Schiit EITR

[Lebouwsky]

1 hour ago, FIndingit said:

Nobody has any trouble using ISO Regen with Eitr? My Aries doesn’t see Eitr through it. Either unit could be somehow picky. 

Does it need usb power and if so, does your usb cable supports it?

[Superdad]

11 hours ago, Lebouwsky said:

Does it need usb power and if so, does your usb cable supports it?

 

The ISO REGEN does require 20mA of 5VBUS power from the USB cable—to power the upstream side of its Silanna isolator chip (we still dedicate one of the unit’s 5 ultra-ultra-low-noise LT3042 voltage regulators to turn that 5V into 3.3V for the isolator).

 

I know of about a dozen ISO REGEN owners using it successfully with the Schiit EITR.

Linux-based streamers don’t support hot-swapping of hubs, so turn-on sequence is important. @FIndingit can contact us (via our web contact page) and I will e-mail back a couple of procedures that generally work with devices like the Aries. 

[Charente]

I've been away on a trip for a while ... clearly got some catching up to do on this thread !

 

Yes, in my experience, the EITR needs to be already powered up so that my microRendu (a Linux based device) successfully sees it straight away when IT boots up. 

[zalive]

On 25. 01. 2018. at 3:34 PM, nbpf said:

Thanks! https://www.naimaudio.com/sites/default/files/products/downloads/files/naim_dac_august_2009.pdf suggests that the DAC's internal clock controls both the decoding and the conversion. But my understanding is very limited and I might have misinterpreted the documentation. 

 

Thanks for this, Naim's link is very interesting read indeed...I've read half of it so far. I like when manufacturer gives insight related to their device design and specific implementation. One can learn many just by reading content like this.

 

Anyway I think this is where Naim describes reclocking approach with most detail:

Quote

RAM buffer jitter removal

Naim’s buffer or memory method of jitter removal relies

on a simple concept: the audio data is clocked into the

memory at the incoming, inconsistently timed rate and is

then clocked out of the memory and into the DAC chips

using a precise clock. The rate at which the memory fills

and empties is controlled by selecting the master clock

that best matches the average incoming clock frequency.

In this way the data entering the DAC chips is completely

isolated from the incoming jitter. Only in rare cases will

none of the Naim DAC’s selectable master clocks be

closely enough matched to the incoming data rate. To

cope with this eventuality we have also implemented, as a

backup, an asynchronous sample rate converter (ASRC).

 

Anyway I think it reveals it a bit how it't not simple to do reclocking when incoming data is synchronous (but jittery)...

[Ralf11]

15 hours ago, Charente said:

I've been away on a trip for a while ...

 

you intercepted some Nutella shipments, didn't you??

[nbpf]

8 hours ago, zalive said:

 

Thanks for this, Naim's link is very interesting read indeed...I've read half of it so far. I like when manufacturer gives insight related to their device design and specific implementation. One can learn many just by reading content like this.

 

Anyway I think this is where Naim describes reclocking approach with most detail:

 

Anyway I think it reveals it a bit how it't not simple to do reclocking when incoming data is synchronous (but jittery)...

Yes, the quote is the reason why I believe that, apart from "rare cases" the Naim DAC overrides the clocking of its source. Whether this is for better or for worse does depends on the quality of the source's clocks, of course!

[Charente]

9 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

 

you intercepted some Nutella shipments, didn't you??

 

Ha ! ... not that sort of trip !! 

[Steady339]

Hi this my first post on Computer Audio.  I just bought a Schiit Eitr because with a recent update to my iMac iOS 10.10.5 the USB driver didn't work any more with my Eastern Electric Mini Max Plus DAC (with the latest Burson V5 discrete opp amps).  I found the Eitr to be a little rough sounding in my high resolution, tube based system, so I added my UpTone Audio REG into the Eitr.   This smoothed out the sound and gave me the outstanding sonics I was after.

[Charente]

Hi @Steady339 ... Yes, others (myself included) have found that Regen or xRendu or SotM can make a difference. I never thought the EITR was 'rough' sounding tho' even without these add-ons. Does need a bit of settling down IMO and leaving on 24/7.

[FIndingit]

The ”handshake” of the usb input is a mystery. Schiit has claimed is draws no power from the computer source, but it does need to see the 5v, that is a fact.

 

But Eitr works with Ifi iDefender without any extra power. The iDefender provides very little current for the handshake. The mystery is, why does it sound better with clean 5v injected into the iDefender? Even quality of the handshake power is important?

[jcn3]

On 2/10/2018 at 4:22 AM, FIndingit said:

The ”handshake” of the usb input is a mystery. Schiit has claimed is draws no power from the computer source, but it does need to see the 5v, that is a fact.

 

But Eitr works with Ifi iDefender without any extra power. The iDefender provides very little current for the handshake. The mystery is, why does it sound better with clean 5v injected into the iDefender? Even quality of the handshake power is important?

The Eitr needs the 5v and therefore draws some power but it is minimal.

 

Yes, the quality of the handshake power is important - goal is to have clean power throughout the whole chain. Typically, the closer to the dac the more important the clean power is.

[Steady339]

At first I had the EITR in a USB hub which might have been the source of the “rough” sound I was getting.  

[adamaley]

Anybody experiencing momentary clicking dropout in sound anytime you have a static build up and touch any device in your chain since you inserted the Eitr?

[rayl1234]

14 minutes ago, adamaley said:

Anybody experiencing momentary clicking dropout in sound anytime you have a static build up and touch any device in your chain since you inserted the Eitr?

 

Not quite that, but I get such glitches every time I flip on/off a CFL bulb on the same phase (not same breaker, just same phase... am in U.S. where load center has 2 phases plus a neutral bus). So I do agree there is some sensitivity with the EITR...

[jaaptina]

On 2-1-2018 at 6:39 PM, tz1963 said:

One more Eitr > Job Integrated user here. Very pleased with the result, even straight out of the PC.

I had EITR between ultraRendu with LPS-1 and Job INTegrated. In this chain EITR might loose the isolation LPS-1 provides. At least it didn't have a positive effect on sound quality in this chain. So I sold EITR and I'm using the usb input of the Job again. The new owner of the EITR is pleased with it. 

[Lebouwsky]

As some of you may know I’m experimenting with a “server only” setup, with no extra fixers, reclockers and all the extra power supplies that go with that. My digital front end had already changed from a passive Windows 10 server, sotm sms200, uptone regen, 2 uspcb, 2 lineair power supplies and the Eitr to just a pc Windows 10 server and the Eitr. The Eitr survived this minimizing rounds.

 

Last weekend I experimented further with this “server usb only” setup by adjusting bios, changing the OS to Windows server 2016 and optimising this OS. They Eitr this time was out of the chain too, with the server feeding the dac directly with usb, powered by the Sotm sps 500 power supply.

 

I was absolutely amazed by the improvements the Windows server 2016 and tweaks brought. For me this is the right way forward, so I’m going to sell all these extra boxes including the Eitr. It is a wonderfull product, but we’re going separate ways from here.

 

If anyone is interested in de Eitr please pm me.

[mourip]

Great post and encouraging news. At some point write up your server tweaks. 

[mazuly]

So I had to wait a little to make sure I am not hearing things.  

 

Got the Eitr less than a week ago AND It seems that Eitr has made my Rotel RSP-1098 prepro DAC sound almost as good as my oppo HA-1 headphone amp.  I personally think that oppo is better when I use Audirvana to upsample the sound to DSD128 but, using audirvana, without upsampling, I cannot hear a difference.

 

The kicker, my RSP 1098 is almost 20 years old.  I wish I would have known about Eitr before getting oppo HA-1.  Oh well, knowing myself, I am sure I would have bought HA-1 anyways.

 

The best $200 I spent.  I guess you can have audiophile on budget.

 

Go figure........

[Charente]

@Lebouwsky ... great result Robert ! Your DAC must have a reasonable USB input ... Whilst my Gungnir MultiBit is still on Gen2 USB I'll be keeping the EITR a bit longer. I haven't bought any further tweaks for some time, other than move the EITR's PSU off the audio power strip but still on the Balanced Power Supply. Sounds impressively good to my ears. 

 

@mazuly ... Welcome. EITR is an excellent way to revitalise older equipment ... I've tried that as well with similar surprising results.

[cporada]

Hi all,

 

I installed a Schiit Eitr between my MacBook Pro and DAC, and  I love what it does for my system!  However, after rearranging the positioning of my system components (now that I know the Eitr is here to stay), something very curious is going on that I'm hoping one of you can explain/fix. The only digital cable that will give me a "lock" on the digital signal coming out of the Eitr's SPDIF output is a 1.5m Audience Ohno. I tried 2 homemade cables (that work in all other contexts) and two commercial cables, and none of these will give data lock between the SPDIF output of the Eitr and the coax input on either a Musical Surroundings MYDAC or a Rega DAC.  With the Audience, however, data lock is instantaneous on both DACs.  Can anyone think of any reason why this would be and what I can do to resolve this issue?

 

Best,

Chris

[FIndingit]

3 hours ago, cporada said:

Hi all,

 

I installed a Schiit Eitr between my MacBook Pro and DAC, and  I love what it does for my system!  However, after rearranging the positioning of my system components (now that I know the Eitr is here to stay), something very curious is going on that I'm hoping one of you can explain/fix. The only digital cable that will give me a "lock" on the digital signal coming out of the Eitr's SPDIF output is a 1.5m Audience Ohno. I tried 2 homemade cables (that work in all other contexts) and two commercial cables, and none of these will give data lock between the SPDIF output of the Eitr and the coax input on either a Musical Surroundings MYDAC or a Rega DAC.  With the Audience, however, data lock is instantaneous on both DACs.  Can anyone think of any reason why this would be and what I can do to resolve this issue?

 

Best,

Chris

Check the rca plug on the Eitr end. The rca jack of the Schiit must be of low quality because only some of my cables make a good contact. Wiggling the plug a bit proves that contact with the center pin is not good.

[cporada]

Thanks; I'll give that a try!  Do you know if it would be a difficult thing to swap out the RCA jacks for better quality ones?

[cporada]

I'm pretty comfortable soldering, etc., and have swapped out caps in my tube amp...

[FIndingit]

The Eitr is easy to open and the board easy to remove. You just need to find a jack with positive and ground legs with the same spacing.

 

Btw, does the Audience cable have a longer centre pin that the other cables?

[Charente]

I use Canare cable with their connectors and this seems to work without issue. The supplier, Audiophonics (https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/cables-numeriques-cables-numeriques-coaxial/audiophonics-canare-digital-coaxial-cable-75-ohm-rca-bnc-1m-p-12209.html), makes the point that " the cable is crimped in the seamless [RCA] connector to ensure a flawless contact." This seems to me to be key issue.