Budget Audiophile DAC you CAN'T Own! Schiit Modi Multibit Review and other Options 

I like the way you say it, I'm no prude, but it's gets exhausting after a while ,right.

Love your videos. I have the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100. Have you every reviewed the DacMagic and do you think this outperforms it?

Ok...I think your great...having said that, why the H E double toothpicks would you choose to use (as a backdrop) what we can only assume is a surround system set up completely wrong? Center channel a foot above the TV screen? really? I mean at least fake it...lol I recommend lots of therapy, and more coffee. I'd be glad to come by and set it up for you...smh.

I think it's great

Yeah, mine sounded a little weird at first but it’s recommended that you keep it powered on. I checked it the next day and it sounded so much better. This goes for all of the Schiit Multibit dacs. I believe Mike Moffat said to leave them on for best performance.

1 hr warm up period indeed. As an added bonus, put a paperback book or something on top of the unit. It will give off a holographic or more open sound stage.

@@tonymosley6951 I can't tell if this is a joke or not LOL. I do wish people would look into the psychology of audio experiences and our horrible memory of sound. So many people act like they hear a difference between cheap DAC's when they aren't even A/Bing them with level matched output, they're only stating what they think they remember the other sounding like. Crystals on your amp, expensive cables/interconnects, paperback book on your DAC, all do not change sound.

@@Jon-nz3dm May seem funny 😂, but the whole point is making the dac run hotter than it is to get the effect. The guts inside rely on a certain temperature to sound it's best thus the 1 hr warm-up period. Just for fun, I run it occasionally. Don't know the longevity of the device, but the effect is there within 15-30 minutes after it runs on an increased temperature load. By the way, I have a schiit gungnir mb that takes 3 DAYS to warm up. Otherwise it is just dull and lifeless on a cold start. Thought something was really wrong with my system till after that 3rd day. Happy Listening 🔊.

It's terrible anyway. I have no idea why people like that garbage.

Same here!

I agree as well. That Modi+ truly transformed the WiiM Mini (optical out) and Onkyo CD changer (coaxial out) switchable on the Modi+ into a Denon Receiver CD input and running Polks off the 100W/ch power amp on a Rec Room stereo system! Blew the freaking doors off the 16 bit converted sound coming off the analog out on the Mini, and even a bit better than the internal DAC circuitry on the Onkyo. Not sure why. I’m using a 6’ long, less than $10 coaxial cable.

agreed

My Mimby has trounced every delta/sigma DAC I’ve owned, which sound flat, dry, and forward, in comparison.

I'm pretty impressed with it for sure

What do you do for headphones?

@@beefquiche I was using the Schiit Magni 3 to drive various headphones but, mainly HiFiman he-400i planar open backs. Sound was pretty darn good.

when I say variable output level I mean something that can be used for volume control. fine adjustment

@@cheapaudioman Oh. Gotcha. Makes sense.

I assumed this would also be an headphone amp, mehhh...

IMO they are the 2 best dacs in this price category

@@cheapaudioman I don’t doubt it, I’ll probably pick up a Geshelli in the near future, and wait some months till I can maybe pick up the Schiit used just to try it out. I love the customization possibilities with the Geshelli, and I live in central Florida, so it would be cool to have something good that’s local to me

Excellent bit of kit. As far as DACs / Headphone Amps / Pre Amps go, you’re sorted. No need to spend another cent on these for the next decade :P

Glad it was helpful!

I would like to know this as well

Dude I've been saying the samething. It seems like NOBODY wants to cover the modi 3E despite all the great things i been hearing about it. I might just say screw the reviews and pull the trigger

I have a Modius. I know you said you prefer the Modi Multibit to the Modius, but how do those two compare? What are you noticing as the main differences? I previously owned a Modi 3+/Magni Heresy stack and "upgraded" to an Asgard 3/Modius stack. I find the latter to be on the warm side and a little thick. I find myself prefering the more analytical sound of the smaller stack. I'm wondering if changing DACs would help bring back some of the analytical sound? I'm just curious about your thoughts as someone who owns both the Modius and ModiMB.

nice

@@RdandTrk1 Yeah no problem. I'm not super knowledgeable/experienced and as always people tend to perceive sound in very subjective ways. To me the Modius sounds much more analytical and almost crystalline compared to the Modi MB. That lends me to suspect the warm thick sound is actually coming from the Asgard. Since the Modius is more neutral you can hear the natural sound of the Asgard a little better. It not a huge difference but the MB seems a bit warmer and the high end details seem a little more smeared and grainy than the Modius. Its not in a bad way. It sounds a bit more tube like. And this seems to be be born out in measurements. The multibit has a lot of 2nd order harmonics going on like tubes. However I wouldn't say the Modius is the most analytical/transparent DAC out there. So if you want to bring back a more analytical sound I'd probably suggest swapping the amp out to something like a THX head amp that has built in distortion compensation. It might be a bit too analytical at that point but that's going to come down to personal preference. The Magni Hersey was designed to compete more directly with THX amps so that'd probably be the place to start. Then if its a bit too sterile swap the DAC out for something a tad less analytical. With my speakers (JBL Studio 530) and amp (Schitt Vidar) the Modi Multibit just seems to render a bit more of a realistic soundstage with sounds in space. I have no problem using EQ and am pretty tone def so I care a lot more about soundstage and imaging than tone. The MB is ever so slightly narrower in soundstage but I find the imaging is also a tad more 3D. As for tone the biggest difference I've heard is that flutes sound a bit more crystalline on the Modius while the MB has some more harmonic distortion going on which I find a bit more pleasant. All of this is pretty slight but I hope it helps.

@@cheapaudioman Did you notice it gets a tad warm? My amp and DAC have matchy matchy temperatures now lol.

@@gatticusfpv3174 Thanks a ton for the reply! That makes perfect sense to me and sounds like an awesome place to start. I like the Asgard and I suspect I'm probably pairing it with headphones that are also warm, giving me what I've heard Randy call "extra butter", LOL! Thus it would pair very well with analytical headphones which I don't own any of yet. I think I just may go after the THX ONE, and keep both! Thanks a ton for your time and input.

that made me chuckle

Funny you sound like me!

Same. Been kicking around getting a Schiit stack for a few years. Finally ordered a modi and magni+. Wishing I got a Loki Mini too. But, that will have to wait a bit.

Awesome! Thank you!

Emotiva shd do a streamer.

Awesome, thank you!

Describe the sound. Is it smooth? Is there any hardness or glare?

@@ChicagoRob2 I think it sounds less digital, if that makes sense. Also a little more forward and full. If I would have kept the D10s, I would have rolled the op-anp to opa1656, which maybe would have made it sound closer to the modi. FYI only tried it with USB to PC.

Can someone please review this dac 😂😂

yeah. me too

ha

I hope so too!

@@cheapaudioman I totally want an a/b review with the two.

No. I think that the DX3 pro+ have better dac than the E30. DX3 pro+ headphone amp is powerful and clean sounding.

I'm sorry Randy I was wrong I. Think you can get the Ares 2 not the 12th annver. For around $1100 in Thailand where I live.

The AKM plant fire affected many companies who used their chips.

@@TheDanEdwards indeed. Hoping they can get back into full production sometime. Nothing against Sabre ESS DACs. I know they can be great too, and that the implementation, power supplies, output sections and such affect the overall sound as much as the chosen chip, but it is nice to have competition in the marketplace. I love my Schiit Modi 3+ with the AK4490 just fine for use in my den but *might* get a better DAC for my living room one day once I get everything set up in there and some home improvements done.

The the smsl d300 is very good. I have the schiit modi multibit v2 and Prefer the d300. It has a probably the first affordable ROHM chip. Would like to try the d70s but too much for what you get in my opinion.

@@mtnmankeith9069 Thanks 🙏 - I took the chance on a D300 and it will be waiting for me when I come home from vacation! Break in period? I have a Modi MB and generally use it. I also had a Sabaj A10d, with AK4497 in that system and could A-B the DACs, such that I gave the edge to the Schiit, though the Sabaj was more feature rich. I tore that system apart & am waiting on the D300. Lately I listen to mostly acoustic genres and it intrigued me that the Rohm was developed with an ear to classical music reproduction. This is the comparison that I’m about to make, since I have the Modi MB. The D300? I don’t need it, but with the world as it is now I’ll never not need it at the current price again! And it’ll be months before more are delivered again for me not to need 🤪. I’ve moved the Sabaj A10d to a little used living room system with a Sabaj A10a (amplifier) for Blu-ray opera/concert/movies, & streaming using an HDMI audio extractor to the DAC. Out to those cheap but great little Sony speakers - thanks CAM. I think the Modi MB would be good synergy with that gear, especially the Sonys. Inflation I fear is going to be the killer bookend to this second Golden Age of HiFi. When would anyone bracket it? It ends in ‘22 😢

@@zenithcric1171 How do you like the D300 compared to the multibit?

@@AbideinChristFully I’ll A-B them again in a few minutes but what I can say is that in my system the D300 gets the most use for its versatility. The Modi MB is also in there but gets less play. Speakers Q-Acoustics 3050i, amp VTV Hypex NC250, preamp/HP amp SMSL HO200, D300, as the balanced chain. I bought the locally made amp w/ Covid cash. But it only has balanced/XLR inputs so initially used RCA-to-XLR from a Schiit Saga+. Tried the HO200 (has both XLR and RCA inputs and outputs) & kept the Modi into its RCA inputs. Added the D300 to try an all-balanced chain. Since then piggy-backed the Saga on to the HO200, which only has one RCA input (with the Saga now five), Modi through that first. The D300 bypasses the Schiit gear via its XLR outputs and so the A-B I can do won’t be exactly the same chain. I can leave the Schiit turned off and that’s mostly what happens. I’ve been an audiofool for years so have accumulated gear and have three players for CDs in the main system so I can (theoretically) listen via their internal DACs or, depending, the Modi or D300, for the same disc. I can configure my streamer to feed both sides and I’ll do that to test. It’s a Nexum TuneBox TB20 which upsamples Spotify to 24/192, optical to D300, coax to Modi. With HPs, as it’s early morning, a few flicks of the front input switch on the HO200 for the comparison. BUT i could not really match levels for the one-switch easy comparison, as with the D300 in fixed output mode it overwhelmed the Modi, so I had to put it in variable mode and back it down to 85 of 99, the Saga maxed into the HO200. It takes concentration to hear a difference. The D300 may have the slightest degree of higher clarity (solo piano now), it may have a very slightly more forward impression, the Modi blending vocals back a bit, but maybe I’m just looking for differences. The main difference is the system issues - I have to turn on the Saga to run the Mod’s signal, so two more devices powered up. Doing that doesn’t add to the SQ I’m hearing, for streaming. The test I just did was with the Modi powered up for just twenty minutes prior (longer now). Some swear by leaving it on 24/7, but if I don’t listen through it for a week I turn it off. The D300 was powered up for a similar time. All gear sounds better warmed up; maybe in an hour or a day I’d prefer the Modi but now I gain nothing, SQ-wise to run the stream through it. I don’t lose anything either. I don’t want to decrease the life of the unit by leaving it on 24/7 as some do; but if it was my only DAC I might. So “for the money,” regarding SQ only, the Modi is the better deal, and supporting American workers even better. & better warranty. If the SMSL dies in two or three or four years I’m F’d. It’s a little gamble, though audio gear typically works. I have the display set to turn off; if the display dies how to operate it? No issue with the Modi. If i didn’t have the need for XLR into the amp, I wouldn’t have gone the route I did. When in preamp mode I don’t detect loss of SQ in the D300, so for Spotify playlists where there’s differing recording levels I find the remote useful, though the Saga also has remote volume control. For HP listening the HO200 doesn’t go above 12 o’clock, more like 9 through the amp, with Saga near the max. I do actually use the D300’s Bluetooth for RU-vid talking heads and it sounds fine for that. I don’t lose any musical joy with the D300 as compared to the Modi, and add versatility. For a “multibit sounding delta-sigma DAC” the D300 is a fine device, & if you need “balanced” for your system it’s an excellent way to go. It’s more feature-rich but the SQ doesn’t really exceed the MB, it matches it IMHO. That said, since I set it up, I’m listening through the MB side and I love it. & Since it’s later now I switched to speakers, and same results - maybe a slight gain in clarity / separation with the D300. The Modi maybe more blended, if slightly. The Qs are inoffensive, smooth sounding, so too smooth is a concern. Hence my switch to Class D for the amp, after A-B for years (I’ve given my 90’s Rotels to my son). I feel I’ve good system synergy. I believe the XLR chain with the speakers is “just right,” though with the MB now it still gives good musical joy. As much as my main system’s a Rube Goldberg kind of thing with too many options, I also love “set it and forget it” simplicity. Part of my reason for getting the Modi MB first, early in ‘22, was that I figured they wouldn’t be $250 for long, and I was right. Then the Rohm chip DAC intrigued me, I was curious about an all-XLR arrangement, though my distances are short. I was able to take the Saga out, but that was only for a while, as I just piled in the stuff that was in storage, for fun. I really don’t need the newest Modi MB on the way, but I’m an audiofool so who knows? That the $250 = the $400 for SQ alone means one can go low. Maybe doubling the price of the D300 would gain some “next level” SQ but not twice as much, especially for the $800+ I don’t have to find out. For right now, though I could live with either, i don’t want to part with either. Hope something was useful in all that.