USB De-fuckifiers: Schiit Wyrd vs. Uptone Regen

hi Koth, I can't remember off hand since I sent it to Marv a while back, but I believe it was an A to B cable (where the A plug goes to the PC and the B plug goes to the back of the Intona.

 

Was thinking of trying that out if it wasn't a special order import that cannot be returned. To me that makes a bit more sense than the Transient MKII since it's not limited to just USB input.

But maybe a Wyrd/Regen is the better way to go. For Gungnir Multibit, how much better would a converter be than just a USB defuckifier?

 

Absolutely!

 

Hmmm that's good to hear about the USB getting improved over time, I'm curious if I would get any benefit from using a Wyrd with my NFb10ES2, I cannot remember if I got the TXCO upgrade or not

though in all frankness I'd be willing to give it a shot and see if there's a notable improvement, I did find that swapping out of the pcbUsb to a PCIe 2.0 card really did open the sound stage on my 10ES2 up a smidge, so there's some merit to the defuckifering of these defuckifiers

 

For those interested in the mutec, here's a review of the mutec by four audio engineers.(one of them mastered David Bowie's album):

http://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/106/mc-3-smart-clock/

 

There's a Chinese USB de-fuckifier which appeared before these, the price's, yah, one grand bucks.

 

Crud. I started a decrapifier thread not he old site, and it's gone now. I found many various products in this category. Had pictures and links to them too.

I tried a JitterBug and I could not hear any difference with or without it. I'm guessing if a person hears a significant difference with one of these devices, something is not right in the chain, or it's placebo.

 

To be fair, you've only tried jitterbug so you can't comment on any other USB defuckajig.

 

I said significant difference. Even Lavorgna commented that the differences with or without is very minimal. Others here recently tried the region with some high end stuff, and found it colored the sound. Some cases well, some case not so well. The word made no difference to them. Here's the thread:

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...esting-Yggdrasil-gungnir-mb-and-usb-regen.45/

 

Seems the Regen is more of an extra little flavour, everyone finds it somewhat warm. Guess un-fuckinators are there for a computer that is actually fucked.

 

By now, I've had the Intona (industrial ver) for about a week or two and I've experimented with it in many different arrangements. In one of the arrangements, it just wouldn't work until eventually I switched out one of the USB cables for a shorter, better-quality cable and then it worked there too. I was able to use it in a chain with the Wyrd, both before and after.

I'm very curious to hear more impressions on this especially from ppl with more resolving gear*. It's the only USB defuckifier I've tried (the other two being the Wyrd and jitterbug) that I haven't heard any drawbacks from - only positives, at least so far anyways. My only observation is that it lowers the noise floor. It's been a stark difference when used on a poor-quality source like an iPhone or iPad, and also pretty noticeable on my desktop (Dell Inspiron 530). Today I tried it on my Mac Mini, but I'm not yet sure whether I noticed a difference there.

*This was with Gungnir Multibit > Asgard2 > HD650 and sometimes with the Wyrd too.

 

Ahh, I found the post:

http://www.changstar.com/www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,2730.0.html

Maybe a dozen different decrapifiers listed there for your enjoyment.

 

I've had a Mutec MC3+USB for a few months now and it is a great addition to my digital chain. I have an amber REGEN connecting to the USB in and then I'm running AES/EBU out to Yggdrasil. It really seemed to lower the noise floor allowing more details to come through, the sound stage is wider, and the music is just more involving. frankly, it doesn't sound like digital anymore.

Some guys had been daisy--chaining the MC3+ converters prior to the USB model coming out. There was one guy that used 3 or 4 in a row! But one of the guys that started this multi-converter crap now says that the MC3+USB doesn't improve with daisy chaining and he is only using one.

Regarding the Intona, lots of chatter about it on CA and on WBF. Seems that the first units had pretty touchy USB but a new firmware is out now and supposedly solves most of the problems with computers not recognizing it -- unfortunately, the units already in the field have to be shipped back to Germany for the firmware update. Intona recommends a USB hub if you run into problems. I assume that running a REGEN into it would solve the problem too since the REGEN has its own 5V power supply for the USB.

 

found another review on the mutec, with measurements:
http://sonicus.net/Blog/wp-content/...USB-Re-Clocking-Reloaded_EN_MUTEC-11-2015.pdf

 

I've got the loaner regen right now, running it in the following chain: Macbook Air (JRiver media center in Core Audio mode)->Regen->Geek Out V2->Vali 2 with 1966 Amperex->HD600.

I'm not hearing much of a difference. Instrument separation and soundstage were already very good just from the Amperex tube in the Vali, so there's not much if any improvement on that front. On some tracks it sounds like the noise floor may be lower, but I'm not hearing details any better as a result, just slightly less background noise to compete.

Maybe my setup isn't resolving enough to show the differences, or maybe my Macbook is giving off fairly clean power to begin with. I'll try some A/B tests at some point before I have to pass it on.

 

From my experience, the Geek Outs don't meaningfully benefit from these kind of devices. With other DACs I've been able to discern a difference even with less resolving gear than yours downstream. I'd suggest trying another DAC if possible.

 

Ah, well that may be it then. Unfortunately I don't have another DAC at my disposal at the moment. The GOV2 is my only one until I can save up for a Gungnir Multibit, or until Schiit reveals their new gear.