Well, I've decided to build a music server. My current player is an Oppo BDP105 with a Synology NAS hooked to it. The thing sounds very good but it is pretty digital. So today, the Gungnir arrives. I hook it up to the Oppo via toslink. Once this thing gets warmed up the cymbals sound like cymbals, and the digital sound is just gone. Comparing Led Zep 3 high rez and vinyl, I believe it surpasses my vinyl system and it sure didn't yesterday. I'll build a Mini based system, but this thing is seriously good for the money. As is the Oppo for that matter. Good job Schiit!
Hi Jack, good to see another Houstonite. I haven't purchased a standalone DAC yet but it's my understanding that if you're using the Toslink (digital connection) out of the DAC you are merely passing the digital signal along and the Oppo would still be doing the decoding, am I mistaken? For the Gungnir to be doing the decoding you should be using the analog out directly to your amp source (receiver/integrated/Pre-amp).
I think you must assume that the "optical to the Oppo" is really an optical out of the Oppo transport to his dac. I doubt there is an optical out of the Gungnir.
The Gungnir has a light that illuminates if the jitter rate on an input exceeds a certain threshold. Here's the details:
Digital out for a DAC would be a bit goofy. Heck, I'm thinking about buying a Power Mac for my office and dragging the mini server home for hifi purposes. Ahhhh!