Modi Multibit: Multibit for the masses.

Unless you want DSD.

I propose Modi Multibit (pronounced mim-bee)

 

Great news schiit! Multibit for the masses, I love it.

@schiit hey Jason, the manual for the Modi MB says AD5545, whereas the product page says AD5547 (the same as Bifrost MB):

http://schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/modi_multibit_1_0.pdf

Just wanted to let you know!

 

But audio is speshul!

 

Im finding it weird how Stereophile have not tested the yggdrasil till now.

 

How hard does the Modi-bit bass hit and how syrupy? The Bifrost Multibit bass hit like a wimp with a pillow while the Bifrost 4490 hit so hard that combined with the AK4490 "Velvet Sound" innerbloom, it gooed up the lower mids more so than the Bifrost Multibit. The Modi 2 U AK4396 hit in-between as did the Yggdrasil with much more clarity and texture but the AK4396 was still servicable unlike the Bifrosts. Modi-bit might be tonally better while retaining Burrito staging meaning that for headphones, it just might be better.

I've never heard the Gungnir Multibit but do you mean the tendency to exaggerate tape hiss? Yggdrasil has this problem where say the analog tape used to record the high hats or ride cymbals on an old record was worse than the tape used for everything else and you can hear the noisefloor but obviously the sound of the cymbal when struck is louder than it. The Yggdrasil will emphasize the tape noise and shove it in your face even on the HD 650. The Yggdrasil also hates it when tape noise on different parts of a record is slightly different. While the recording flaw probably was audible in the studio, it was judged not to be a big deal and isn't on a more neutral DAC or cart that doesn't play Silent Scope with tape hiss and point it out like Simo Hayha shot frost-bitten Russians wearing dark clothing on a snowy white backdrop in the Winter War. I've heard this problem with the Yggdrasil with tons of records like the cash register on Dark Side of the Moon, the high-hat on Rust in Peace, any band from the 70s that had multi-tracked guitar parts like Led Zeppelin or Angel Witch or Aerosmith. This stuff is audible but if it was as big a deal as it was on the Yggdrasil, the records wouldn't have been released like that. The Bifrost Multibit wasn't nearly as bad as the Yggdrasil at this and this is the Yggdrasil's only major flaw to me.

 

They basically only review stuff that is distributed in the traditional audio dealer networks, come to trade shows and actively send samples for review.
They reviewed the Ragnarok but I think that was simply because one of their new regular columnists wanted to try it out.
Frankly, most of their products are too attainably priced to be considered worthy of review. They like to review the big-time wiz-bang stuff. I guess that's why people bother to pay subscriptions, so they can read about unobtainum. The internet has attainable stuff pretty well covered.
AtomicBob's measurements are killer and beyond reproach in my book but I wish JA would measure it for Stereophile just to scare the piss out of the other manufacturers and provide a new benchmark.

 

I think a lot of guys might literally schiit bricks if JA did that.

Back on topic, I think the mobit (or whatever we're calling it) is a strong contender for my planned work desktop system. Can't wait to hear impressions from business/cheapo laptops.

 

Stereophile recommendations for electronics (and everything really) are hilariously awful. Most of them sound much worse than the Modi 2U sigma-delta, Emotiva DC-1, and the Bifrost Multibit. Most of their turntables will get decked in the face by something like a used technics or Hanpin super OEM table with the tone arm replaced by one that can handle a bang for buck moving coil cart from someone like AT. Stereophile fawns over unpowered Sabre dongles and Oppos that have the dynamics of a decomposing crackhead in a morgue freezer.

 

From the Moby spec page: Modi 2 Multibit: 16/44.1 to 24/192 via USB. 16/44.1 to 24/192 via Toslink* and Coax, with 24/176 and 24/192 being NOS (non-oversampled)

re: NOS mode: I have a few things that high to play with NOS mode... any point in up-sampling to that (with sox) or is that essentially adding a filter anyway? Or is that one of the points of multi-bit, no up-sampling...

 

I like Moby, but phonetically I think it sounds too close to Modi.

Modi Multibit or Mumby could work, but doesn't quite roll off the tongue (perhaps it needs the hard consonants like Gungnir Multibit/Bifrost Multibit to sound right).

We've already seen Modibit floating around, which isn't too bad either. I think I saw someone use MultiModi, which feels like a tongue twister.

I suggest we just go with something completely different like "Tits McGee". It'll be easy to remember. No? Ok how about... hmm... Modi Multibit... ok that's it, we're just gonna call it MOM. "Can't wait to head back to the Schiithole so I can try out your mom tonight..."

 

man, this is begging to be the meat in a transportable sandwich with a magni on the bottom and a raspberry pi with spdif hat sitting on top. I can finally take back the crown of "biggest asshole" from my brother when we travel home for the holidays this year.

 

Tits McGee might give the wrong impression to the uninitiated. MOM however, sounds dead on the money.

 

We're sure tryin' for a perfect spdif hat in the pi/i2s threads!

 

Almost want to buy just to get a taste of R2R. Though hopefully this means Bifrost Multibit will be getting an upgrade in the near future. My Bifrost is ready.

 

LOLOL

 

Are they reviewing Yggdrasil? I thought their review of the Rag was very well done.

 

That's exactly what I'm thinking of putting together for a sofa-side secondary rig. Pi + 503SPD2 streamer --SPDIF--> Multibit Modi --> Vali 1.

 

Schiit is pretty adamant about doing as little as possible to your music and feeding it straight to the DAC. Whatever upsampling the Modi MB does is preferred over what your computer would do.

 

Modi McDACFace

 

I think we'll start seeing a lot more Asgard/Valhalla/Lyr pairings with this DAC.