Thread for the budget dacs from Schiit
The modi 3+ has a more neutral slightly warmer smoother leaning signature and does pretty much all you can ask for given the price point
The modius leans more into this signature and is warmer, more relaxed and chill, smoother leaning. It has a reasonably wide stage, good resolving power, nice timbre, non offensive presentation, slightly dynamically quelled though
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After getting the Modius E with the Midgard last year, I wasn’t super impressed. They had good drive, were tuned fairly well and sounded kind of forward, but there was a lack of micro without depth and frontal imaging/layering. Just little to no refinement to me.
Moved on, eventually selling the Midgard. But now, with a decent amp in the iHA-8, an Ifi iPower X 5V and USB isolator, I’ve been able to use the Modius E for weeks without thinking too much. It’s just technical enough to not feel like something is badly missing while keeping tuning a vague V to give the impression of some musicality. The iPower X especially imparted a big difference into the Modius, giving it cleaner leading edges, more slam and changing it spatially into a larger staging DAC with good separation and some depth. The iPower X is pretty much mandatory to me and I’d say that the Modius doesn’t compete well without it.
I feel that this is a DAC that nearly anyone could like and a lot of people just dipping their toes in could get. It’s kind of a genre all-rounder. It can be chill, aggressive, stagey or intimate without much problem and that is a serious strength. Pretty much any DAC under $500 locks itself into a role with trade-offs and for me that results in dissatisfaction as I flip through vastly different tracks, games and video while those weaknesses bug my subconscious. At the same time, nothing really stands out as a strength and there are DACs in the same range that take it in certain aspects. Compared to my dongles (also through the iHA-8 with the same USB isolator and the iPower X), it can depend. The SMSL D10 restricts the staging, sounds a lot more dry and neutral, but it’s also a heck of a lot tighter and straight up punches and slams harder. The Fosi DS2 cuts the difference between the Modius and the D10, but with shockingly clean leading edges for the range, while the RU7 really outclasses them all in not only staging and holography, but fine gradations and just micro in general. That really says a lot more about how good dongles are of late, being at least comparable to an upgraded Modius E, especially when you clean them up power and USB-wise. I digress. The Modius E is better balanced over the various sound aspects as compared to most DACs and especially dongles, but there are one or two things that could’ve been better. Upper bass control/tightness is not good. In certain tracks that hurts its ability to punch and the general quickness of the sound. I think it’s kind of a tuning choice where looseness in that area helps bloom vocals and let warmth come through to an extent, and that’s usually a nice thing, but not always. Another flaw I can think of is that leading edges are still not very clean, which I think hurts layering and depth here. I suppose that’s not usually something expect for the range anyway.
Overall, I kind of like it. But I am looking towards better DACs, although I’m curious as to what is up there around 1K that retains most of the same qualities. Yeah, Bifrost, but I’m thinking something technically more able, if possible. The Mimir came out recently, but early indications are that it’s kind of more neutral/colder sounding, and the Modius E’s character is something I learned to appreciate.
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Interesting that the Modius uses a DC voltage to power it. I’d been indoctrinated in all things Schiit that they either all had onboard AC or an AC out wall wart. Not surprising that you saw improvements then with a decent PS.
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Interestingly, actually, the Mimir is able to be powered by either DC 5V USB or 16VAC, and comes with a wall-wart. I suppose the idea is to make more compatibility for one of their budget DACs, but the sound quality powered out the back of a PC’s USB port is… not great lol. I think one could get away with an iPower 2 and do alright. But the X is pretty special and sometimes I’m not entirely sure whether the X is doing the grunt work of making something sound good or vice-versa.
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