Schiit Audio Releases its Unison USB Upgrade

[jiminlogansquare]

A query to any Schiit DAC owners who decide to install the new Unison USB input upgrade. Could you relate here how that affects the sound in conjunction with an Uptone Audio ISO Regen. On the Yggy in particular, but with other DACs, as well. Thanks 

[jiminlogansquare]

I have bought and installed the Unison board in my Yggy, and while I was heartened to find when I threw the switch that I hadn't actually destroyed my DAC and it functioned perfectly, I have been struggling a bit to hear any changes to the sound. Maybe this is because I was using the ISO Regen before and after the change-up to the USB input board. Maybe it's also partly attributable to a recent upgrade I made to my USB cable, from a basic Belkin Gold to a fancier one (Synergistic Research Atmosphere X), which could be confounding the comparison. I don't regret making the Unison USB board upgrade, as it cost only $150 and may yet yield some audible improvements.
 

So I may or may not have answered my own earlier question about how the Unison interfaces with a Regen. Anyone else with a Regen and who's made the switch to the Unison board have a different or more clear set of impressions?

 

Sorry for my seeming ambivalence; I might just be posting too soon after making the switch 24 hours ago. 

[jiminlogansquare]

12 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

Maybe Unison sounds better without the ISO Regen?

 

Matt

A possibility I plan to investigate! But it will take some time. I have learned that, in my own case, attempting quick A/B comparisons rarely results in any definitive discernible difference (there have been exceptions, just not many). My MO therefore is to make a change, listen to it for a month or so until it becomes the "new normal" to my ears, and then put things back the way they were (remove the added equipment, reinstall what it replaced, etc.) and listen to see whether that makes it sound different, better or worse. It would be impractical to switch back to the Gen5 USB, but I certainly can do a slow-listening comparison to Unison with and without the Regen. So I promise to try removing the Regen in a month or so and to check back in with the results!

 

(Also, at risk of abusing the Edit window, I definitely found the Regen to improve the sound of the Gen5 USB. I listened to my Yggy for about a year without the Regen after Schiit declared USB was "solved" by Gen5, but when I eventually tried reinserting the Regen - after being fully accustomed to the sound of Yggy/Gen5 USB without Regen - it sounded dramatically better, to the point where I wondered why I had wasted so much listening time without the Regen. So there's that.)

[jiminlogansquare]

OK, after a month with the Unison in place in my Yggy with ISO Regen/LPS-1 in place and finding the sound very nice indeed, I recently removed the Uptone equipment.

 

My conclusion is that the sound was somewhat improved by removing the Regen and LPS-1. Not in areas like detail or musicality, but dynamics were enhanced. This was noticeable at all playback levels, not just in low-volume settings, so not precisely the "lower noise floor" effect. 
 

Now, it should be noted that since the last time I tried this experiment, when I still had the Gen 5 board and reached the opposite conclusion, I have significantly upgraded my USB cable from a $10 Belkin Gold to a $650 Synergistic Research Atmosphere X. It is possible the Regen improved the sound of the Belkin USB cable, the Gen 5 board, or both. I have not tested sufficient combinations to say so definitively. 

 

Specifically, because I have no intention of going back to the Belkin cable, I have not experimented with the Unison+Regen+Belkin combo. So there are confounders aplenty in my limited scope experiment that probably mean it would be inconclusive for anyone not using the same equipment and in the same (limited) combinations I tested. 
 

Bottom line for me, however, is that I have heard enough improvement from using the Unison+SR Atmosphere X USB cable combo - without Regen/LPS-1 - that I am going to take the Regen/LPS-1 out of the system indefinitely.

 

Others can take from my results the conclusion that they *possibly could* find improvements from *not* utilizing the Uptone equipment with the Unison board. It is at least worth the experiment for those who already own the Uptone pieces.

[jiminlogansquare]

I dodged a bullet today! I was literally minutes from ordering a Linux-based Roon Nucleus when I saw the last few posts. I had no idea the Unison board had such limited compatibility. Windows 10, Mac OSX, iOS and Android only? That's a short and particular list.  I want to replace my Mac Mini with a dedicated device, for all the familiar reasons, but this is a real stumbling block now that I have installed the Unison board. Guess I will stick with the Mac for the foreseeable future. 

[jiminlogansquare]

11 minutes ago, davide256 said:

What the tech at Schiit said was wrong. This most likely is a standards interpretation conflict or omission between Aurender and Schiit.  Else those of us using NUCs with AL and Euphony  would be affected.

That is an extraordinarily unfortunate mistake to have made and is already creating a miniature crisis (or a small Schiit storm) right here in this thread. I hope they will correct or clarify that statement. 

[jiminlogansquare]

Thanks, that is helpful. They do say "most" (twice for emphasis) and not "all" Linux based streamers, which still leaves me wondering about the Roon Nucleus. But at least it's not categorically excluded.

[jiminlogansquare]

10 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

... He said he's holding off on a Rendu... That intrigues me.

Me too. And to get more specific, what he said was he was holding off on an opticalRendu, which might suggest a fiber optic network player. Although that probably doesn't mean it is going to duplicate all or even any other features of a Rendu device, such as Roon endpoint, etc. But a world of possibilities, and an intriguing clue, are just the sort of grist one wishes for one's online postulation mill; no? =^)

[jiminlogansquare]

20 minutes ago, JeffNYC said:

Anyone have experience with Unison from a Mac mini? Noticeable improvement?

Yes, enough of an improvement over Gen5 on my Yggy that I found I no longer needed to use an ISO Regen and removed it. That said, adding a microRendu - thus getting the Mac disconnected from the Yggy USB input altogether- made an even bigger improvement, so if you are looking for an upgrade path you might consider it. 

[jiminlogansquare]

46 minutes ago, heyhsia said:

Hi jiminlogansquare: How are you bypassing Yggy's USB input?  I thought the microRendu is supposed to output via USB-A and plug into your Yggy's USB-B input via an adapter.  

Hi, I didn’t bypass the Yggy’s input, I removed the Mac Mini that originally was hooked to the Yggy via USB and replaced it with a Rendu hooked to the Yggy via USB. The source changed, not the input. By eliminating the noisy Mac Mini I improved the performance of the Yggy’s USB input. 
 

BEFORE: Mac Mini USB output > USB cable > Yggy USB input 

 

AFTER: Rendu USB output > USB cable > Yggy USB input