Schiit Gungnir Multibit impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Bill-P, Oct 7, 2015.

  1. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    I also have a Gungnir Multibit going into a SE amp with a Jensen. Other than noise floor (which is still low enough SE out to be inaudible at actual realistic volumes on my ZDS) the differences between Jensen and the RCA outs are incredibly small. It's a little hard to properly A/B because the Jensen makes the signal a little quieter than the straight RCA outs, but I felt like staging was a tad wider with the Jensen, with a bit tighter, more impactful, bass. But it's so small I admit I could be full of it. At this point, I really only keep the Jensen around in case I want to put my DAC far away from my amp, and to free up the RCA's for two other uses.
     
  2. Ringingears

    Ringingears Honorary BFF

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    On day five with the Gungnir Multibit and Gen 5 upgrade. Using the EC Black Widow 1 and mostly Paradox cans. I can't add much to what has been said other than what a friend said to me after a listening session. "This DAC has my headphones as close to the sensation of speakers as I have heard." Just an awesome job Schiit guys! If you improve on this I will lose my mind. (In a good way). Glad I waited for the Gen 5.
     
  3. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Well, my new PC motherboard has a sound subsystem with awful drivers (possibly), and screws up formats/encapsulation* on the rare occasions where it's playing something that isn't 44.1/16. This means that I can't leave JRMC's sound format setting on "auto", which pisses me off.

    I used to take the slightly jittery optical out from my old PC into the Gungnir Multibit's optical in and let it VxO it back to respectability. For more critical listening, there was always the little Pi endpoint. However, this new fail got on my nerves- plus some stuff failed to work properly with the on-board audio sometimes. This was a perfect excuse to get the Gen5 upgrade, especially given that Win10 now has working UAC2 drivers.

    While the Gungnir Multibit was away, I got the Emergency Modi Multibit and a Breeze U8 DDC** out of the cupboard, and a Sys (as I normally run the balanced out to the Jot and the SE out to the HP8). It all worked surprisingly well, despite being three boxes rather than one. Not a bad fallback position, though.

    When the Gungnir Multibit came back, it sounded pretty respectable via USB even from cold. Now that it has stabilised a bit, having been on for a while, it sounds fantastic. The USB sounds at least as good as my Pi endpoint via BNC- I'd be into OCD and confirmation bias trying to be sure of differences. It's fantastic- clean, clear, nice crisp transients, no harshness or glare (as you'd expect from a cheap and nasty USB receiver). Lots of clear velocity distinctions in percussion, lots of timbre, all the good stuff. It was easy to just settle in to enjoy the music again.

    It's bloody great, all the floppy clock woes and electrical noise issues typical of USB on many DACs seem to have been more or less solved. That's well worth the price of the upgrade. I know I could have snagged an Eatr, but having fewer boxes and cables is often nice. Freedom from defuckifiers and the people who love them is worth the price of admission on its own.

    If you have a Gungnir Multibit, it's probably a worthwhile upgrade for the price- just in case you suddenly have a use case for driving it over USB.

    Oh, and the UAC2 drivers in Win10 do actually work, praise be. That only took them how many years?


    * I think, didn't actually have the patience to test much
    ** The one with the upgraded Talema "sealed cattle" (as the AliExpress page put it) and the upgraded clocks. Surprisingly good for $99, in the pre-Eatr era.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  4. moopster

    moopster New

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    I am NOT waiting three hours for my new Gungnir Multibit to warm up, so...Baked Gungnir Multibit!

    [​IMG]
     
  5. joeexp

    joeexp Don't ship this man FD-X1 ever

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    Mine takes at least a week - 10 days to warm up properly, regardless the outside temperature ....
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2017
  6. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    3 hours to warm up at room temp, let's just say 72 deg F...

    So, 1.5 hours at 144 deg, or 45 min at 288 deg, or 23 min at 576 deg.

    Screw it. I say go for the 11 minute warm up at 1150 degrees F.
     
  7. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    I hope you left it on in the oven. Otherwise you'll have to do it all again once you take it out...
     
  8. missingtime

    missingtime New

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    Tried the xlr adapters. Output is a bit hotter to the old 500 watt Crown. Gettin' pretty noisy around here.
     
  9. lerrens

    lerrens Facebook Friend

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    Got my Gungnir Multibit for a few days and would like to contribute some of my impressions so far.
    I have a Chord Mojo and a Nuforce DAC-80 and I thought I’d compare Gungnir Multibit with them so that it might help people who are also interested in these DACs.
    The comparison between the three DACs is based on using Jotunheim’s amp section into stock HD800S.
    (Gungnir Multibit is running XLR input to Jotunheim, others are via RCA)

    Soundstage & Imaging:
    • Mojo has a relatively small soundstage, its imaging is quite accurate but feels congested inside its soundstage.
    • DAC80 has a larger soundstage with an excellent imaging ability. It creates a 3D-like experience.
    • Gungnir Multibit has a soundstage about the same width as DAC80, yet with deeper depth. It creates a more holographic experience. More on this later.
    Micro-detail:
    • Mojo is not capable of reproducing every last detail.
    • DAC80 is significantly better than Mojo and obviously brings out a lot of details. Listening to DAC80 the first time brought out a lot of “Ah” moments for me.
    • Gungnir Multibit has the same details as DAC80, I can’t tell if it brings more details to the table, but is definitely more resolving.
    Micro-dynamics:
    • Being lack of micro-details already, Mojo is not in the contest with the other boys.
    • DAC80 has a more compressed micro-dynamics, which means at first listen, it will demand more of your attention to showcase its micro-details. This creates a lot of “Ah” moments but when listened closely, these moments feel rather artificial.
    • Gungnir Multibit has more natural micro-dynamics. It doesn’t shout out details at first, but the way it transitions those details into existence is very realistic.
    Dynamics:
    • Mojo sometimes feel a bit shouty.
    • DAC80 has much more breath in the music.
    • Gungnir Multibit has the greatest dynamics of the three and by a large margin. In fact, the dynamics is one of the biggest factors behind Gungnir Multibit’s ability to make listening sessions emotional. It’s really easy to be pulled out of critical listening mode and just endorse myself in the music.
    Tonal Balance:
    • Mojo is a bit lacking in extension of both ends.
    • Both treble and bass have a wider extension on DAC80 and Gungnir Multibit, resulting in fuller vocal and deeper hitting drums.
    • Tonally the DAC80 and Gungnir Multibit are very much alike, both with a bit of a warmth to their sound, but Gungnir Multibit’s sound has a finer finish to it. Chords struck sturdier, drums hit more solid, and the vocal has an life-like presence. Better slam/transparency/airiness/…. Better magic overall.
    Overall impression:
    • Mojo reminds me like a traditional 2D film with its accurate yet bland presentation.
    • DAC80 feels like a nice 3D movie, even an iMAX 3D one with its larger soundstage.
    • Gungnir Multibit is like some holographic movie format not invented yet.
    More On 3D vs Holographic:
    3D movies have a sharp contrast between different objects of the scene: one can easily tell apart there are 3 or 4 layers in a scene, all the objects are installed on a certain layer, but there’s nothing in between, just one object floating above another. That’s the way DAC80 presents its sound.
    On Gungnir Multibit, while you obviously can tell that one object is near or another is far, you won’t feel the disjoint between them. Focusing really hard on the space between two objects, you’ll still notice something happening between them, either there’s a presence of a floor or a hand or someone slightly shifting their position in a quiet corner.​

    Performance Ratio & Conclusion:
    IMO, Mojo : DAC80 : Gungnir Multibit = 1 : 2 : 2.2
    Actually, putting Mojo into the comparison is just for reference because of the popularity. It’s a fine portable gear, but desktop solutions are just in another league. On the other hand, the difference between DAC80 and Gungnir Multibit is not really dramatic. Is it worth it? I’d say absolutely.
    I know this sounds cliche, but for me, the sound coming from Gungnir Multibit is like it’s drawing a perfect solid circle with consistent thickness and no wiggles found along the line. Imagine DAC80 draws up a circle just about the same size yet it comes with a little bit of wiggle and maybe 10% of variation in thickness along the course. That’s what the final 10% difference in sound feels like.​

    I'm really thankful for the impressions shared here on this site, leading me to this purchase decision. Really happy about this huge brick right now!

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Sonorus

    Sonorus Facebook Friend

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    How do you find HD800S with jotunheim soundwise?
     
  11. lerrens

    lerrens Facebook Friend

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    To be honest, I haven’t tried much Amps around Jotunheim’s price point. I’ve hooked up HD800S to Benchmark DAC3 and Gungnir D/S+Mjolnir1 in stores before, but the listening sessions were not ideal. I recall Benchmark DAC3 being very neutral, and the Gungnir/Mjolnir pairing have large soundstage and warmth but a bit grainy and slow.

    I owned an O2 and Asgard1 and both feel like they didn’t bring HD800S to its full potential. (O2 is lean and transparent but a bit lack of emotions, Asgard is meaty and punchy but there’s a kind of greyness to the sound)

    From my experience, Jotunheim is likely the most “honest” pairing with my HD800S of them all. There’s an immediacy in the sound of the pairing, although this immediacy sometimes become ruthless when it comes to exposing flaws in the upstream. Using NuForce DAC80 as a source at the time results in a lot of treble fatigue.

    After getting Gungnir Multibit, I noticed that it removed a lot of the treble glare I experienced from my previous setup. So I’m guessing maybe a lot of the treble annoyance I experienced from Jot/HD800S actually comes from the DAC80’s D/S nature. It’s still a bright pair for sure, but that might just be the nature of the cans. I feel like Jot is just being honest and making HD800S sound like what it is.

    I’d still be looking for upgrades from Jot maybe in the 1k+ range but it wouldn’t be anything urgent. (there are voices echoing around telling me to wait 6 to 9 months...)
    Right now my upgraditis is considered cured.


    P.S. The downside of having Gungnir Multibit+Jot is that they both need at least 2hrs to warm-up...
     
  12. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    Wait, you aren't leaving them both on? I know the Gungnir Multibit takes days to properly warm up.
     
  13. joeexp

    joeexp Don't ship this man FD-X1 ever

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    The Gungnir Multibit needs a few days to properly warm up and should be left on all the time.
    The Jot sounds better warmed up, but doesn't take that long to warm up (15-20mins).
     
  14. lerrens

    lerrens Facebook Friend

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    I thought only Yggdrasil needs that much time? Anyway, I’m a bit nervous about leaving them on all day when I’m out...
    Will have to try on weekends and see if it’ll get even better hmm
     
  15. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    I understand why many do that, lack of experience, misinformation, etc...

    I only left my amps on before, it wasn't until I forget my M51 on that I understood the significant difference it made in (some) DACs.

    I won't agree that gungnir needs several days but it does need a significant amount of time. Half a dozen of hours won't cut it.
     
  16. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Just leave your Gungnir Multibit on. How much extra electricity could it possibly cost over a year...
     
  17. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    Wish I had the time to track down sources, but I've seen few people do the math and it's like $25-50 a year in the US depending on your location/KWh cost. Yggdrasil is about double
     
  18. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    All the Schiit DACs (as well as all other R2R/ladder DACs, and probably other types as well) sound better left on all the time to allow them to stabilize internal temperature and clocks.

    I agree with previous posts, just leave Gungnir Multibit on all the time - I do with my Gungnir Multibit. Probably not critical for the Jot.

    Edit: But I do not own Jot so have no experience with it.
     
  19. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Edit 2: also that was supposed to be a reply for @lerrens. Damn clumsy phone fingers!
     
  20. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Gungnir is 20W per Schiit, or 0.02kWh. Over a leap year 24/7 that is 175.68kWh and if you live in Hawaii (most expensive kWh US state) that's like US$52 in electricity...

    Yggdrasil is 35W and comes up to ~$93. (35W * 24h / 1000 * 366 * 0.30) A mere 2 coffees a month!
     

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