Hacking Schiit

I have on my desk a few pieces of Schiit, but have been playing a bit more lately with a Vali 1. What a great amp.

I have a few of these little guys and was running two of them as a dual mono setup prior to playing with this one. It ended up swapping a bunch of the capacitors out to give some diff. flavors, but I think the best change has been adding a second set of tubes!



Probably not great for the longevity of the amp, but man does it sound great with acoustic music. The reverb, and trailing notes (particularly from guitar) are a bit prolonged and really make for a "full" experience. The sound reminds me of being at a live show at an ampitheater where the reflections add a fullness. Quite a lot of fun!

 

That looks like quite the beast

 

Looks great, but next time please shell out $5k for NOS blackgate caps on the low voltage sections.

 

Ok, here it is, a Schiit Sys with a r2r attenuator using 1% Vishay resistors and point to point wiring with Mogami cause I hate via's.





It's definitively more macrodynamic, microdynamic and somehow less fatiguing. It's weakness is it doesn't really add anything either. Volume steps are less than I'd like as well. IMO the crack acting as a pre-amp sounds better due to warmth which the Akitika needs, but I don't want to warm tubes or fiddle with wires before I listen to music in the office. Next up is a 789 that is staring at me funny so it needs a r2r attenuator as well.

 

I have the original Vali 2. I can sell it or mod it. Are there by recaps or mods folks tried?

 

Ohhhhh I'd be interested in that. Keep us in the loop!

 

Posting about it in the 789 thread here https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/massdrop-x-thx-aaa-789.5852/page-23

 

Has anyone messed with the MM2's opamps? Want to tame the highs somehow, seems to work with a buddys Lyr 3, but with my V226 it is borderline unbearable, even in NOS, with Piety it is not listenable for longer periods...
Really like it other than that, even got a Vali 3 on the way to see what can be done.

 

Yeah... $old it, tamed them quite nicely.

 

Anyone changed AD5781ARUZ to BRUZ in a BF2, or considered it? I just snatched a OG BF2 board off of eBay and am thinking about it. It would improve INL from ±4 to ±0.5 LSB.

I do remember Jason writing, more than once, that improved INL does not equate to better THD or other measurements. Not that I care about the measurements. Cause, hey, wasn't the Gungnir using the BRUZ? Must be *some* reason for thinking "B" is for Better.

The board I bought is a green BFM4 one with Würth caps. I have read that some people recapped them, saying that there is an audible difference to the BFM3 board with Nichicon caps. Is the BF2 not DC-coupled? If so I wonder if this may be more nervosa than an actual thing.

 

I'm skeptical that such a swap would play nice with the DSP/firmware, but maybe I'm out of my depth.

 

Should be good. Like the 11001B was a drop-in replacement for the 11001A in the Yggdrasil, or at least the MIL-F prototype, the BRUZ should be drop-in for the ARUZ. No other changes as per the datasheet. It’s just higher spec.

Only one way to find out for sure though…