RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I was browsing the local CL ads, as I'm prone to do and found a Schiit Modius DAC for sale for the magic price of $100. I had to drive a half an hour away to get the thing and it didn't come with cords or any documentation, but I manged to find the necessary cords to power it in a drawer and the operation of it is idiot simple. It works...
I listened to a few things though my old Topping D50s DAC first, in order to have a basis for how well this new one performs. I have my DVD player (A Denon 1930CI SACD) hooked up to my my amp both through the Topping DVD as well analog-direct. I hooked up my old Onkyo DVD-SACD player in the same way and I definitely felt that the Topping DAC was improving things over the direct analog-in (more detail, separation of instruments, realism, etc). When I got the Denon player though, comparisons between DAC vs direct were less clear as it seems that the Denon has a higher quality DAC section in it than the old Onkyo machine. If the Topping was better than the Denon-direct it was only by the slightest degree and the overall quality of the sound was remarkably similar. Since the two signals were so similar sounding, I figured that even though I couldn't A/B test the Topping, I could do the next best thing by testing the new Schiit against the Denon-direct signal, since that was so similar sounding to the Topping anyway... My conclusion: this new Schitt Modious thing definitely sounds better, with a fair bit more realism, separation between instruments... more air to it, etc. I feel like even at the brand new price, this thing is a great performer and well worth the $$. I'm pretty certain that I can sell my old Topping for as much or probably even a little more than the new Schiit thing so I will have essentially gained some SQ for no $$, which is really how I like to do it!
One question though... With the old Topping DAC, I had Bluetooth, which something that I rarely use, but occasionally there's something on the internet (I don't have a computer in the room with my stereo so it's just the DVD player and TV that gets hooked up to a DAC) that I want to stream and broadcast over the stereo. The way that I have this DAC hooked up leaves me with a USB port and I figure that there must be some kind of standalone Bluetooth receiver that could work for it and I know I could just Google "Bluetooth receivers," but I wonder if you folks have recommendations and/or any advice about hooking these things up. I don't need one with any kind of advanced capabilities, just something simple and hopefully inexpensive...
I listened to a few things though my old Topping D50s DAC first, in order to have a basis for how well this new one performs. I have my DVD player (A Denon 1930CI SACD) hooked up to my my amp both through the Topping DVD as well analog-direct. I hooked up my old Onkyo DVD-SACD player in the same way and I definitely felt that the Topping DAC was improving things over the direct analog-in (more detail, separation of instruments, realism, etc). When I got the Denon player though, comparisons between DAC vs direct were less clear as it seems that the Denon has a higher quality DAC section in it than the old Onkyo machine. If the Topping was better than the Denon-direct it was only by the slightest degree and the overall quality of the sound was remarkably similar. Since the two signals were so similar sounding, I figured that even though I couldn't A/B test the Topping, I could do the next best thing by testing the new Schiit against the Denon-direct signal, since that was so similar sounding to the Topping anyway... My conclusion: this new Schitt Modious thing definitely sounds better, with a fair bit more realism, separation between instruments... more air to it, etc. I feel like even at the brand new price, this thing is a great performer and well worth the $$. I'm pretty certain that I can sell my old Topping for as much or probably even a little more than the new Schiit thing so I will have essentially gained some SQ for no $$, which is really how I like to do it!
One question though... With the old Topping DAC, I had Bluetooth, which something that I rarely use, but occasionally there's something on the internet (I don't have a computer in the room with my stereo so it's just the DVD player and TV that gets hooked up to a DAC) that I want to stream and broadcast over the stereo. The way that I have this DAC hooked up leaves me with a USB port and I figure that there must be some kind of standalone Bluetooth receiver that could work for it and I know I could just Google "Bluetooth receivers," but I wonder if you folks have recommendations and/or any advice about hooking these things up. I don't need one with any kind of advanced capabilities, just something simple and hopefully inexpensive...