NITSCH Sound Pietus Maximus Optimus Prime Review - The Touch

Conscious of my quoted statement at the top of the previous page to slink back to lurking - I’ll just add one thing now my set up issues are resolved.

The Pietus is lovely. It’s been a while since I was caught in mid-fi gear cycle limbo and have since enjoyed music from AirPods and Sonos speakers . I guess my “good enough” threshold is much lower than others and convenience/simplicity were important factors that I finally accepted.

My initial impression of the Pietus is that the “good enough” threshold has been raised. I’ve just spent the afternoon enjoying music… listening to the music - not the gear.

This is where I’ve restarted and this is where I stop.

 

Thought I'd chime in on the USB issue. I sent mine back for CEE TEE to inspect after my MacBook Pro (2020) stopped recognizing the ESS card. It was weird because it worked for a week and then disappeared. I wasn't too sure it was the card, honestly, but CEE TEE was able to confirm that it wasn't showing up for him either. Unfortunately, I'm running into the same problem again, this time maybe a couple of weeks into using the replacement. I'm not sure what to make of this disappearing act. I don't really understand computer mechanics, but it would make sense to me to either work or not work. No OS updates or anything I can think might be the culprit. Needless to say the amp is great (when it works), CEE TEE has lived up to his rep as a standup guy ... it's just that the primary use was going to be USB so this is a real bummer. Any additional thoughts?

 

Hi, I've mostly just been a lurker here on SBAF but I really appreciate how impressions and discussion often seem more candid, in-depth, and honest here compared to on HF. I've learned a lot the last couple days reading through this thread as well as the DSHA-3F and Ferrum Oor threads.

Anyway, does anyone have impressions of the Pietus with some of the more midbass-centered ZMFs (I have the Atticus and Verite)? Sounds like it has amazing synergy with the Atrium, but I think Atticus/Aeolus/Verite benefit a bit more from amps with high OI, so I'm wondering if that would make the Pietus a no-go with those headphones. Mostly curious what I could expect if I went from my Cayin iHA-6 (using 10ohm SE output) to the Pietus. I've also been looking at the ZMF Homage and DSHA-3FN, which I know is supposed to be a pretty great pairing with Verite but is of course in an entirely different price bracket

 

I enjoy the VO on the Pietus as the thicker sound of the amp tames some of the Be metallic nature. I think it’s very much like the IHA6 because the Pietus has gobs of power, but you might find that its darker tilt might take some acclimation. It’s not a lazy sound, and with the excellent speed of the VO you might find that the Big PP to your liking.

 

This is an interesting question. I have so far loved how the Pietus sounds with my Atrium open, but did not love how the Atticus sounded on it. I am new to Atticus and have only tried it on one other amp (Folkvangr), so I need to test more.

 

That's good to know, thanks! The following is something Zach wrote in the Atticus thread on Head-Fi and might be useful:

"The Atticus is very sensitive to impedance, from the amplifier and I think the largest difference // change you will get in clarity, detail, opening up etc is damping it less. There's just too much mid-bass tuned in to the Atticus to work well with a low impedance amp - so you need to open the sound up with a higher OI amplifier to make it really sing [...]

In fact while this isn't really as true as with other ZMF's with less mid-bass (all of them compared to Atticus) I think it's what made people early on say things like "you need a tube amp with ZMFs." While that's not true at all as there have also been more and more solid states that work great with high impedance dynamics like the ECP Ravenswood, ZMF Homage, Beyer A20 and Cayin HA6, I do get where the idea came from.

If you are using the Violectric [...] on the Atticus I mean no offense here as I absolutely love Violectrics, but that thicker sound of Violectric amps, coupled with the high output impedance of the headphone and low OI of that amp, make the Atticus in specific sound pretty dead, murky and lifeless."

Given this and your experience, I think I'll probably stick with the iHA-6. Maybe one day I'll splurge on the DSHA-3FN since that seems to be the TOTL small SS amp to get if you're looking for slightly higher OI to drive ZMFs

 

I can confirm that my ECP DSHA-3F is fantastic with all of the dynamic ZMFs that I've tried it with (Atrium, Verite Closed, Aeolus, Auteur Classic). It's also excellent with my Utopia (obviously), RAD-0, and JAR6XXB.

 

How do you remove the case to install a DAC card? I think I have to remove the knob but I can't seem to pull it off without loosening the set screw. I tried fitting a few different T and H sizes down the set screw but nothing seemed to catch.

 

Hi @Failed Engineer , I use a Wera TX6 driver from Amazon. Or an SAE Allen key at 1/16”. The set screw is very small and far in there!

 

Along these lines should the ESS card be set to SE or BAL for the Maximus? Once my torx screwdriver arrives, I am moving the ESS card from my Jot 2 to the Maximus.

 

Pretty sure its SE because the amp is, paging @CEE TEE

 

SE per CEE TEEs earlier post

 

@Failed Engineer , you're living up to your name!

 

There’s a reason I’m a CPA instead of an engineer. Although this CPA was able to open the Pietus and install the ESS DAC card successfully with Christian’s advice.

 

I couldn't help it. Good work. I'm a manufacturing engineer, because I can't do mechanical engineering.

 

I will also confirm that the DSHA-3FN sounds fantastic with every ZMF I've tried, which includes Verite Open, Atrium Open, Aeolus, and Eikon. It of course sounds equally great with Focal, since that was its original design purpose. I use mine with Schiit Yggdrasil OG, it makes a great pairing.

As an aside, we seem to share a surprising number of headphones in common, the ZMFs you mention, Utopia (2020), and RAD-0.

 

I've found the Verite Open to be the most amp "picky" of any of the ZMF headphones I have. It is sublime with the DSHA-3FN, but does sound very good still with Pietus Max. The Maximus is softer sounding by comparison, not as detailed and resolving. But still thumbs up, better than other amps I've tried with it. YMMV and all that...

I've used most of the other Schiit mid-size amps: Jot 2, Lyr 3, Valhalla 2 with the Verite. Of those 3, I liked Valhalla 2 most, and Pietus is as good or better with the Verite. I also have owned a Flux FA-10 Limited, and Burson Soloist 3X GT. Both amps were great with Atrium (and others), but not so much with Verite. Not bad, but not great. The Burson sounded great with Utopia though, which was kind of a surprise...

IDK if you've tried different pads on your Verite, I like BE2 perf lamb on mine more that the universe pads.

TLDR; Pietus is a good match for Verite. But save your $ for a DSHA3-FN

 

Thanks, think I'll stick with my iHA-6 for now and save for DSHA-3FN as you said

I've tried BE2 perf lamb, Universe lamb, and Caldera UP pads on the VO and settled on the Caldera pads as my favorite. I found them to be a good middle ground between the laid back sound of the Universe pads and resolution and imaging capabilities of the BE2. I'd recommend trying them if you haven't yet! Zach told me they're potentially his favorite pads on the VO these days too

 

Thanks for the tip, I will!