth with any current consumer dac's. One other thing to consider, are the 24 bits actual bits, or just upsampled 16 bit sources, which a few releases have been proved to be.   Another option to consider is a Korg ds-dac 100 series and the Audiogate software that comes with it.  Audiogate can convert on the fly files up to 24/192, or to dsd 2.8 or 5.6.  I have one and it sounds great, but I am looking myself at getting a modi 3 uber or maybe the multibit.

[bigbob]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192456395050?ul_noapp=true

 

I see that they have dropped the price of the iFi iPurifier2 from $109 to $99. This improved the SQ of the Mimby with its Active Noise Cancellation of USB noise that you didn't know was there until it was gone.

[exdmd]

@bigbob I am mostly streaming Tidal on a Windows 7 laptop > Schiit Eitr > Brooklyn DAC+ both powered by LPS. Is there any benefit to using the iFi iPurifier2 on the laptop or is it even a good idea? Appreciate your thoughts thanks.

[bigbob]

Thanks

I think that Active Noise Cancellation is AMR technology developed for fighter jets. If there is a USB in the signal path, you will benefit from ANC. I will be testing the Schiit Wyrd which they call a decrapifier. I am anxious to A/B it to the iPurifer2. With them both@ $99, it may be a necessary purchase. I am thinking that the Eitr does the same USB correction. So you may already have the technology.

[bigbob]

1 hour ago, exdmd said:

@bigbob I am mostly streaming Tidal on a Windows 7 laptop > Schiit Eitr > Brooklyn DAC+ both powered by LPS. Is there any benefit to using the iFi iPurifier2 on the laptop or is it even a good idea? Appreciate your thoughts thanks.

 

I just read the Schiit info on the Eitr, and it sounds like that is doing the noise filtering that is associated with USB transfer protocol when it is isolating noise from the power stage. That is where the noise rides in from. You might send an email to Nick at Schiit with your question, but I think you are benefitting already with the Eitr and using S/PDIF instead of USB.

 

[exdmd]

2 hours ago, bigbob said:

 

I just read the Schiit info on the Eitr, and it sounds like that is doing the noise filtering that is associated with USB transfer protocol when it is isolating noise from the power stage. That is where the noise rides in from. You might send an email to Nick at Schiit with your question, but I think you are benefitting already with the Eitr and using S/PDIF instead of USB.

 

 

Thanks for the quick reply. The Etir made a noticeable difference in my chain. I'll check with Schiit but I will bet they say Etir is all you need:)

[bigbob]

18 hours ago, exdmd said:

 

Thanks for the quick reply. The Etir made a noticeable difference in my chain. I'll check with Schiit but I will bet they say Etir is all you need:)

It says that they have put their Gen 5 technology in the Etir--and that is the same as the upgraded Yggdrasil, I think you already have the best case scenario, and an iPurifier2 would be both redundant, and in all likelihood detrimental.

 

When I first tested the iFi iOne, I plugged it in with the iPurifer2 inline. Everything sounded Great.

 

Then my audiophile pal and a fellow reviewer said, "Maybe we ought to pull the iPurifier2 out..."

 

 

I said Nah, it sounds so good!  Being Cheap doesn't prevent me from too lazy to stand-up and pull out the iPurifier2.

 

Well, later after he left, I thought, I wonder?

 

So I looked up the tech sheet on the iOne, and there it was...the ANC technology was built-in to it. I pulled out the iPurifier2, and the iOne opened up and came into song, immediately. I was guilty of double-noise cancellation. Who knew?

[buonassi]

On 2/18/2018 at 12:36 PM, bigbob said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192456395050?ul_noapp=true

 

I see that they have dropped the price of the iFi iPurifier2 from $109 to $99. This improved the SQ of the Mimby with its Active Noise Cancellation of USB noise that you didn't know was there until it was gone.

 

yup.  iFi made a believer out of me with their tech.  I can't speak to the iPurifier2 but I have iUSB 3 nano that has this tech in it.  The only way I describe it, and I loathe using these pat terms, is "blacker background".  It's subtle, but I think even modest systems can resolve the difference with one of these units.  Very worth the 100 bucks.  

 

Curious how the Schiit wyrd compares? 

[buonassi]

On 2/18/2018 at 9:27 AM, Rocky Bennett said:

 

 

I leave all of my components on 24/7, including my amplifier. This has been a practice of mine since the late 1960s. Thanks for the advice.

interesting.  My Arcam rHead amp actually has a "standby" mode when the volume knob (not a pot!) is turned all the way counter clockwise.  What's interesting is that it feels slightly warmer to the touch when in standby, than when playing.  

 

PS, since we're talking Schiit, this amp blows the Asgard 2 out of the water in every possible way.  Not really a fair comparison given the price diff, but I remember being impressed with Asgard 2 when I got it and thought "it can't get any better than this".  Makes me wonder how the violectrics would sound as yet another step up in price.  Can't go there yet.

[bigbob]

10 hours ago, buonassi said:

 

yup.  iFi made a believer out of me with their tech.  I can't speak to the iPurifier2 but I have iUSB 3 nano that has this tech in it.  The only way I describe it, and I loathe using these pat terms, is "blacker background".  It's subtle, but I think even modest systems can resolve the difference with one of these units.  Very worth the 100 bucks.  

 

Curious how the Schiit wyrd compares? 

 

That is a good description. What we discovered was in a 90 sec cut that the Mimby w/o ANC was good and very 'creamy' but with ANC the passage was cleaner, the attack and decay was obviously better. In another test comparison there were voices in the background which were muffled w/o ANC and with they were understandable without being overbearing. The review Wyrd is due in Wednesday, and I am anxious to see how 'decrapifying' compares to ANC. Stay tuned.