Modi Multibit: Multibit for the masses.

SCHIIT SANDWICH

 

Modi looks tiny next to that Big Black... Widow.

 

@k4rstar LOL

kinda reminds me of this one sandwich i ate once:

 

i know i previously said somewhere that modi multibit sounded bright during a meet... but when left powered up for a while, and fed via a regen with a lps into a torpedo III, this sounds good, and approaches / gets scary close to a Gungnir Multibit for 1/4 of the mangos, all things considered. it's like a Gungnir Multibit jr. given the tonal similarities. this is based on a very brief back and forth session, but tonality between the two isn't far off, perhaps the modibit does get a bit hard up top (this maybe led to perceived brightness in the meet, maybe?) and doesn't dig down as deep as Gungnir Multibit. things sound closer together and not quite as refined and clear. Gungnir Multibit pulls away here, a glass of cool cool water, it's sense of space, clarity/ resolution, things sound crisp clean but never harsh. someone with better words, someone that has the best words, might excel in describing these differences, but we do what we can. more later maybe!

 

This is my problem with it. It's not bright but has too much punch for me. I've left mine plugged in for days now, but I haven't been paying music through it. I wonder if it will settle. It's bit too painful for me now though. Try playing Radiohead's Burn the Witch. That's the track I had to take my headphones off for. I'm hoping it's just a burn-in thing.

 

oh good call man, this is a good song to highlight the main weakness as I hear it, too. kind of like asking your ever so slightly cross-eyed friend to hit a baseball. what sticks out to me with this song is that very high pitched percussive hit that permeates the song, you know the one i'm talking about, it sticks out much further out with the modibit and is a bit piercing. the other part is the crescendo towards the end, where the violins take on a percussive quality, that is somewhat overwhelming and hard too.

i'm also hoping it's burn in. not sure how long my predecessor used the modibit for, but i've only been listening for like, an hour tops?

 

Those who find Modi MB bright, what amp/transducers do you use?

 

It was pretty rough during Boy in the Bubble that night I thought. Really harsh "ssss" and the cymbal definitely sounded all wrong, but I'd be willing chalk it up to insufficient warm up.

@landroni - T3 modded, BW1, BW2, Vali and HD598 that night. The Modi Multibit paired best with the Vali and worst with the T3 to my ears.

 

i wonder if vali 2 tube choice might help matters... time will tell. picked up the ubiquitous philips pcc88, and a brimar 6dj8, per hands' suggestion.

@landroni i'm using modded TIII and hd800 with a resonator for tonight, and a BW/TIII with modded hd580 during our meet with baz and drfindley.

 

Hm, it may not. I observed this characteristic when contrasting the Moby with my Bifrost Multibit once the latter "burned in" fully. @brencho is using the same Moby which I described earlier in this thread, and I ran it extensively during the course of my ownership.

To reiterate, I don't keep track of how many hours I've left something on for, as ofttimes I'm deeply skeptical of burn-in as a major factor in a component's performance. I don't discount it entirely. But neither do I give remotely enough of a crap to monitor the clock, especially while I'm listening to music. Different strokes and all that. I do, however, feel like runtime significantly benefitted the Bifrost Multibit. Go freakin' figure!

Anyway, I agree; Moby does seem to possess a certain fatiguing "artificiality" that reveals itself on some material, especially when stacked against Schiit's higher end multibit offerings. This is a key reason why I opted to stick with Bifrost Multibit, actually. Like you, I wouldn't say this hard edge, or "punch," translates into "brightness" per se. I regard that as more of a specific tonal artifact. By contrast, artificiality can reveal itself in numerous ways throughout the frequency spectrum. It's not confined to, say, the upper registers.

Just some observations. Hope they don't come off as so much reeking BS.

 

it's funny, i just put the song on again now and, whereas i totally agreed that boy in bubble was a tough pill to swallow that night, it's a lot less troublesome tonight. i put on graceland after that, which has a fuckload of SSSSSS --- graceland graceland we going to graceland tenessssseeeee... it really isn't drilling small peens into my ears like that night. it's still noticeably harder than Gungnir Multibit but tonight i'd consider it more along the nitpick category and not the dealbreaker category.

here are possible differences:

1. we were running amperex 12AZ7 tubes that night, running brimar yellow T and valvo 6201 tonight
2. we were using a hd580 that night, and i'm using a modded hd800 and 650 tonight - both bright as f**k but somehow the hd800 doesn't fux with me as much as the 580
3. we used straight USB with modibit that night, i'm using a regen + lps buttplugged into the modibit tonight
4. sorry for the subtle and not subtle profanity, i'm tired
5. maybe these are nitpicks (rather than dealbreakers) tonight because i've just done too much of the A/B which fries my brains

 

I had been letting everything break in on constant loop for the past 12+ hours (Modi Multibit for apprx. 15 hours, Valhalla 2 for apprx. 12 hours). Its 5:30 and I can't sleep (wonder why, lol!) so I decided to check on it.

Holy Schiit!

The sound has improved dramatically. To sum up, it sounds a lot less like listening to a recording through headphones and a lot closer to being performed live in front of me, or at least sounding like a TOTL speaker system.

Hyperbole aside, soundstage width/height has increased dramatically. The highs have settled quite a bit, resulting in a very pleasing level of smoothness...giving the sound a very analog nature. And the bass is exquisite...more nuanced and fleshed out. The sound is even more effortless and

I'm simply speechless at the level of performance being served from Modi Multibit/Regen/Val2/T90.

 

Interesting. I was initially unimpressed with Radiohead's newest LP and I'm a huge fan. Radiohead's albums are a weird mix of tonalities. Their earlier stuff (up to OK Computer) is very bright. Kid A is a lot more neutral. Amnesiac is fairly darker, and when I was using crappier gear before I discovered mid/hi-fi, sounded muddy and borderline unlistenable. Hail to the Thief gets a bit brighter but not as sun shiny as OkC. And every album after that is similar.

Moon Shaped Pool sounded closer to Amnesiac. Darker and almost depressingly mixed. My T90 does not do bright recordings any favors...at all. I will give the new album a relisten. Modi Multibit does seem to smooth over the highs of the T90 but not totally. It's a headphone that generally shouldn't be used for brickwalled, hotly mastered pop music. Last night Kanye's TLOP was drilling holes into my ear drums via T90 on certain tracks (about 50/50). I used to hate Beyers but T90 does not sound like their typical signature, it is warm and extremely resolving...the highs though can be brutal, much more so than even the HD800 (just compare their FR charts). I think this will serve me well when I spring for an HD800 as I have been used to sometimes brutal highs.

It's interesting because my previous integrated Denon did a lot to make these kinds of bright recordings not much of a problem, and now I realize it was just obscuring detail. Valhalla 2 is considerably more resolving and that means feeding my T90 brutal honesty in bright tracks. I believe some of the edge has been shaved off from break in of Modi Multibit/Val2, but I need to relisten to some pop to be sure.

I wonder if rolling tubes on Val2 will help with taming highs?

 

LoL, wonderfully accurate description of them. 90% of the time they don't bother me though and sound brilliant. I wanna get an HD800 in the next couple months for an end game HP.

 

@sorrodje

Yeah. I did get to demo it a few months back and was extremely impressed.

What other similar offerings do you recommend?

 

Thanks.

I have also tried an LCD2, didn't like it at all. I've owned an HD600...great sound, but does not have the resolution/layering abilities I'm after.

I considered getting a Stax rig but am somewhat turned off by the apparent bass shy qualities. I have not heard an electrostat HP but have heard stat speakers and was not terribly impressed. Dynamic drivers seem to have the weight stats lack, feel free to correct me.

My consolation is I've demoed the HD800 and loved it, and if I don't end up liking it in the long term I can always sell as they are extremely in demand on the used market. I am really not worried about buyers remorse.

I'll admit I am curious about HiFiman.

 

If you are curious about HiFiman, and the T90 doesn't stab mercilessly into your brain, consider picking up a used HE-500. Great sound, if a little peaky at times.