Schiit Modius e DAC Review - An Under $300 Reference

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The Modius e was a self-funded purchase. Schiit Audio has no knowledge of this review before publication.
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Schiit's Product Page: www.schiit.com/products/modius
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My Reviews of Some Mentioned Gear…
Ferrum Oor + Hypsos: • Ferrum Oor Headphone A...
Focal Radiance: • What Gear is My Gear? ...
Focal Utopia (OG) (1): • Focal Utopia Headphone...
(2): • What Gear is My Gear? ...
Geshelli Labs J2: • Geshelli Labs J2 Digit...
Geshelli Labs J2S: • Geshelli Labs J2S DAC ...
HiFiMan Ananda Nano: • HiFiMan Ananda Nano He...
HiFiMan Susvara (1): • HiFiMan Susvara - Summ...
(2): • What Gear is My Gear? ...
Schiit Bifrost 2/64: • Schiit Bifrost 2/64 DA...
Schiit Midgard: • Schiit Midgard Headpho...
Singxer SU-6: • Singxer SU-6 DDC Revie...
Sonore ultraRendu: • Sonore ultraRendu Netw...
My Hearing Quirks: • WaveTheory Reviews Wav...
Timestamps...
00:00 Intro, Pricing, Disclaimer
00:53 Shameless Self Promotion
01:25 Takeaways
02:20 Features & Build
06:46 Test Gear
09:13 Sound
13:58 Drawbacks & Power Supply
16:34 Comparison with Bifrost 2
20:45 Comparison with Geshelli J2(S)
22:28 Balanced Output vs Single-Ended Output
24:56 Wrap-Up

Пікірлер: 46

@gooferman609 2 ай бұрын

got this, lokius and midgard as my first plunge into hifi audio... love it! Glad to see someone with a lot more experience in the hobby agrees with all the research I did

@ReverendDr.Thomas 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for yet another EXCELLENT review, Doctor! I'm happy with the FiiO M17 I bought yesterday. 💯

@noturnleftunstoned72 2 ай бұрын

It's a fantastic DAC. To say this puppy is "clean" is an understatement. It sounds at it's finest through my Bluesound Vault 2i. Great video!

@TheWorldTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Wonderful review, Sir!

@stevendavis1135 2 ай бұрын

Been using a schiit magni hersey and modi 3E stack for a little over 2 years now and honestly it's served me well. It's my daily driver with my lcdx 2021

@delta9k 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the review.

@nogoodnamesleft4814 2 ай бұрын

My dac finally reviewed 😊

@dustydynasty802 2 ай бұрын

Hi WaveTheory! Great video. Seeming as you love the Focal Radiance I was hoping if you could review the brand new Focal Azurys which use the same driver but are only 550 USD!

@jkteddy77 2 ай бұрын

At first I preferred the AKM version for its warmth and charachter, but over time I kept the Modius E for its resolution and imaging. This hobby and its clarity advancements all convene on neutral signature, which i'm slowly coming around to because the resolution is truly getting that good.

@teemomilkov2929 Ай бұрын

You are criminally underrated. Best reviewer on youtube hands down!

@tracehazarrrrd 2 ай бұрын

I think it's great! Massive stage upgrade to any Modi DAC for the bigger chassis amps from Schiit. You won't miss multibit at all.

@Siieracki 2 ай бұрын

if I got something like the ifi ipower x for this what voltage version would be appropriate?

@aeon7748 2 ай бұрын

Looking forward to your DO100 Pro review, curious to find if its better or similar in performance to the Modius, and how different tonally can it be considering its chifi origins, I like its feature set with ARC/BT and it has up sampling support but the Modius is "just" a pure DAC.

@pavelexpertov 2 ай бұрын

Hey, just two questions: - how does it compare to schiit multibit dac for ~300$? - what's your thoughts on internal dacs that can be installed into asgard/jotunheim? It's because one of the options is the ess 9028 for them.

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

I was not able to hear the MMB2 and Modius e in direct A/B. MMB2 is LIKELY (but I cannot guarantee) more resolving. It stands out in my memory that the MMB2 is a more aggressive sound overall, too. However, MMB2 is single ended and it will sound noticeably better as a SE device. I heard the internal DAC modules with the Nitsch Pietus Maximus (I have a review). They sounded decent but bottlenecked that amp. I think Asgard 3 is probably the sweet spot for pairing those DAC modules. And of course they are USB only, no SPDIF connections.

@antonkovalenko3878 2 ай бұрын

Hi, thanks for the review Regarding unison USB. I have a bifrost uber 4490 with unison module? is there any difference between using hifi cable like Audioquest forest and generic printer cable with bifrost?

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

I have not heard that version of Schiit's USB implementation so I cannot make any guarantees. But I can say that on every USB implementation I've heard (across several brands) the Audioquest USB cables have made audible improvements over standard issue USB printer cables.

@bryanhumburg7894 Ай бұрын

@@wavetheorysoundDo you have any preferences for xlr cables you normally use or that might pair well with a bifrost 2/64?

@ChicagoRob2 2 ай бұрын

I’m currently running a Modi+, which I really like. Would I hear an improvement with the Modius E, single-ended? Sibilants do concern me, though, because I don’t hear that with the Modi+.

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

There might be a slight bump, but I think you'd be better off saving up a little longer and jumping up to the Modi Multibit 2 if you need to stay single ended.

@ChrisP1101 2 ай бұрын

Just curious how you would rate/ compare this dac to the Geshelli J2S.... say with their stock 4493 chip. I realize you can upgrade to the 4499 and replace op amps so maybe that's not a fair comparison?

@jayem1826 2 ай бұрын

Great question. I've been looking for a second hand J2 socketed with the 4499. Then I'd get the Sparkos. USB not necessary.

@rockroll9513 2 ай бұрын

He mentions the J2 comparison near the end of the video. The basic J2S is only $10 more.

@jayem1826 2 ай бұрын

@@rockroll9513 Thanks. I'll go back and listen. I admit I skipped most of this video.

@jayem1826 2 ай бұрын

@@rockroll9513 yes, but not with Sparkos

@Microwave414 2 ай бұрын

Let me pick your brain here for a brief moment since I already bought this dac last month. If I was to say buy an xlr balanced to rca single ended cable, would that work or would it be no better than the true single ended output on this dac? I don't think I need the extra voltage but if I can get an even better sonic characteristics into my lyr 2 for the price of a cheap cable then I don't see a reason to not. I know the single ended and balanced sides are completely on their own circuits so there is a reason why one would sound better than the other. Anyways do you think that would be beneficial or a waste of money? Honestly single ended was already satisfying me but knowing what you've said now I am curious but I also wanna keep my tubes in the mix if possible.

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

In general I do NOT recommend the use of XLR-to-RCA cables. It's not just the voltage differential that can be a problem, there are questions about what happens to the ground line. Some gear handles it ok, but most don't. I'd ask Schiit about it before you try. But seeing as how they don't sell those on their website I doubt you'll get very far. I think their Lokius EQ will do decent balanced to single-ended conversion for a reasonable-ish price. I've railed on Schiit already for not having balanced inputs on the Lyr series or not having a single-ended dac that is commensurate with the price and performance of that series. They don't seem keen on fixing that issue and have been rather curtly dismissive of the suggestions to fix it, IME.

@Microwave414 2 ай бұрын

@@wavetheorysound Well the lyr2 was released when balanced was not quite common place and for quite a awhile I didn't exactly see a reason for one. Even now when dealing with tubes I felt like any advantage balance would have would be lost on what tubes typically do anyways but I'll ask schiit themselves and see what response I get back, if I had to take an educated guess I think you're most likely correct and having EQ control on a physical non-software level would be nice to have but if such a cable would actually work, I'll report back since honestly I think is something everyone should know, why spend $300 when you can spend $30 after all.

@Microwave414 2 ай бұрын

Yeah after chatting with their AI which is almost like listening to the guy who wrote their FAQ it would have caused grounding issues and extra noise and got the lokius, I should have an equalizer anyways and having it at a hardware level is just smarter than relying on software anyways and having it able to convert balanced to single ended is just a nice extra touch even if the AI called it extreme overkill, yes the AI called the lokius that for that specific purpose. Maybe schiit should just make one for $100, or better yet make the modius single ended output preform virtually equally more or less to the balanced output.

@IrenESorius 2 ай бұрын

👍‍‍😎👍‍‍

@peytonsnead3114 2 ай бұрын

Sounds like Modius might be better option than MMB2, if you add LPS.

@TimpTim 2 ай бұрын

👍

@r.nadeau3749 2 ай бұрын

Referring to your assertion that the balanced output from the DAC is inferior to the single-ended output. How did you come to this conclusion? Might not the amplifier have caused this difference in performance? *What if the DAC output is identical in either output configuration, but the amp's shortcoming was the cause of the change in sound quality? Nothing I heard you say addresses this. It seems that you're assuming that the amp is equally capable in single-ended and balanced operation, which is extremely unlikely.*

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

Good question. It could be the amp. I think that's the less likely explanation, though. The amp used for that test was the Schiit Midgard, which turns out is a single-ended amp with balanced inputs. Schiit says it really shouldn't matter which input is used. That's hard to confirm because usually balanced and single ended outputs are in fact different. I more or less confirmed what I was hearing by using the Midgard as a preamp and connecting the balanced output of the Modius e to the balanced input on the Midgard and in turn connecting the single ended preout of the Midgard to one of my Cayin HA-1Amk2's single ended inputs. I then connected the single ended output of the Modius e directly to the other single ended input of the Cayin. This allowed me to level-match and then rapid switch. The results held up: the balanced output of the Modius through the bal-to-se conversion of the Midgard sounded bigger, more holographic, more dynamic, cleaner, and less sibilant. So even with the added cabling and signal chain complexity along the balanced pathway, the differences held up. We really should expect this. Devices that are designed to be balanced perform better when they are used the way they are designed to be used.

@jayem1826 2 ай бұрын

Do you ever change shirts?

@808lilmac 2 ай бұрын

Dude has more cans than shirts, goals

@jayem1826 2 ай бұрын

@@808lilmac It's my problem. Former US MARINE. Uniforms had to be perfect all the time. I'm always aware of appearance

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

More shirts means less hi-fi gear. Is that not obvious? 🤣

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

@@808lilmac 💯🤣

@scottlowell493 2 ай бұрын

The BF2/64 is blissfully free of sibilance. That alone sets it above. Sibilance is a real fidelity killer for me. The modius e is a great value, but it is not high fidelity. It's very good mid-fi. The bf2/64 is high fidelity. It out performs the once vaunted (and massively more expensive) Bel canto of a few years ago. And topping, and denefrips of the same price.

@wavetheorysound 2 ай бұрын

BF2/64 is indeed excellent. I'd put the Denafrips Ares 12th Anny Ed on the same level. But I definitely Topping is behind.