Modi Multibit: Multibit for the masses.

This is a review that makes perfect sense to me. Very helpful write up. It takes a system as resolving as yours to expose these things. I believe this is where the Bifrost Multibit does better than the Modi Multibit. In the right system, music, experience no doubt the benefits of Bifrost Multibit over Modi Multibit would be noticed. That said no doubt the Modi Multibit is a great entry level option.

 

It's in no way urgent, the world won't end- you just won't get sound as good as you should. We maybe care a little more about that than the rest of the world, but it won't kill us.

The Modi Multibit is a little rolled-off and warm in general, but you will find that you lose disproportionate amounts of detail in the highs while you have a jittery feed. The wonky timing gives you sidebands that cause frequency smearing. Because the cycle time (possibly not the right term?) of higher frequencies is shorter, timing errors are proportionately worse.

Even with a really pristine feed, the Modi Multibit will always be a bit on the warm side. However, if you do give it a clean feed, you'll find that the higher frequencies become less smeared and "out of focus" - higher frequencies and high frequency transients in particular will cut though much more effortlessly. You'll probably also notice an improvement in separation and timbre of percussion. It sounds pretty good for the money, actually. It won't magically become a Yggdrasil, but really, it really performs beyond its price.

Also, you're totally right about not wasting money on expensive sources for a cheap DAC. That money might be better spent on a better DAC first. Too many people get tricked into that, and it sucks.

A good interim measure, for under $150 or so, is to make a little homebrew Raspberry Pi-based streamer that outputs clean SPDIF. That's becoming really popular, as it's cheap and effective. Because lots of people were considering it, and weren't sure where to start, I had a go and wrote up a fairly easy set of instructions for people who aren't sure where to start. If you're interested in that sort of thing, it's at:

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-based-streamer-a-guide-for-the-nervous.3969/

 

Congrats on a @Kattefjaes approved review

Interesting. The generally accepted perception has been that coax is noticeably better than USB. Glad to hear that it might not be all that critical as USB is much more convenient.

Thanks for the writeup!

 

@Hands Can you give some examples of headphones and tracks that would demonstrate the differences? And I'm sure they've been covered somewhere in this thread but I can't recall exactly what they are, other than that the S/PDIF implementation is "better" than the USB.

 

I did some research on the Moby USB implementaition, and going to follow up a bit on the AK4113 (coax/toslink)-- just if you guys did not run across it...

Modi Multibit i2s input mod

'TLDR -- basically looks like schiit went for the best usb implementation (well as best you can with the CM6631 and crystal component choices) -- but bare minimum coax/optical imp. (likely space constrained) -- just my guess.

My idea is its SPDIF is better even in this case, but the gap not as wide as it could be.

 

Well there's USB and there's USB, and there's SPDIF and there's SPDIF. @Xecuter your Lynx is AES only right? So was SPDIF coming from your motherboard? In my PC the mobo SPDIF sounds about the same as USB.

 

Motherboard S/PDIF connections (unless optical) are rarely electrically isolated. So they not only carry all the same electrical noise you'd see on the USB output (or very close to), but they'd be dependent on the quality of the clocking in the PC (which is rarely audio-centric) where the USB connection would not be, so what you're hearing (them sounding about the same) is entirely what one would expect.

 

...and even the optical stuff from the motherboard is often a victim of weird clock dividers and the like, with all the lovely periodic jitter that this implies.

 

The optical out built into the headphone jack in recent Apple computers other than a few of the ancient Mac Minis is notoriously horrible.

 

This right here is why I chose to go with the Modi Multibit. For me, as a relative beginner in personal audio, it was really about picking the best starting DAC for the money that was within my budget. And for that, Modi Multibit excels.

 

I don't even think it's people can't hear a difference or are deaf. It's more that do not care. They're:

1. Not critical listeners. Background music might as well be K-mart intercom music. Thus the proliferation of atonal, repetitive pop music based around hooks, whine rock, and horrifically boring, droning club rap and EDM. These are meant for commuters' iPhones, car radios, and drunk/drugged idiots to NOT pay attention to.

2. Do not care about about proper instrumental levels, seperation, and depth as it was recorded and mixed. Basshead and v-shaped gear is inherently lower-fidelity.

3. Do not care about tone or timbre. This is where you get the hyping of shitty tube amps, Sabres, and Myteks.

4. Do not care about resolving lower level details/plankton such as noise, the scratch of strings, properly presented microdynamics in playing such as emphasized notes and smaller attacks.

5. Low level listeners. Due to equal-loudness contours, low volume = low fidelity. 50-60 DB impressions do not tell anyone anything about what the equipment really sounds like.

6. Internet attention seekers wishing to for others to justify their lo-fi or low value gear purchases. This is huge. I see it everyday.

I agree with Marv. USB simply does not work for hi-fi audio signals on the great majority of desktops and consumer laptops. This is clearly audible and it only works on my Thinkpad T series. Consumers should probably just get a soundcard with transformer-coupled, coaxial S/PDIF; a bus based AES/EBU interface over PCI or Thunderbolt, or a transport. The creaking, sticker-covered laptops from Circuit City need to be tossed or relegated solely to web browsing and word processing duties.

 

Examples...?

 

Why don't you look at them and find one for yourself? I'd want to be paid more than the soundcard costs to spend a few hours looking at specs, tech details, and board pictures of PC gamer ricer crap to recommend you one.

If you have the money, get a Lynx PCI-E or Thunderbolt connected case/audio interface with a digital out? I know they exist and you can get the Lynx Hilo with a built-in Thunderbolt card now for a nice DAC/ADC/basic interface solution that costs a few K. More DACs should be doing this but Lynx invented PCI AES interfaces back in the 90s so they're one of the first.

Focusrite Claret stuff is also Thunderbolt now as is some Apogee Mac crap but post-Apple store plastic crap Apogee fell off a cliff quality wise so YMMV.

 

@Hands, @Garns - So I was purposely comparing USB to spdif out of my motherboard because thats what i thought 90% of users would have access to.

Spdif from an interface/transport/converter would definitely trump USB. However most of these ootions would cost more than the Modi Multibit.

Also I did try the test with hd650 and k7xx.

 

I only asked because I wasn't aware such a thing existed in the budget-friendly gamer realm. It sounded as if you knew of one you could name off-hand.

I stand corrected.

 

Try the cheap ASUS Xonar cards.

 

So you're suggesting something without knowing that it actually exists?

Are these actually transformer coupled? Didn't @Torq suggest that a screenshot of one showed no evidence of a transformer-coupled coax out? Lynx PCIe AES interfaces: AES16 and E22