Tom's Schiit Modi Multibit DAC (£250) Versus Justin's Lampizator Big 7 (£6K)

[User211]

Tom (Montesquieu) sent me his Schiit Multibit DAC to play with for a bit.

The only other DAC I have in the house at the moment is a Lampizator Big 7.

So I thought it only reasonable to compare the two directly. Because, well, there aren't many reviews where two DACs of such massively different price points are compared.

My Big 7 is one of the very first made, and is quite different to the current production versions, which use PCBs and metal casing. Mine is hardwired, hand built throughout and built into a wooden chassis. I like it that way, TBH, and feel no need to upgrade it after two Golden Gates have been in my system for brief visits.

The point is, what does a technically competent but cheap multibit solid state DAC give you that is different to a not so test bench competent esoteric valve rectified triode output stage effort?

Well, I'll tell you when I have done some reasonable amount of listening to the Modi.

What's more, I'll just be totally honest about it, as I hear it. The comparison is made tough by the fact that the Lampizator changes its presentation so radically with different output triodes and rectifiers it isn't really a fixed sounding DAC. That is its huge plus IMHO, and an advantage the cheap Modi can never have.

Evaluation system is Cayin SC10 (almost) preamp->Austria Analogue 211 monoblocks->Apogee Duetta Interstella loudspeakers. Make no mistake, the system is extremely high resolution, and detecting differences is made very easy by that fact. That however does mean I will hear things that just won't be heard in other situations. Nevertheless...

Pics and thoughts later.

[User211]

So is the Schiit shit? The obvious question.

Size doesn't matter. It is what you can do with the size you have that counts. So some say...

Schiit warming up, about to hit some loud bass driven electronic music, the sort of thing I'd expect it to be pretty good at.

[montesquieu]

Interesting ...

[User211]

Well it is better than an RPi from what I remember. And by a margin. I am feeding it with mains regen.

Gain matching is hard as the Lampi has approximately double the output I'd guess.

Gotta go out to Sainsbugs. But I can definitely listen to it. Very promising so far.

[Bigman80]

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[User211]

So I think I'll just do notes as I listen.

Firstly, the Schiit can do what the RPi could not. In other words, cast reasonable fore and aft depth and when swapping from the Lampi to the Schiit you don't feel as though you have lost a lot of information.

Mid range resolution is definitely down though from the currently installed KR PX4 valves in the Lampi. But it is a very pleasant mid range so far. Easy to listen to, no question. No weirdness. What is a bit weird is the weight in the bass, which tends to make your ear focus on it. It comes over as a bit too strong and gluey.

The Lampi seems to merge the bass with the mid range in a more seemless manner, such that the ear isn't so drawn to the bass. That said the Lampi is a bit more diffuse in focus in the bass region and it appears to come from higher up the bass panel as well as from the bottom of it, whereas the bass from the Schiit seems to emanate from the bottom of the bass panel. Quite why that would be is anyone's guess.

There's more space in the soundstage with the Lampi, despite the Schiit being better than the RPi in that respect.

More thoughts when I feel like posting them. Despite the differences that are quite obviously there, the Schiit does sound very good for the money so far. Massively better value than the Lampi could ever hope to be.

Above observations were mainly drawn up listening to various Dub Spencer and Trance Hill recordings using an SPL meter to judge volume levels. This is bass heavy stuff for the most part.

[WAD62]

Well it is better than an RPi from what I remember.

An Rpi what? in conjunction with what? An Rpi is just a computer...

[User211]

An Rpi what? in conjunction with what? An Rpi is just a computer...

You don't say. Fair point though. Tis covered by a thread on AoS from a while back. Will post it later.

[Edward]

Justin

Very interesting. I will be following closely.

Please could you describe what your digital sources are and how you are connecting to the DACs.

Pity you are not just around the corner from me as I would ask you to also compare the Chevron NOS DAC I have here and not currently using.

Edward

[User211]

Justin

Very interesting. I will be following closely.

Please could you describe what your digital sources are and how you are connecting to the DACs.

Pity you are not just around the corner from me as I would ask you to also compare the Chevron NOS DAC I have here and not currently using.

Edward

Laptop->HDMI->Samsung TV optical out->Lampi or Schiit optical in.

I know that sounds odd but I prefer it to USB from the laptop directly to the Lampi. TIDAL is the source.

Anyone is free to send me stuff to listen to or offer to come round with something to listen to.

The Schiit is now really quite warm to the touch. Now it is genuinely warm I'll move onto something else.