Schiit Audio Releases its Unison USB Upgrade

[matthias]

2 hours ago, heyhsia said:

I'm a newb to streaming and would be grateful to understand how a better USB (like Gen 5 or the Unison upgrade) would improve the SQ coming through the Microrendu; I was under the impression that somehow the Microrendu's streaming technology made the quality of the USB connection less critical.

 

The Microrendu has an USB output stage and your DAC an USB input stage.

Improvements of these stages like Unison will provide better SQ.

 

Matt

[JoeWhip]

What Matt said. If the usb input is flawed, it will not sound as good as one that isn’t.

[matthias]

Some news about the Schiit transport with Unison USB output after the video session on FB:

 

The price of the transport will be 1299 USD and it will have USB-C connectors.

 

Matt

[JoeWhip]

The usb c was a bit of a curveball for me. I have found a nice usb c to b cable from the Oyaide DJ line for about $40 but can’t find a usb b to c adapter to use with my current usb a to b cable, also from the Oyaide DJ line. By the way, for those interested, the transport will act as a Unison usb Eitr as well. Usb in and spdif and AES out.

[The Computer Audiophile]

35 minutes ago, JoeWhip said:

The usb c was a bit of a curveball for me. I have found a nice usb c to b cable from the Oyaide DJ line for about $40 but can’t find a usb b to c adapter to use with my current usb a to b cable, also from the Oyaide DJ line. By the way, for those interested, the transport will act as a Unison usb Eitr as well. Usb in and spdif and AES out.

Type-C Specification, Section 2.2, “USB Type-C receptacle to USB legacy adapters are explicitly not defined or allowed. Such adapters would allow many invalid and potentially unsafe cable connections to be constructed by users.”

 

https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/USB Type-C Spec R2.0 - August 2019.pdf

[JoeWhip]

Well that solves that. Two new cables it is. Maybe I can get Jason to reconsider!

[AudioDoctor]

Honestly, I'd like a Ragnarok with the tube front end from the Freya long before a transport.

[matthias]

3 hours ago, JoeWhip said:

By the way, for those interested, the transport will act as a Unison usb Eitr as well. Usb in and spdif and AES out.

 

Does it improve the pure USB pathway as well, so that USB out is better than USB in?

Thanks

 

Matt

[JoeWhip]

I believe that it will as it will be a Unison in like on the Yggy, Gumby and BiFrost and that sure improves the sound along with the Unison out. Time will tell. Hopefully I will have one soon.

[matthias]

1 minute ago, JoeWhip said:

I believe that it will as it will be a Unison in like on the Yggy, Gumby and BiFrost and that sure improves the sound. Time will tell. Hopefully I will have one soon.

 

Did they say something about the release date ?

Thanks

 

Matt

[JoeWhip]

Nothing firm. The metal work for the box is in as they showed it as are the mechanisms. They are waiting for some brackets for the box. Reading between the lines, it would appear they are out or just about out of firmware hell. They want to do a robust beta which should take a couple of months, so I would expect that they could start selling the transport in December depending on the results of the beta but more likely in January. However, I am not a psychic.

[matthias]

50 minutes ago, JoeWhip said:

Nothing firm. The metal work for the box is in as they showed it as are the mechanisms. They are waiting for some brackets for the box. Reading between the lines, it would appear they are out or just about out of firmware hell. They want to do a robust beta which should take a couple of months, so I would expect that they could start selling the transport in December depending on the results of the beta but more likely in January. However, I am not a psychic.

 

Would be very kind if you can check with Jason whether the Vbus of the USB output of the transport is able to power a pure USB DAC (without an additional power supply).

Many thanks 🙂

 

Matt

[matthias]

This seems to be the CD tray loading mechanism of the upcoming Schiit transport:

 

https://45db3c5b-5b34-44dd-959a-e407b22b10ae.filesusr.com/ugd/a83b4d_bd03da721f94481582667f1ab980f2c5.pdf

 

Matt

[JeffNYC]

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

[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. 

[heyhsia]

On 11/3/2020 at 3:27 PM, jiminlogansquare said:

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. 

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.  

[davide256]

5 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.  

Standard USB cables are A at one end and B at the other. USB 3 male plugs have a different design for the B end plug vs USB 2.0 but the female (socket) end connectors

for USB 3 are plug compatible/downgrade to USB 2.0

 

https://www.electroschematics.com/usb-how-things-work/

 

[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

[heyhsia]

3 hours ago, jiminlogansquare said:

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

Nice.  Thanks for clarifying.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Big Schiit today :~)

 

 

via Email:

 

Yeah. Or no. We don’t do any kind of promotions or sales: https://www.schiit.com/about/about/on-deals

 

But we do have a new Modi 3+! And it includes Unison USB™! And It’s $99! Is that enough exclamation points! Do we need to make up more Buzzword Bingo tech names! OMG YES!!!!

 

Or, again, no. Here’s the deal: we have a new Modi 3+. Not only did we add our exclusive Unison USB interface, the product of two person-years of development, to our least expensive DAC, we also tweaked it a bit to improve performance even further! Modi 3+ is the highest-performance Modi we’ve ever made…and it also comes with Unison USB…and it’s also still $99.

 

Modi 3+ is available at schiit.com now for $99, in both black and silver finish.

 

Modi 3+ page: https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-1

Modi 3+ chapter: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up.701900/page-4498#post-16012373

 

All the best,

Jason Stoddard
Mike Moffat
Co-Founders, Schiit Audio

[AudioDoctor]

I read that and still don't know if the Multibit has the Unison USB input as well or if its limited to the regular model.

[firedog]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

I read that and still don't know if the Multibit has the Unison USB input as well or if its limited to the regular model.

Acc'd to the Modi specs page, only the 3+ has the Unison, the multibit version has the C-Media USB input.

The FAQ page implies the same.

https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-1

 

[AudioDoctor]

17 minutes ago, firedog said:

Acc'd to the Modi specs page, only the 3+ has the Unison, the multibit version has the C-Media USB input.

The FAQ page implies the same.

https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-1

 

 

Thanks, that's too bad as the Multibit with a Unison input would be the bargain of the century.

[JHG]

I wonder if they are going to upgrade my Yggy unison...

[matthias]

"Urd" is the name of the new CD transport for 2021 which will be also a digital hub with USB, Coax and AES output.

 

Matt