Thx Larry. Is the prototype setup for balanced? If so I'll just get a 2.5>3.5mm adapter and give it a go.

Hey Anax! Thanks for your detailed answer about the GO100 and the other versions! Indeed some more bass kick would nicely improve the the EX1000. So I jumped on the v2+ bandwagon....

Are you gonna do a write-up on the prototype you have?

About using the balanced output... not even sure the v2+ has a balanced output... if understand correctly , with the adapter you are mentionning, we can use any iems?

I'm sad.

I had upgrade fever. I wanted a shiny, new (or nearly-new) box on the shelf; I wanted better sound; I wanted to own and enjoy as near to a totl DAC as I could possibly afford --- and I seriously wanted to try some Schiit.

Fellow pirate Kothganesh, of this city, is now joyfully sailing a Yiggy, thus putting his Gungnir on (or rather, off) the shelf. He was kind enough to to give me first refusal on it a couple of months ago (I had a holiday coming up) and to bring it over to my place on a no-obligation loan, last weekend.

Even though it might have meant no onions for a month (Indian economy reference) or not feeding my wife at all for a week, I could not see this not leading to a deal and a permanent place on my shelf. I even love that the Gungnir has multiple outputs that I can simultaneous connect to own-volume-control devices. With 99.99% computer-source listening, I don't really need the pre-amp for source selection, and could dispense with it for  destination selection. Brilliant.

I wired up the USB, and had no problems at all with instant Linux (Mint 17.1) identification of the Schiit device. For interest and comparison, I also fired up the on-board and dug out an optical SPDIF (I used to use that a lot, a decade or so ago, and I don't subscribe to the ruined-by-jitter claims) connector. I don't have any coax digital out on the box.

Whilst I thought I was hearing a somewhat smoother sound from the optical (could I have ABXed? I do doubt it), I was, whilst wanting to enjoy the new box, aware of something not quite right.

I believe in objective principles. If I had the facilities to ABX (or even blind AB) two DACs, I certainly would have done so, but I don't. With the pre-amp, I can AB sources, but, with changing PC source settings and/or DAC source settings, it is a two stage task that takes seconds and cannot possibly be done [single-handedly] blind.

It is necessary to say a few words about my ears. I have always suffered some high-frequency deficiency. Even at 20 I could not hold a conversation in a crowded room, much less a party. Two or three years ago, audiometry showed roll-off from 14k; more recently, it shows roll-off from 8k. No cymbal shimmer for me any longer, at least not without EQ.

Sadly, one can't compensate for my kind of ear problem by just turning stuff up --- because loud sounds hurt. I have to cover my ears when vehicles with blaring sirens rush by. My ears are a pain in the just-above-the-neck: not good, but over-sensitive.

So... auditioning the Gungnir... I became aware that some things, eg loud vocals and drum beats, were making me reach for the volume control, and then, having turned it down, being unhappy with the result.

I don't have a fraction of the experience of many other pirates: it is not so easy for me to quantify and put into words the nature of what I hear. Searching here, I discovered that I was not the only one to have felt such a thing with the gungnir: a pirate (I think it was maxvla) described a feeling of pressure on the ear, the word "shouty" was used. Merv said that the new USB board had fixed a percentage of this, but, it seems, not enough for me. Merv describes the DAC as keeping him awake, and that is fine by him: that doesn't work for me.

Possibly, if I only ever listened to orchestral music, I might have found it just fine, but I don't. At home (I go out for Indian classical music) I listen mostly to rock.

So... write me off as the guy who preferred an ODAC. 

For now, yes, I do. I have no idea where to look now for its upgrade. It's price was such that I could buy it as an impulse buy, just for fun (but I've been using it ever since) but more expensive stuff, no, I cannot do that. And I have learnt the lesson that audition can, indeed, be very vital.


The small details... Gear: HD600 'phones, ifi iCAN hp amp, McCormack TLC-1 pre-amp, but also auditioned without pre-amp. Music: Mahler 1, Grateful Dead, Love.

You should try a Fulla or Geek perhaps. If you are married to the iCAN you really don't need better than those.

I don't have a fraction of the experience of many other pirates: it is not so easy for me to quantify and put into words the nature of what I hear. Searching here, I discovered that I was not the only one to have felt such a thing with the gungnir: a pirate (I think it was maxvla) described a feeling of pressure on the ear, the word "shouty" was used.

I've often described my experience with the Gungnir using those same words. Even moreso when paired with the Mjolnir.

I wonder, by the way, in what way we want >ODAC? What do you find to be wrong with ODAC? I can't say that I actually find anything wrong with it: I'm just looking for that unknown know-it-when-I-hear-it something --- which might or not be there. I'm guessing there's reasons that everyone doesn't buy a <$200 DAC --- but hey, this is hifi, and anything is possible.

As someone who just got into R2R, coming from the epithome of sd dacs, it's nigh impossible to understand the treble etch, until you actually hear it. But source matters as much if not more than dac anyway. I've gotten more improvements from working on my source (usb2coax converter, linear psu for said converter, using Jriver, using a stripped down windows specifically for audio, and lastly using daphile distro from a usb key).

Maybe you wouldn't hear the treble etch, maybe you would. There are ways to try on the cheap with ebay and diy, if you're really interested.