Schiit Eitr Preview Thread

The shitty legal reality, but because there is always someone will shock themselves because they are stupid and leave their gear plugged in or can't wait for a capacitor discharge, or won't pay $10 for a grounding mat and wrist clip, or who mindlessly stick their fingers where fingers shouldn't go.

Said with more flare than the legal sticker

Still please don't give up on the focus, what you are buying today is not obsolete tomorrow. This is a MAJOR appeal over other companies, and why many of us buy Schiit gear.

 

FYI if you need to use the Eitr in WASAPI instead of ASIO, make sure to change the Bitdepth to 24-bit instead of 32-bit.

I'm doing a multi-Eitr shootout between DACs and was scratching my head until I remembered JRiver outputs WASAPI in 32-bit unless you tell it not to or the hardware doesn't support it (and the Eitr tells the OS it supports 32-bit even though it does not).

 

Sorry no can do 10 pounds in 5 pound bag. Neither can do for Multi-Modi.

 

I've just received the Eitr from Schiit UK, and took it for a spin.

Eitr -> Modi Multibit Quick Impressions
Goord lord, USB was even worse than I realised. To my ears things are a great deal cleaner and airier, micro-dynamics and texture are also a few levels ahead. The Modi Multibit is around 3x better with Eitr vs it's own USB implementation. Modi Multibit USB isn't just super veiled, but incredibly dull sounding in comparison. Vocals in particular really gain a new level of nuance and realism.

From memory, so add a few pinches of salt here, it's better than the Optical input fed via a Samsung TV or Airport Express. With that in the chain the main improvement was in clarity, it lifted a lot but not all of the veil. Eitr is clearer still, along with it's other advantages.

Works fine with a USB 2.0 Apple CCK out of an iPhone 6S.

Chain
Tidal -> AudioHijack & TDRNova -> Macbook AIR -> Eitr -> Random RCA -> Modi Multibit -> Mjolnir 2 w/ DC Blocker, RFI/EMI Filter, Siemens Halske CCa Tubes -> TH900 with EQ and a piece of rectangle foam in the internal cup behind the ear. To imitate the THX00 pads and bring the mids forward.

Value Proposition For Modi Multibit
Is it worth getting for the Modi Multibit? I'd say if you primarily use USB, and don't like the Bifrost Multibit Gen 5, then yeah absolutely. I haven't heard the Bifrost Multibit so I cannot comment on how they compare. The reason for my purchase was to use it as a transport to get USB audio into a hardware equaliser.

 

Of course if you released a DAC module with SPDIF RCA in instead of USB so you could use it with Eitr...

 

Why not a JoMB + SPDIF RCA input? Best of both words.

 

Mike Moffat has written that JoMB isn't possible. From Jot thread on HF:

1. Can't fit multibit balanced in Bifrost Multibit, (much less a Jodie) without resorting to pony trick balance in analog domain only sizzle. Nope.

2. Can't fit SE MB even in Jodie without hanging the card an inch or so out the top, with a wall wart socket (on top), which will make the Jodie almost as fugly as our threatened Cthulhu. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllll, in order to do so, we would have to port all of our DSP burrito code over to some low-powered ARM. Not likely, with the five other frisbees I have spinning on sticks at the moment.

If you hold your breath, unfortunately you will turn blue.​

 

@baldr -

I would buy this. Immediately. And the Eitr. Yes. I would definitely buy the Jotspdifhappyfuncard.

Please make Jotspdifhappyfuncard upgrade a thing.

Thanks!

 

Can anyone comment on a comparison of eitr+Bifrost Multibit vs eitr+Modi Multibit? As I understand, they are pretty close without the eitr. I'm wondering if the eitr narrows the already small gap, or if it benefits one more than the other.

 

In case you've not seen this a couple of pages behind:

The ranking is largely unchanged from @Torq's previous rankings of Schiit's MB line:

 

Followed Torq and his USB decrapafier work with great interest. Super appreciative of his suggestion a couple of months ago to wait for a new upgrade...
Eitr has arrived to great accolades. Am I mis-interpreting, or is it now a general consensus that source computer feeding Eitr has lost much of its importance?
Laptop or ipad (w/CCK) or mac mini or stripped down linux box feeding Eitr feeding quality DAC will sound very similar?
Please don't slap me if my ignorance is too obvious; just trying to learn from many of you who have a wealth of experience under your belts.

 

That would concur with my findings/assessment.

 

Okay, I'm not sure what the hell is going on. But Eitr is not performing as it did initially. Everything is sounding soft, veiled, and closed-in. Vocals are what brought my attention to it. It took me a couple days to realise because I've been using new headphones out of the SE out of the Mj2, but I've just gone back and forth with different headphones and outputs, and it's the Eitr.

The whole system gets a 20 minutes warm up everytime I use it. Eitr is stacked on top of the Modi Multibit, and that on the Mj2.

Any ideas as to why this could be happening?


Chain
Tidal -> AudioHijack & TDRNova -> Macbook AIR -> Eitr -> Random RCA -> Modi Multibit -> Mjolnir 2 w/ DC Blocker, RFI/EMI Filter, Siemens Halske CCa Tubes

 

Is it possible it's related to this?
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...fat-2-at-schiit-blog.3507/page-20#post-154263

 

Thanks. I'm not experiencing any glitches though. But I am in a 100 year old house, and have installed a DC Blocker and EMI/RFI Filter to good effect with the Mjolnir 2.

If this were related wouldn't the Modi Multibit be just as susceptible?

EDIT: I've now had it on for about 2 hours with multiple power cycles. The cause is just as likely the Modi Multibit's coax input.

 

That seems unlikely to be the cause of the problems. I have experienced these glitches myself when a light in the kitchen is switched off, but sound quality remains unaffected. @BenjaminBore perhaps it is just new toy syndrome wearing off (much as I like what the Eitr does for me)?

 

I just borrowed one of those way over spec coax cables where the cable is as thick as the connector. It has alleviated the issue.

So, that's a surprise. I mean I thought the rando phono RCA might be an issue when I first set it up. But the Eitr USB performed much better with it than the Modi Multibit USB. At some point in the following days the audio became worse than the Modi Multibit USB on it's own.

Any theories as to why a cable is okay one day, then degrades SQ the next, with a digital signal no doubt? This new cable is probably shielded. DC and RFI/EMI through the mains is one thing, which a shielded cable does nothing for, right? Can there really be that much EMI/RFI radiating through a typical household?

 

Unless your coax run from the Eitr to the Modi Multibit is many tens of feet long, I would doubt that EMI is playing a significant role. I don't want to be a prick, but this could be a case where the differences you're hearing are largely psychological. It sounds like you have a rad setup, so I would put on your favorite album and just try to forget about the gear for a little while. In comparison to the music, it's not all that interesting anyway.

 

@Friday @monacelli I appreciate your points. I've enough critical listening experience now to know to check myself for my own bullshit, and the better my setup has gotten the easier it is to differentiate. I've been back and forth with familiar tracks, and am confidant enough in what I'm hearing. My critical listening has gotten to the point that my first impressions tend to match my longer term impressions, and be close to or the same as other members. I'm well passed any nervosa stage of endlessly going back and forth comparing, struggling to hone in on differences.

 

So you were using an analog interconnect with RCA plugs for a S/PDIF cable? Any chance you were using a different sampling rate and the analog interconnect couldn't keep up? Perhaps one of the ends wasn't making good contact? other than that (or an Eitr glitch) I'd probably chalk it up to listener fatigue.

or perhaps the Eitr upon first listen made one or more aspects of the music sound better than USB but over time you became aware of deficiencies caused by the cable that you at first didn't notice?

Other than that sit back and enjoy some music....