Bimbo nimbu bifrost multibit

[sound_cycle]

"Thermal equilibrium"???!!! Oh boy!

You forgot Life "Support Systems"

DACs need to be warmed up for a while. Fact or Fiction? | Super Best Audio Friends

A real resistor doesn't have a constant value but it is actually dependent on temperature:

Temperature Coefficient of Resistance

For many devices this difference in resistance due to operating temperature can be tolerated, even most DACs. Certain multibit DACs however use many resistors in parallel to process a digital signal. Here is an link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor_ladder

You don't really need to know the details but what you do need to know is that it requires many many resistors at extremely tight tolerances, around 0.01%. With a slight deviation in temperature it is easy to go outside this tolerance and you get behavior that wasn't intended. The manufacturer designed the circuit when the resistors are running warm. For a DAC the current is actually pretty low through these resistors so they won't generate much heat. Which means it might take awhile for the circuit to get up to operating temperature.

This is the price that must be paid for extreme precision.

​

Fact or fiction ?

ciao
gr

 

[keith_correa]

So, what about the ambient temperature where the circuit was designed and the ambient temperature in a country like ours where the circuit is in use? Methinks, if that were to be taken into account the claimed benefits of "warm up" would be moot.

The other point I would like to ask is how much time do those resistors need to "warm up"? If someone says "days" then I would ask: what temperatures are we talking about here?

Which brings me back to my question about the benefits of keeping a device powered on when there is no signal passing through.

 

[prem]

I still don't understand why Schitt insists it be powered on all the time. That's one of the reasons I never looked at Schiit. But the thing sounded good. So I picked it up. Metrum also uses r2r but they don't insist it be kept switched on all the time. Nor does Esoteric which uses 1704 chip which is r2r topology.

Chord recommends it be powered all the time but they don't use r2r.

It's all very confusing

 

[regeHA]

Most folks attest that it (Yggy) sounds better when warmed up. And that it takes at least a while to warm up.

I've even read of folks powering it via battery and keeping it warmed up when taking it to audio shows so it sounds great instead of having to warm up for the demo.

I've no idea about the science behind it and I'm no rocket scientist, much less an engineer.

But most of our hobby is all about hearing a difference in cables, between DSD and PCM, and between Multi Bit and Delta Sigma DACs and so on.

So I'd give the benefit to folks who claim they can hear a difference and I do tend to believe folks till I can hear otherwise myself.

The rest I'd say follow the instruction manual.

 

[sound_cycle]

I've even read of folks powering it via battery and keeping it warmed up when taking it to audio shows so it sounds great instead of having to warm up for the demo

I was expecting to get home and spend some time listening to some music. The flight was delayed by 35 mins, and my patience with waiting for bags while gmr "upgrade" their baggage belts is wearing rather thin - that was another half an hour gone.

Had phoned and asked the son to leave the DAC before he went off to bed, so it was on for about four hours or so by the time by the time I got some listening time.

I have about 4 - 5 hours on the DAC now.

I have not had the time to get Dirac set after this DAC upgrade. Sounds horribly boomy and unlistenable without, so just left the old settings be. I had no patience or energy to get into that.

This upgrade was absolutely worth it. Voices, imaging, detail, liveliness etc are so much better.

I am hoping/ praying that it will be an even bigger difference over Buber over time and post Dirac calibration (expectation based on other peoples accounts), but I won't be weeping if that is not realized.

I have no clue how time went, or whether warming up helps or not, or if I imagined what I heard. It does not matter. I have no hesitation admitting that I am (the multibit) is the biggest change yet in my set up - after I got the Dalis in, that is. (the disgusting 2605 times are just a horrible dark spot in my listening memory and ofc just about anything would be a huge improvement over that).

Reached work half an hour late, and kinda groggy.

For now the strategy will be to leave it for a while (I have no idea, 15 mins is my patience level I guess) before sitting down for some listening. A bit like how we used to wait for a green cathode ray to form a bright beam on a Philips radio before listening to Binaca Geetmala when I was much younger

ciao
gr

 

[regeHA]

I was expecting to get home and spend some time listening to some music. The flight was delayed by 35 mins, and my patience with waiting for bags while gmr "upgrade" their baggage belts is wearing rather thin - that was another half an hour gone.

Had phoned and asked the son to leave the DAC before he went off to bed, so it was on for about four hours or so by the time by the time I got some listening time.

I have about 4 - 5 hours on the DAC now.

I have not had the time to get Dirac set after this DAC upgrade. Sounds horribly boomy and unlistenable without, so just left the old settings be. I had no patience or energy to get into that.

This upgrade was absolutely worth it. Voices, imaging, detail, liveliness etc are so much better.

I am hoping/ praying that it will be an even bigger difference over Buber over time and post Dirac calibration (expectation based on other peoples accounts), but I won't be weeping if that is not realized.

I have no clue how time went, or whether warming up helps or not, or if I imagined what I heard. It does not matter. I have no hesitation admitting that I am (the multibit) is the biggest change yet in my set up - after I got the Dalis in, that is. (the disgusting 2605 times are just a horrible dark spot in my listening memory and ofc just about anything would be a huge improvement over that).

Reached work half an hour late, and kinda groggy.

For now the strategy will be to leave it for a while (I have no idea, 15 mins is my patience level I guess) before sitting down for some listening. A bit like how we used to wait for a green cathode ray to form a bright beam on a Philips radio before listening to Binaca Geetmala when I was much younger

ciao
gr

It will burn in... or your ears will burn in. Either way the music will get better.

It does not consume much power... so you can leave it on all the time.. especially if you have anything like a home UPS.

I've a slightly over 1 KVA Luminous and everything is on it and powered on too all the time. The only equipment not on it and only on mains is my Onkyo AVR... kind of makes even the Luminous blink along with all the lights the couple of times I tried it... so haven't put that on... but otherwise my main rig of DAC, int amp, NAS, Pi, HDD, PC, etc. all are on the UPS and running 24x7. The amp of course is turned off when not in use.

But you are the best person to decide and you can decide even not based on SQ.

I just leave it on. I've not noted anything different in the power bill so they continue so stay on.

 

[mpw]

photos please

 

[jls001]

photos please

And more detailed listening impressions, too

And congrats on the new acquisition.

 

[sound_cycle]

And more detailed listening impressions, too

And congrats on the new acquisition.

Thanks Joshua.

Externally no change.

It is so different - in a nice way - from Buber or the DAC I have in the PM6005. big things (imaging/ sound stage), voices have texture, intstruments now have timbre and sound like what I imagined they should and the little stuff cymbals hang in the air.

I'm listening to Bodhisatva (Steely Dan) right now (itunes VBR). I can only describe what I had been listening to, before multibit, as a smeary mushy porridge of sound, a vague approximation of what I hear now.

ciao
gr

 

[AVM]

I can only describe what I had been listening to, before multibit, as a smeary mushy porridge of sound, a vague approximation of what I hear now.

gr

Congrats on the multibit

A similar experience when I select the upsample option on my DAC while playing CDs. The highs get over etched. However it sounds good when I leave it as 16/44

Regards

 

[sound_cycle]

Congrats on the multibit

Thanks

I love this lady :thumbsup:

That was from the "listening" thread. On the thought that I will throw in a few bimby observations am posting here.

I heard (Ccile McLorin Salvant/ For One To Love ) for the first time a few days back.

Since then, I've played "Somethin's Coming" and "Le Mal de Vivre" quite a few times.

Too many times for wife and especially the son, as they like their jazz diva voices to be neither too Cassidy/ Kraal nor too Salvant/ Buika.

So why was I listening what was not Goldilocks porridge ? I like the voice, the textures and breathiness, I suspect that it is the Bimby that is making things real-er than buber would have presented.

More interestingly the sound stage has moved "into the wall" and stretched out. The piano moves (kinda) far left and the drums to the right. I can make out (or is it what I saw on youtube ?) that the voice is somewhere in front of the doublebass

This does not work quite the same way with say "Sinkin' soon" (Norah Jones).

It is still not very 3d, but that could be too many things (too try and fiddle with) and I am hoping I will sort that out/ give up over the next few weeks. No hurry there.

A few days away from bimby now - travelling to Chennai this evening through the weekend.

ciao
gr

 

[regeHA]

More interestingly the sound stage has moved "into the wall" and stretched out. The piano moves (kinda) far left and the drums to the right. I can make out (or is it what I saw on youtube ?) that the voice is somewhere in front of the doublebass

That happens a lot... I've had it go 6-8 feet farther back, while the speakers are only placed 3 feet from the wall... its like the house has grown.

But here is something else to try to notice/play around with. Sit as far back as possible, right next to the back wall if possible and you'll hear sounds coming from even further back. Its like 5.1 home theater, but even in a home theater setting the surround sounds are to the side of the head when coming from the rear speakers... but in my setup I can hear instruments, clapping, background vocals, etc. coming a good 5-8 feet from behind me... its uncanny and scarily real at times, like you are in the center of the presentation.

I shared it with a friend who even tried it on regular TV. Audio from TV to DAC and then to AVR. The voices are so real and minute details come to life, he's now a dedicated DAC user even for the TV. The limitation though is optical input and limited to stereo, but the Schiit takes it to another level both in terms of detail and realism in comparision to AVR and DSP.

 

[sound_cycle]

I've had it go 6-8 feet farther back, while the speakers are only placed 3 feet from the wall<snip>Sit as far back as possible, right next to the back wall if possible and you'll hear sounds coming from even further back<snip>The limitation though is optical input and limited to stereo, but the Schiit takes it to another level both in terms of detail and realism in comparision to AVR and DSP.

Thanks ! So I did not imagine it.

I listen from very close to the (BBA treated) back wall (my arrangement is across the width of long room). I use only the optical inputs to my DAC, with a glass cable (USD 20 amazon wala, if only that damn courier was not expensive I wanted to copy/paste your lifatec). Insh ' <the audio deity> I will someday realize the full illusion you describe.

ciao
gr

 

[kartick]

Thanks



That was from the "listening" thread. On the thought that I will throw in a few bimby observations am posting here.

I heard (Ccile McLorin Salvant/ For One To Love ) for the first time a few days back.

Since then, I've played "Somethin's Coming" and "Le Mal de Vivre" quite a few times.

Too many times for wife and especially the son, as they like their jazz diva voices to be neither too Cassidy/ Kraal nor too Salvant/ Buika.

So why was I listening what was not Goldilocks porridge ? I like the voice, the textures and breathiness, I suspect that it is the Bimby that is making things real-er than buber would have presented.

More interestingly the sound stage has moved "into the wall" and stretched out. The piano moves (kinda) far left and the drums to the right. I can make out (or is it what I saw on youtube ?) that the voice is somewhere in front of the doublebass

This does not work quite the same way with say "Sinkin' soon" (Norah Jones).

It is still not very 3d, but that could be too many things (too try and fiddle with) and I am hoping I will sort that out/ give up over the next few weeks. No hurry there.

A few days away from bimby now - travelling to Chennai this evening through the weekend.

ciao
gr

Try out Growlin' Dan by Salvant. Its from the same album. She is at her skillful best on this track. A brilliant audition track as well. Makes you wanna love her as a performer. She makes you see scenes by how she plays with the extension of her voice.

 

[sound_cycle]

Try out Growlin' Dan by Salvant. Its from the same album. She is at her skillful best on this track. A brilliant audition track as well. Makes you wanna love her as a performer. She makes you see scenes by how she plays with the extension of her voice.

thanks I will. I was fixated on the two tracks I listed

ciao
gr

 

[jls001]

"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" from her (McLorin Salvant) eponymous album is what gets me tripping. An example of sparse musicality where the voice is clearly the music.

On to Buika, her "Volver volver" is a fine specimen of what a raspy, textured voice, dripping wet with pathos, sounds like. Much recommended. Will grab you by the gonads

/end of OT/

PS: advance apologies for the lurid descriptions. Must be the Bombay rains

 

[sound_cycle]

Must be the Bombay rains

The bombay rains caught me in hyderabad on my return from chennai :lol:

I think the bimby is now singing. There was a brief period when it seemed like I was in Prof Pomona Sprouts classroom studying Mandrake roots - it was that bright, now a distant memory.

To me it is a huge improvement over Buber. And while I had no complaints about Buber when I had it, I don't think I want to listen to delta sigma ever again.

Much of my music sounds much better. Vocals, jazz and surprisingly (to me) rock. Not placebo. I am sure

I had a friend over, a couple of days back, someone who is into audio but did not know of my upgrade. We had stuff playing while we sipped Glenfiddich and talked about sound and cycles and resumed listening after a break for dinner. I was getting mildly concerned about his not figuring out the difference when he suddenly said "your DSP is really working well now". We then continued listening till it was rather early the next morning.

I don't think it will change much over this. I have about two weeks worth of daily listening over a few hours.

for anybody on the fence or wondering about DAC, bimby is the real schiit

I don't think I will be going the balanced route so this is the end of the road for me. RegeHa had posted about a quadrophonic like effect with the gumby. I could not get anything like it with bimby. I'm sure there is much to be discovered and learned but my DAC upgrade has to stop. If i change something next it will be my speakers. Now that I have the better imaging DAC ....

As for the friend who came over, he is likely to be getting his bimby sometime soon.

delta sigma ? Huh what's that*

ciao
gr

* I know it is not the chip or the architecture alone and that it is the implementation that matters, but thoda hyperbole from the newly converted chalega I hope.

 

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Q&A With Mike Moffat, Schiit Audio | AudioStream

a mike moffat interview.

ciao
gr

 

[rajivaryan1984]

Hello Friends, I am from Bangalore and I got the latest Modi Multibit at 21K in just 2 days as you can place order online in India itself. Also, friends I am a newbie to this DAC world and all and need your help. I have Pioneer BDP 180 and Denon AVR 2200. i have connected the DAC today via optical cable with BDP180 and RCA Analog cable to the AVR. But I didn't noticed much of an improvement in the music listening. Can you please advise if i am missing any settings to be made on BDP180 oe Denon AVR??

 

[sound_cycle]

Hi,

Listen to it for a while, give it some time.

I have not the faintest as to how burn works or what burns in.

But my listening experience changed over time. For sure.

The changes are in the little things.

Happy listening

Ciao
GR