The Carly Rae Jepsen album, while still sounding lackluster, had more percussion excitement, and Marling’s album had greater acoustic guitar presence. It wasn’t bad, it just sounded rather unappealing.Īfter a few days, however, the sonics improved. Folk singer Laura Marling’s latest album Song For Our Daughter (44.1/16 stream), recorded much like the 70s records of which it’s musically reminiscent, through the Schiit had especially weak drums. Modern pop recordings, such as Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Run Away With Me” ( Emotion, 44.1kHz MQA stream), lacked bass drum punch and top end energy. Right out of the box, compared to my well broken in $299 reference DAC, Modius sounded lifeless and thin. Schiit offers a 2-year parts and labor limited warranty and 15-day returns (with 85% refunds). The unit measures 9”圆”x1.5”, and save for the wall wart is entirely US-assembled and/or manufactured. Next to LED input indicators, Modius’ sleek metal chassis’ front has a somewhat loud input selector button. When using the USB input, that cable is both the power and audio source otherwise, the included micro USB to USB-A cable plugs into the dedicated 5V USB power input. The balanced output stage is based on a Texas Instruments LME49724 op-amp and the SE output is a TI OPA1662 (both outputs are independent). It has micro USB, optical, RCA, and XLR digital inputs – the analog outputs are RCA and balanced XLR (rare for a budget DAC). (There is no MQA decoding, but 44.1kHz MQA files don’t need the “unfold”). The new $199 Modius multibit DAC, available in silver and black finishes, utilizing the popular AKM AK4493 converter chip, handles audio up to 192kHz/24bit resolution. Schiit’s products appear feature-packed, but does the sound live up to the specs? Or are Schiit products, well, total shit? Their direct-to-consumer standalone components, some advertised for gaming and office setups, start at just $99. Unlike many of their competitors, Schiit Audio seemingly intends to guide hi-fi beginners up the quality/price ladder.
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