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Author Topic: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review  (Read 5615 times)

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Marvey

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2013, 06:57:21 PM »
Quote from: BleaK on December 03, 2013, 05:39:24 PM
How would you rate this against the matrix x-sabre usb? With the Gen 2 board gungnir comes up to 900usd, which isn't that far off the x-sabre.


While I did rate the Gungnir Gen 1 USB better than the X-Sabre in that comparison (personal preference), I also felt that the two DACs were technically roughly on par - trading blows with each other in specific sonic attributes. The Gungir won based on tone and rendering of vocals/treble which are higher priority for me. (Again, I really dislike Sabre treble and lack of bass pitch differentiation with Sabre bass.)

Gungnir Gen 2 USB is easily a favorite of mine now. I do plan on rotating it in. It is better than the AGD M7 or PWD2 via coax? Nope. But I would say the Gungnir does have the sweetest tone (it's an AKM thing - seriously). The Wolfsons are kind of wooden sounding. The PCM1704 in the M7 still has the best vocal rendering, but overall it's still not as sweet sounding as the AKM. Both M7 and PWD2 via coax are more resolving and cleaner than Gungnir, although the gap is closer than before.
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Questhate

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2013, 07:01:22 PM »
Yeah, I always loved the dynamics of the Gungnir as well. I hate using the word PRaT because it's such a bullshit word, but that comes to my mind when listening to the Gungnir. It's musical and keeps me engaged and tapping my toes (I recall when Maxvla upgraded from the Gungnir to the X-Sabre, he said the X-Sabre finally let him relax). The first song I listened to when I got the Gungnir hooked up was Dirty Projector's "About To Die" and I never remembered the bassline being so damn groovy before.
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Marvey

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2013, 07:04:09 PM »
Quote from: DaveBSC on December 03, 2013, 04:44:53 PM
Purrin: what board are you using? Most coaxial digital outputs from motherboards I've seen have just been horrendous, with "you've gotta be kidding" levels of jitter. Even the ESI Juli@ that Bryston uses in their servers is not particularly impressive in terms of output jitter, and I have to imagine that the Juli@ is better than any built in motherboard output.


Some $200 Asus board with an Core i7-860. My PC is "hardened" somewhat. All unnecessary Windows services have been disabled. No indexing. No auto-updates. No file sharing. No Windows firewall. No weird mystery Microsoft stuff. No antivirus even.
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Thujone

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2013, 07:09:37 PM »
I'm very much a DAC noob, but upgrading from my Maverick D1 Plus to the Bifrost Uber with the USB V2 has revealed a less aggressive(?) sound. I haven't used anything but USB so far, so I suppose I should try a different input method. Maybe the lack of aggression is due to a more refined and less grainy sound.
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Marvey

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2013, 07:26:38 PM »
It's definitely more "refined" with the Gen2 USB.
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olor1n

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2013, 11:23:32 PM »
I'd be first in line for a usb to spdif doodad from Schiit. Get to work Jason.  :)p1 
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FlySweep

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #16 on: December 04, 2013, 12:52:50 AM »
Quote from: Questhate on December 03, 2013, 07:01:22 PM
Yeah, I always loved the dynamics of the Gungnir as well. I hate using the word PRaT because it's such a bullshit word, but that comes to my mind when listening to the Gungnir.

I tended to think of 'PRaT' as a nebulous way to describe the the speed with which dynamics are rendered.  For example, the HE-500 has better 'PRaT' than the HD600: the HE-500 swings dynamics with more range, precision, and speed.

I wonder if there's any truth to that.. or if I'm just blowing smoke up my own ass.
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anetode

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #17 on: December 04, 2013, 01:06:04 AM »
Quote from: purrin on December 03, 2013, 07:04:09 PM
Some $200 Asus board with an Core i7-860. My PC is "hardened" somewhat. All unnecessary Windows services have been disabled. No indexing. No auto-updates. No file sharing. No Windows firewall. No weird mystery Microsoft stuff. No antivirus even.

No oversampling. No feedback. No keyboard or mouse. All input is via a Morse key. A purely analog PC powered by hamster wheels which are rectified by phazon-filled radioluminescent tubes.
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DaveBSC

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #18 on: December 04, 2013, 01:17:37 AM »
Quote from: olor1n on December 03, 2013, 11:23:32 PM
I'd be first in line for a usb to spdif doodad from Schiit. Get to work Jason.  :)p1

Yeah, me too. Guys: galvanic isolation please. And preferably a 5V DC input jack as well.
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Ben

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Re: Schiit USB Gen 2 Board Review
« Reply #19 on: December 04, 2013, 02:08:48 PM »
This is seriously making me rethink the gungnir.
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